Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to school we go ....

So the day has finally come that both of my babies, oops I mean, big boys are in honest to god real school. Of course I approach this with a bit of mixed feelings. Momentarily wishing that they were both still my cuddly babies, and part of me so proud of how mature and grown up they are.

Rowan is beginning his 2nd year of PPCD at his old school, and Aidan is starting PreK at his new school by our house. Now that they are both in they same ISD, I can begin to think about volunteering and PTA stuff. I hope that this year is a good one where they make lots of friends and develop, or I should say retain a love school and learning. I'm not worried about them making a good impression, Rowan's teachers already know and care for him, and Aidan is as always irresistible.

We took a few pictures, but they will have to wait till we have they developed since our last digital camera died on St Patty's day this year. I decided to take a 1/2 day off today so I could be with them on their 1st day of school. So now I am just waiting for 11 when they get out of school to pick them up.

Now our days will work like this ... 6.30 wake up, 6.45 wake kids, 6.50 breakfast, 7 dress, 7.15 leave the house, 7.30 drop Aidan off, 7.45 drop Rowan off, by sometime before 9 Mamma will drop me off. Then 10.45 pick up Aidan, 11 pick up Rowan, go home eat lunch, 4 leave to pick me up at work, 5 pick me up, 6.30 start dinner, eat by 7, play till 8, 8.15 bath time, 8.30-8.45 story & bed time. That is the most routine I have had in years !

Xposted at The little elephant in the room

We finally got the boys' hair cut ...

We're pretty bad about little things like this. We had been putting off getting their hair cut for awhile and then the other day I was going through the pics on my phone and I came across shots from their last haircut.

Those pics were taken on September 30, 2006

Well... better late than never!!

Rowan News

This will be a short post seeing how it nearly 3 am and I should have been in bed ages ago.

Last night (meaning Monday night) we went to a Parent Support Group/Child play group for kids on the spectrum (asburgers, autisic, pdd). It was a little intimidating but not overwhelmingly so (at least not for me - my grandma on the other hand I think got a little freaked out). But Rowan has a blast at the center for sensory play. They meet once a month covering a variety of topics. I'll be going back, but next time I think I'll take John & leave Mama at home. I don't think she's up for it.

Today (meaning Tues) we had double ECI appointments. The first was a sensory evaluation with the ECI Registered Occupational therapist. It went very well - it seems as though we are doing much of what he needs because of the great guidance we have gotten from his weekly meetings with Mrs.D. She tells us he is what they call a "mover", a kid who needs lots of deep pressure and movement therapy so we are going to start next week with a bi-monthly sessions at the Angleton ECI Sensory Clinic. I know that this is going to be a great thing for Rowan, since he just loves the stuff we have been doing so far. Its like he's saying YES- this is what I have been craving. One thing we'll be working on is his adversion to the forward swinging motions.

Well it really is past 3 now so I'll go -- signing out now for posterity, and before John wakes up and kills me for being on the computer so late ............

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!

Learning to see

I should be sleeping, but I just got Rowan back in bed. He had a night terror, you know the ones like  nightmares except they don't wake up from them. I hate those because its hard to soothe when they really aren’t even with you, and if you try to truly wake him, it makes it worst. Sometime because his eyes might be open you might think he's are awake and just scared, but he's not. He cries and cough that scared crying hiccupy cough, and I'll think that he just has a dry throat, but then I get him water and he doesn't see it, pushes it away, doesn't want it. So I hold him, he struggles at first, but soon he settles down and we rock. 5-10 minutes later he's relaxed under my cheek his breathing is clam and normal again, and I am left just thinking.

 John has blogged a little about our realization of the uniqueness of Rowan, I have so much to say but I always seem to put it off to another day, sometimes today seems hard enough with out adding to it. Yester day (Tuesday) was our first “session”, I guess you’d call it, with Ms.D the child development therapist from ECI. Our session are 45 minutes a week, 4 times a month, which is the max the program will allow. I don’t know if we are getting the max because they think he really needs it, or because we only have 6 months before he graduates out. Either way I’m glad and appreciate the time we will get. From the first time he met D he warmed up to her. He does that with a  select few people, so I am glad she was chosen for us. Already I am learning to see so much I guess I was blind to before. All these signs that things were not “normal” that I had just attributed to personality. He had sensory issues that had I know what I was looking at I might have seen even as an infant. I feel so fucking stupid to have missed it and I just keep replaying all the things that caught me as odd when he was a baby and realizing I should have brought it up to his doctor. I just didn’t know, and I thought, well different child different likes & dislikes. The stimming is a sign that he is overwhelmed, scared or frustrated. How could I not see that? I just thought he was being a goofy kid, examining his hands, jumping around. Sure he was different, but I didn’t see that he was needing something. My brave little man, so self reliant. I just want to come home one day and have him tell me “Mommy I love you, hold me” or even just “pick me up"

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My Incredible Family

I just got done watching The Incredibles for the gazillionth time and it was successful in making me miss my wonderful family even more.

