A Very Bunny Visit

Clearly, Fairfax, from Marissasbunny.com  (a site that promotes Infantile Spasms Awareness), was a bunny on the loose! He went from the east coast to the west coast. Now, he's on his way to middle America. Who knows where the wind will blow him next.

We were able to grab a latte with Fairfax, California style. He said he likes his coffee like he likes all the children he visits, SWEET!!



We also took Fairfax out for a Valentine dinner to Cheeburger Cheeburger where he was delighted to take a spin in a convertible.



We took him from San Diego to Los Angeles to pick up Grandma, then to the bright light city of Las Vegas, NV. Wish we could have gotten a night time shot of him on the strip, but we only went out at night once and he said he was so tired from the long drive, he wanted to rest in the stroller (we actually were so excited about the volcano, we forgot to get a shot of him).

Fairfax is enjoying the rare view of California's snow capped mountains.

Fairfax is helping to navigate.

Fairfax, in the middle of downtown Las Vegas

Fairfax had fun at Shark Reef Aquarium in Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas

We ended our visit with Fairfax with taking him to KIDS Therapy where Kaylee receives her occupational therapy and physical therapy.


We sure had a great time visiting with him!! Hope he has a safe journey!

Speech Parent Training

The class last night was great. For anyone more interested in learning about it, please visit their website. We have a small group in the class, only about seven families. We will have four visits from the speech pathologist teaching the class to film clips of us using the techniques at home. Tomorrow we film our intro video. I don't know if I will be able to post any of the clips, since the speech therapist will be maintaining all of them, but we'll see.

New Tuesday Activity

An old friend of mine had invited me to go for a walk/jog around Lake Miramar.  Kaylee and I were happy to oblige.  As it turns out, she couldn't make it, so Kay and I had a nice walk/jog on our own.  We rescheduled with my friend for next Tuesday, but I think we will make it a regular thing.  We can go straight from physical therapy to the lake.  

It is a beautiful 5 mile walk.  

This is the point where I started to run.  I had planned to run at the 3 mile marker, but there was no 3 mile marker, so this had to do.

This last and only straight away before you reached the parking lot. Has a beautiful view of San Diego.  You can see all the way to the beach on a clear day, which is about 16 miles away.

Kaylee slept through the whole ride and woke up at the end.  I ended up having to walk a bit during that last stretch.  I really need some arch supports for my flat feet.  Mark says it's because I'm old

A few more things regarding Kaylee.  As it turns out, we are holding off on the orthotics for now.  Yay!  One less thing to fight her on.  Her new meds are going well so far, but we haven't completely taken her off the Topamax, so we won't know for sure until a month or so from now.

I will be starting a parent training speech therapy class that is funded through the regional center beginning on Monday night.  It's a nine week course, so I'm hoping it will be helpful in working with Kay.  That in combination with scaling off of the Topamax (which can cause issues with speech), we are hoping to get Kaylee really talking in no time.  She is probably at about a 12 month level for speech, so it's not too bad.  She says about eight words consistently, including Mama & Dadda.  So we'll see how that goes.

Trip to Dr. Neuro

This was another easy appointment.  We've had a lot of appointments, but thank goodness they have been easy!  Kay got a clean bill of health from Dr. Neuro.  We are still scheduling her repeat MRI, since it's been a while since she had one (last time was when she was 5 weeks old).  He said he would like to see her pick up in the development department, but otherwise is satisfied with her progress.  He thinks with continued therapy that things will pick up.  He definitely recommended adding speech therapy to her regime.  

We have also decided to switch AED meds.  We are going to scale off the Topamax and try Trileptal. The Topamax has worked great, but the doc and I feel pretty confident that she has beaten the IS, FINALLY!  Yay!! We believe that the Topamax may be effecting her speech, since her cognitive skills are fantastic, but she just doesn't talk much.  She says less than 10 words at 18 months.  The only way to see if it's seizure or drug related is to switch things up.  We are also hopeful that she will finally grow some hair too (hair loss is another Topamax side effect).  Not that her baldy little head isn't cute, but it's sad when she wants to put bows in and brush her non-existent hair.  She rests all my ponytail bands and barrettes on top of her head and does a kind of "TA-DA".  It's cute ;)  So, hi ho, hi ho, it's off to the drug store we go this afternoon.  Hoping we don't get any static from the insurance company with the new drug, like we did with the Keppra.  Doc said he has had good luck with insurance companies and Trileptal, so we shouldn't have a problem.  So we begin our three week scale down today.  Here's the schedule:

Week 1- 3 pills at each dose time, 90mg per day

Week 2- 2 pills at each dose time, 60mg per day.

