Piper loved it, of course. Max was more interested in running away from all the fun ;)
But overall, I'm chalking it up as a successful family outing.
Saturday, April 30, 2016
Baby Animals
So we took the kiddos to the Cross E Ranch this morning to see some baby farm animals. Holy cuteness. I didn't get to spend too much time taking pics of all the cuteness since my little escapee needed wrangling much of the time.
Piper loved it, of course. Max was more interested in running away from all the fun ;)
But overall, I'm chalking it up as a successful family outing.
Piper loved it, of course. Max was more interested in running away from all the fun ;)
But overall, I'm chalking it up as a successful family outing.
Tuesday, April 19, 2016
Where He's At
So, back a couple of years ago, I was doing updates on Max's birthday, just tracking his progress. Then the autism dx became a realization, and it seemed his progress all but halted in many areas. So just for my own FYI, I'm updating with a progress report... His last 'update' was in 2013, posted HERE. And it links to the older posts.
So, for 2016, here is where we're at. Max is 7 years old:
(I have no idea how tall he is or how much he weighs, because we can't ever get him to sit/stand still enough at the dr's office to measure.)
He has mastered everything on the gross motor chart, with the exception of riding a tricycle. He still doesn't get how to pedal ;) No biggie.
Max is still not potty trained, but we'll revisit that this summer ;) 4th time's the charm, right?
Everything else is mastered. Yay Max!
But, oh, then comes the communication piece. Ugh. This has always been our struggle...
He has never 'jabbered expressively', or otherwise ;) And is still for the most part non-verbal.
He is saying more sounds/words, but his articulation just isn't there and if it's out of context, I have no idea what he is saying. But he is making progress. He will use a two word phrase on occasion, like "Ba, down!" when he is ordering me to sit down ;) He has regressed or changed many of his sounds/words. He has shortened a few things, like 'Bobby' for mommy down to just 'Ba'. Same with Daddy to just 'Dat'. He also uses a different sound for the word headphones that sounds a lot like "Piper", so it gets extra confusing. For a while he could say his abc's pretty well, but now he often skips letters and repeats some as well. But he is making more attempts at new words and attempts at repeating things I ask him to. He still rarely speaks spontaneously, but more when asked to repeat a word. Or I'll ask "Max, do you want to eat?" and he'll repeat "eat". But that doesn't mean he wants to eat, necessarily. He just repeats the last word you say, if it's familiar. So again, kind of confusing. He has a couple of words for food - eat, apple, guh or gilk (for milk) ips (for chips), and some garbly sounds. He is requesting specific foods sometimes, like apple, but then when I bring it to him, he realizes that isn't what he wants and changes his request to ips ;) We're also working on saying 'yes', which is more of a nasal sound rather than a word. But it would be helpful when asking about choices.
He aged out of the waiver program that was getting him ABA therapy, so we're taking a break from outside school therapies at the moment. He really made big strides from the ABA therapy, and I'm so grateful we were able to get it for 3 years. I also think we're all ready for a break. And ready to refocus on potty training this summer. He made great progress with peeing, but never pooped in the toilet (well, once - but that was a fluke, as he was laughing, and well, it just happened the one time). So I got tired of washing poopy underwear several times a day, and bailed. So I know he at least gets the peeing part. But until he gets the pooping part, I'm keeping the pull-ups on (or Good Nites specifically if anyone is wondering what to do after your kid grows out of the actual pull-up sizes) ;)
I'm just so thankful that Max is such a happy go lucky kid. Yes, he has quirks up the ying yang, but he is rarely aggressive. Sure he has meltdowns with his various sensory issues. But once he is out of sensory overload, he is instantly back to giggling.
If he ever stops running/bolting, we'll be in heaven.
Serious love for these kiddos!
So, for 2016, here is where we're at. Max is 7 years old:
(I have no idea how tall he is or how much he weighs, because we can't ever get him to sit/stand still enough at the dr's office to measure.)
He has mastered everything on the gross motor chart, with the exception of riding a tricycle. He still doesn't get how to pedal ;) No biggie.
Everything else is mastered. Yay Max!
He has never 'jabbered expressively', or otherwise ;) And is still for the most part non-verbal.
He is saying more sounds/words, but his articulation just isn't there and if it's out of context, I have no idea what he is saying. But he is making progress. He will use a two word phrase on occasion, like "Ba, down!" when he is ordering me to sit down ;) He has regressed or changed many of his sounds/words. He has shortened a few things, like 'Bobby' for mommy down to just 'Ba'. Same with Daddy to just 'Dat'. He also uses a different sound for the word headphones that sounds a lot like "Piper", so it gets extra confusing. For a while he could say his abc's pretty well, but now he often skips letters and repeats some as well. But he is making more attempts at new words and attempts at repeating things I ask him to. He still rarely speaks spontaneously, but more when asked to repeat a word. Or I'll ask "Max, do you want to eat?" and he'll repeat "eat". But that doesn't mean he wants to eat, necessarily. He just repeats the last word you say, if it's familiar. So again, kind of confusing. He has a couple of words for food - eat, apple, guh or gilk (for milk) ips (for chips), and some garbly sounds. He is requesting specific foods sometimes, like apple, but then when I bring it to him, he realizes that isn't what he wants and changes his request to ips ;) We're also working on saying 'yes', which is more of a nasal sound rather than a word. But it would be helpful when asking about choices.
