Going Places

K.C. is doing very well going places. He had a Dr.s appointment and made it through the whole visit without crying. The stairs that led to the Dr.s office was blocked off for repair and we had to use the elevator. K.C. has always been terrified of the elevator so as we walked on, he tried to run back out of the elevator but I caught him just in time. I held him very close to me as I pushed the button to the elevator to go up. As soon as the elevator went up he dropped down to his knees and took a deep breath as if the air were knocked out of him. Same thing on the way down, the elevator throws him off completely (his balance). He didn't cry, just looked very "thrown off." There were only two children in the office (I try my best when I call the Dr. to get an appointment when there are few people as possible.) The Dr.s office understands thankfully. The children in the office were about K.C.'s age maybe a little older. I watched K.C. around the children to see if maybe he would take notice in them. There Mommy kept staring at K.C. because he was making his noises. She seemed nice cause she smiled. The two kids were playing in a toy car, one kiddo at the steering wheel and another next to him. K.C. looked at them out the corners of his eyes. One child got up and walked over to K.C. K.C. was watching the fish. The little kiddo sat next to him and looked at him, I could see the kid trying to make eye contact, a connection, maybe make friends but K.C. never looked at him. K.C. got up and as I watched him move through the office I realized he never looked at anyone and moved very quickly as if no one was in the room. The way he walked and just moved through the office was very different. It's hard to describe. Had anyone been sitting on the floor he would have just ran them over. I did manage to get K.C. to the fish tank again and the little kid sat on the other side of us looking at the fish. I did say to K.C., "the little boy is looking at the fish just like we are." K.C. screeched. That screech had meaning, it meant, "yeah I know that little kid is there but don't mention him." I did call Mesa Parks and Recreation today and they were able to give me a number to call. I called the place. It is supposed to be a play group that gets together on Tuesday's and Thursday's. 5 and 6 years old playing together, the lady told me there were many toys, crafts and even songs that they did together. She said at the present time there were only 11 kids in the group. I asked her to sign us up thinking we could give it a try! I was really thinking this would be a great opportunity for K.C....then I told her he was Autistic. That's when it feel apart. She would not accept him into the group. I was so angry I hung the phone up on her. Jeez it's just a playgroup, play is all. I am going to keep searching. K.C. is doing well going places I thought it may be a good idea to try to get him involved with other kids. Even if he doesn't appear to be playing with them I know he's going to be watching them out the corners of his eyes and I know he'll learn. I will continue the search, tomorrow I am going to call Easter Seals, wish us luck!

There is more inside....

The photos were taken today, at Chuck E. Cheeses. K.C. did well and I have noticed he tries to point more. The second photo (bit blurry) is of K.C. pointing with his pinky finger. He is learning to point more but uses his pinky. Now if we could just get him to point at the right times like when he needs something that will be huge! It will happen in time:) I have been thinking alot these days about High Functioning versus Low Functioning Autistic children. While K.C. isn't verbal yet, I feel there is so much inside him, I can see it in his eyes. It's almost as if there is so much going on inside his brain but it's locked up and we just haven't found a way of getting it out. Watching him today, I wondered if K.C. thinks in words in his head? When I talk to him is he answering in his head? There is just so much more inside him, I know he's an intelligent little boy even though some may describe him as low functioning.
I watched an amazing young lady named, Amanda Baggs on CNN. http://ballastexistenz.autistics.org/ Watching her opened my eyes, she is really amazing:) I thought of my son, how there is so much inside him, I want to do everything I can to help him communicate.
I have also been thinking alot these days about a hobby of some sort for K.C. I know he would be good at collecting things but he'd become obsessed with lining his collected items up. Tomorrow I am going to call Mesa Parks and Recreation to see if there is any programs for K.C. This weekend I bought Big Brother roller blades, he really likes them. He asked and asked for me to get a pair for K.C. so he could have someone to skate with. There has to be an activity that they both can do together that will hold K.C.'s attention just long enough. If anyone has any ideas that would be great!



Big Brother pictured above ^ he had a great time as well!