Week 3- 1 pill at each dose time, 30mg per day.

All the while she will be going up on the Trileptal.  So fingers crossed everyone!  The Trileptal seems to have pretty much the same side effects as the Keppra, which were minimal, so we are hopeful it will work.

On a side note about Dr. Neuro...we got Javi's EEG scheduled to get him checked out.  He will have a few hour, sleep deprived EEG in March.

G5 Extended Weekend Report

Hope you all had a great weekend!! How about that inauguration too? I wasn't able to catch it because we were in therapy, but I am sure I'll catch the highlights on the news.

So much to share about the weekend with it being such a long one. Friday night, we tried to go to Nickel City, a local arcade, but it was over run with teenagers by the time we made it there. Ethan had pooped out and feel asleep on the way and Kaylee was being, well Kaylee. We said we would try to do it on Saturday instead. Friday night after the kids went down, I went out for a bit to celebrate my friend passing his series 7 test.  I was the DD.  It was fun, ran in to another old friend from HS. 

Saturday was a lazy day, we played video games and hung out, went to exchange our cable box, finally!!  We had been with out cable for nearly a month because I didn't know that they were open on Saturdays and I never made time to do it during the week. We were going to go to Nickel City, but Javi has been so OCD about roller coasters and height requirements that we decided to forego Nickel City and pick out a new game, Thrillville, for the Wii. We did all our research online first to find the perfect "roller coaster" game for Javi. We also got Ethan a new GBA game called Sonic Adventure 3. Javi now has a new incentive system to stop "stimming" (flapping & clapping).  So he (his pic) will have to move up the roller coaster train to be able to play for 20 minutes.  Each car is worth 20min with out stimming.

Sunday we went to the beach for a bit.  It was a gorgeous day out.  We took out neighbor Audrey with us.  Here's some pics.  Of course we were home in time to watch some football ;)

Kids were tuckered out early from our day at the beach and went to bed early.  I was able to pop over to see a movie at my girlfriend Natalie's house.  We watched "Love, Actually".  It was really good.  I had been wanting to see it for a long time.  Mark had been working a lot this weekend, so I was on my own for evening entertainment.

Monday we had our usual therapy session for Kaylee, a play date at the park with Javi's friend, Rory.  Then we headed down to daddy's old stomping ground, Ocean Beach.  It was so beautiful down there!  I got some great pics of the kids with the sepia setting on my camera.  I had never taken pics with the sepia setting, so I thought I would give it a go.

Tuesday, we had our usual Physical Therapy session, to which Kaylee did absolutely fab in!  It is working much better for her to go back to work with Bonnie on her own.  Ethan and I sat in the waiting room (Javi went to dad's).  I checked blogs, he played and then we read a book together.  It was a team effort!  He is doing really well with the site words.  Then we had a play date with my HS friend and 3 of her 4 kids at the park.  Busy vacation weekend!!

Congrats if you made it to the end of this holiday weekend post!!  Hope you all had a great weekend too!!!

Kaylee Dances to Elmo

Kaylee was so cute this morning.  She was playing with her little Elmo toy and shaking her hips.  I love to see her dancing.  It gives me hope that I will someday have my little cheerleader.  I was in dance and cheerleading and I always wanted a daughter that would share the same love for dancing.  

Of course, I know kids do their own thing, but I think I can hope that I will have my little dancer for a few years while she is little. 

The therapist says that her love for dancing will really help her want to walk.  Maybe we can find a dance class where she is allowed to use her walker if she still needs it as a toddler.

