love my birthday present!

a couple weeks, i knew literally nothing about mp3 players, just that it looked more convenient to take on walks & runs than say a portable cd player. now, i know quite a bit, after researching what to get for my birthday present.

anyway, i am enjoying it quite a bit. everything's better with music. today, i had to take ivy & andrew with me for my 4 laps around the neighborhood(each lap=1k). so i took the portable speakers w/me instead of headphones. this is what we listened to (not too loud just enough that i could hear it and still hear the kids).

• REM,
• The Cranberries,
• Billy Joel,
• U2,
• Sheryl Crow, and
• They Might Be Giants

i got a couple funny looks, but for the most part nobody minded (i think it's because 90%+ of the neighborhood was at work/school).

where has my sweet little boy gone?

andrew is getting to be independent with eating. he's also teething heavily. popsicles are mostly all he's eating right now. it's been tantrum city from him the past couple days, between the "let me eat it myself" and "my gums hurt". hope i get my sweet little boy back soon!

teething bites

andrew is getting his bottom molars right now. we were all shocked at dinner w/the missionaries that andrew bit off part of his teether:

bouncing boys

sunday afternoon, andrew and collin both wanted to sit on my lap at the same time, so i could bounce them on an exercise ball.

soak up the sun

apparently we have had a heatwave since friday. it is finally over! we got invited to the beach saturday w/some friends, and didn't know about the heatwave till saturday afternoon. it was probably 65-70 at the beach, and over 90 when we got home, and we're only ~8-10 miles away from the beach!

this was the first time both tom & i went to the beach with the kids. i took the kids during spring break without tom.

andrew enjoyed himself. he especially liked walking & rolling in the sand(before he got cranky around naptime). he loved watching the waves hit the sand and collin jumping in the waves.

(he enjoyed himself, despite this facial expression)

(sand all over his face)

(sand sifter & being able to walk around, what else does a kid need?)

(andrew & daddy)

collin enjoyed the water, but also building w/the sand. by the end of the trip he was happy to be sitting in the shade.

(just relaxing)

(i bought the shirt for collin, but made the design myself. says "warning: autism meltdown probability high")

ivy loved playing with her friends, looking for shells, and running up to the waves and quickly running away from them before they splashed her.

(running away from the waves)

(enjoying the very cold water)

we also saw tons of ladybugs, which we all thought was strange. ivy & i saw a pair of ducks swimming/riding on a wave, but by the time i got the camera, they had flown away. we also saw a man windsurfing. the wind was so strong that it picked him up several feet out of the water before he moved to the left or right(depending on which way the wind was blowing).

we had a blast and were so tired when we got home, after 2 or 3 hours at the beach. much thanks to the shipleys and their tip about baby powder to get sand off! worked great!

keep your food to yourself

i had to take a picture of this on friday. andrew was feeding ivy his snack. i guess it was more fun feeding her than feeding himself. ;)

for all of you wondering about the box..

this is what was in my birthday box(a creative zen mp3 player--for my neighborhood walks w/the kids & runs by myself). and no, i didn't open it at midnight wednesday night--i was asleep:

(the box also had some other things like the black armband that's shown, chargers, software, headphones & portable speakers). i also got a 5 pack of mad libs from costco.

i had a nice quiet birthday at home: cupcakes for the kids, and 1 piece of cheesecake (each) for me & tom. we also celebrated saturday night while the kids were baby sat. had a relaxing mexican dinner, did a little shopping & bowling(well..the bowling was just me. i'm not very good, and tom likes watching me try to play).

i still don't feel like i've aged in the past 7 years, but apparently i have if my youngest sister got married last month and my youngest brother is graduating in the next month & a half.

Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your long hair...?

Most of you know, Ivy's had long hair for awhile now. She's been growing out a very short hair cut from 2 summers ago.

This is how long her hair was as of last night.

(Ivy lying down on her bed)

We had a long talk w/Ivy last night. She doesn't brush her hair, and it tangles easily. So, it got cut today. I don't mind dealing w/the tangles so much, it bothers me though that she won't brush her hair. Am I expecting too much? She'll be 5 1/2 in two more months.

Great news!

Well, Tom says that tonight at midnight I can open the parts of my present that I need to do a stroller walk/run with Ivy & Andrew tomorrow. That means, I'll open the package w/the portable speakers for show tomorrow when Collin's home after school or maybe around dinner time.

Not much to report on today. Trying to get Friday park days started back up. So far, I've got 1 taker, and 1 voice message left. The kids(Ivy & Andrew) really need out, and I really need conversations with adults.

