New Year...New Things A Happenin'

Nick starts his Occupational Therapy on the 7th-we have been waiting for this for 11 months!! I still cannot believe it took that long! Yesterday I ordered some chelation drops for children and a hair test to determine if he has heavy metals in his system. We have such a difference in him after the clay baths, that we wanted to see if it will get even better after he gets the drops. He is still very much autistic, but I have read that heavy metals can also affect digestion-and Nick has lots of issues there. I am still waiting a response from his doctor about the comprehensive digestion stool analysis-maybe looking further into his digestive system will lead us to more clues about him. As for Nick, well, he is still just our Nick.. :) People still think he is adorable when he goes up to them and plays "hide and seek" from mommy or daddy in the stores.

Wednesday night we did not do much. I went over to the neighbor's for a while and chatted with them-Mike stayed home with the boys. I came back home and spent the last few minutes of 2008 with them. Nick went to bed at his normal time-no sense in having a super cranky 4yr old the next day with everyone else who was tired.

Thursday I went to Safeway and bought more rice milk for Nick since we had run out. I also found some gluten free/lactose free Pedia Sure. Nick loves the regular stuff, and I had not noticed if it was gluten free/lactose free before, so I bought it. He had some of the regular stuff last week, and he also had some pretty narly diarrhea a couple of times-so maybe that was the cause. If so, then I know the poor kid really cannot handle milk. Lactose intolerant maybe??

Friday we took down all our Christmas stuff! I was ready to see it go. Now things are back to normal, and we can get on with 2009. We went and bought some storage cabinets for all the gaming crap that we have(i.e. controllers, games, and the other crap that seems to accumulate with that stuff). We also bought a dresser for Nick! It's only been almost FIVE YEARS since he graced us with his presence-I guess he is here to stay..LOL! Nick was having fun walking beside the cart. I rarely ever let him do this when I am out alone with him; he likes to run and it makes things very difficult. It is almost to the point where he will need one of those leash thingies-he is just getting too tall for the baskets. It is hard to get him in and out of them because his legs are so long. But, when we are all out together, we usually let him walk. After we got all the stuff, we headed to Quizno's for dinner. They are familiar with us there and know Nick. He was enjoying every minute of this and was "silly-talking" the whole time. There really is no other way to describe it-it is Nick's own made up jargon that he does when he is happy. He had two pieces of the Quizno's tape and was in heaven. It felt like we were a normal family. We were eating in peace, and Michael was astonishing us by eating all the hot peppers he could tolerate! We all had a great time!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

2009 already??!! Where on earth does the time go? I just have a couple of "resolutions"

1. Get more melatonin We ran out last night. I was scraping the bottom of the bottle to get the few drops that remained. Nick continues to wake up in the middle of the night laughing uncontrollably. At least for now, he stays in his room.

2. Get more rice milk Hopefully we can find an open grocery store to get more of this milk.

3. Stop getting toys that speak Spanish Nick got one of those for Christmas. It speaks both English and Spanish. Right now I am listening to "Old Macdonald" in Spanish. Nick barely speaks English-all we need is for him to learn Spanish and start talking to us. I have a feeling he will though. It sounds a lot like his own made up silly-talk that he uses on a daily basis(he says what sounds like "ehnurlygurd")

4. Try to understand Nick more I am talking about inside and out. I want to find out what is going on with his digestive tract, have him tested for heavy metals, and some allergy testing. Even though these things likely did not "cause" him to be autistic, they certainly are not helping him any. Especially his digestive problems. If we can just find out the cause of that problem, it will be a great year. Poor kid is plagued by mushy,loose, or runny stools 90% of the time-something is going on.


As for what "causes" autism-we may never narrow it down to one thing. I think that Nick was autistic from birth. He may have started out seemingly "normal", but on the inside things were already going awry. It is possible that he was never able to tolerate certain things in our environment; and on the surface it initially started as a bad case of eczema. I have since read that eczema originates in the gut. So, that was one thing. Nick also seemed to me like a very "floppy" baby. I could not put my finger on it exactly, but he was not sturdy like Michael was, despite him being bigger. Maybe his body was never able to excrete things like heavy metals-then he gets vaccines; which his already sensitive system just could not handle very well. I think ALL of these combined play a part. Why not? We are a society that has become filled with people who have allergies, irritable bowel syndrome, anxiety, depression, etc. Someone has to wonder if things in our environment are getting to such a toxic point that our bodies cannot handle it? These are just some of the areas my mind wanders to occasionally. I believe all these things could be a factor in this whole autism mystery. But, what do I know? I am just a mother to an autistic child who has been LIVING this disorder for almost five years.