On another note, I did speak with the service coordinator from the Regional Center.  He recommended a place in Poway (the next town) that sells gently used medical and handicapped assistance items.  I am going to try to see if I can find them on the web today (he didn't have the name of the biz).  They may have the posterior pedi walker I am looking for.  All her therapists agree that she will probably take off and run with a walker.  She is in to everything already, so I can only imagine.

The service coordinator also said to let him know all her measurements for orthotics and we can order them through the Regional Center.  Apparently, it's difficult to get a good fit for the shoe in an infant size and they have a place that does it.   Kaylee is still pronating her feet, which we thought over time it may correct itself, but it hasn't.  PT is going to see how she walks with hard bottom shoes before she makes a final decision.

Well, we are off to Costco in a few.  Going to do some cleaning and cake making today.  Have some friends and family that could use a little pick me up, so I am going to try out the cupcakes in a jar.  My friend Sharon makes delicious cupcakes in a jar and the most beautiful cakes I have ever seen, so we are using her recipe.  I may try a GFCF version too.

Sum it up...

Javi update on the school front...

Contacted Javi's teacher from last year, just at random to say hi. As it turns out, the ASD Program Specialist contacted her yesterday to ask if she would be the ASD consultant to observe Javi. We are thrilled with this, since she would know Javi the best in a school setting since she had him for two years in a row.

Also, just as I was formulating a response to her email....the Education Consultant I had requested through the Regional Center contacted us. Got him up to speed on the situation and now he'll be scheduling an observation too and attending the second IEP meeting.

Still feel that it may be a mismatched class setting for him. Javi gets really agitated when you ask him questions about school. He did tell me that the kids are teasing him and copying him during recess and lunch. He said "Yep, I'm still playing alone." Poor baby :( Breaks my heart to keep sending him when I know he is not happy.

Ethan has his Halloween parade and party tomorrow. We are making homemade popcorn balls to pass out to kids in class. The boys LOVED making popcorn on the stove tonight. They couldn't believe that you could actually make popcorn with out a microwave :) It really tastes a lot better than in the microwave. Javi said "Wow Mom, this tastes like the movie popcorn, but better." We just put a teeny bit of salt, no butter. Javi, Ethan and Daddy shoveled handfuls of it in their mouths. I'll probably have to make more popcorn before I can make the balls.

Kaylee had PT today. Ms. Bonnie, her regular PT is back, YAY!! She was happy with the progress that Kaylee has made while she was gone (a month). She did say we will determine whether or not her regular tennies will be enough support for her or if she will need orthotics. She is still pronating her feet. She said it's a tough call because Kaylee is not technically walking yet. She mostly side steps when she cruises. She did agree that it would be a good idea to look in to a pediatric posterior walkers since the doc said that the Topamax may inhibit her ability to build muscle tone at this dose. Since she already has low tone, it makes it tough. We are going to see if we can possibly check out a walker from the CP Library to see how well she does with it before we order one. Heh...maybe we can convince my grandma walkers are cool if Kaylee has one :)

Well, that's all for now. Have to get to making popcorn balls :)

OCD Much?

Ok, I think I have satisfied the OCD monster.  I am always looking for a better, more efficient and more aesthetically  pleasing environment.  Ok, well, I'll admit it, I just have OCD.  Whenever my life feels out of control I tend to rearrange, reorganize or declutter the house.  I guess it's therapeutic to me somehow.  I don't know if it's because it's one thing I can control amidst all the chaos or if it's because I feel like I can relax in the space after it looks just the way I want it.  Maybe it's a little of both.  At any rate, it gives me a chance to dust and clean under, over, inside, and out on things that would normally have a coat of dust.

Our home is SOOOOO DUSTY!!  I have never seen dust collect like it does in this house.  I suspect it's because the house's forced air ducts have never been cleaned.  I have to dump our vac canister every single time I vacuum because the compartment gets completely full.  It's pretty gross.  I know when we eventually buy a home, the first thing to go will be the carpet.  I hate carpet!!  It's totally dirty.  I actually hate any soft surface that can't be washed, cleaned and disinfected on a regular basis.  I am a floor weirdo.  I like my floor to be clean.  I feel like if my floor is clean, the house is clean.  I know that's a weird way to think.  I am also psychotic about labels and everything having a container.  The person that started the "Container Store" is my hero.  I love going there just to get ideas and look at the latest in home and office storage.  Another one of my favs, IKEA.  Love the prices there and my kids like to play there.

