Colorado Pictures

I finally down loaded some pictures from our trip. These are some of the highlights.

Thomas's Pre-school Evaluation

We had Thomas’s evaluation (or at least part of it) yesterday morning. It went really well. Everyone kept remarking how much progress he made over the summer. He really has made so much progress. I’m extremely proud of him. I know it was probably the timing and the combination of all the therapy, but ever since L from Kidspeak started ST with him, he has just flourished. It was nice to hear that it was obvious to everyone else though too. During the questioning I also explained that both M from the Play Project and L from Kidspeak say he has motor planning issues with his speech (possible apraxia) and I gave them a couple examples (really studying how you are moving your mouth when you talk and when he starts getting the mouth movement it is very deliberate with a lot of concentration and often doesn’t have any sound with it). Also, this week’s session with M was at the park which was really fun and enlightening. She noticed that when he first gets of the twisty slide, or off the swing, or after holding him and swinging him around (which he loves), he falls down over and over. He’ll fall 5 or 6 times before finally getting his balance. It may just be that it was so exciting he was moving too fast, but she thinks it is a vestibular balance thing. It got better the longer we played. But that is an OT/PT thing. The OT was very interested in hearing that. She’ll be doing the OT evaluation next week so I hope that these things make a difference in her recommendation. I didn’t really like her last year as an OT, but someone else will be doing the actual therapy this year. Until he starts the preschool program that is. Then it will be part of that program or they may have the on site OT pull him out every now and then. When I told them L’s name (from Kidspeak) they all knew her and liked her so the fact that she said that he has motor planning issues may make a difference to them. Anyway, the eval went well. I have a bunch of paperwork to fill out. Our IEP meeting is Oct 20th, so it is looking like the end of October before he starts. I’m just glad that we were able to get him into the program.

Work has been really frustrating lately. I don’t know if it’s just me or what, but it seems that all the projects I work on have issues. They are not working and finding reasons is difficult. Irritating anyway.

Thomas is going to spend the weekend with Grandma and Grandpa. I’m really looking forward to it. Sam has to work, so I’ll be able to get some time to myself. I’m also going to try to clean and organize and paint the living room. I’m looking forward to it. It’s hard when Thomas follows me around as I clean and “uncleans” it for me.

Someone else to clean the house

We finally decided to hire someone to clean the house. Sam and I are both messy by nature and the house has been overwhelmingly horrible. We’ve completely lost control over it and it’s impossible to start cleaning because it’s so overwhelming. I know that our entire life has been so hectic and overwhelming lately and having a house in chaos makes it worse. So we found a college student to clean. She cleaned for five hours last Thursday. I was hoping that more would get done but the house was just horrible. I’m so embarrassed of how bad we let it get. She really did a good job and just by the look of her when I got home I could see she worked her butt off. I already feel more relaxed and I feel like being more productive. It’s great. It is expensive to have her come and clean, but really, we need it. I can’t spend all my free time cleaning the house. I need to spend that time with my son and husband. And now I can. Totally worth it to me.

Cell Phones and Lakes Don't Mix

Sam and I have been needing new cell phones for a long time. Mine finally completely died and I had to switch to one that used to be my moms. They were the free ones and several years old. So we finally got new cell phones last weekend. I was so excited. I didn’t like the free one so I picked on that was $40 after the rebate. It was red and really pretty. And then this weekend we went up north and Sam was fishing on the dock while I was taking a nap. He had my cell phone in his pocket so he knew what time it was (he’d forgotten to charge his). And then it fell out of his pocket and into the lake. I made him try to find it with the net and we dredged the bottom for it but never found it. So I had a really nice new cell phone for one week. And of course I didn’t purchase the insurance plan. The insurance plan is really expensive however, so I am going to try finding one on craigslist. It’s going to take a while for Sam to live this down. It’s kind of funny though.

School programs for a 2 year old

I went to look at an ABA program today. They are expanding and have several openings available. I really liked the place. The therapists were really nice and really good at what they do. It was nice to see ABA in practice. I’ve learned about it but it’s much different to see it in action. I don’t think that it is what I want to do though. One issue is that it is in Hopkins right now and when they move to their new location it will be in Plymouth. That’s a rather long drive. And since we both work full time we would have to use a transportation service that would be covered by insurance. I’m not sure I trust someone driving my child that far every day. It would make me nervous. I also think that Thomas does better with more active learning, a more physical environment.

So I made up my mind that I was going to start pushing for him to get into the school preschool program. I knew it was going to be a fight since they were getting in trouble for starting kids prior to age 3. But he is ready for school and I think he would thrive there. I’ve actually been making calls all week already but nobody has returned any messages. So then I got a call from Bridget, and she said that she knew we really wanted to get Thomas into the program and approached the new autism program director that just started and they said OK. So we have a meeting in two weeks to do an evaluation and then he’ll start within 45 days of the eval. I’m really excited. I just know that it was meant to be.

Update

I haven’t updated in a while. Thomas is doing really well. He doesn’t have too many new words (bye bye, one, go, down, stop), but he is doing great with his eye contact and interaction. I keep getting reports that he’s doing great at following directions too. And the times that he doesn’t, it’s not that he doesn’t understand, but because he’s being naughty, just like a normal two year old. He’s been having a few more tantrums too, probably not to the level of a normal two year old, but I still think that’s a good sign. Previously, he could be so easily distracted or redirected and it’s good that he’s being more persistant when he doesn’t get what he wants.

