Well, we're week one into the period of transitions and all is well. The Monkey has definitely had some crazy days, but all in all is doing great. As much as I love Sonshine School and all, it is clear after a week of just the PPCD class that Tripp even prefers the services he gets at the school district. He is thriving. One more week of that and then we swtich to summer. The first week of June will not be our true schedule - but it will be close and then the week after we start our new routine. Pray for smooth transitions.
Now for the fun stuff...Our precious Monkey has been taking some major social steps the last few weeks. I've seen him playing with his baby sister! That's right, he's not just tolerating her presence, and telling her "No, Vivie!" He is playing with her! He came running out of her room the other day squealing and then stopped at the end of the hall. He looked back and here came the Bug after him. He waited until she got close enough to touch his back and then he took off again with a squeal. They repeated this process for about 10 minutes. Beautiful!
He's also been making progress with our sweet dog Cowboy. He has let Cowboy give him kisses a few time. This used to send him into a fit - I'm guessing it was sensory overload or something. As of late, however he has allowed it and even said "Thank you kisses." To top it off I saw Tripp give Cowboy a kiss on top of the head. WooHoo - he's bonding with real living creatures!! That sounds bad - he's always been bonded to some of us, but his circle is a growin'!
Let's see, what else can I tell you about the Monkey.....oh, yesterday at church when it was time to pray during the worship service he actually got it. He stopped what he was doing, folded his little hands, closed his eyes, and put his head down. He waited for the amen and then went on about his busy business. It was awesome!
And one last funny thing he's done lately......While on the potty recently he was, um, examining his most male part and proclaims "It's a big (fill in anatomically correct word here)!" "Do you see the big -----?" "It's a very tall -----!" My response? Trying to not laugh or be mortified I said "Yes, I see the -----, now use it to put your TT in the potty." I'm glad he's learning to use some adjectives, but seriously do we have to talk about THAT?!?!?!
Monday, May 26, 2008
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Funny Goose
Last night I sat down with Paris and read her the book All Cats Have Aperger Syndrome. We started off by talking a little about how Tripp's brain doesn't work like ours. She saw the book and asked if it was about kitties. I said it was about kitties and Bubba too. We read it and made lots of comparisons/connections. After we were done I asked if she had any questions and she says:
"Yes I do. Why does Assboogers make Tripp and kittens crazy?"
I nearly fell off the bed laughing. I held it together and explained that Aspergers is just what you call it when your brain works like Tripp's. She didn't have any other questions and I left feeling like it went very well. Though I couldn't help but think as I walked out that a** boogers might make me crazy too if I had them!
"Yes I do. Why does Assboogers make Tripp and kittens crazy?"
I nearly fell off the bed laughing. I held it together and explained that Aspergers is just what you call it when your brain works like Tripp's. She didn't have any other questions and I left feeling like it went very well. Though I couldn't help but think as I walked out that a** boogers might make me crazy too if I had them!
Monday, May 5, 2008
Transitions
We have a lot of those coming. I don't know if our Monkey is already sensing them or what , but he has been spending more time Monkey Dancin' than usual lately. We've had lots of tippy-toe dancing and nose huffing and quite a few tantrums, and can I just say that I am TIRED of changing wet undies!! Three steps forward, two steps back............
So, it's May and that means change. T has two more weeks of Sonshine School. That's a little bit sad for me. SSS has been so great to us, but we know that the school district can help him more so next year that is where he will be. I just know how much he is loved at SSS and it makes me a little bit sad to know he won't be there next year. Anyway, the last two weeks of May he will go all 5 days to his PPCD class with the school district. I just love the smile he gets when he sees his teacher. Clearly Miss Devine is at the top of his list! Throw in a few doctor appointments (one in Temple) and a first trip to the dentist and we have one busy month.
Once that's all done the big transition hits.........summer! I know I mentioned in my last post that he will not be with the school district at all this summer. I do think that was the best decision. We prayed a lot and worked very hard to find what we think will be the best arrangement for him. So here's his basic schedule:
Monday - stay home day!