He aged out of the waiver program that was getting him ABA therapy, so we're taking a break from outside school therapies at the moment. He really made big strides from the ABA therapy, and I'm so grateful we were able to get it for 3 years. I also think we're all ready for a break. And ready to refocus on potty training this summer. He made great progress with peeing, but never pooped in the toilet (well, once - but that was a fluke, as he was laughing, and well, it just happened the one time). So I got tired of washing poopy underwear several times a day, and bailed. So I know he at least gets the peeing part. But until he gets the pooping part, I'm keeping the pull-ups on (or Good Nites specifically if anyone is wondering what to do after your kid grows out of the actual pull-up sizes) ;)
I'm just so thankful that Max is such a happy go lucky kid. Yes, he has quirks up the ying yang, but he is rarely aggressive. Sure he has meltdowns with his various sensory issues. But once he is out of sensory overload, he is instantly back to giggling.
If he ever stops running/bolting, we'll be in heaven.
Serious love for these kiddos!
Friday, April 15, 2016
He's 7
Max is 7.
Not sure how it happened. But here we are.
The birthday post.
I debated about a Wiggles cake or Peppa Pig - his two faves at the moment. I realized a couple of months ago, that he finally recognizes tv characters! Not just while they're on tv (or the iPad), but when they are in the form of a toy, or stuffed animal!
After scouring Pinterest, it seemed the Wiggles cake would be easier, especially since Wilton makes a 3D car pan ;) So Wiggles it was.
And he LOVED it! He was mesmerized. He didn't eat a single bite, but he turned it around and around and giggled and giggled. And, he even blew out his candle for the first time (with a little help from Dad, but hey, at least he knew what to do and tried).
I actually ended up making the car out of rice krispy treats as some of the cake pan reviews said the cake didn't cook evenly in this pan. So I set the molded rice krispies onto a regular cake.
I Googled for images of the old Wiggles and just printed them as pictures to put on the cake. Max said hi to them and was pretty sure they should be talking back to him ;)
We had the fam over for Easter dinner and birthday celebration.
He loved his presents. He really gets the opening thing now.
Peppa Pig stuff. A big hit.
After the party, he wanted to play with his cake on the floor.
He took it up the stairs to get it away from the dog.
He laughed and laughed at those silly Wiggles in their big red car ;)
And then he started disassembling it...
And a shout out to Folex for getting red food dyed frosting out of the carpet ;)
On his actual birthday, we took fries to his class to celebrate, since he doesn't do sweets. They were a big hit!
We tried to sing Happy Birthday to him before school (which he loved on Easter with the fam), but he didn't want any part of it. Ha.
After school he came home to a new bike. He loves it, but has no clue how to pedal. I think we're actually going to take the pedals off and make it into a balance bike for now.
Happy birthday buddy. We love you to pieces!
Not sure how it happened. But here we are.
The birthday post.
I debated about a Wiggles cake or Peppa Pig - his two faves at the moment. I realized a couple of months ago, that he finally recognizes tv characters! Not just while they're on tv (or the iPad), but when they are in the form of a toy, or stuffed animal!
After scouring Pinterest, it seemed the Wiggles cake would be easier, especially since Wilton makes a 3D car pan ;) So Wiggles it was.
And he LOVED it! He was mesmerized. He didn't eat a single bite, but he turned it around and around and giggled and giggled. And, he even blew out his candle for the first time (with a little help from Dad, but hey, at least he knew what to do and tried).
I actually ended up making the car out of rice krispy treats as some of the cake pan reviews said the cake didn't cook evenly in this pan. So I set the molded rice krispies onto a regular cake.
I Googled for images of the old Wiggles and just printed them as pictures to put on the cake. Max said hi to them and was pretty sure they should be talking back to him ;)
We had the fam over for Easter dinner and birthday celebration.
He loved his presents. He really gets the opening thing now.
Peppa Pig stuff. A big hit.
After the party, he wanted to play with his cake on the floor.
He took it up the stairs to get it away from the dog.
He laughed and laughed at those silly Wiggles in their big red car ;)
And then he started disassembling it...
And a shout out to Folex for getting red food dyed frosting out of the carpet ;)
On his actual birthday, we took fries to his class to celebrate, since he doesn't do sweets. They were a big hit!
We tried to sing Happy Birthday to him before school (which he loved on Easter with the fam), but he didn't want any part of it. Ha.
After school he came home to a new bike. He loves it, but has no clue how to pedal. I think we're actually going to take the pedals off and make it into a balance bike for now.
Happy birthday buddy. We love you to pieces!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)