Teeth/Park/Ignorance

Check it out guys! K.C. put the toothbrush in his mouth without being asked, all by himself! I have been helping K.C. brush his teeth every single night, my hand over his, sometimes him not being very happy about it. Well he totally caught me off guard when he walked into the bathroom and put the toothbrush in his mouth and moved it around a bit! It's hard for him to do the back and forth motion but we are going to work at it everyday just as we have been. I am so proud of him. It actually rained here today and I am hoping it sticks around for a couple more days. We don't see enough rain here, what do I expect, after all we do live in the desert, he he. I took the Boys to the park yesterday to play. K.C. did great, there were quite a few kids at the park. Sometimes I am amazed and I mean amazed at what ADULTS say to each other especially when what they are saying is about your KID and them not realizing that the kid they are talking abouts Mommy is standing right next to them! There were about 20 to 30 kids playing at the park, parents standing around watching their children. I was watching K.C. walk across the wobbly bridge. (yep he finally got on it and walked slowly across) In the middle of the bridge he decided he would sit in the middle and zone out and flick his fingers in front of his eyes at about light speed. I know when K.C. does this it's very hard to bring him back until he's finished. Well he was holding up traffic on the bridge and I noticed Big Brother had covered his eyes when he looked in my direction (meaning yep Mom, you are about to have one very angry kid and I don't want to watch) Before I made my way over to K.C. I waited and listened to the 'ladies' talk. The children on the bridge were simply going around K.C. and I didn't see an urgency in moving him. One lady said, 'oh my gosh look at that kid, the lights are on but nobody is home.' The other lady said nothing just looked on. The lady with the big mouth wouldn't shut up. The next thing she said was , 'I think he's a mental retard, aren't their parks for 'THEM' in the state?' I walked over to both ladies and said, " You know I saw a television program the other day and it was all about Autism and children." "I think that little boy maybe Autistic, of course I'm not an expert but it does look similar to what I saw on the television the other day, it was very interesting. "It was also reported that 1 in 150 children are born with Autism these days." The big mouth lady listened to what I said and watched K.C. I then told her, "you know Retarded ain't bad." I walked over to K.C. and said, "time to go home." Big Brother ran up to us and we left. I looked over my shoulder and the big mouth lady made direct eye contact with me and it looked as though she whispered, "I'm sorry." I smiled at her. Maybe just maybe that lady will go home and read about Autism. Maybe just maybe she will understand.

Surprise For Big Brother!

Big Brother got a big surprise today! His teacher had called me with good news on Wednesday. She said he would be moving to the 4th grade Science Room for Science everyday! I knew about it in advance but waited for Big Brother to give me the good news today and he did! He was very happy and today was his very first day in the new Science room. After some thinking I decided to get Big Brother a cell phone. I know some of you may be thinking, "is she nuts, a 6 1/2 year old with a cell phone?" Let me explain a little. The little "Migo" phone from Verizon has got to be genius. There are four buttons, 1, 2, 3, 4, and the middle button is a big red plus sign for emergency. The 1, 2, 3, 4, are numbers I put in for Big Brother. Like for example I am number 1 and Grandma is number 2. Big Brother would push a 1 and the phone would say, "calling Grandma." Big Brother can only call only the people I have put in the phone which is just family. He can't get or receive texts. The very best part of the phone is that there is a GPS built into the phone. It tells me where Big Brother is, when he left, how fast he left and if the phone is taken out of the "safe zones" I have for him. There is this cute little thing that hooks right onto your backpack or pants so he won't lose the phone. Now that Big Brother is with many older kids I can have some peace of mind knowing where he is and if he needs me he can call me. It's a relief. I noticed that 4 children in his classroom have the same phone. The boys played outside today, it was quite warm. It's supposed to be 81 tomorrow or the day after. Then it's supposed to rain which is nice!

Happy Valentines Day!

I am so close to getting that kiss from K.C.! He made really good eye contact with me very briefly, but it was solid! I would give anything for the peck on the cheek or a great big hug from my little guy!

What is this?

K.C. is getting some sort of weird red little spots that are making him itch badly. They are on the palms of his hands, in between his fingers and on his back where his shirt tag is. I cut that tag off tonight, I didn't think it would bother him cause it was one of those soft tags but it did, he kept reaching behind him trying to itch it off or pull it off. There are no blisters so far. I am wondering if this is what is left from the taco incident a couple weeks ago? He got all red and itchy from the tacos, it was maddening for him. I did put Calming Lotion on him but it hasn't helped. Looks like we should head to the Paediatrician's office.
Big Brother is well and smiling once again:) He's making his own Valentines Day Cards, his class is having a party. I bought white frosting and fruit punch for him to bring to the party. I asked him if he had a special Valentine at school and he said, "Oh Gawd Mom, girls are gross!" I laughed.