Tuesday - Summer Camp at Sonshine School (9:30-1:30) Vivie will be gonig as well so that Paris and I can have some time together!
Wednesday - Play with friends at church while Mommy goes to Ladies' Class
Thursday - Miss Erika's house (this is all day so Mommy can go to work. Paris and Vivie will be with him) Erika is doing MDO-type childcare from her home. She is very proactive when it comes to structuring the schedule to best help Tripper and is even planning to only offer gluten-free snacks to keep it simple! We LOVE Miss Erika!
Friday - Miss Erika's house (probably just 9-2 ish)
On hopefully either Monday or Wednesday we will also have speech therapy with Miss Tessa. I plan to do lots of activities from the book on RDI Therapy that our In-home parent trainer from the district brought me to go through. There are lots of thing that I could do to involve Paris and still be helping the little man. I think that is our biggest challenge right now - learning how to handle the sibling dynamic. Paris is really starting to show signs that all this attention on T is bothering her. Since we have an appt. in Temple this week I think it will be a good time to sit down with her and talk again about what's going on with Bubba. Maybe it's even time to give her a label - she's so literal I think that would help.
So - that's us in a nutshell. I heard Tripp running around the house singing Hallelujah yesterday. It was beautiful. He is such a sweet spirit! I'll do my best to start posting the fun stories again. I'm sure that remembering and writing them out will help me get through what has the potential to be one booger of a month!
So, it's May and that means change. T has two more weeks of Sonshine School. That's a little bit sad for me. SSS has been so great to us, but we know that the school district can help him more so next year that is where he will be. I just know how much he is loved at SSS and it makes me a little bit sad to know he won't be there next year. Anyway, the last two weeks of May he will go all 5 days to his PPCD class with the school district. I just love the smile he gets when he sees his teacher. Clearly Miss Devine is at the top of his list! Throw in a few doctor appointments (one in Temple) and a first trip to the dentist and we have one busy month.
Once that's all done the big transition hits.........summer! I know I mentioned in my last post that he will not be with the school district at all this summer. I do think that was the best decision. We prayed a lot and worked very hard to find what we think will be the best arrangement for him. So here's his basic schedule:
Monday - stay home day!
Tuesday - Summer Camp at Sonshine School (9:30-1:30) Vivie will be gonig as well so that Paris and I can have some time together!
Wednesday - Play with friends at church while Mommy goes to Ladies' Class
Thursday - Miss Erika's house (this is all day so Mommy can go to work. Paris and Vivie will be with him) Erika is doing MDO-type childcare from her home. She is very proactive when it comes to structuring the schedule to best help Tripper and is even planning to only offer gluten-free snacks to keep it simple! We LOVE Miss Erika!
Friday - Miss Erika's house (probably just 9-2 ish)
On hopefully either Monday or Wednesday we will also have speech therapy with Miss Tessa. I plan to do lots of activities from the book on RDI Therapy that our In-home parent trainer from the district brought me to go through. There are lots of thing that I could do to involve Paris and still be helping the little man. I think that is our biggest challenge right now - learning how to handle the sibling dynamic. Paris is really starting to show signs that all this attention on T is bothering her. Since we have an appt. in Temple this week I think it will be a good time to sit down with her and talk again about what's going on with Bubba. Maybe it's even time to give her a label - she's so literal I think that would help.
So - that's us in a nutshell. I heard Tripp running around the house singing Hallelujah yesterday. It was beautiful. He is such a sweet spirit! I'll do my best to start posting the fun stories again. I'm sure that remembering and writing them out will help me get through what has the potential to be one booger of a month!
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Delayed Post
Sorry for the delay in posting. I got a bit sidetracked by Bug's birthday (she's 2!!!) and Monkey's health. So, here's the catch-up........