Collin had therapy as usual, and I had my *somewhat dreaded* parent training. I have to take data on different behaviors we're working on getting Collin to replace w/more appropriate behaviors. One thing he's working on lessening is tantrums. We're working on teaching deep breaths, asking for breaks, and singing songs or counting when the deep breaths don't work. We're also targeting his aggression towards siblings(and sometimes me), and getting Collin to use appropriate phrases like "my turn", "excuse me", and "sorry". The last one is to keep track of his running off down the sidewalk or sometimes into the street--thankfully, we live in a very quiet, not very busy neighborhood. We're trying to get Collin to ask permission to "go see" first.

Andrew was such a ham for most of today. I was trying to get a picture of him doing his hand motions for "what happened?" and instead I get this(he's facinated w/the camera):

Someone's birthday is approaching soon...

mine, actually. Thursday. Let me just start off by saying, over the years I don't like surprises as much as when I was a little kid. I helped Tom pick out my present this year, and it came today in the mail(3 separate links). I am sad that I can't open it up till Thursday. Maybe I can open first thing Thursday morning, before Collin hops on the bus? This is the first time in many years that I'm actually excited about it. I feel like a kid on Christmas Eve. Usually my birthdays are very low key and not as big of a deal to me the past 7 years.

Couldn't find a bag big enough for it, or wrapping paper. So I got a box out of the garage and sealed up my present in it. Ivy wrote on the top of the box(I had to hold her hand to add it the 2nd M in Mommy, she had spelled it MOMY) :

Collin

Another huge new thing Collin is doing: following 1 step directions. This is anything from "put it in the trash", "put shoes on the shelf", and "give the cup to [Ivy or Andrew]". This skill is rated on the 12-18 month range on a developmental chart we have on our fridge.

Tonight, Collin went thru a little ritual we have with a couple toys of his. The first toy is a tractor (complete w/4 animals, and a farmer), and the other toy is a big ambulance(I got it for his 1st or 2nd birthday). Anyway, one of the doors on the back of the ambulance has broken off. Collin has a habit of putting his other toys in the ambulance and making them "go fast" or "go slow"--two phrases he's just picked up from therapy in the past few months. I got him to finally engage in a sort of pretend play(still a foreign concept to Collin). I gathered up all the animals and picked one up. A chicken. I asked Collin if the chicken should "drive the the tractor" or "ride in his carseat"?*there are no real carseats for the animals, there are however specifics spots where the animals go in the tractor, and when you push the animals down, they push a button w/the appropriate animal sound* Collin's response was "put in carseeeat". Sometimes, to be silly, I make the animal drive and "go fast" in a circle till they fall out(there's a special spot that makes only the farmer stay in place in the driver's seat w/out falling out), and then get Collin to put the animal in the correct spot in the tractor.

our family update

I thought it'd be a good idea to start a blog to share w/our family & friends. Basically it's just to let everyone know what the kids are up to these days, and also the progress Collin's been making.


Let's see, where to start?

Andrew had his 1st birthday on February 19th(his birthday is the same as my parents' anniversary). He is walking, pointing, throwing anything he can, and very curious. He loves balls, cars, dropping food on the floor, banging his head in a doorway or on a sliding glass door multiple times just for the reaction we give him, baths, and just trying to do everything Collin & Ivy are doing. He's recently discovered dirt and grass--loves both. Andrew thinks the flower planter in front by the garage is a huge sandbox--never mind there are plants in there. :) He's also just taught himself last night how to eat w/a spoon & sort of a fork. Yay! Andrew definitely lets me know he doesn't want me to spoon feed him anymore. He's also cutting teeth again, the bottom 2 molars. So, his shirts & onesies are constantly covered in drool from the neckline to about halfway to his belly button.

Andrew's language is rather lacking. He says: this, that, da (down, Dad, and dance), and luh(for light). He does signs for phone, toothbursh(complete w/finger in mouth) and does hand motions every time I ask him "what happened?" He's only said "mama" once, and NEVER again. He's probably not going to end up autistic like Collin(since he's very social, has good eye contact, and points--something Collin still can't do). We'll know for sure between the summer & Christmas. If he doesn't have more words in the next 4 months(when he turns 18 months in August), I'm going to get him speech therapy. Andrew is such a mama's boy, it is not even funny--especially for me. He's going to get his first taste of being babysat this weekend, when Tom & I are going out to celebrate my birthday.