TV. I am sorry, but if TV caused autism, then Nick would be perfectly fine. In fact, Michael would be the one with Classic Autism if that were the case. TV does not cause autism. End. Of. Story. More on autism myths later.

Little Brother vs. Big Brother

This morning started out very serene; much like the winter landscape photo on the post below. The boys woke at 8am and wandered out to the living room. I was still fast asleep until around 8:30 when I hopped in the shower. Then it was on to the job of opening up all the presents. Nick left that up to us-all he wanted to do was play with the stuff once it was out. I think he was a little too overwhelmed-but he handled it beautifully(aka...no meltdowns)Since things have quieted down, seems Nick is silently taking stock of the goods. He has been wandering over to Big Brother's pile of goodies and giving them the eye. He has even started the "sneak attack" approach. A certain forbidden item has caught his eye and when Big Brother is not looking, Nick does a quick snatch and runs to a part of the house out of view. Once the two meet however, it's "game on". Michael snatches back, Nick once again waits til Michael is distracted and the game continues. I could watch this for hours...it is like a game of chess...with Nick silently plotting his next move.

Happy Holidays!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday! This time of year always tends to make me a little sad. For the simple reason of just autism. There are two times of the year that really do this to me: Christmas, and Nick's Birthday. Don't get me wrong, we still celebrate and have loads of fun, but it becomes blaringly obvious that we are still so far behind. I know I should be extremely thankful for all that I do have; but dang it, I just wish Nick could enjoy things like the rest of us-if only for just a day. He DOES enjoy things, I shouldn't say that he doesn't, but, one day I would like to hear from him how much he wants to bake some cookies,or, he wants hot chocolate after sledding-simple things like that.

We have had a few tantrums since school has been out. Poor kid, he got thrown into a family who likes to do things on a whim sometimes,and it rocks his little world. Yesterday he got mad because he had to stop riding on the sled and get in the car. He screamed all the way to the store. Today he was flying off the handle for most of the morning-the smallest things would upset him. His schedule is all flipped around, and we are doing things we don't normally do because it is Christmas.

By the way, Nick loves to go sledding. We found out the other day when I took both the boys out in the snow. We have had about a week full of winter storms, and there is about 6-8" of snow on the ground. Nick LOVES to walk in it, put his hands in it(of course, he discovers it is wet and then promptly wipes his hands on my sweater with such a look of distress that I have to laugh) and let it fall on his face. We are supposed to get 1-2" tonight, and another 1-2" on Christmas Eve. We are even supposed to get some on Christmas morning; so I am super excited. This will be the boys' first "White Christmas". We don't have much planned for the big day itself. Open presents, play with our new toys, and enjoy the day. For one day I plan to just enjoy the day and not think about anything but my three men. Happy Holidays Everyone!

It's Beginning to look a lot Like Christmas....

Michael and I took a walk down the street, and I thought the tree was pretty.

The side of the house. I-5 is right on the other side of that cement wall.

Michael. Nick was standing in the doorway inside the house. He does not care too much for the snow.

Looking down our street from the driveway.

Our snowman was getting weighed down with the real stuff!
This was our first snowfall of the season.

Deck the Halls.....& our house!

Here are some pics of the house and our tree. I decided to take some before the rest of the lights went out..LOL! We lost one string during yesterdays storm.

Taking the boys to Target; and remembering why I shop online in December!

Today I had to take Michael to Target so that he could pick out a birthday present for his friends' party this evening. Temperatures were hovering in the upper 30's, so it was time to break out the heavy duty coats. We said our goodbyes to daddy; and were off. During the 15 minute ride there Nick manages to take off the brand new shoes that we bought him last week. We have yet to find a pair of shoes that he cannot wrangle out of. Not even the lace-up high tops. They might buy us a few more minutes at most;but they too come off. He has also managed to take off his socks, and his jacket. A regular Houdini this one is! We get to Target, and I spend the first few minutes outside putting clothing back on my four yr old. Today I am very thankful it is not raining!

