Crystal Light

 
He's going to have that stain forever.

Orson and Murray and Maria and Maria and Anthony

 

Strolling

 
We have had a hard day with everyone, but especially Anthony. He gets really mad when we can't do exactly what he wants and he wants ridiculous things! He wants to rub his belly against my back all day! He wants me to go lie in the bed and say 'blanket' a million times when I have Veronica in the Bjorn! He wants to go for a walk when it's going to rain! On and on. We have had a lot of tears and recriminations today. Ugh.

Super Cute

 
 
 

Monkey Joe's

 
 
 
We went to Monkey Joe's today. I've wanted to go for a while, I've heard great things about it, but I'm (as usual) scared to take the two of them anywhere, especially Anthony. He has a had time with lines and taking turns, etc. As you can see, he had fun. We had some trouble later, he was trying to climb UP the slide, but we got it worked out. Then he wanted to take his Goldfish out of the eating area. AND once he found the large fans that blow up all the bouncy things, it was all over. But we were there about an hour, and I do think he had fun.

Eye Contact

 
...and they said kids with autism don't give good eye contact! He can be so funny and look how Maria loves him. He was up at around 4:00 this morning, so it should be an ... interesting day.

He finished his extended school year this week. He had the same teacher as last year, she is also the teacher that was at his first case conference, she's very good with him. Her assistant's name was Wanda and she, like everyone, fell in love with our Anthony. We were lucky because there were two teachers and only three students so he really got a lot of one on one time. Wanda would ask Anthony for a hug at the end of the day and more often than not, he would open his arms and fall into her for a hug. It was really nice to see. He will hopefully start at the ABA school in August. We are 99 percent sure he is going to start there and that it will be covered by his insurance. Anthony's teacher told me she wasn't sure about ABA because they don't do a lot of social stuff, since they do so much one on one work. I said I could appreciate that social skills were important, especially for autistic people, but until Anthony starts to talk, he really can't start using social skills, at least not in our society, and that's where we live. I hope and pray it works - I hope that he gets a little bit better communication and then I hope it gets better and better and then it's great. I really can't imagine having a conversation with him, or more important, saying "hand me that" and having him do it. I really want him to start working for me! :)

Those Damned Remotes

 
We can never find the remote we need, he takes them all over the house. He lost my Dad's tv remote the other day, it was behind the couch and curtain in their livingroom. He is a pain.

Ha!

 
They had been in the pool, I think. Laura asked me the other day if Anthony had a permanent red mark around his mouth from the Crystal Light and I guess the answer is yes! I'm glad they like that, though, rather than real juice or soda. I don't want them to have that much sugar and I really, really don't want these people to have any caffeine.

Ha

 

Better

 
But not great. He has only thrown up once today, and he's eaten some pretzels, so we're getting there. See how red his cheeks are, though? I am considering sending him to OT but I'm not sure. His hair is perfect, through it all!

Morning After

 
We kept him home from school today, he had some water upon waking and boom! threw it right up. He went to sleep late, because of his nap, and woke up early so he's not that well rested. He is not the kind of person who gets sick and just lays around.

Hostage

 
Does this look like a picture one would send with a ransom request? He slept for a few hours yesterday. There is nothing sadder than Anthony sick, to me. It is so hard for him to communicate and hard for him to understand us, and it is never more apparent than when he is sick. We finally started to see signs that he was getting sick after the third time he threw up all over me. Ugh. He started to be better around 4:00 yesterday, up until then he was throwing up everything he had (which was only water), seconds after he had it. What a day.

Father's Day

 
 
 
With his father, on Father's Day. If you look closely you can see that he is sick. We apparently didn't look closely because we were really surprised when he started vomiting all over us just shortly after this picture was taken.

Friday

 
 
 
In an outfit from Mike's mom, that she gave him for his birthday. He had a good day at school today, last week is the last week already and then we are on our own. And then the week after that Mike goes back to work. And then I go to the asylum. :)

Thursday

 
I guess he had a good day at school today, after a bad start. They were going to go out and play but it started to rain so they turned around and came back. You can imagine how that went over. We have had some good news around here about the possibility of getting insurance to pay for Anthony's ABA school but I'm not saying anything until it happens, we're all jinxy about it until then.

Tuesday

 
 
He fell asleep yesterday on the way to therapy, for like 15 minutes, and that of course meant he didn't go to sleep last night until God knows when. I wanted to get a picture of him in this outift, it looked really cute, but he wasn't (shock) cooperating. His teacher asked if we could keep him in a collared shirt, since he has been wearing his vest at school because he's so crazy, and the collared shirt protects him from getting scratched on his neck. This shirt is from my cousins Brian and Janet - he can't wear it during the school year because he has to wear solid colors, so I'm glad to get him in it this summer.

Edited to add his four year well child stats - he was 41 1/2 inches tall and 45 pounds. He's in good health and he was so good when the nurse took his blood pressure, I was impressed and relieved. He has been the devil himself since we got home, so there is never not a punishment, but at least he was good for a while.

Poor Anthony

 
 
He had a rough morning today. He went to sleep fine but was up before five and sounded just MISERABLE. He sounded like he was being tortured in there. I went in and got him around 7, I think, Mike had tried several times but he doesn't like to come out of his room in the morning for anyone but me. This is a new development and it STINKS since it's when I had been catching up on some sleep. I hope it doesn't last, he is definitely having some issues here lately. He's taken to covering his ears when he is unhappy, but not necessarily when something is too noisy. Today he asked for a drink, which means water, but when I gave him water, he covered his ears and ran away. His teacher told me he covered his ears when Dora sang today on something they were watching and she thought maybe it hurt his ears, but I don't think that's it. He makes much louder noises than that, and also, he plugs and unplugs his ears in rapid succession, like to hear every other beat of it? Ugh, who knows? I am really dreading July, when Mike goes back to work and Anthony is finished with summer school but it's not time to start the ABA place yet. Anyways. This t-shirt was part of Anthony's charity gift that he got at school this Christmas.

Anthony's Birthday

 
We had cake for his birthday on the night of his birthday. He wouldn't blow out the candle, just tried to grab it by the flame, so I had to blow it out quickly. He never ate any of the cake, either. Still it was fun and the cake was really good! My sister Laura got him a set of sheets, which he needed and she also gave him a jumping ball thing? Like it's a big ball and it has a handle on it, so you kind of ride it and bounce on it? It's super cute. Mike and I bought him some sidewalk paint, like chalk, but paint. Supposedly, he likes painting at school, we'll see.

First Day

 
 
 
Today is Anthony's First Day of School, kind of. It's the extended school year program, but it's much earlier this year than last year and it's also MUCH shorter. Last year I think it was five weeks and this year it's three. Mike just took him this morning, though, and he has the same teacher as last year and there are, so far, only three students in there so that's good. We are looking into him starting at the ABA school in July. I never got to say but here is what Anthony's teacher said about him on his last day, she sent a note:

It has been a pleasure having Anthony inour class this year. He has moved forward in many areas. He listens to directions and follows simple directions most of the time. He no longer runs out of the room and seems to enjoy school - he works a variety of puzzles and is beginning to use crayons properly. Most of all, he is using many new words, sounds and gestures.