Ivy..well, I can sum her up faster than Collin. :) She just turned 5 this past December, missed the cut-off for kindergarten by 2 weeks. Doesn't seem like such a bad thing. She just recently graduated from her KinderBuddy's program at a place called JumpStart(basically like HeadStart), in a bungalow by an elementary school. It was basically a kindergarten prep class. They read stories, learned to write letters, draw pictures, following directions, raising their hands before blurting out an answer, and Ivy can now sight read a few words. She is still very girly-girly, loves dressing up, making new friends w/total strangers, will talk a little on the phone to Daddy or Mommy(if I call home during a trip to the grocery store), and loves making cards & invitations(to her birthday party--she doesn't quite get that she's got till the end of the year before it's her birthday).



She is also very into writing down words these days, even if it's not a real word. She sings & talks to herself sometimes and gets really embarassed when I catch her. Ivy normally loves riding her bike around the neighborhood. She's been getting a little lazy, and would rather stay home all day than go somewhere like I prefer. One thing she learned to do before Christmas was to catch a ball. We spent the whole day practicing w/a plastic ball. Ivy also loves rhyming these days. Her favorite PBS shows right now are: Word World, Super Why, and Cyberchase(which is math based, for older kids).

Collin..whew! Where to start?? He got his diagnosis of autism almost exactly a year ago. He has made soooo much progress, but still has a long way to go. First, the progress.

This time last year:

1. he made very little eye contact(or also acknowledge my presence ie.wouldn't turn around when I was talking to him in the bathtub when I was standing behind him)--getting better, but still fleeting at times. We did have his hearing tested, he's got no problem.


2. Collin thought of Andrew more of a pancake/pillow than a person. When Andrew was a couple weeks old, I left him on the changing pad, to toss his diaper, not even 2 seconds later I hear really loud, in pain kind of screaming. Aparrently, Collin had sat on him on his belly. Andrew, luckily had no broken bones. I asked Collin the nexy day if Andrew was a baby or a pancake. He answered pancake. Now, he will give Andrew kisses(assuming Collin's in a good mood, still gets upset w/the whole sharing thing).


3. Language wise, we'd only get 10 words at most in any given week. He is now saying 2 & 3 word sentences(basically where a typical 2 year old should be--Collin will be 4 this summer.)

Other progress:

• saying "I love you" to Mommy or Daddy, which is HUGE! Took 3 1/2 years for him to say that! I don't think he really understand what he's saying(a big part of autism is something called echolalia, which is a fancy way of saying he just repeats back the last 2 or 3 words he hears--which, he still does this in other situations.), but I was doing some reading during this past year and I read that most autistic children will NEVER say "I love you".


• Tantrums. Instead of taking of his pants & shoes off (which he did a few weeks ago after a long time of not) when he's super upset, he's now learning to take deep breaths(the way he does it is so cute, basically the same as when he blows on hot food to cool it down).


• Still working on, but he will now say "sorry", "please" and "thank you"--he was over 2 1/2 yrs old before he ever said any of these


• His language has just exploded, but I still have to "prompt" Collin to say or ask for something.


• Just learned how to spoon feed himself during the past few months


• Can now rub soap on his body in the bath.


• He can name colors, but not label them appropriately(not sure if that one will make much sense). Basically, he can say all the names of colors, but he can't tell you if something is green or purple.


• Oh, he's recently discovered how to take off his diaper. So, now he'll tell me "diapper chaaange" (a in really whiny voice, which I'm sure he gets from his sister) when he's wet. Or sometimes he'll say "sit on toilet"(also in a whiny voice), but usually it's after his diaper's already wet. He has pooped a few times in the toilet at home(a couple times he was in the bathtub one night when Tom was out, and I really didn't want to clean up the tub if it was going to be poopy) and once at school last week.
  

So, that's most of what's going on with us. Collin's in preschool every week day. 3 times a week, he has in-home behavior therapy, part of that I have 2 hours parent training. I don't like the parent trainer very much(big personality clash between him, and Tom & I). But, some of the things I've learned are helpful. I sound like a broken record saying this, but I feel like they're making me into a mini therapist.

Things we're still working on with Collin: appropriately labeling colors, aggression issues, climbing(although..this one the parent trainer doesn't really want to address--another reason I don't like the parent trainer, basically like the "don't make me do more work" attitude), transitions(HUGE deal right now, for anyone who's seen him after the closing prayer in sacrament meetings you know what I'm talking about), sharing(trying to work w/him so he'll tolerate more than literally 5 seconds), more spontaneous language(ie. talking w/out any prompting), separation issues(so I can go somewhere leaving Daddy or a babysitter and not his having a huge meltdown), and I really want him potty-trained before Christmas. There are other things too, like safety issues, primary(mostly the opening exercises, since big group settings are hard for him) and social skills that we're working on as well.