Saturday, March 03, 2007

Nick clapped!!!!!


This is an old photo of him clapping at around 15mos. It was the last photo I have of him doing this, and I know he has not clapped in at least a year. It was one of the skills that he lost before being diagnosed. Today, at Michaels' game he clapped and said "YEAH!" I was so shocked that I just stood there looking at him. He was watching the game,shouting "yeah" and "Michael!" After saying his "peace" he went back to his happy shoe-less self,but for that moment,he was cheering on his big brother with the other parents and siblings. He spent most of the game like this though:

No shoes,no socks and absolutely loving it! I did put them back on at one point(just so you all know) but within seconds they came off again and then I just thought what is the point?? He merely tolerates shoes/socks out of necessity. He has gotten better about keeping them on in public places,but we still have times where we see him plop down in an aisle and begin taking them off.

Pre-school is going well. (Hmmmm,wonder if they have the same shoe episodes that we have?) I cleaned off Michaels very first backpack(a Dr Seuss one that is red,blue,and yellow) that he used for daycare(it is a tiny one!) and wrote Nicholas Weger on the outside. His name is right next to Michaels' faded out one. Michael was glad to hand down his old backpack to his little brother and just smiled at Nick. Thursday was the first day that he took the bus. Mike said he cried while he was getting on in the morning-he told me he felt very bad about doing this and even shed a little tear himself as he put Nick on the bus. He got very worried when 11am came and there was no sign of the bus to drop Nick off at home. We made a frantic call to the school to find out what time we should expect Nick as it was now almost 11:30. I pictured him crying,and being terrified and not being able to say anything. I was on the phone with the transportation people and they were trying to find out where his bus was. I can only imagine what I sounded like to these people! They told me "She is on Birch St. now, you might want to go outside" We went outside,and sure enough,his bus was right down the street. She pulled up and opened her doors and there,in the front seat, was Nick. He was just sitting there enjoying himself,completely unaware of our plight! Friday went much better for all of us!

Michael is doing better in soccer. Since Mike also took on an older team of kids, he has been practicing with them as well. He has even scored on them and stole the ball from them a few times-and they are at least a foot taller than him! He told me he gets bored playing with his age group and likes to play with the big kids. Which should not come as a shock to me since he has been that way since he was like 3 years old. He has always liked hanging out with the bigger kids. The big kids run the full field(8 and younger run half the field)and Michael does a good job of keeping up with them. His skill has improved drastically from last year and I have to admit,he is one of the best on his team with regards to controlling the ball. His main problem is that he is not aggressive,and we are trying to work on that. In other news,he has another loose tooth!

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Night Shift

I am adjusting to life as a vampire quicker than I thought I would. In fact, I think I really like this shift. I get off around 7 or 7:20 and have enough time to drive Nick to school. By the time I get home Mike is up and both boys are pretty much ready to go. This morning Michael was eating cereal at the counter,and the hunt was on for Nicks other shoe. Daddy had found one, and when I came in he was in the process of looking for #2. I found it in the playroom, and we got jackets on,sippy cup,a change of clothes, and we were off. I got a good word from Nicks teacher this morning. He feels safe enough to go to her when he gets uncomfortable. He holds her hand, and squeezes it when he feels the need to. Today he did not even cry when I left!!! At daycare I always had to leave him there screaming for me. I think he is going to do well in this school! It was good news to hear!!

I get home around 8:30 and then sleep until around 3pm. So, I am able to see the boys before they leave for school, and I tuck them in bed at night. As for work, we just all seem to work well together. Last night we were steadily busy until 5:30am. At that point, we were rather tired, and I just had the guys do a clean up, and get ready for day shift to come in. I am just hoping that we are allowed to continue with this shift schedule-it stinks when you get started on one shift,and then stop it after a few days. We are doing as much as we can do until we get too tired. Then it can become a question of safety, and we need to take a break for a while.

Mike and Michael are at soccer practice now. Mike has taken on coaching an additional team, and NO,I am not the Team Parent for both teams...I can barely keep up with our own team! Nicholas is here with me having fun playing with the blinds. Well, I am gonna get dinner finished and get the boys to bed. We are doing well this week.

Sunday, February 25, 2007

Piano Man



We caught Nicholas playing this little piano tonight! He really likes this toy-it is one of the only toys that he plays with appropriately. Not totally surprising since he just loves music. Tonight while he was playing the piano, he did not mind daddy taking his hand and playing a little melody...usually he hates it when you try this and pulls his hand away. Daddy joined him and Nick looked right at him-not to the side,up,or down,but AT him. He would listen to the muffled notes through a blanket,take it off and then listen again. He put the piano to his ear and listened that way, then he would put it back down and copy with his voice what was played. He would also lay flat on the bed and play the keyes. He wanted to hear the music in every way that he could-and hear the way it sounded in different ways. He must have done this for at least 45min. I think one of our next gifts to him will be a little piano that he can sit at. He just seems to totally "get" music. He learns everything if you put it to song-he hums and sings these little diddies all the time. Who knows??


Here is a GREAT site to check out!!
http://www.autism-help.org/

Please check them out! It is a great site about living with autism!!

We had Michael's first game today. It was bad! They lost 7-0. We have quite a few first time players, so they need more practice. The team we played today was "stacked"-meaning they put all the best players on that one team. Knowing this,we don't feel so bad. Our kids are good,they just need more playing time together. The problem is that we normally only have about 5-6 of them show up for practices! I think that is upsetting to Mike as he knows they need more drills and more knowledge of positions,etc.,but he can only do so much when they fail to show up for practices. Here are some pics from the game today.