Thursday when I picked Tripp up from school he was limping. By the time he went to bed he fell about every four steps because his right leg gave out. Friday morning he couldn't walk. We already had a well-check scheduled for the Bug, but they couldn't do them both at once so we had a marathon morning at the Dr. office. Bug had her check at 9:40 - healthy as can be, and a shrimp on the growth charts - and Monkey had a 10:15 appointment. V was still screaming from her HepA vaccine when we got in for Tripp's appointment. Thank goodness my mom showed up as the doctor came in and took fussy pants out to the lobby! After an exam the doctor felt pretty sure that T had a viral infection in his right hip. We did xrays and some blood work to confirm. All the results came back supportive of that theory so we were good to go with some motrin and a lot of carrying. Mom and I swapped cars and she brought the littles home so I could go straight to the school for Tripp's ARD. Can we say stressed out?
I got there at 12:20 on the nose. Molley (our fabulous diag) asked to meet before the ARD to discuss a few things. We hashed out the ESY deal and all agreed that it would not be the best environment for our Monkey. During the official ARD we went over the proposed goals and schedule for our in home/parent training stuff (I am VERY pleased with this), officially stated no ESY, changed the IEP to allow Tripp to go all 5 days the last two weeks of school, removed the bus from his IEP (since we only rode it once and made other arrangements because it was unacceptable to me), and talked about next year's plan. That's the best part. I turned in all the paperwork to apply for the over-income exemption for Head Start. Next year Tripp's current PPCD will be co-teaching a full day with the Head Start teacher. If things go as "planned" Tripp would be in the co-taught class with a few of his current classmates and all the "typical" head start students. Two teachers, two aides - all day, every day of the week. I think this would be fabulous and Miss Devine is very excited at the possibility. Of course, we won't know anything officially until the summer when the committee meets to grant the exemption spots. Until then I ask that you all pray that it works out!
And just to finish the weird hip virus story......Saturday Tripp's face got very red, but he was outside all day so we didn't think much about it. By bedtime Sunday he had a read face and two very red arms. Nope, not sunburn. Fifth Disease. Both Goose and Bug had it within the last month. For the Monkey it apparently settled in his hip before the rash came out. He is down to one dose of motrin a day and is doing much better. Whew!
Thursday when I picked Tripp up from school he was limping. By the time he went to bed he fell about every four steps because his right leg gave out. Friday morning he couldn't walk. We already had a well-check scheduled for the Bug, but they couldn't do them both at once so we had a marathon morning at the Dr. office. Bug had her check at 9:40 - healthy as can be, and a shrimp on the growth charts - and Monkey had a 10:15 appointment. V was still screaming from her HepA vaccine when we got in for Tripp's appointment. Thank goodness my mom showed up as the doctor came in and took fussy pants out to the lobby! After an exam the doctor felt pretty sure that T had a viral infection in his right hip. We did xrays and some blood work to confirm. All the results came back supportive of that theory so we were good to go with some motrin and a lot of carrying. Mom and I swapped cars and she brought the littles home so I could go straight to the school for Tripp's ARD. Can we say stressed out?
I got there at 12:20 on the nose. Molley (our fabulous diag) asked to meet before the ARD to discuss a few things. We hashed out the ESY deal and all agreed that it would not be the best environment for our Monkey. During the official ARD we went over the proposed goals and schedule for our in home/parent training stuff (I am VERY pleased with this), officially stated no ESY, changed the IEP to allow Tripp to go all 5 days the last two weeks of school, removed the bus from his IEP (since we only rode it once and made other arrangements because it was unacceptable to me), and talked about next year's plan. That's the best part. I turned in all the paperwork to apply for the over-income exemption for Head Start. Next year Tripp's current PPCD will be co-teaching a full day with the Head Start teacher. If things go as "planned" Tripp would be in the co-taught class with a few of his current classmates and all the "typical" head start students. Two teachers, two aides - all day, every day of the week. I think this would be fabulous and Miss Devine is very excited at the possibility. Of course, we won't know anything officially until the summer when the committee meets to grant the exemption spots. Until then I ask that you all pray that it works out!