Chuck E. Cheeses With Both Boys!!

O.K. fellow bloggers hold on to your seats cause you are never going to believe this...K.C. went to Chuck E. Cheeses today WITHOUT a major meltdown and stayed for about an hour!! This morning Big Brother was going to go with Linh Linh to Jeepers but Linh got the sickies and could not go. Big Brother looked sad of course. College Boy suggested we go to Chuck E. Cheeses in two cars. He would follow me with K.C. and Big Brother would ride with College Boy. We took two cars just in case K.C. couldn't handle it, Big Brother could stay with College Boy and have fun. No worries in that department! K.C. walked in with us like a champ and went to sit with College Boy in a booth seat. I was so nervous for K.C. it was noisy and I thought he wouldn't be able to handle it but he did. He covered his ears alot and squinted alot but no crying at all! I ordered a pizza (I didn't think we would stay long enough to see that pizza) but we did! I tried my best to find something on the menu K.C. MIGHT eat but there was nothing. Big Brother waited with me as I ordered the pizza and as soon as the tokens came out he took off! I walked back to the booth constantly looking at K.C.'s face for any signs of a meltdown that may happen but he just sat with College Boy for the longest time and watched the people around him. The pizza came after about 25 minutes and I searched for Big Brother, he came back and ate one piece of pizza so fast I thought he'd choke on it. He was off and playing again! K.C. wanted no part of the pizza. I decided I would try to get him to walk around a bit. He was very hesitant but he did finally follow me! We walked past the machine you fill your cup with soda and K.C. had to stop and reach up as far as he could to rub the labels, he did this for about 5 minutes. He liked the Coca Cola label best and I seen Big Brother and called him over to us and asked him to hurry to our booth and get K.C.'s cup! He brought it back and I took the lid off and emptied the Hi C out and asked K.C. "do you want this one?" I pointed to the label he was rubbing. I filled it up and gave it to him right away! He drank it fast, no hesitations! He wanted Coca Cola! We made about 3 more trips to refill his cup, he rubbed the Coca Cola label each time! Labels Labels, I think he may do well with labels!!!! After he drank all that soda I noticed K.C.'s diaper looked especially poofy through his pants so I took him into the stall in the bathroom (o.k. he didn't like this part, but who does?) took his diaper off which I estimate weighed about a pound I swear and put a new diaper on him. We went back out and he headed straight for the little car. He didn't get in at first but I just gave him time and waited and waited, Big Brother coming by and hopping in and out trying to get K.C. in the car. Eventually he got it! I tried to put a token in so he could feel the little car move but he hopped out fast. When the car stopped moving he got back in! It was a great day! Big Brother had about 278 tickets from playing games and this time for the first time he could get K.C. something and hand it to him right away at Chuck E. Cheeses! In the past Big Brother would wind up feeling guilty that K.C. was at home and had not come so he would win as many tickets as he could so that he would bring K.C. something home! I mentioned to Big Brother he could get himself a small toy this time round if he wanted cause K.C. had came with us but he wanted to get K.C. something. It was an awesome day!
Labels, thank God for labels! I think we may be on to something with labels friends!
Thank you College Boy for being with us, you are a real blessing:)
I am so proud of both my boys, Big Brother has such a big heart for his little brother. K.C. who gave us such a pleasant surprise today I cried happy tears!

Making Choices.

I am working with K.C. on making choices. He doesn't know how to shake his head yes/no so many not so happy moments are becoming more and more these days. Today he was hungry. I knew he was hungry because he was not leaving the kitchen and just kinda staring. We do have the PECS photos so that he can make a choice but today when I put the photos on the table he quickly wiped them off with his hand and threw the rest. I took his hand and lowered him to the floor and helped him clean up what he threw. Yes he was crying the whole way through picking up, but, I have got to teach him if he throws something he is gonna pick it up. It's actually working! The picking up part that is! In the past he would have lost it totally but since I have been having him 'clean up' even if it's one thing that he's thrown he'll do just a little bit more each time there is a throwing episode. Now back to the original problem. Clearly K.C. didn't want to eat anything pictured on the PECS. I opened the cupboards to help find him something but this only got him angrier. He bit his hand so hard I could see the skin raise up. Not only did he bite, he bites and pulls his skin up with his teeth. We have had a lot of biting this week. I called my Mother for help. She suggested that each time K.C. appears to be hungry to immediately offer him the wrong thing, say ,"No" and shake his head No. Then right after try to offer him what he does want. She thinks he may learn to be able to communicate No this way. I sure hope so cause it has not been easy guessing what he wants to eat and his food choices have gotten so limited it almost scares me.