Well, next stop on my reorg list is the garage.  Although, I think I'll wait until my neck heals.  My neck is just throbbing from all the work.  I know, I know, I feel a little bit better and I start moving stuff.  Probably not the smartest thing :)  I did manage to get the mission accomplished, which originally was to A) Make space for some of the stuff my mom is moving out and letting us have.  B) To gate off the entertainment center so Kaylee will stop messing with it.  She drives the boys crazy when she turns off in the middle of Wii play or during Chowder (Javi's fav cartoon).  Hoping it will be a while before I get the OCD bug again.  I am exhausted!

Sensory Garden

Last week, our new behavior specialist recommended that we have a sensory room or station for Javi and Ethan to decompress and get sensory input. I kinda took that idea and ran with it. Why make a just a station, when we can make a room. It's actually something I had planned on doing when we moved in to our new house (which will hopefully be soon. I am starting to look again). Eventually, we plan to move this room in to our garage. A neighbor of ours, built a sensory gym for their son in their garage and it looks quite nice. They have a trampoline, a sensory swing .and basically what looks like a preschool classroom. We are still looking at trampolines, swings, and possibly a plasma car, but will probably wait on some stuff until Christmas since they can be used as fun items and sensory integration. Here is what we have done with the room:

We have a "sensory table", which is a 30" square play table for cars and train sets.  It has a lip around the edge of the table, so it works great to use the sensory play things like rice, beans, shaving cream play, and moon sand.  We have large storage tubs that fit perfectly under the table full of that stuff.  The car and train sets are easily set up, since we always keep the table empty and put them away when they aren't in use.  If we leave them out, Kayleezilla breaks the sets apart, so that's why it's easier to put them away.  The pieces end up all over the house. The sets are in the red buckets on the bookshelf for easy access.  The white drawers have all our art supplies and the tall cabinet with the doors have our larger toys, like fire engines and dump trucks.  The open wire shelf is actually a shoe rack.  All the shelves and cabinets have picture labels so everyone puts the items back where they belong.  It's working very well.  Ethan is used to the picture labels in preschool, so I thought it would translate very well at home.  Also, daddy has no excuses for not knowing where things go.

We have an art and board game table with our new stools.  It's actually a coffee table I found in the "as is" section at IKEA a while back.  We previously used it as a stand for the video game TV, but that has since broken along with the game cube, so our only source of games is the Wii on our family room TV, which is plenty!! The spinning disk (green and red thing) was also an IKEA find and provides good vestibular input, along with the red rocking horse.  They were very inexpensive too.

 

This is the "chillax" station.  The basket has a number of different sensory toys.  It also has Javi's ankle weights, weighted blanket, chew toys, "fidgets" and "rubbies" (for the skin).  The bean bag also provides stimulation.  This is the area we use in lieu of time outs.  Usually, when Javi has behaviors, they are due to over stimulation or under stimulation, so this is a nice place for him to get the input he needs, relax and refocus.  

The textured circles in the basket were also an IKEA find.  We can play "sensory scotch".  It's heavy work, combined with the input from the different textures on the circles.  Staying on the circles is also good for focus and concentration.  The hopping itself is great for motor planning.  

Can you tell we have had a lot of OT??  

I'm happy with the way the "sensory garden" turned out, which I give full trademark to Cody's mom, Shauna, for the use of that name.  Mark and I just thought that name was so cute and the kids really like the name, so it stuck.

G5 Progress Report

Just wanted to give a brief update on how we are doing three weeks in to our new school/therapy year.

Kaylee has in-home early intervention therapy on Monday's and Thursday's. They work on pre-language, play skills and also reinforces the homework we receive at our OT and PT apppointments. She has Physical Therapy on Tuesday's. They work on strengthening her entire body since she has low tone through out her body. She has Occupational Therapy on Friday's. They work on her fine motor, mostly visual motor, such as feeding and putting toys in and out of buckets and such. 