We walk in and the store is chaos with all the holiday shoppers. I give it 20 minutes before we are on the verge of meltdown. I opted for a carry basket instead of a cart and told Michael to get it for me. Hoping against hope that this was not a decision I would regret. We had barely made it to the toy aisle when things started to fall apart. Michael accidentally hit Nick in the head with the basket; and Nick was wailing.
"He should watch where he is going! It is not my fault!" as I console Nick, who is carrying on like he has lost a limb. "Say you're Sorry!" I tell Michael. "Tell him to watch where he is going!" he retorts back. "Say you are sorry or you are not going to the birthday party!". He forces his lips to say "Sorry". We continue on with our journey-trying to think of what the kid would like. Michael is a few steps ahead, I am back with Nick who is poking at all the bright packages with his pointer finger. In my head at this very second I am thinking this classifies as a "point" of some sort(and no, I don't care what all the experts say right now, after TWO YEARS this is as close to a point as we have gotten; let me have this one.) Nick finds one of his very favorite needle toys-and I have to be the bad guy to say "All done" and take it away. You can imagine what comes next. Total loss of control. Fortunately, through the years, I do not get as flustered as I used to. Afterall, I have endured years worth of countless meltdowns-nothing shocks this momma anymore. After a few minutes, Nick regains composure(maybe realizing the fact that we are not about to leave?) and finds an Elmo doll to comfort him the rest of the way. Fine. Whatever. Works. We find our items, and we are even carrying home some birthday ribbon(don't ask, it was cheaper than the Elmo doll ok?) We made it home in one piece, and we accomplished our goal. It was a successful day!

Brrrrrr!

It is finally starting to feel like Christmas around here. We have had rather warm temperatures for the past few weeks now, and I was wondering when it would start getting cold. Well, we got our answer: This weekend. We are also going to get snow to go along with those lowering temperatures. This week was pretty nice and stress free. Last Sunday we spent the day putting up our Christmas tree and lights up on the house. Unfortunately, the wind and rain today blew out our icicle lights, so they are no longer lighting up. Not sure what happened, as all the connections still looked good; but oh well. We still have the other lights that we put up, and the yard decorations. I had the day off work, and I was able to catch up on the laundry and grocery shop before the weather crap really hits the fan. Nick had his usual appointment at UW this afternoon. Today was the first day that it was an hour and a half long. He did fine the first hour, but by the time the extra 30 min was up he was ready to go. He was stimming quite a bit, and not used to the longer sessions. I am getting sick of waiting for his OT to start. I was told last Feb that it would only be "4 months" to wait, now, here we are nearly 1 year later and no OT. I have called this place numerous times recently, only to get brushed off. Needless to say, we are looking elsewhere. Makes me so sick because I feel like we just wasted all this time WAITING; only to be let down AGAIN. Today, Nick's therapist at UW gave us some info for some FREE OT-to start in Feb. FREE is for ME! She gave us the paperwork to fill out, and the best thing is; we do not need a Doctor referral!! I also called up the special ed tutor today, and she starts next Thursday. Things are going to get better-I just have to tell myself that. We think he is finally ready to start potty training-we are going to concentrate on that when school is out for the holiday break. Wish us luck!! I will post pictures of snow when we start to get some this weekend.

Happiness is......

..Coming home after a long day at work and finding two boys sleeping peacefully
..Putting a tank full of gas in the Jeep and having it cost only $30 (that alone made me very happy! Last summer it was costing anywhere from $70-$80 bucks for that sucker!)
..Having the dishes done (the boys did them in the afternoon..much to my amazement)
..Having two containers of Take the Cake ice-cream in the freezer(currently everyones fave, that's the reason for the TWO containers)
..Being home before 7pm!(yeah for eight hour shifts!!)
..Having a happy,smiley, silly talking Nicholas all evening(I could just squeeze the livin' daylights out of him when he is like this..it is uber cute!)
..Seeing my two very energetic and noisy offspring chase each other around the house laughing as hard as they can
..Kissing each of their cheeks as they go to sleep
..Looking at the back of my little boy's head(his two swirly cowlicks are just too darned cute)
..This silly face
..And this innocent face

Are you Tired?

"I'm not tired, are you tired?" was what I got from Nick for the first hour I was home. Every time I would answer him, it would spur him into going another round of "I'm not tired, are you tired?" Today at work, I got to talk on the phone to Nick before he went to school. Much of his conversation was scripted; whereas he would repeat what was said to him by daddy, but we still had a conversation...Nick style. Yesterday I came home to 4 small picture frames lined up on the floor in the hallway. What was even better was that the pictures were lined up right underneath the frames. We have come to love these sorts of things created by little man-when you see it, you know that he was there and he left something how he saw fit. All we did until it was bedtime was just walk over it-including Nick. We appreciate his contributions to our home-however odd they may seem to others. Now, we have to go help Nick take the dishcloth off the ceiling fan...

