Wow! I have not written anything in a very long time. Which, does not really matter, since no one reads my blog anyway. But, I think it might be helpful to write a few things down...
The babies turned two last week! It is crazy how time flies and also goes so slow all at the same. time.
Annabelle is a hoot! She has a huge vocabulary, more words than I can count. She puts two and three words together to create sentences. The phrase of the week seems to be "Sit down mommy" and "Sit down daddy" with an occasional please added on. Annabelle is potty training right now. She was really ready before our trip to North Carolina in June, but I did not want to deal with it on the airplane, so I waited. It may not have been the best approach. We are on day 3 and she is really doing well. But, I am not confident in her abilities quite yet. Luckily, Granjan is in town and helping out. Annabelle loves to play with her baby dolls and will push them in the stroller, feed them, and put them down for a nap. She also enjoys books and never seems to have had enough books read. She knows several letters and numbers. She knows "A" is for Annabelle and "J" is for Jack and "M" is for mommy and "D" is for daddy. She also knows a few more. She counts "1, 2" but is not very good after that. She can sing several songs. It is sweet to her her sing, "Tinkle, tinkle, tinkle, star, tinkle, tinkle, tinkle, star." She likes to tickle, chase, and laugh! She has two of her two-year molars coming in. Annabelle will eat anything on anyone else's plates, including mushrooms, onions, and all sorts of vegetables. She is also into meat and says, "mo, mo, meat daddy". Her vegetarian mother is not thrilled, but working on acceptance. Luckily, she has been healthy!
Jack is a sweetie! He is saying "ma ma", "da da", "eee" for eat, and doing the sign for "more" and "all done". He has been working on matching and puzzles. He loves music and will hum songs and do the hand motions. He is pretty good at "Trot Ole' Joe", which makes me laugh, since he hated it during music class. My favorite thing is when Jack will hold my hand and walk down the street. Jack was diagnosed with autism on March 28. We had previously started with OT and ST. He has been doing great in OT and his sensory issues seem to be fairly well regulated at this time. He used to freak out when there were loud noises or when we were in certain social settings, like music class. But, he is doing much better and we are working in OT on motor planning. He is getting ST through ECI and I am not impressed. We also have a 25 hour a week home based ABA program. It is finally going really well. He is making progress and mastering programs. We have also started some dietary interventions as well. We are soy and dairy free and will be gluten free in another week. Jack is just finishing a round of antibiotics and will then start a round of antifungals. We are hoping it will help!
I have made some wonderful "autism" friends since Jack was diagnosed. It is great to have people who understand some of the challenges I face due to Jack's issues. I have also (lost my mind and) decided to get my BCBA. If I am going to learn about all of this stuff, I might as well get a degree out of it. I am starting my first of five classes. I will work on getting my hours after I get in the routine of class. I have filed a law suit against ECI because they will not provide the ABA. We have court in a couple weeks and will see how it goes.
I am going to try and start writing a little more. It is good to track what is going on with the kids and also a good outlet for me. We will see how it goes!
