Sunday, August 16, 2009

Escape Artist

This week was just plain crazy. It all started on Tuesday evening when I came home around 7pm. I pulled up the driveway and found a shoe propped in the front door. I came in and immediately asked Mike where Nick was. He said that he was in our bedroom with Michael. I said "Well, there is a shoe outside" and Mike answered "We were outside for a little bit today". He made his way back to the bedroom and I heard those dreaded words "Michael, where's Nicholas?!" and then "I don't know." We immediately began our search through the house. Bedrooms...Nope. Bathrooms....Nope. Livingroom & Kitchen....Nope. Backyard....Nope. No Nicholas. Now panic sets in. Where is he??!!Our only clue brings us back to the shoe propped in the doorway; he is somewhere out front. Wandering the neighborhood. He sees no danger in that; he just wants to be outside. Michael goes outside while I am still trying to fathom where Nick could be by now, and I hear the glorious words "There he is!" Nick was wandering around across the street in some other peoples yard. In just a diaper and t-shirt of course. And surely baffling the two ladies talking just a few feet from him. With Nick now safely home, our minds wander to all of the horrendous outcomes that could have happened. The main one being hit by a car. Nick has become very stealthy in escaping. He opens the door slowly, props it open with a shoe, and then closes it slowly. When I leave the house in the morning, I put up a baby gate in the hallway, so he only has his room and our room to go into. Nick has also tried to climb out his window. Yesterday our neighbor saw him getting his leg out his window and told her hubby (she was in her car, getting ready to leave) to tell Mike that Nick was escaping. Last night she came to me and expressed her concerns over otherwise well meaning people who don't know his condition, calling the cops. She knows we do everything we can, and that you can't possibly watch him every second. But she was afraid of CPS getting involved if that happened. It is becoming more difficult as he gets older and is more curious about things. Nick was never this adventurous before. We put the gate at the front door to prevent him from going out, but have not found a deterrent for his window yet. Fortunately he prefers to take the easy way out, so the door is preferred method.

He is also going through another hoarding phase. He will hoard food in his mouth for hours. Chewing it so much that it is nearly liquified. We are really baffled by this. It is very frustrating and takes an hour or more just to get a few bites in. Just one of those things that is very difficult to understand. Needless to say, our week has been challenging. We are finding out more and more of what Nick can do; and it is amazing to say the least. He apparently is learning spanish from his toys and even some chinese from TV. No kidding he has said words in both languages. One time at the store a chinese woman turned and said "He knows Chinese??!!" If she understood him, then apparently he can speak a little of it. My jaw hit the floor. He is also understanding some basic math. Iam talking very basic here, but shocking finding out what he really does know. He had four plastic toys strung together, he grabbed another one attached it, and said "Five!" It truly is amazing that with all his difficulties, he can pick up some of the hardest things easily. If there is a pattern to it, Nick will get it almost instantly. It definitely explains his love of letters, numbers, music, and there is even a pattern in foreign languages-and they have an added bonus of being sing-song like. He is even amazing his therapists. Of course I have to give them credit for his progress as well. He is constantly getting pulled from stimming and retreating while they are here. His tutors have done wonders. He has learned more this summer and made more progress in a few weeks than he did in his whole last year at school.

In other news, we are considering buying a house here while the market is so low. We have a few houses in mind and we are going to look at them today. In fact, I need to go so I can get myself and the boys ready. Have a great day everyone!!

3 comments:

Tammy said...

I can so relate. I can remember moving into a rental house about four years ago and at that time, my son didn't know how to open the door. I discovered that, one day, that he had learned, because he was across the street, with the neighbors, wearing only his pullup and t-shirt. From that day on, we had to use a key dead bolt to keep the door locked. Luckily, he has not discovered windows as a form of escape. Have you thought about getting the alarms that go off when a door is open. Not a big security system, just an alarm that sounds for you. You can attach them to windows and doors. I don't remember the name of it, but I have seen commercials.

Beans said...

wow....what a journey. how inspiring to others though. my daughter has autism......but it is mild. bless you on your walk.

Amy said...

Thanks Beans. I don't feel very inspiring though..LOL. Just trying to survive day to day stuff.

Tammy-the alarms may be next. So far, the gate is working and I think dh also set up a camara in the boys' room.