Finally Friday.....

With the refridgerator as his canvas; he created his own masterpiece this morning. He has been the grumpy artist all day as well. He was getting tired of being in the house all day just as I was, so I took him with me to Safeway to pick up two toothbrushes. You know, to replace the ones he so eloquently dunked in the toilet. They are electronic ones too, so we will see how that goes. Maybe he will like it better and let me spend more than 5 seconds on each side. He enjoyed the chance to go "Bye Bye" with mommy. He ran to the couch so I could put his shoes and jacket on, and then stood patiently by the door while I got ready. The whole way there he was gleefully chatting to himself in the backseat. It was wonderful to hear him go on like that. When he does that, I know he is happy. Michael had been getting on his nerves all day long it seemed. Nick was getting in the way a lot, and Michael would tell him "NO", then Nick would fling himself to the floor and start crying. This went on all day long. One of those days where I am happy to put them to bed at night!

A week to be Thankful; and a few phone calls

The week started off with a phone call from Nick's developmental Dr. I was not home at the time, so Mike answered the phone. We all know how guys are when they are supposed to take messages...Mike could not remember which doctor called back. Luckily, I had also e-mailed this doctor, and he wrote me back. I had told him about Nick having mushy and runny stools again, and how it had been going on for a week and we had gone through a period of normal stools after modifying his diet some. He asked if Nick had seen the GI doctor at Madigan yet(yes), and proceeded to tell me that unless he has pure diarrhea, mushy is still considered normal. How can we go from weeks of formed BM's, followed by weeks of mush and it be normal?? If he were sick I could understand. But he's not sick. I just want to know what is going on internally with my boy! I have not e-mailed him back yet, as I had other things going on the past couple of days that needed attention as well, but what do you all think of this?? Any comments would be greatly appreciated!

Also, we got a call back from his neurologist Monday. She wants to see him again in December. She thinks it is probably nothing to worry about as well. After all, don't a lot of kids have 15-20 spasms in a 2 hour period?? I am beginning to think everyone thinks I am making stuff up. She talked to Mike and he said he had not noticed anything. Of course! Nick is at home, and not in a stressful-chaotic-environment. From what I have read about seizures(and I have done ALOT of reading the past week) is that they can cause muscle spasms, and can happen in periods of high stress or excitement(a new school routine would fall into that category..don't ya think??) Anyway, his therapist at UW saw these episodes as well, and she mentioned that maybe he could see their neuro. I asked her today while we were there and she said that she would check into it.

I sat down with her today before we started his session and we discussed upcoming goals we would like to see reached. We want to revisit the whole potty training thing-but not the way we did it before. We discussed more about "trip-training"...where we take him to the bathroom every hour or so and have him sit on the toilet for a few minutes. We will see if the school will move their classroom to one that has a bathroom before we attempt this-because the school needs to be involved in this whole process. We are seeing positive changes in Nick as well. He is really trying to communicate with us on a new level. He is wanting things, and when he cannot reach them, he comes to get us, and looks specifically in a certain direction and will say things like "I want toy" or something of the like. He is able to follow a point and get things for us, and he even will help put away the groceries.He is able to undress himself and get in to the tub, his receptive language has just exploded this year and he is understanding nearly everything we say now.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and that means it is a day to be thankful for what we have. I am thankful that my children are healthy.
I am thankful that we have not dealt with any major side effects of Michael's meds
I am thankful to have a wonderful hubby who has been by my side through thick and thin.
I am thankful for my family-who have supported us throughout this journey.
I am thankful to have a few really awesome friends. I give a shout out to my "peeps" Dana, Cristina,Kristine,Susan, and Elyssa-you all are wonderful!!
I am thankful that Nick has not flushed the remote down the toilet,although numerous submersions have deemed in in-operable.
I am more thankful that the cable company is giving us a new remote for FREE
Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoy the time with your families!

Back to Neurology we go

Good thing I did go to Nick's class today. He had about 20 more of those twitching and jerking episodes. I think the teachers noticed, but were not really comfortable yet to say anything. I am going to go again tomorrow and see if I can get a video of him doing it. None of the other kids were having these sort of spasms and it seemed to happen in the high-stress environment vs. being at home. So, I will be calling his neurologist again tomorrow.

Don't Mess with a Special Needs Mom!

