This and That September 24, 2008

Today’s post is to keep all my readers updated with the happenings in my life.  So here it is:

-Started the Core Plan on Weight Watchers and I love it.  I love the freedom of eating healthy foods without having to write EVERYTHING down.  Just love it.  I actually lost 1.8 lbs this week.

-Planning my girls birthday party.  Its going to be a blast.  Some of the items for their items came in the mail and my older daughter was soooo excited that she literally talks about her birthday daily.

-Hubby just bought me a new cell phone.  Hands down the best cell phone I EVER had.  It has GPS, Internet, and a whole bunch of gadgets that I’m just not going to attempt to understand, RIGHT NOW.  Perhaps in a few days.

-Hubby is trying to start up a voter registration for our community.  Real proud of him.

-Hubby started school again.  I’m trying to find a good school for Natural Health so that I can start school up again.

-Hubby and I attended the PTA meeting at my son’s school so that we could be a voice for the autistic population that is at his school.  We are very pleased with the PTA leadership and have signed up for many upcoming projects.

-Went to Back to School Night yesterday.  My son’s teacher said that he is doing well.  He is actually going to a regular preschool class a few hours out of the day so that he can better adapt to a normal classroom.  He is doing well with his reading.  His teacher (who is also a reading specialist) says that he is reading very well, “Well above his age.”

-My older daughter loves her dance class so much that I decided to put her in the church’s praise dance ministry.  She will be dancing in front of the congregation this Sunday with all the other little girls. 

-My son’s swimming instructor is absolutely wonderful and my son loves his swimming class.  He is on his to becoming a great swimmer.

-Hubby and I are planning a Valentine’s day getaway.

-I almost forgot…Baby girl is walking just in time to perfect it by her birthday:)

-Busy lives but fun and rewarding:)

First Day of School September 4, 2008

                                    

That’s my big boy!  He looks like his momma right:)

 

My son looked like a big boy in his beige khaki pants and sky blue polo shirt and beige backpack.  I was so proud today because by baby looks more and more like a big boy.  Within a few months he learned to poop in the potty (a big accomplishment) and saying the word “no” if he doesn’t like something.  My husband and I gathered the girls and took our son to school to meet his teacher and to take pictures of his first day.  We weren’t trying to stay to have parent conferences and a back to school night on the first day (not that I didn’t want to) but from a  teacher’s perspective its extremely difficult to deal with crying kids (and parents) while answering hundreds of questions.

What we had plan to do (before we found out that my son will not be going to the autistic kindergarten class because he missed the cut off date and will be returning to his preschool class he had last year) was simply introduce ourselves because I wrote the teacher a letter to introduce my son to her.  This was an effort to help the teacher out.  Since autistic children can be hard to figure out because they are nonverbal or less verbal than most children and introduction letter is the way to go.  I encourage all parents of autistic children to write a letter to your child’s teacher to help them get an idea of your child’s strengths/weaknesses and likes/dislikes since they are not YET able to express themselves like typical children.  Here is the  letter I wrote to my son’s teacher but will now go in the garbage since he will be in the same classroom.

 

September 4, 2008

Dear Ms. __________,

Hello, my name is ____________ and my husband is _________.  We are proud parents of Elijah _________.  We are writing this letter to introduce our son to you. Elijah has been diagnosed with a mild form of autism better known as PDD-NOS.   It is impossible for us to define in detail everything about Elijah and his behaviors but we would like to give you all the support that we can. We strongly believe that working together as a team with teachers and the district and having open and frequent communication is the key to helping Elijah excel both academically and socially.

We would like to inform you that this summer we have changed his diet to a gluten free diet and have seen many changes in his behavior. He began peeing and pooping in the potty on command when prior to this summer he wouldn’t get on the potty at all. We send him to the potty often as he doesn’t go without verbal commands and if he is engrossed in an activity we usually have to tell him a few times and guide him.

Elijah loves to learn. At this present time he knows his alphabet, letter sounds, reads over (approximately) 100 words, days of week, months of the year, numbers up to 80, shapes, and he writes well. His weaknesses are interacting with other children (he tends to do better with adults), being considerate, some self help skills (brushing teeth, washing hand, etc), using his words. Elijah can identify objects and people but only choses to use his words when forced to. Elijah is a visual learner and requires pictures and modeling in order to understand what is asked of him and to do a task. He can follow many one step commands but has trouble with multiple commands. Elijah has to be challenged academically and socially or he will be bored and a bored Elijah gets into a lot of trouble.

If Elijah has a meltdown the best thing to do is to leave him alone. Trying to console him doesn’t help. We usually wrap him up in a blanket and remove him from the area to a quiet section and leave him to himself. Once he is calm he will return back to the group.

Some of the things Elijah likes is food (now that he is on this special diet I will send to school some items that you can use for rewards such as popcorn, fruit, chips), computer, alphabet, writing with chalk, counting, and hugs. He is strong and tough physically but he is also extremely sensitive and will cry if he or others are yelled at or treated harshly. He responds best to a more positive reprimand or reinforcement.

Hopefully this will help you better understand our son. We are joining the PTA to be a voice for the autistic population at ______ Elementary.  We are always willing to make ourselves available to volunteer for events so please let us know if what we can do to help. 

 

Sincerely,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Too Much To Do… September 3, 2008

And no time to do it! 

I’m currently nursing my poor girls to health.  Baby girl and my 2year old both have this horrible dry cough and runny noses.  Although they have a cold they are being so strong.  My 2 year still wants to help mommy around the house and baby girl is still getting into things.  They both slept in the bed with me last night and were so cute holding each other and cuddling.  I love the way they get along with each other.  My two year took it upon herself to take care of her sister by getting some tissue to wipe her nose and after she took the snot off her nose she gently wiped her sister’s nose (Exactly why they both are sick…They share everything:)

Since the girls are sick I’m kind of confined to the house and I have so much to do:(

My son is going back to school this week and they are allowing him to go to the autistic kindergarten classroom instead of another year in preschool since he won’t be 5 until December.  So I need to buy some school shoes for him and I need to go food shopping for his lunch since he’s now on that special diet.  Along with a laundry list of things I need to do for my home I really need to get started.  My husband starts his classes tonight after work so he won’t be available to watch the kids.  With that said I’m signing off too much to do to keep blogging:)