And just to finish the weird hip virus story......Saturday Tripp's face got very red, but he was outside all day so we didn't think much about it. By bedtime Sunday he had a read face and two very red arms. Nope, not sunburn. Fifth Disease. Both Goose and Bug had it within the last month. For the Monkey it apparently settled in his hip before the rash came out. He is down to one dose of motrin a day and is doing much better. Whew!
Thursday, April 17, 2008
ARD Tomorrow
We have an ARD scheduled tomorow at 12:45. Topics of discussion will be ESY, In-home Parent Training eval results, and scheduling for next year. I've got the paperwork ready to turn in for Head Start - plese pray that they give as an exemption. We are over-income and technically Tripp will be too young (he won't be 4 until October). Molley said to try anyway and has made recommendations that he be considered. I think this would be great for him. I'm concerned that 3 hours of PPCD each day wouldn't be enough for him. I'm sure he would do fine, but I think he would grow more if we can have him in school longer than that. I'll update after the ARD.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Underwear and Tears
Things have been good in Monkeyland lately. This past Saturday Easy and I went to an ABC's of ABA workshop. It was pretty good. I have to say that with the education I have it wasn't anything earth shattering or even really new. It did, however help me re-center my thoughts and I took away a few nuggets that I think will be very helpful. For instance - it takes a lot longer to fade a verbal prompt than a physical one. I am such a verbal person it's gong to be hard to shut-up, but I think it is something I need to work on. Easy also felt like it gave him a little bit of a different perspective so we are both happy we went and we plan on going to a more in depth workshop this fall.
By the time we got back to town and picked up all the kids it was bedtime. I got the Bug to bed and the Goose settled down watching a show and Easy sat down to have "working time" with the Monkey. They had a great session together and then they blew my mind. We got Tripp ready for bed and Easy handed him his boxer shorts and set "You do it." And he did. I sat ther with tears streaming down my face while me 3 1/2 year old son put his pants on by himself for the very first time. It was slow and deliberate. At one point he paused for a long time like he was stuck and then he slid off the bed and stood up to finish pulling up his britches. It was beautiful. So, of course, the next morning I tried it again with his undies (he's a breifs man so I thought they might be harder than the boxers he sleeps in over his diaper) and we had another success. We haven't looked back. He is a pants puttin' on little dude and I am one proud mama! He even tried to put his t-shirt on by himself, but he still needs a little help getting it over his noggin. He's also going potty by himself and coming back out with his undies back on! Woo Hoo for all of us!!!!!!!!!
And lastly in the updates...........we had our eval with the in-home parent trainer person and I am awaiting the ARD date. I thought the girl that came was wonderful. She fits Tripp's prefered profile - petite brunett. She graduated college with Tripp's teacher so them working together will be a breeze. I'll let you know how the ARD goes when we have it. For now I'm just celebrating underwear and pants!
By the time we got back to town and picked up all the kids it was bedtime. I got the Bug to bed and the Goose settled down watching a show and Easy sat down to have "working time" with the Monkey. They had a great session together and then they blew my mind. We got Tripp ready for bed and Easy handed him his boxer shorts and set "You do it." And he did. I sat ther with tears streaming down my face while me 3 1/2 year old son put his pants on by himself for the very first time. It was slow and deliberate. At one point he paused for a long time like he was stuck and then he slid off the bed and stood up to finish pulling up his britches. It was beautiful. So, of course, the next morning I tried it again with his undies (he's a breifs man so I thought they might be harder than the boxers he sleeps in over his diaper) and we had another success. We haven't looked back. He is a pants puttin' on little dude and I am one proud mama! He even tried to put his t-shirt on by himself, but he still needs a little help getting it over his noggin. He's also going potty by himself and coming back out with his undies back on! Woo Hoo for all of us!!!!!!!!!
And lastly in the updates...........we had our eval with the in-home parent trainer person and I am awaiting the ARD date. I thought the girl that came was wonderful. She fits Tripp's prefered profile - petite brunett. She graduated college with Tripp's teacher so them working together will be a breeze. I'll let you know how the ARD goes when we have it. For now I'm just celebrating underwear and pants!
