Christopher had his first real birthday party with friends this past Monday night. His last three have been small family parties after church at McDonald's. He started school right after his 3rd birthday so this year he had classmates to invite. Christopher went to a classmate's party just a couple of weeks ago at Chuck E. Cheese. I had dreams of having his party at Pump It Up, an inflatable play place but it wasn't in the cards financially. It's expensive to host a birthday party. So I made a late decision to do Chick-fil-a and it turned out great. We had a good group of kids show up from school, church and family friends and they all seemed to have a blast. I felt a little bad for the other patrons who had to endure the noise in the play area.
His dad and I made the cupcakes and they turned out great! We had a Spider-man cupcake tree and offered two flavors. The kids liked the kid's meals and ice-cream and then we did presents. I'm glad we opened them there because it would have been too late to do it once we got home. Poor Christopher wasn't able to play with anything when we got home because he had to go to bed and then in the morning he had to go to school. What a crappy start to birthday presents! I had Mam-maw pick up some of them to take to her house so he'd finally get to play with stuff.
He got to celebrate his birthday again at school. He wouldn't wear his birthday crown but enjoyed the snacks I sent in.
One is his old teachers got to see him in action at the Chick-fil-a party to see how much he has progressed. Christopher was playing with his friends and I got him to talk some during the party. It's amazing to think my little guy is 4 years old now.
Walk 2011
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Friday, January 20, 2012
T.G.I.F.
What a week! We had Monday off for Martin Luther King, Jr. day so that was nice but it still made for a long week. Poor Christopher hated getting dragged out of bed everyday. Unfortunately, it probably won't last for the weekend. Since we can sleep in, he'll be up at 6:30 but I'll keep my fingers crossed.
The hand flapping has been a little worse this week and he even did the fingers in front of the eyes thing once. I haven't been keeping to his vitamin regiment, which is just a multi-vitamin and an omega 3. I haven't been consistent enough with it to know if it is making any sort of change. The omega 3 is supposed to help with brain development. Schedules have been thrown off since the holidays. He hasn't been to his Monday sitter since before the holiday and will finally go back to her next week.
I am very fortunate that we have been able to keep him off of a strict routine. We can get in the car and just go however, he may protest if we don't go the way he thinks we should go but he does well. The longest tantrums are when we go past the McDonald's or Chick-fil-a and he thinks we need to go there. But even those are short.
Our little man will be turning 4 soon. We are having a "real" birthday party this year. The last few have been after church at McDonald's and we would have a few family members come but that was also part of our normal after church routine. This year, I was able to invite his class from school and he does have at least one friend coming and also a couple of other friends he has made. I'm also taking on a new endeavor by baking cupcakes instead of ordering a cake.
The hand flapping has been a little worse this week and he even did the fingers in front of the eyes thing once. I haven't been keeping to his vitamin regiment, which is just a multi-vitamin and an omega 3. I haven't been consistent enough with it to know if it is making any sort of change. The omega 3 is supposed to help with brain development. Schedules have been thrown off since the holidays. He hasn't been to his Monday sitter since before the holiday and will finally go back to her next week.
I am very fortunate that we have been able to keep him off of a strict routine. We can get in the car and just go however, he may protest if we don't go the way he thinks we should go but he does well. The longest tantrums are when we go past the McDonald's or Chick-fil-a and he thinks we need to go there. But even those are short.
Our little man will be turning 4 soon. We are having a "real" birthday party this year. The last few have been after church at McDonald's and we would have a few family members come but that was also part of our normal after church routine. This year, I was able to invite his class from school and he does have at least one friend coming and also a couple of other friends he has made. I'm also taking on a new endeavor by baking cupcakes instead of ordering a cake.
Monday, January 16, 2012
I just need to say WOW!
After posting yesterday I went back and read the stuff from last year. We have really come a long way! I still have the same fears as described yesterday and saw that I voiced those before but when I started writing, Christopher had virtually no verbal skills. He is now talking in full sentences, using I, me and you, calling people by name...it is just amazing. Granted, there is still a lot that he says that I can't understand so we guess a good bit. But even with that he is patient and will say yes or no and repeat it if needed. Christopher is still pretty easy going though. After a while he will just move on to something else.
We have also come a long way in toileting. There are still a lot of accidents, I had to wash a new pair of shoes tonight but I haven't bought pull-ups in over a month. He stays dry at night and doesn't wet first thing in the morning, which is good because he still comes and crawls into our bed. Those were some fearful nights/mornings so as soon as he starts waking up we usher him into the bathroom. I'm not quite as worried now and will give him a little more time to wake up. We still have to do a lot of cues throughout the day to go to the bathroom.