Our schedule is pretty full, but we do get a break on Wednesday's which works out well. It's right in the middle of the week, so we can do girl things like shopping and playing. We have floor time to reinforce all the things that we have worked on in therapy for at least an hour a day. Many of the things Kaylee works on in therapy, she does on her own. She is a very motivated little girl.

Ethan is doing great! He is really doing well in his new inclusion program. He is in a class of 14 students, including him. There are four girls and ten boys. Ethan knows all the names of his classmates and even made a book about them. Ethan is learning to write his name. He is great at spelling it, we are still working on the correct formation of the letters, but he is really making progress. He has really come along with gripping crayons and pencils and he loves to do art in class. I met with Ms. Danielle last week for a conference and she said she just loves him and he is a pleasure to have in class. Ethan does need a little extra time to process language, so she gives him an opportunity to come to his own conclusions about things, which is a great reinforcement when we begin RDI for the boys.

Ethan is learning phonics at home and is doing quite well. We work on phonics about three times a week and we work on writing almost every day. He and Daddy color together almost every day too. Last night they watched "The Upside Down Show" on Noggin and did "Action Fingers" just like Shane and David. It was pretty cute.

Javi is doing awesome in his new program. We had a rocky start and we were really unsure of placement at first, but he is working things out. He is really getting adjusted to his new routine. He really has a busy schedule at school. He does a lot of work independently and is expected to do many tasks unprompted. He gets off the bus on his own and goes directly to the playground, then lines up with his mainstream class. He does inclusion in the morning for the first 15-20 minutes of school, which means he gets to go to a mainstream third grade class. Then he goes to his NSH class where they have a very busy schedule with a mix of different activities. He plays and eats lunch with kids in his mainstream class. He also does art rotation and will soon do computer and library time with the mainstream classes. 

I was exhausted just hearing about the schedule at Back to School Night, so I can only imagine how he feels doing it. He comes home in a good mood every day, so I take it he is enjoying it. He has made some new friends too, so we are happy everything is working out so well for him now.

We had a sleep over with Noah this weekend, where Javi got ready for bed with out any prompting at all. He went and got his PJ's, kid pull up, and brushed his teeth with out any verbal cues. Typically, Javi will try to get ready on his own, but will typically need refocusing, such as a reminder of where his PJ's are, brushing teeth or where to find his "underjams". Yesterday, he also worked through his homework independently with very little help.  

Javi has behavior modification on Wednesday evenings. This is really therapy for me, since she mostly works with me, making suggestions and tracking progress.  We met with our new behavior specialist last week, and she was great.  We really did not work well with our last consultant, so we are happy to have some fresh ideas with our new consultant.

We are very proud of all the kids and all the progress they have made.  It's really amazing to see them adjusting so well to so many changes.  Mom and Dad are still having trouble adjusting to such a full schedule!!

Kaylee Signs

We have really been working on the signing.  So far we have two signs down.  We just started, so that is not too bad.  She does these two on voice command only.  We have been using Signing Times. We still don't have many words yet, in fact she is only making the "ma ma", "da da", "ooo" and "hmm" sounds for the most part. We get an occasional "ga ga" and "ba ba". She seems to be saying ma ma and da da discriminately, since she says it when ever she sees either of us. We are hoping that with the use of the signing, it will reinforce the speech.

Relationship Development Intervention

After spending countless times feeling lost on how to build a solid reciprocal relationship with Javi and for him to build these types of relationships with others, I think I may have finally found the answer to our prayers.