Interesting News From MSNBC

Autism rate in U.S. higher than thought. That is what the subject is about, there is also a video. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17047721/

What We Have Been Up To.

Took the Boys for a short trip to the park today. Big Brother is finally feeling well enough to get out and play at the park. K.C. did well at the park , not much crying and actually stayed a little bit longer than we normally do. He spent the whole time trying to get on the wobbly bridge you see in the picture. Just getting on the thing was a challenge for him but man is this kid determined or what? He did finally get himself on the bridge! Purim is around the corner and Big Brother is excited! Kids these days aren't wearing the usual masks on Purim. Usually they wear a mask from a character Scroll of Esther, but last year I seen many kids wearing Spiderman, Batman, etc. Big Brother is still deciding, he did say maybe, just maybe, he would be King Ahashverosh. I nearly forgot to mention, yesterday K.C. had a hard piece of rubber in his mouth. I did manage to get it out of his mouth, he was chewing it. When I got it out of his mouth I was surprised. It was the little rubber piece off of the door stopper! How he managed to get that off is beyond me.

K.C. was eating his pasta with olive oil very well but suddenly stopped. He won't eat. I am now looking for another food that he may eat. His diet is so limited. Thank God for supplements!

Big Brother Is Home

My Big Boy is home! Finally he's feeling better and was released this afternoon from the hospital. Daddy, Mommy, K.C. , Big Brother and College Boy are all finally under the same roof today:) I am so glad that he is home, my Mom watched K.C. most of the time and College Boy filled in as much as he could when he was home from school. My Brother came with my Mom each time she looked after K.C. I am sure he is happy to be home, the change really threw him off and my Mom had her hands quite full taking care of two Autistic boys. Big Brother did have a laugh and an embarrassed red face when we walked through the door of the house. My Brother had been in the bathroom (my Mom is still, yes still having trouble with him in this area) anyhow my Brother walked out of the bathroom with pants half down but still pulling them up as he was already standing out side the bathroom door. As soon as K.C. seen that Big Brother was home the screaming started. I don't know why but when someone walks through the door K.C. will either hide or scream bloody murder. He screamed for a good 30 minutes as my Mom and I talked, ignoring him completely. He finally stopped screaming. My Dad came and got my Mom and Brother. I can totally understand why K.C. has been upset, everything has changed so suddenly, I pray our lives can get back to normal and Big Brother will be o.k. and healthy and happy.
College Boy went to Jack In The Box tonight, he bought tacos, 10 to be exact. A first happened, K.C. went to the bag of tacos and stuck his nose inside and sniffed. College Boy 's eyes got big and took one out of the bag and opened it up. K.C. sniffed it some more then picked at it. College Boy seen that he was trying to pick the lettuce and cheese out of the taco so he took it out for him. All that was left was the meat and corn shell. K.C. ate 2 of these tacos! I swear I was thrilled! We were all surprised! The Boys Daddy made Chicken Soup with Lemon Grass for Big Brother and whoever wanted some. His Daddy said, "he needs Asian food." Big Brother ate a little bit, talked with his Daddy about going back to school. K.C. was screeching a lot, he looked aggravated. I went over to him to try to see what was wrong with him. He was itching, itching a lot! 30 minutes went by and his arms had these little red bumps that itched terribly. His ears even turned bright red and eyes got puffy. His Daddy said, "it must have been the tacos that he ate." Yep, he was right. I took K.C. upstairs to the bathtub for a cool bath. It didn't help, he was still itchy. I then got the Eucerin out, rubbed that on his neck, back, stomach and arms. It didn't help! So I now tried Benadryl, it helped about 40 minutes later his itching stopped! Does this mean he's allergic to the meat or corn? I am not sure. I know one thing for sure, no more tacos for K.C., it's a shame cause finally he tries something new and it itches him to death. I am so glad to have Big Brother back, K.C. gives him quick glances and Big Brother has hugged him a lot since this evening saying, "I missed you alottttt!"