Monday, March 31, 2008
Two Things
First - an update on the Monkey himself. Tripp is doing well. Along with this amazing cognitive gorwth spurt (remember, he started reading some things!) has come some frustration. He seems to have discovered that he can refuse to do things. It's like he just turned 2. This is mostly frustrating because the Bug is about to turn 2 and has figured out the same thing. Most particularly Tripp like to refuse to wear shoes. He kicks and wiggles and screams "no shoes." It's nice. He's been kinda crazy the last week. Vivie has been sick so I'm wondering if he's not fighting of one of the 3 viruses she's had. Lots of toe walking and huffing through the nose. In the great news department.....I saw him try to initiated a conversation with a new (as in met her an hour earlier) friend on Saturday. "Hi Jaycee. How you?" is what he said to this sweet little girl after he'd been ignoring her and her brother Jayden for over an hour. It was pretty cool. He's doing well with the chalkboard schedule. He likes to "mark it off" and it's reduced tantruming by nearly 2/3 in our house.
Second........a word about vaccines. So here's my two cents on this highly controversial topic. Do I think vaccines cause autism? No. Do I think they contribute to the onset and devleopment of an ASD in some kids? Absolutely. Do I think they had anything to do with Tripp's ASD? Nope. That being said, I'm still a nervous mom and with Vivie's 2-year well check coming up I was getting a little anxious about how I should handle this with her. Since we were at the pedi on Friday for one of her viruses (serisously - go read Sarah Station to see how sick she's been!) I brought the subject up. Easy and I had pretty much decided that we were gonig to request that she not be given the big combo, but instead receive her vacinations individually and spread out a bit. And if she so much as had a sniffle we would wait. I reminded Dr. Marquardt that Tripp is on the spectrum and that even though I know the research shows no causation I have some concerns. His response was great "Well, let's look and see what she's due for." Turns out all she's due for is HepA. She's already had the big combo shots! She had them at her 15 month welll-check - before I even really knew I was concerned about it! And let me just say that she is SO FINE!!!! I had no idea that was a weight on my shoulders until Dr. Marquardt lifted it with a simple sentence.....all she needs is HepA.
I hope you are all having a good week. We are waiting to hear from the school district about In Home/Parent training stuff. Once that eval is done we will ARD again to discuss the results of the eval, consider ESY services, and to add to his plan that he will attend the PPCD class all five days the last two weeks of school (Sonshines School will be over on the 15th). Until later.........
Second........a word about vaccines. So here's my two cents on this highly controversial topic. Do I think vaccines cause autism? No. Do I think they contribute to the onset and devleopment of an ASD in some kids? Absolutely. Do I think they had anything to do with Tripp's ASD? Nope. That being said, I'm still a nervous mom and with Vivie's 2-year well check coming up I was getting a little anxious about how I should handle this with her. Since we were at the pedi on Friday for one of her viruses (serisously - go read Sarah Station to see how sick she's been!) I brought the subject up. Easy and I had pretty much decided that we were gonig to request that she not be given the big combo, but instead receive her vacinations individually and spread out a bit. And if she so much as had a sniffle we would wait. I reminded Dr. Marquardt that Tripp is on the spectrum and that even though I know the research shows no causation I have some concerns. His response was great "Well, let's look and see what she's due for." Turns out all she's due for is HepA. She's already had the big combo shots! She had them at her 15 month welll-check - before I even really knew I was concerned about it! And let me just say that she is SO FINE!!!! I had no idea that was a weight on my shoulders until Dr. Marquardt lifted it with a simple sentence.....all she needs is HepA.
I hope you are all having a good week. We are waiting to hear from the school district about In Home/Parent training stuff. Once that eval is done we will ARD again to discuss the results of the eval, consider ESY services, and to add to his plan that he will attend the PPCD class all five days the last two weeks of school (Sonshines School will be over on the 15th). Until later.........
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