Javi has a strong desire to socialize with friends, but sadly, as he gets older, most peers his age are less tolerant of his behaviors. They don't always know how to relate to Javi, unless it's one of Javi's preferred topics. He can carry on a conversation with people, but he many times will spit out random sentences that only make sense to him. He will tell jokes that make sense to him, then he laughs a kind of nervous fake laugh, that I have come to think is very cute, but I'm sure his peers are puzzled by. He has a very difficult time reading people's body language and giving people personal space. I have noticed over the years that kids his age are becoming increasingly intolerant of his behavior. When Javi was five, kids didn't seem to mind that he was a little different. At six, they began to realize that he wasn't like other kids. At seven, kids just began to ignore him at the park, despite making his best effort to be social. Now at eight, kids can be just flat out mean to him, which breaks my heart. I try not to be the hovering mother, but it is difficult in terms of safety for Javi and sometimes for the other child. There have been a handful of times where I have seen Javi make a new friend that he is able to play and carry on conversations with. When it does happen, I almost burst in to tears of joy to see him having a truly reciprocal conversation with another child his age. For the most part, I am trying to explain to Javi, that he needs to give people space at the pool or at the park and just try to relax. He can get so excited at times, I think of him as that cartoon we saw as kids with the big dog that has the little pet that he is squeezing the heck out of it until it's eyes pop out and saying "I'm going to love him and hug him and squeeze him and call him George." Javi tends to do this to many prospective friends that he meets, more figuratively than relatively, for the most part. Yes, at times he does squeeze them when he is having a desire for sensory input himself. This is the point where I am usually explaining to the other child's parent that he has Autism and he doesn't mean to be hurtful, he just needs sensory input.

After speaking with a friend of mine last month who also has a child with Autism, she had told me that she planned to start RDI therapy for her son in lieu of just the traditional ABA. He is currently in ABA, but felt that his main area of need was mostly based around social aspects. I had heard of RDI before, but I thought of it as another pie in the sky type therapy that we would probably never qualify for through the regional center and could not afford to pay for out of pocket, so I just cataloged it and said maybe I'll look in to it someday. At the time, we had been making a lot of headway with behavior modification, so I didn't think we really needed it either.

We have had a lot of compliance issues with Javi in our home and even though we use the systems that were taught to us by countless behavior consultants, teachers and trying things that other parents have tried, we have yielded very few results. We will find a system that works, it will work for a while, then Javi becomes bored with the system and the behaviors would start to increase again.

We have about six sessions left of B Mod and have made very little consistent progress. Like I said, things will work for a while, then Javi starts to loose motivation, even though we have slightly tweaked his "privileges" to an even more favorable outcome should he reach a "level 5 charge", he gets stuck in a downward spiral and has a hard time recovering. I struggle with his behaviors and counteracting them pretty much on a daily basis, which have not gotten better with the addition to his changes with his school, teacher and having to make all new friends. I try to empathize with him, but at the same time, I have to enforce rules to ensure that everyone makes it through each day in one piece, both mentally and physically.

The bond between mother and child is there with Javi, it's just different than it is with Kaylee and Ethan. I'm sure many parents of children with Autism can agree with me there. Their needs are just different. Javi didn't have that "rubberband effect" as a baby and toddler. If we walked down the beach together and he took off at a run, he wouldn't look back at 20 paces to make sure I was right behind him. He didn't care who picked him up as a baby, a perfect stranger was just as good as me as long as they took him or gave him what he wanted. He didn't reach out for me or anyone unless it was to move him to something he wanted. He just had a different way of doing things. It wasn't that he didn't love me. I know he loves me, it was just different, that's all. If there is anything I long for in life, it's to have that infinite bond with Javi. To know what he's thinking and know how he puts it together in that brain of his. To fill in those links that are missing in our bond and the bond he has with other people in his life. I am hopeful that RDI will be the simple answer for us. To empower us as parents and feel that we have a stronger understanding on how to develop our relationship with him. Most important, to help him become more independent and be able to build relationships with people outside our family.

RDI:
Think about your dreams of a typical day in your child's future. Do you hope someday, he or she will:
Not only talk fluently, but engage in genuinely curious conversations?
Delight in a true friendship?
Feel a sense of pride in being able to contribute to his or her community?
Enjoy the excitement and comfort of a boyfriend or girlfriend and maybe even get married and have children?
Feel capable and confident living an independent lifestyle?
Experience the satisfaction and rewards of successful employment?
The goal of the RDI® Program is to provide the majority of people on the autism spectrum with the potential to attain a true quality of life.

