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.