My son keeps going around saying, "don't break my heart!"
I don't know where he got it from, but I am going to to assume he was listening to Elton John and Kiki Dee while at daycare, or something equally silly.
I worked for a little bit today. My husband told me that when I left, our son said:
"I love you mommy!"
Which was unprompted and completely awesome.
He also took a piece of his United States puzzle and showed it to the husband.
"Utah!" he said.
Yes, it was Utah.
This kid can name several states but can't tell me when he needs to pee.
But we are working on it!
He is doing pretty well on his new Gluten Free, Casein Free diet. Less bloating in his belly, less whimpering in his sleep, and more words and meaningful phrases. Nice! The hubby loves to cook, and he's getting really good at making GF/CF foods for the whole family.
I think I need to write Udi's a letter and thank them for their blueberry GF muffins. My son LOVES them.
So this week I will call the one autism school and see if we can tour it and if it would be a good fit for my son. We like his school now, but we have had problems with them not changing his diaper/pull up because he couldn't tell them that he had to go potty when all of the other kids in his class could. I picked him up one Friday. His diaper was saturated with urine all up to his back. It was not the first time that had happened. Monday came, and I talked with his main teacher. She was apologetic and honestly thought someone had changed him. Now, she writes down the amount of wet/dry pull ups he has, and another teacher has been putting him on the potty. Last week, he peed on the potty for the very first time. I think I had tears. So proud.
Being a parent is so humbling, and I know that we tend to, as a society, just take for granted that we CAN have kids, and when we do, assume that they will be "normal" and one day able to fend for themselves. I feel great comfort in the fact that I know a great variety of people who appreciate just how amazing and challenging it is to be a parent, esp to one with "special needs" as it were, and those that can have kids or adopted have realized just how lucky we are. I'm glad to know people who have decided they don't want kids, or can't have them, but appreciate this journey that others have taken on. I had never assumed it would be easy, and I never dreamed it could be this amazing.
Every kiss and hug I get from my son reminds me how awesome this is.
Alicia, I am so proud of you. You know I love Graeme with all my heart, and I have from the moment I laid eyes on him. Of course, you also know that I also went through much of the same things you are going through right now. I had the knowledge that both of my sons were so bright, but for example, with Alex, I had teachers telling me to take him home, he just had no business in preschool because he could not participate in any way, and didn't interact with the other children either. I cried and cried. But I knew deep down that there was going to be the day when it would all turn around. Of course I also had days when I wanted to throw myself off the nearest bridge, but I just kept plugging along. And now, when I hear Alex say that he feels bad because he knows how hard I was trying, and how much I was doing, and how much I loved him....well, I still want to wring his neck, but he is a completely different person now. And then came Colin, in many ways a repeat of Alex in the beginning, but he was also more laid back, not as high strung. And strides had been made and he was able to get into a program by at least 7th grade, and did so well from then on. Basically, the two of them were full time jobs!! I wish I were close by, and I could help with Graeme's therapy, because sometimes just feeling like you have someone in your corner, every day, without fail, can be the best therapy of all. Any way I can help, I will. You are my loves. I am here. Period.
ReplyDeletethanks, mama
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