For more on RDI, please visit their website.

Kids' First Day

Kaylee had a great work out at PT. Ms. Bonnie gave us the results of her eval. She was in the 16th percentile for stationary play skills (sitting, kneeling, rotating her trunk, etc) which translates to a typical 9 month old skill level. She was in the 5th percentile for mobility which translates to a 7 month old skill level. Nothing all that surprising.

She was happy that she had made progress since we last saw her. She wants to keep an eye on the position of her feet when she walks to see if she needs orthopedics. She wants to wait until she is walking to really make a judgement call. We have some exercises to work on until we see her next week. Kaylee did very well for her first day, and it was during her regular nap time!! I am so proud of her. She only got a 30 minute power nap before our appointment, so she did really well considering her naps are usually two hours.

Kaylee also hit another milestone today! She clapped for the very first time.

Ethan had a great day. In his teacher, Ms. Danielle's words "Ethan had a FANTASTIC day!! He did so well. He had no trouble adjusting to the new class, new friends and new routine. I just LOVE him and I am so happy he is in my class!!" If that doesn't make a mother feel good, I don't know what would!! Guess I'm doing something right. Ok, so Ethan gets most of the credit. He is just naturally a wonderful little boy.

Javi had a great day too. There were some complications with his drop off and pick up, since the traffic at Javi's school is a complete nightmare. There is only one way in and out of the neighborhood where his school is. To complicate the traffic even more, his school is on the top of a really steep hill, so most people drive their kids to and from school. They actually have a 10 page hand book for pedestrian and auto traffic, complete with different maps and procedures for the morning and afternoon. All I could think of was Mr. Mom! You are doing it wrong!! It's north to drop off, south to pick up a-hole!!! I actually walked the wrong way too, although I had another mom say, ah you are doing fine for the first day :) I ended up parking my car three blocks from the school and walking in because the pick up loop wasn't moving. I had to drag the sleepy little ones out of the car and huff it in. It took me a total of 45 minutes to pick him up from school. I think it may be easier for him to take the bus! Fortunately, we are eligible for the bus, since it's about two miles from our house.

Javi said "It was such a long day, Mom." He was pretty hungry after school, so we decided to call Nana to meet us at Jack In the Box for a snack. It was Javi's cousin, Analia's first day of preschool, so she came along too. We wanted to celebrate their success today with a little treat. She and Ethan had a good time playing together while we were there. They are so cute together. He says Analia is his girlfriend. Well, they aren't blood related, so that's ok ;) She is from Javi's dad's side of the family.

It was a good day over all for everyone. I am happy that we had a smooth transition in to our new programs :)

Posted a couple new flickr pics too.

Back to School for Everyone!

Well, tomorrow is back to school for everyone, including Kaylee! Tomorrow will be Kaylee's first PT session and Friday will be her first OT session.

We went to our orientation at Ethan's preschool today. We got to meet with his new teacher, Ms. Danielle. She is lovely. I have heard so many great things about her. I know I have mentioned it before, but Ethan will be starting at a new school in the integrated program, which is a mainstreamed preschool where there are half typical peers and the other half are kids with high-functioning Autism. Their classroom is set up so cute and the teacher seems like she is really well organized. She really put a lot of effort in to all the letterhead, forms and take home folders. You can definitely tell that she has experience with teaching this program. We decorated Ethan's cubby bucket pictured below. He chose the Scooby Doo theme and I decorated it. We just happened to find the "eye" stickers in the halloween section at the craft store and it reminded me of the Scooby Doo intro.



Javi is also starting a new program and a new school. He will be in NSH (Non-Severely Handicapped), so he will no longer be in the ASD Categorical Program (ASD only class). This is an exciting year for Javi. He will be expected to be more independent, as there is only one assistant teacher and a teacher. There will be no scheduled individual mainstreaming, they will mainstream for certain activities as a whole class, which the expectation is he will gain more independent skill. I am hoping that he will enjoy his new school. He is getting to be such a big boy! So independent!

Fall is almost here! My favorite time of year!