Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Ready for school

Tomorrow is the big day! I am so ready for school to start. Michael is excited as well. I think he was getting bored these last few weeks...he kept asking when does school start?? We went to the school today after soccer practice to see what room he will be in, and who his teacher is. We found out his teacher is Mr. Harmon--which I was happy with and we have heard nothing but good things about him. Even Mike was happy. He is in room 11, which is right across from the basketball courts. He knows almost everyone in his class, and in that respect, I am glad that we have been here so long that he is actually growing up with most of these kids.

Nick started back with his therapy today, and Tam was enthusiastic about his "readiness to work". He walks right into the room and plops his little bum right into the chair! Next Monday they will be doing a lengthy speech evaluation on him(from the last time I talked 3 weeks ago, I got the impression they will be checking out the muscles in his mouth to see how developed they are) and they have asked that I be there as well as Mike. That means I will be asking for another day off from work--which they probably will not like, but this is not going away anytime soon, and I want to know what they will be doing with my son. That evaluation will determine if he needs more than the 1 hour or so per week of speech that his Dr has already prescribed. They want Nick to be ready for pre-school when he turns three. He will still get therapy, he will just be a part of the school system then. We got to talking to some of the parents on the soccer team today and it turns out that one of the fathers works with school aged kids on the Army base here. He was wondering how we got Nick diagnosed so early, as he said most kids cannot be truly diagnosed until they are in school. We explained that Nick is rigid about routines, how he twirls and spins things constantly, he flaps his hands, does not speak..etc. We spent a good 15 min talking about autism. When alone, Nick looks like any other two yr old (a bit eccentric though), around kids his own age though he is about a year or so behind socially, get him in a restroom and he goes berserk, he has meltdowns when we have to take him places suddenly and without warning. We explained this was part of the reason that we really only bring Nick out of the carseat after practice is over and the majority of people have left. He does not do well with chaos! Anyway, we got the chance to educate people a little bit about our guy. We also do the same with Michael. People think he is 5-6 yrs old, and then Mike will say "No, he is 7, and he takes hormone shots every night to grow", and then it usually falls into "And this is Nick, he is autistic...he goes to therapy everyday". Funny, a few months ago he could not even say "Autistic" and now he is holding conversations about it! Our children are quite unique,but life is always interesting around here, and we keep a sense of humor about it. I mean, it is hard NOT to laugh when your kid is rubbing his head on the pretty yellow line, or dancing with his arms in the air because the wind is blowing, or is trying to jump but only gets one foot in the air at a time. I am also proud to say that Michael is now an old pro at taking shots. I tell him he is the bravest kid I know, and I am so proud of him. We had a good day today--we will see what tomorrow brings.

Here are some pics of Nick and his new fave toy:



We got a spinny top from Burger King....it's a BIG HIT!




Sunday, September 03, 2006

The End of Summer

It is officially the last weekend of summer. We have done all of our school shopping, and are ready for the onslought of next week. We have enjoyed these past three weeks when we had not a single thing going on. Reality sets in full mode on Wednesday--Michael starts back to school(2nd grade...I cannot believe how time has flown!) and Nick starts therapy again on Tuesday.

Today I took the boys to the Tacoma Mall where I went and got both of them haircuts. I don't take them to the BX when I am alone because Nick freaks out even going NEAR the barber shop. I also tried to remember if any place has an oscillating fan-he hates those as well. I fully expected him to scream the entire time. The lady asked me if it would be the clippers that bugged him--I just said "No, it could be the lights, the sounds, the feel of the place". Luckily, they were not very busy, had only one oscillating fan(which we were not near), and the lights were ok. I also came prepared-with a trusty spinny toy. All in all, it went very well and I actually ENJOYED both of them!!

I took some "before and after" pics of their DO's:



Michael....Before




Michael....After




Nick....Before



Nick....After(Yes, I will be sending Jennifer this outfit too; I just wanted him to wear it ONE more time)

We had Friday off for a "Family Day" and Michael and I went to see "How to Eat Fried Worms"--Yes, it IS an actual movie, and Yes, it can be disgusting. I have learned that the more disgusting something is, the more Michael wants to see it. A ride is only cool if it makes you want to puke; kiddy rides are now pretty "lame" and he wants to go on the fast rides. He truly is counting the days until he is 48" tall-then it's open season for him! I just cringe at the thought of my "baby" going on all those scary rides where there is not a seat belt tight enough in my opinion. Don't mind me; I am just a neurotic mother!

I am adding some more pics to the picture album page. Hope you enjoy them!