Drawing

Christopher joined his classmates in a drawing exercise for near 15 mins.
This is his master piece!

Kind of reminds me of an ink blot.  What do you see in it?  

"He'll grow out of it."

OK this one's been brewing in me for awhile now.  Sometime this past week or so I had a conversation with an elderly women close to our family.   During the conversation she said "I was so glad that he warmed up to me, we had such a nice visit.  I have been thinking a lot about him and I just know that he'll grow out of this.  He's not like the other boys with Autism."

WHAT?

OK - I just smiled and said "Thank you, I hope you are right."

BUT - What I am really thinking is you are so ignorant to what you are saying so I will let it go.  However that said the part that hurt the most - does he have to be different?  Does he have to out grow his Autism?  (Which is not possible!)

We except Christopher exactly as he his, no different than we except our other son Daniel for exactly how he is.

You don't outgrow Autism.  You either fight it or embrace it for a lifetime and maybe even a combination of the two.  Might he over come more challenges than others with Autism? Maybe.  But how do we know.

Each day I see, hear, or experience mini milestones from Christopher as he continues to grow into his own person.  I choose to love him right now for who he is and choose not to imagine our future.  It is impossible to know what that will look like.  It may be better, same or worse than my hopes & fears for his future.

I believe my energy is best spent on TODAY. 

Bye Bye Crib Bed.

So when he wasn't looking I removed the crib bed that was set next to his bed as an extension.  Transition complete. I think - so far he's been playing in his room and has seemed to notice or care - we'll see what happens at bedtime.  Well with a formal transition to the big boy bed you got to have new big boy pj's right? Yep - Sponge Bob of course!


Here's a flash back photo.

Visit at Poppy "Deer"'s House

Getting into EVERYTHING.  Nothing goes untouched.  Go go go go.  Only time he stood still was while Mommy made him take a bath at Poppy's before heading home for the night. 

Classic

Playing with cars at Auntie Kate's New Dance Studio - Currently under construction.

Classic! Mommy said no face while shopping at the Home Depot for supplies for Auntie Kate's big move. What he saw was a Lightning Mac Queen floor mat.   

Snack at the ball park.

Eating Cheato's at the ball park while big brother played ball.  Without even asking he takes his snack right to the picnic table to eat.  It was really windy so I got lots of snuggle time.

Organized Clutter - Is that possible?

So we started of the new school year organized.  Most toys now kept upstairs.  Just a few select items still down stairs.  Good thing I took a picture because now almost three weeks in and this joint looks like a bomb went off!  How does that happen? Oh, yeah! Two boys!

Left Homework / Right Movie

New schedule getting you down?

This was just 5:30pm one night.  At 7pm when he hadn't woken up yet I scooped him up and put him to bed.  We didn't see him again till 6am. 

This was Sunday afternoon.  Slept here for 1 1/2 hours.

Fun at school

Drawing in my book. 

Say Cheese!

I see red.

I like school.

I am so cute!

Time to wake up friends!

This is Christopher's quiet space box, he's sharing it with a friend here.  So nice of his teachers to provide him this important space for him to go and regroup, decompress, and relax.

Brooom, I love cars and trucks.

Peek a boo

Hi. This is fun.

Heimlich Maneuver

Daniel choked on his breakfast this AM.  OMG - still shaking over this.  It took 4 or 5 good squeezes to dislodge.  All the while in my most curdling scream shouting "HELP ME, HELP ME, HELP ME!" To get Dan Sr's attention.  Christopher climbed himself into the TV entertainment cabinet shouting "No" while this was all going on.  Pure mayhem.  Thankfully all is OK now. 

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?  Click the link below to learn for yourself what to do.

Link:
Heimlich Maneuver

Why does he have to squeal at me?

Yesterday we were early for drop off.  So we join the before school group in the cafeteria and played with some fun toys.  Christopher had been playing with a castle, when a young girl went to take it for herself Christopher began to in her words squeal.  I told her for him that he had been playing with it and wasn't ready to share.  She asked me "then why did he squeal at me?"  I explained he was still practicing how to use his words and that sometimes its hard for him.  She accepted that and continued to play for a moment with us before moving away to another activity.

The "squeal" has become so normal that I honestly don't often even think of how others see it.  Though to many it probably sounds all the same I actually can tell by it's tone and delivery what he really is trying to get at.  

Safety First

So a big fear of mine is losing Christopher, or that he will wander off . . . or  . . . .

So in an effort to be proactive I created this document to have in each car, each bag, what ever.  I even spoke with our local police department and he was pleased to keep on file and appreciated  the information. 

I know crazy and a bit ocd but it makes me feel better that in the face of pure confusion I will at least have this to turn to. 

For obvious reasons I have removed all actual info for this posting.

Hello my name is Christopher and I have Autism.

My Mom & Dad  are Dan & Jennifer.  I also have a big brother.

His name is Daniel, but some people call him Hawk.   I like to wander at times and so sometimes I might forget my way back.  You might try and ask me questions but I can’t answer you.  I might know what your saying or I might not.  Please be patient with me I am a very fun loving little boy that loves to jump, climb, play with trucks & trains, and eat ice-cream cones.  I was born Aug 2007, so that makes me 3 years old.

My family and I live at Address Here

If you need to call my family because I need help call Mommy first.

Mommy’s Cell 000-000-0000 

Daddy’s Cell 000-000-0000 

Hawk’s (Big Brother)Cell 000-000-0000

Mema (Mommy’s Mom) Cell 000-000-0000

Auntie KK (Mommy’s Sister) 000-000-0000

My family doctor is DOC NAME.  Her phone number is  000-000-0000

I now go to school at the Unamed Elementary School 000-000-0000

I love you.

Words we heard this weekend.

Can you say I Love You
I LOVE YOU

Later . . . we tried to repeat for Daddy
Christopher can you say I Love You to Daddy?
NO I LOVE YOU

Christopher what are you doing?
I DON'T KNOW?

1st Day of Preschool

I think he did way better than I did.  Wow that was really tough on me.  I actually fought tears as I got in
the truck to leave.  I never cried dropping off his brother or watching him get on the bus.  I did cry when Hawk graduated preschool but that was cause there were so many wonderful people that we had to say good bye to.  I know that Christopher will do fine, but still this just feels different.  So many little things that I could not possibly explain that make things easier for him that the school will have to figure out for themselves.  Also they may find different and better ways to handle those situations.  Sigh. I can't wait to go pick him up.  

Sleep eating

On our way home from the Grocery Store today.  He got about two more bites with his eyes closed before dropping the cookie in a full sleep coma. 

Poopy on the potty - Almost!

This morning he told me he had to pee.  I raced to get his potty chair and slid it under main stream.  Then just now he announced poopy, so I removed his underwear so that the mess was less.  He proceeded to go to where his potty was still in the kitchen and stood on it. YEAH!  I grabbed my cell phone and took this shot quick while praising him. He will probably want to kill me later in life for sharing this big event.  But oh well - this is exciting stuff!