12.27.2007

christmas





I haven't posted much over the past couple of weeks. The holidays have been crazy.

Zoe's out of school on break. We registered her at her new school last week. She'll start January 7th. She's not excited. I keep reminding her that it's only temporary - until we move to Dallas in June. Then she'll have to start another new school. Hopefully she'll be there for a while.

Jackson's growing like a weed. Had his 4 month checkup a week or so ago. I think he's about 14 lbs. now. Everything seems to be doing well with him. He's meeting the developmental milestones he's supposed to meet. So, we just keep watching him. Probably too much.

Holden's doing well. I think the clinic based therapy is helping him a lot more than I thought it would. He's responding well to the therapists and he's learning a lot. Biomedically, I'm pretty sure we have the MB12 shots to thank for his recent improvements. I've seen more with those, than with anything else he's started. If I don't write these down here, I'll forget. So:

12/22/07 - We had a family friend over. She's a Behavior Analyst. Holden was making great eye contact with her. He eventually came to get all of us, led us to the couch, sat us down, and then ran off laughing and smiling at all of us. If we moved, he would continue to do the same thing. And look at us for smiles and laughs. He initiated a "game", and as my friend said ... not only was it a "game", but a SOCIAL game where he didn't need a tangible reinforcer. Just us laughing and smiling with him seemed to be enough incentive to continue. He's never done this kind of thing before, so it was so so great to see.

12/25/07 - Christmas morning was good. He opened a few presents himself, and even was interested in some of the toys. Of course, after a while, he found the paper and would shread it, drop it, lather rinse repeat. But, all in all, he did great. We went to Disney (Magic Kingdom) on Christmas day. We rode: Aladin's Magic Carpet, Pirrates of the Carribean, The Haunted Mansion, Jungle Cruise, Peter Pan, and It's a Small World. He LOVED them all. Laughed the whole time and was really really focused. I didn't know how he would react - but it was so worth every penny it costs to get us there. He had such a good time. So did Zoe - riding Space Mountain for the 1st time (TWICE)! I'm so glad we went.

12/28/07 - ABA at the clinic. His therapist said he did great. Actually got a few verbal imitations out of him. This is big because we haven't been able to get him to this step yet, although it's been a goal for some time. She also told us that we've been chosen to receive part of a grant for hours at the clinic. Hopefully, will be 4 more per week, making his total there to 8 per week until Part C runs out on his birthday (April 10th). This would be so good for him, so my fingers and toes are crossed that we'll hear more about that soon.

As down and depressed as I had been feeling just before the holidays, I feel a little better now that it's all over. Holden did great. He enjoyed the lights, tree, presents, Disney, and Zoe also had the best time. Seeing your kids enjoy the holidays is just the best thing ever. I also started taking Prozac about a week and a half ago. I'm not really sure if it's making a difference. I'd like to think so, but I don't know if it's just the "high" from the holidays and seeing Holden have such a good time. Time will tell, I suppose.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

12.13.2007

damn

When we moved to this house (renting) from the last house (also, renting), we moved into a different county. Still, only about a mile from the last place though. We decided to keep Zoe in the school she was in, for a few reasons. She was going through a lot at the time with dealing with Holden's diagnosis and how it changed our family. She already had anxiety about the FCAT which is a standardized test that all 3rd graders MUST pass. Yeah, I know, no pressure on an 8 year old, right? Seeing as they start telling kids about this test in the 1st grade - doesn't help to scare the ba-jesus out of them. And, we are planning on moving after the school year to Texas, so I didn't want to put her in a new school for a year, and then have to put her in another new school for next year. So, yeah, she's been going to the same school and doing great. Honor roll! She brought home a letter from the school 2 days ago, telling us that we had to provide proof of residency in the county for her to continue there. Obviously, I don't have that, so she has to go to a new school. I hate it. She's being such a trooper about it, but I know it bothers her. And it bothers us and we now realize that we should've just done the right thing to begin with - either found another house to rent in our old neighborhood, or enrolled her in the right school before the year began. But, we didn't. Live and learn, right? I'm just so sorry for her. She loves her teacher, is doing so well, and doesn't want to leave her friends. I know she'll be fine, but still. Breaks my heart.

I don't say enough about her on this blog. She's such a wonderful kid, really. I love her to pieces. And the boys couldn't ask for a better big sis!

12.07.2007

mouthing

Holden was mouthing EVERYTHING yesterday. I sat with him for 30 minutes on the couch, just trying to keep his fingers out of his mouth. Pencils, toys, his shirt, paper, whatever he could find - was in his mouth. He had OT yesterday, thankfully, and they kept him for about 15 minutes longer than his normal 30 minute session. She gave him a vibrating teething toy and he used that most of the session and was still able to focus on what she wanted him to do.

Speaking of which. She had counting bears and the corresponding bowls. There are 4 colors - blue, red, yellow and green. She put red and green bears on the desk - with the red and green bowls. Using hand over hand, she showed him where the red bears went...in the red bowl. Then he picked out all of the red ones and put them in the right bowl. Then she did the same with blue and yellow. He picked out all of the blue and put them in the blue bowl. I thought maybe it was a coincidence, but she said it wasn't. He moved the other one's out of the way just to get to the color he was working on. Now, if he could just talk and tell us things!

Today he had ABA at the clinic for 2 hours. He's doing well there and I've decided to only sit in for the first 1/2 hour or so of the session. The remainder of the time, I sit in the waiting room. He does okay without me in there. His therapist said he was saying "mama" when I wasn't there. When it was time for him to come out, I went to the door and looked through the glass. He saw me and started running and smiling. Now that we're home he's very stimmy, but I think that's just because of the intense therapy he had this morning. He'll "even" off in a little while, I think.