Pretend play and cooperative play are also coming along. His sister is an elaborate story teller, and changes the rules of the game as she goes along, but he can play right along with her. They were vampires earlier today, but only when they had the fake teeth in.
Another amazing feat, today we had lunch out at a sit down restaurant and there were no meltdowns or attempts at escape! We did have the trusty Kindle Fire and he watched cartoons on it for part of the meal. His sister did complain that he had it, but it was working. However, the car ride wasn't as smooth. He has his own sense of direction and I was not driving the way he wanted to go. But like before the meltdowns or tantrums are still very short.
I just need to teach him the difference between a watering can (which we don't own) and a gas can. Back in the spring he poured gas on my mom's flowers to "water" them and while I was cleaning the garage today he lugged an almost empty can down over the hill to "water" them again. Fortunately, my can had a safety latch on it otherwise, the flowers would have gotten it by the time I got to him.
We have also come a long way in toileting. There are still a lot of accidents, I had to wash a new pair of shoes tonight but I haven't bought pull-ups in over a month. He stays dry at night and doesn't wet first thing in the morning, which is good because he still comes and crawls into our bed. Those were some fearful nights/mornings so as soon as he starts waking up we usher him into the bathroom. I'm not quite as worried now and will give him a little more time to wake up. We still have to do a lot of cues throughout the day to go to the bathroom.
Pretend play and cooperative play are also coming along. His sister is an elaborate story teller, and changes the rules of the game as she goes along, but he can play right along with her. They were vampires earlier today, but only when they had the fake teeth in.
Another amazing feat, today we had lunch out at a sit down restaurant and there were no meltdowns or attempts at escape! We did have the trusty Kindle Fire and he watched cartoons on it for part of the meal. His sister did complain that he had it, but it was working. However, the car ride wasn't as smooth. He has his own sense of direction and I was not driving the way he wanted to go. But like before the meltdowns or tantrums are still very short.
I just need to teach him the difference between a watering can (which we don't own) and a gas can. Back in the spring he poured gas on my mom's flowers to "water" them and while I was cleaning the garage today he lugged an almost empty can down over the hill to "water" them again. Fortunately, my can had a safety latch on it otherwise, the flowers would have gotten it by the time I got to him.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
What is "normal"?
Well, I got off to a good start and then it kinda fizzled out. Let's try this again.
All kinds of stuff has been going on, hence the absence. We do have an important day approaching. Our young Christopher turns 4 years old this month. One of the biggest challenges I have is trying to not look too far into the future. I can see how far he has come over the past couple of years but the unknown future still scares me. I know he is only 4 (almost) but I want to know if he will be in regular kindergarten, get a regular diploma, go to college, get married and have a family. It's hard to not worry about the future. It's so easy to settle on what he can't do and then be sad about it.
There are many days you wouldn't even be able to tell he was ever on the spectrum and other days when he's flapping or has that look in his eyes. Do you know the "look"? It's not necessarily the absent look but just a different look. For me, it's his autistic look. I know that autism doesn't come and go like the wind but Christopher is anything but typical, even when it comes to his atypical development. I'm at the point now that I don't even know what "normal" is for a 4 year old. Maybe he is acting more normal than I know and I just blow everything out of proportion.
I've had lots of different times when I thought "I should blog this" but then get distracted so maybe with this little restart I'll manage to write more often.
All kinds of stuff has been going on, hence the absence. We do have an important day approaching. Our young Christopher turns 4 years old this month. One of the biggest challenges I have is trying to not look too far into the future. I can see how far he has come over the past couple of years but the unknown future still scares me. I know he is only 4 (almost) but I want to know if he will be in regular kindergarten, get a regular diploma, go to college, get married and have a family. It's hard to not worry about the future. It's so easy to settle on what he can't do and then be sad about it.
There are many days you wouldn't even be able to tell he was ever on the spectrum and other days when he's flapping or has that look in his eyes. Do you know the "look"? It's not necessarily the absent look but just a different look. For me, it's his autistic look. I know that autism doesn't come and go like the wind but Christopher is anything but typical, even when it comes to his atypical development. I'm at the point now that I don't even know what "normal" is for a 4 year old. Maybe he is acting more normal than I know and I just blow everything out of proportion.
I've had lots of different times when I thought "I should blog this" but then get distracted so maybe with this little restart I'll manage to write more often.
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