I don't know if there's anyone out there that has not seen this excellent film but if not, don't waste anytime. Go rent it now.

Walking out of the theater we immediately drew comparisons between the baby, Jack Jack and Rowan. Even at that early stage we knew there was something special about him. He has so many talents yet at the same time doesn't exactly fit in with other children.


I guess we should feel blessed that he doesn't randomly burst into flames everytime he sneezes!





Our own little Jack Jack: Ro Ro

And at Jack Jack's age:

Aut TV

The folks over at Aspies for Freedom have a webchannel for people and families coping with autism.

All programs are created by children and adults who have been diagnosed with autism and wish to "strengthen autism rights, oppose all forms of discrimination against aspies and auties, and work to bring the community together both online and offline."

Aut TV

Also:

Mozart and the Whale is a recent film starring Josh Hartnett and Radha Mitchell about two adults with Aspergers Syndrome falling in love.
It is written by Ronald Bass: co-writer to the Academy Award winning Rain Main, and directed by the Norwegian Peter Naess whose film Elling was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film

Click here to preview a few clips.

Autism Speaks

Autism Speaks has a heartbreaking short documentary about the difficulties in raising a child with autism entitled: Autism Every Day.

I highly recommend taking 13 minutes of your time to see how the other half lives.

Small | Medium | Large

Hopefully Rowan is not as severe as some of these unfortunate children are. We haven't even had him diagnosed. Our appointment is at 3PM on Tuesday August 22. Please keep him your prayers and wish him luck!

Random Pics Of My Ro Ro

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Ever since the baby gate came down Rowan thinks he needs to be in my bed every morning ... but I guess thats better than beingin my bathroom every morning, which he tried for awhile! ;)

Meet The Camera Hog

Potty Party

june 051
Originally uploaded by javaverses.

Its offical ... Aidan is potty trained, more details (and pictures) to follow soon!

We finally got the boys haircuts last weekend.

Aidan before:


And after:



(Both pics are taken with my phone so sorry about the quality)

Brandy's comment afterwards was, "Aidan's head looks smaller and Rowan's head looks bigger." Now, I never thought I could imagine Rowan with a bigger head but I'd have to agree with her.

Here's them falling asleep at the dinner table the next night:



Rowan was actually eating in his sleep in this shot. Hilarious ;)

Chalk for the new year ..

So Rowan has discovered the great joys of chalk tasting.

He tells me that the white is the best by far!

Aidan announces his intentions to wed.

Aidan & Hailen's Playdate

Dispite the date in the picture, these were actually taken by John, November 13, 2005 .

So after Hailen & her daddy, Tony, left Aidan informed me that she was going to be a Mommy and he was going to be the Daddy. --- Hummm, I thought, aren't we a little premature with this convesation?

Potty Training

We are potty training Aidan in ernest today! I bought a little timer and he has to try to go every 30 minutes, so far he has gone every time he has tried. We got a dry erase board to chart his progress, writing down the time, what he did, and when he has accidents. We are using Halloween candy as rewards. Damn it he will be potty trained by the end of this month I swear!

Halloween 2005

Why does Houston Halloweens always seem to be rainy? What ever happened to a dry crispy fall?

Anyways Aidan went as Darth Vader & poor Rowan was I guess best described as the Funky Bird Not A Chicken. He hated the hood (typical of his age, and the hood was heavy for a not quite 2 year old) and Aidan tired of the mask quickly. We got a late start because of the rain. It was 8 o’clock before we got to the 1st house. We went to the neighborhood behind Coffee O, like we have or the last 2 years. There is this one cul de sac street that gets really decked out. 3 Haunted garages, and lots of houses with decorations. It was fun. Rowan actually walked the entire time! He was so cute. He wanted to go inside every house and touch all things shiny! Aidan had an impromptu fight against his son – Luke Skywalker – funny thing is Luke looked older. We got home and I don’t think we had any trick or treaters, because our candy bowl was still brimming! Looks like well have a sugar high for weeks now! I’ll edit this with pick as soon as I get them developed! --- Ok here's the edit with pics!

Aidan's 1st Audioblog

So recently, I have decided to get Aidan involved in his blog. So as a treat today I let him record his 1st Audioblog. So check it out!

The Original Super Baby!

Just a little faster and I'll be flying!