We had a wonderful time in Colorado. It was so nice to spend time with family that we haven’t seen in so long. He had a great time with Great-Grandpa. He would sit next to him in the chair and they would read together. It was usually a whole string of “uh-oh”s. We spent a couple days in the mountains. It was nice to get away and it was so peaceful. There is a horrible beetle killing all the trees. I would estimate that about 2/3 of the trees in the area were dead and the other 1/3rd all eaten up too, but hadn’t turned brown yet. It was rather sad. We went on a couple nice hikes. Sam had Thomas in the backpack for the first, which was a bit rockier. The second one Thomas walked for a while, with his doggie backpack harness. We ended up taking turns with him on our shoulders for the last half, but it was a short walk so that was just fine. There was a really nice overpass where we had someone take our picture. Not the greatest, but Thomas was having a hard time sitting still for that. We really did have a nice time. Grandma and Grandpa are having a harder time getting around, but I guess that is to be expected. Aunt Linda was having a really hard time with her legs too. She just seemed miserable a lot of the time. She’s always so positive, but I could tell she was in constant pain. I wish that we lived closer. She would be wonderful to work with Thomas if we weren’t so far away. I love all the stories of her classes and students. She generally taught the troubled students from 1-5th grades for many years. This year is her first year of actual retirement. She technically retired two or three years ago, but still worked part time. I think it was just getting too hard to move around. I hope they figure out why her legs hurt so much so that they can fix it. She’s too young to be moving like that.

My sister, Lily, has been having issues with her legs. It started almost three months ago and her legs just shake and twitch. She’s 32 and walking with a walker. It got much better suddenly for a week and then suddenly much worse. They have done a ton of tests and haven’t figured out anything. She seems to be handling it well, but that pretty much takes all of her independence away. She even needed help going up the one stair from the living room to the dining room. It seems like something like MS, which I guess they have not entirely ruled out. It seems at least something related. I hope they figure it out soon. Why does it seem like doctors can never figure it out?

We’ve also been hoping to give Thomas a new brother or sister. I didn’t ovulate at all with the first month of Clomid, so we are onto the second month. This month the side effects were horrible, so hopefully that means it really did something. I hope this happens quick because I’m not sure that I can handle many more months of those side effects.

My new niece Halley is the cutest thing ever. She’s finally starting to be more aware. She’s just so little. Even though she’s a month old, she still smaller than Thomas was when he was born. But he was a really big baby. I hope the next one is much smaller. The metformin I am on now is supposed to greatly reduce my risk of gestational diabetes, so hopefully size will not be the issue it was last time. Thomas did not really notice the baby or anything. I’m not sure he ever slowed down enough to even notice I was holding a baby.

We found out that we can get Thomas into an ABA school this fall, but I’m not sure that’s what I want to do. It was when we first got the diagnosis, but I’m not sure that’s the best approach for him. I am going to start fighting the school district again to get him into the autism preschool. He’s ready for it. I just think the overall approach will be better for him than the ABA approach. And if we did the ABA it would pretty much replace the services he’s getting right now, which he is doing so well with. I don’t want to do that. I would like to defiantly get him more OT, but I think I will probably just keep it the same if we can’t start the preschool. I don’t know. There are so many things to choose from and so many waiting lists and trying to figure out the right combination is really hard. I’m sure he’ll be fine though.

Doing good!

The last time I posted I was really having a hard day. I don’t feel so helpless very often, but I think it’s best to be upfront with my emotions and feelings. It makes it easier to move beyond that. He has made so much progress since he started therapy and I know that he is going to do well in life. And most importantly he is happy. Last Friday he was at Grandma’s house and was reading a book and suddenly he knows all the animal sounds and said Duck! I have heard “woo woo” for a dog before and I think I remember hearing “moo” way back when, but this was far beyond and it was just really impressive. It just goes to show you he knows more than he lets on. I think that the new speech therapy is making a huge impact. I found out the next day that she’s been working on animal sounds since last week. I think I am going to try to continue that. I was thinking about flashcards or something for body parts and animals and maybe colors and shapes. I’ll have to think about it.

We are working on giving Thomas a little brother or sister. We’ve actually been trying since he was about 8 months old. I just started on Clomid this month since the doctor thinks I am not ovulating correctly. Hopefully this will do the trick. I’m getting a bunch of tests done this week to see how my hormone levels are and also to see if I have insulin resistance. I have a good chance of that with family history of diabetes and having gestational diabetes with my first pregnancy. The doc suspects that I have PCOS, so it will be interesting to see if that is the case. At least there is stuff that they can do about it. I am crossing my fingers that the Clomid will work and that this is our month. Scott and Amy just had their baby a week ago today. I still have not met little Hailey, but I can’t wait. She looks just like Scott in the pictures and she has these huge pinchable cheeks. I just can’t wait to meet her.

We are going on vacation in less than a month now. I’m really excited. I can’t wait to see everyone again. I also can’t wait to see the mountains and do some hiking. It will be interesting with Thomas, but it’ll be fun. There are a bunch of things for young kids to do in the area too, like pony rides and bumper boats and mini golf. We’ll find something that he’ll like I’m sure.