Saturday or Sunday

 
I can't remember what day this was but Anthony and I went for a walk and then we sat on the wall at the condo building across the street. He has REALLY been getting in to this sit in that we do after our walk lately, God knows how long he would sit there if I didn't say "ready?" every 30 seconds to see if he will finally go home. It was getting cold (which is why I put his hood up) and then it started to rain and finally we left, but I had to carry him, which is getting VERY challenging! He has his thera-tubing here, his OT Mim recommended it. He has a habit of chewing on his collar, or whatever he can get to, so she thinks that if he chews on something a little more purposefully it would be good for him. Also, it's not as gross to me. This coat is from my parents, they sent it for Valentine's Day, or as my mother calls it, SAINT Valentine's Day. :)

Stealing his chew thing

 
Anthony fell asleep 12 hours after he woke up this morning. It's 2:31. :(

Dancing with Mike

 
They were really sweet together.

Dancing with Mike

 

Together

 
 
 
This day has ended up okay, due in large part, I think, to an early morning nap for Anthony and a visit from Mike's mom. She came up and Mike and I went to Lowe's to order these blinds for the kids' rooms and we got anchors for this pot rack my parents got me (with an Amazon card) for my birthday and a stake for the swingset. Then we went to lunch at Brugge which we love and we came back to happy children who had been outside for a lot of the early afternoon. So it was nice to get a break and they had fun, too. We barely got these pictures in, though, before Anthony took off!

Back to Sleep by 8:15 a.m.

 
 
Ugh. This poor baby. Couldn't he kill you? With his little feet sticking out from under the beanbag? I first heard him around 2:00 and I went in around 3:45 and he never could go back to sleep. I tried EVERYTHING I could, I sang, did joint compressions, rubbed his mouth the way the speech therapist at his ABA evaluation told me to (which was gross, as he mostly took the opportunity to lick my hand - eww), just ... everything I could think of, but when Maria woke up at 6:00 we just both went and got her. I had been sitting on that floor in his room for hours and when I went and got Maria, where did he go? He sat in the rocking chair! I had to sit on the ottoman. Chivalry, thy name is NOT Anthony. :)

Speech Therapy

I had to ask Anthony's speech therapist if I could post this before I posted it, but it's a super great note that she sent to me this week. We are very, very lucky that Anthony has the therapists and teachers that he has. We all love Anthony's speech therapist, who seems to really love and care about Anthony and we find it makes all the difference in the world. If we are going to get Anthony where he needs to go, I feel like these are the people we need. Anyway, here's her note:

So I know I said there was not going to be a speech e-mail this week, but couldn't resist writing to tell you that he was a chatty little man again today. He repeated "push" and "to the top" (totally appropriately)...independently said "hop" appropriately while we were hopping, and said "baby, I kiss it" (repeatedly)--now, this was not necessarily appropriate, but I just love that he's increasingly verbalizing. He lay down on the mat, closed his eyes and started to snore (pretend play!!!! gasp.) and then opened his eyes and looked at me--letting me know he wanted me to join him. He ran up and down the mats gleefully making eye contact. He just made my day. I'll send his progress note home tomorrow.

Outside, Thursday

 
 
Oh it's been a long week, I can't believe it's only Thursday! Anthony is on spring break next week, as I've said. I have no idea what we'll do all day but I just hope the weather is good.

New Wind Chimes

 
The other night I went to Big Lots to buy some clear Rubbermaid type boxes to put the contents of our closet in while we had the floors done and I found this chime. We have a neighbor across our alley who has them in his yard, which is gorgeous, and Anthony LOVES to run up and play with them, in fact it's a stop on our walk. So I bought him his own chimes and he doesn't love them like you'd think he would but I think he likes them which is good enough for me.

Anthony's Cell - New Floor

 
Poor Anthony - we don't keep much in his room because otherwise he chucks it around when he wakes up in the night. All of his books are way up on his closet shelf. We have to hang everything that's on the wall up HIGH so he doesn't bang at it in the night. So it's a weird looking room, kind of, but I am doing what I can! This is his new rug, I bought an orange rug for the door and another striped rug for another area of the room. We took these pictures quickly, Maria was ready for bed so we didn't have much time. We're really REALLY happy with the floors and I take it back about the flooring guy because not only did he finish today but he finished by like 1:00 or something. He brought THREE guys with him today. The only thing I am mad about is that one of them took down our smoke detector and left it down. I guess they had to use the saw upstairs because it was raining and they couldn't use it on the porch, as was his original plan. So I guess the smoke from the saw set off the detector and I don't care that they took it down (although if they had ASKED we could have just turned them off at the circuit breaker) but they didn't put it back up! Grrr!

New Floor

 
 
Here is Anthony's new floor. We're disappointed that this is the only room the jackass finished today but we're really happy with how it looks.

Guilt

 
This is not to make anyone feel guilty or anything, but here's a picture of Anthony, sitting and staring at a picture of my parents, saying "Grandma, Grandpa, Grandma, Grandpa". I told him they'll be home soon and he said, "For my spring break next week they'll be home?" I said, no, poor little autistic boy, they're not going to be home for your spring break, but the week after you're back in school they'll be back". I told him they have golf games to play and swimming classes to attend. :)

Sunday Morning

 
BOY they were both up early this morning! It was 5:45 when I heard him, or thought I did, and then I heard Maria's monitor turn on because she was yelling. Anthony stole her nuk and laid down on the flooring that we are having installed on Tuesday and Wednesday, for a minute I thought he was going to go to sleep but he didn't. I fear we are in for a crazy Sunday! I am looking forward to having the flooring finished but I am NOT looking forward to the install. I am hanging out at a friend of mine's house so that I can (maybe) get Maria to nap but it's going to be complicated - I'm not sure how Anthony will fare, going to a different house after school. We've only tried one time to go somewhere besides here straightaway after school and it did NOT go well so I'm nervous. BUT it will hopefully all be over on Thursday.

Blurry but Cute

 
He is having a good day today, even though I can tell he's tired. Laura came over which is fun and it's gorgeous out even though it's cold!

Look at that Hair

 

By the Swings

 

Tough Guy

 

Relief

 
Laura went inside and he thought it was me and he was FREAKING out, crying, etc., and I said Hey! Anthony! and he smiled this smile.

Climbing

 
He insists on climbing up the slide himself, he'll push you away if you try to help him. Then we he (finally) gets up there we make a big deal and say Yay, Anthony! Great job! So now he just climbs up himself and says "Great Job!".

What Now

 
This morning we first heard from Anthony at 5:00 but maybe he was up before that? I was in the kitchen for TWO SECONDS at around 1:30 and came back to find him like this. You might think this is not so bad, right? Because he has off from school today and Maria is napping at the same time and I am always complaining about how they never nap at the same time so I can get a break right? Well, you'd be wrong to assume that Maria is napping just because she naps EVERY DAY OF HER YOUNG LIFE AT THIS TIME. She is STILL not napping at 2:20! I swear to God, if the two of them ever talked I would swear they were in cahoots to make me miserable. I am going to be 41 tomorrow and I feel like I am going to be 81.

Sunglasses

 

Singing

 
and sliding.

Bag

 
They both love to put things over their heads. Laura's pocketbook has a long strap and he is *always* putting it around his neck. This is the bag I use to bring up the cloth diapers when I hang them outside, which I did today, first time in months!

Afternoon, outside

 
It's so nice that we can go outside that I have been wanting to cry all day in gratitude, I swear. It makes the biggest difference for us.