Ok, here is what has been going on for the past few weeks. I got a call a few weeks ago saying that Nick would have to transfer schools. The reason I was told this was because there were too many special needs kids from our neighborhood going to this particular school and they were going to set-up a class for them at a school closer to us. I had already dealt with this school before when Michael went there-so despite being told that it was a "great school", I knew otherwise. Needless to say, the transfer was forced upon us, and we were to start there on the 17th. That gave the school TWO WEEKS to prepare for a special needs class. TWO WEEKS.

Fast forward to last Friday when all of us mothers met with our kids teachers and had a chance to see the classroom. The room itself was not made for these kids. There was no theraputic equipment such as a big bouncy ball or swings. Fine. Ok, we can deal with that. I asked if there was going to be a registered nurse at the school-I was told no. Wait a minute. "My daughter has seizures!" one of the moms exclaimed. No nurse-just one of those "health clinicians"-someone to basically put a band aid on a scraped knee. Strike one for the school. There is no bathroom connected to the classroom-our kids must be escorted down the hall, and use the school bathroom. No problem for typical kids. But, our kids are not typical are they? The trip to the bathroom has a greater chance of resulting in soiled clothes-not to mention the fact that Nicholas himself cannot tolerate public restrooms(which we are working on, but it has been a slow process). Plus, our kids like to be independent just like other kids, and having an escort to the bathroom just makes them stand out even more. Strike two. The school is not fenced in and is next to a major road. Our kids will not be able to participate in recess. Which they were doing at the other school-participating with the typical kids. My son won't have recess. "What's the big deal?" you might ask? Well, my kid deserves recess just like the other kids. Nicholas is more like typical kids than he is different. He likes to slide, and swing, and climb around just as they do. So, due to this little oversight by the school, him and his classmates are cooped up in the classroom the whole time and have no opportunity to mix with other kids their age. Not to mention that the school does not seem to have a plan once these kids get past pre-school. I have joined with the other moms and we are wanting to meet with this principle so we can discuss these things in depth with him.

I am angry. No one gave much thought into this at all. They uprooted these kids from a school they loved and was prepared for them, and put them in a school that was not. No thought was given to these children at all. No thought beyond "we'll just shove them in a room with toys and attempt to teach them". Why would they think any more of Special Needs kids? At the meeting, it was also said that the teachers would escort our kids to the classroom upon being dropped off. Great. Why is it that when one mom dropped off her child this week, that the teacher that was there just let him wander off?? Another mom had to step in and guide him to his class. Mike and I have some major issues with this school not being the least bit educated on autism-which is a major problem if you have a so-called Special Needs program don't ya think?? I am going to Nick's class today to observe what goes on, and hopefully us moms can get with this principle very soon.

A Picture is Worth 1,000 Words

This is what happened to my lap top while I was at Wal-Mart

Please help me to find the humor in this?! Calgon, I am BEGGING you to take me away. Far, far, far away.

Genetic Testing?

The neurologist called yesterday afternoon to give us the results of his EEG. He does not have seizures, but she did go on to say that he certainly does "shake quite a bit". She thought that we should have some genetic testing done-but that we could wait until after the holidays. She said the new test they have out cost like $1400.00
We have not done any of this type of testing yet on Nick because I questioned whether or not it would really matter? It would not change the way he is, so why bother? I used to think that, anyway. Now, I am rethinking that decision. We need to know more. I don't know what the tests will reveal, but if it could possibly help him more, then we are all for it. I want to know why he can do things so easily one week, then the next week he can barely do them at all. Two weeks ago, he could not identify any of the items that we had been working on for so long. Today, he identified those items, plus a couple more. It is the same sort of dance all year. He will have a good run of it for a few weeks, then, suddenly,it will be gone for a couple weeks and we have to gain these skills back. It is a frustrating process. We know that he knows these things, but he has trouble breaking through his stims. You have to physically hold his hands still, and hold his body to stop it-and then you can see him "come back". I wish we could get those under control so he can focus better.

It is too soon whether or not I can honestly say that the clay baths are helping. I do know that he has been quite irritable since the last bath Wednesday night; but he has also been more connected. We will see if he continues this, or starts regressing in a couple of weeks. I know it does something because I put my hand in the tub to swish the water around for a few minutes, and about an hour later I felt queesy and very tired(which were listed as side effects).

Well, I need to get Nick off to bed, and make Michael something to eat. Good night fellow bloggers!

