Aidans birthday

By now he's so spoiled I dont know how christmas is going to top this! Will updtae soon with party pics

Rowan Update

We started seeing an ECI therapist about 2 months ago. Ms.D is wonderful; Rowan took to her almost immediately, which is very unusual for him. We only have 6 months in the program so we are getting 45 minutes once a week. We set our goals, which are basically improving communication, and work on his sensory issues. We still do not have him diagnosed "autistic" but those we have talked to via ECI say that he shows strong autistic tendancies and he was admitted to the program because of "atypical behaviors" and under developed speech issues, as well as being all over the board developmentally (both above and below his age group). I'm still on the fence about seeking a medical diagnosis for him. Right now I think we are doing as much as we can, and I don’t see how a diagnosis would change anything currently. I don’t want it to hurt him later in life, and I guess we will cross that bridge if it becomes necessary.

I've learned a lot since we started this and I can feel Rowan & I growing closer everyday. We are doing deep pressure techniques and it is helping him clam down, and has reduced a lot of his stimming. He is bringing to do a lot more interactive play now, and one of the things we do is this thing where I make him hug himself and I say "I love Rowan". This weekend as I did it he turned his head back to look at me and said "I love Mommy" just like I had said the words. I absolutely melted!

Some other areas where he has improved are he now has begun demanding his share of attention. He has a brother 16 months older and when ever we were playing with Rowan and his brother and interrupted Rowan use to just walk away. Even though we tried to make him stay and interact he just wouldn’t compete with his brother. Now he gets mad and grunts! A rude awakening for big bro!

We are doing a brushing sensory technique that’s been helping too. Now he will actually bring me the brush and grin.

Ms.D has recommended trying out a gluten free/ casein free diet and seeing if it helps. We are going to try it, but it’s gonna be hard, if there are two things my family loves its bread and dairy. We already have a strange diet because I am a vegetarian (but no one else in my family is). Wish me luck, it's gonna be hard to cut it out!

I am so grateful to Ms.D & this Autism message board. Both have taught me to see so much that I was missing, and because I can see it now, I can help him now. While we are far from working miracles or anything, Rowan is already blooming.

Rowan, The Roller

I just found this! Somewhere around the age 6-8 months Rowan decided to be a roller, not a crawler. That's my boy, always gotta be diffrent!