Lots Happening Last Week

Boy was it a busy week! Thursday I went and did my work out in the morning since the afternoon would be busy. We did a spin session on a stationary bike, and do those ever kick your butt! After that, I went and did a review with my fitness manager for the end of the month.

Then, it was time to get a little housework in before Nick got home from school. Not very much happened with that, but it sounded good didn't it? At 12:30 we had an appointment for his EEG, and we are running late as always. I did not want him to go on an empty stomach, so I insisted on feeding him before we leave. And if any of you know Nick, you know it takes FOREVER for him to chew anything. I mean, he chews noodles like 45 times! We get to Ft. Lewis, and what do ya know? I get pulled over for a random vehicle inspection. Why today? Thank goodness they said Nick could stay in the car while they checked it out. We get done with that, drive to the hospital, find a parking spot(a miracle in itself) and check in. A few minutes late. They hook the leads to Nick's head, and we are under way with the test. He was pretty good during the test, due to the fact that I had also gone out that morning and bought him some little toys to keep him busy. We are now waiting on the results from the neurologist.

Friday was spent working on Nick's halloween costume, along with therapy. Here are a few pictures from Halloween!


Nick going trick-or-treating

Enjoying his costume!

Making the costume. Four strands of battery operated Christmas lights.

The whole family got involved.

We are keeping the costume for next year, and might add some things to it. Everyone commented on it! They all that it was very neat, and the kids who saw him were going "OOOOOOHHH WOW! That is COOL!"

Snapshot Sunday

Taken yesterday after our "family run". All the boys went with me to do some interval training at the track. Michael and I each did about 90 sit-ups and push-ups, as well as running 2 miles of intervals. Nick, followed behind us with Daddy and did about 3/4 of a mile himself! Maybe he will be a track and field type of guy?!

From Babyfood To Roast Beef

This time last year it was impossible to get Nick to eat ANY table food. He would not even let you get near him with anything that he deemed "No Go"; which was basically everything. I was at the end of my rope, and since doctors could not give us any advice, I turned to our speech therapist.

Nick never explored anything with his mouth as a baby. Turns out that this is a necessary milestone when it comes to eating. He was also opposed to messing around with food with his hands; which is also a necessary evil when it comes to eating. At the same time babies are making a mess with their food, they are developing their mouth for the task of chewing. Also, Nick did not give two craps for what we were eating. In other words, along with not developing the skills needed for chewing things with texture, he also did not care that he was eating different food than we were. ALL these things combined,plus his autism-made it very difficult for us to introduce new foods. We spent the early part of this year with just ONE piece of cereal. After weeks of "playing" with it,he finally put it in his mouth and ate it! In my mind, we had just climbed Mt. Everest.

It seems impossible to think that less than a year later, babyfood is a thing of the past. Nick's faves are now things like waffles,pancakes, hot-dogs, Mac-n-cheese, and fruit cups. Last night he ate roast beef-and enjoyed it. We still face lots of issues regarding food-it takes him forever to chew anything; and new foods can be a challenge to get him to try, but he DOES it. YAY Nicholas! Way to go my sweet "bubby".

Baby Steps....

That is the name of the game for Nick. We take baby steps towards progress. Big goals are broken down into numerous smaller goals. A few months ago, we had to lead him by the hand in order for him to go find his cup so I could fill it. We would lead him to it, bend him over, and with hand-over-hand prompting he would pick it up and we would lead him by the hand to the kitchen counter. That was a few months ago. It takes painstaking repetition and sometimes he would fuss about doing it, but the payoff came this week. He told me he wanted milk, I told him to go get his cup. He went into the livingroom(I am still in the kitchen) and came back with cup in hand and said "Look!" I don't think I could have had a bigger smile on my face. My boy brought me his cup. On his own. It was glorious. He did so many new things in the last few days. He now will do the hand movements to "Twinkle, twinkle,little star", and other songs, and he asked his first question yesterday! He asked "Where's daddy?" after Mike had walked out of the bedroom. My jaw hit the floor, and we immediately started playing "Where's daddy?" and went to find him. I get so excited when we can see measurable improvement. Cognitively he is maturing, and it is like a lightbulb has been turned on. I gave him a bath yesterday and he saw his reflection in the drain. He looked at it intently and then said "HI Nicholas!" We could never really be sure if he recognized himself in things like mirrors,etc. But now I know he does, and to me, that is a huge step cognitively. It was a great week,and we are hoping to see even more progress next week!