hug

can't believe I didn't post.

Yesterday tristan was standing on a chair and hugged me and said hug
and proceeded to continue hugging me and then asked to be held upside
down by leaning his head back.

:)

argh

so I'm making beef fried rice (in one pan) so I cooked the meat and
stored it in a sealed container while I cooked the rice. tristan's
hugging it, real cute. well after taking it away repeatedly, he
apparently managed to hug it so hard that he's squeezed it open and
dumped half of it all over the place. then he proceeded to cry at me
until I fed him, though it appears he's distracted himself for a
moment.

chocolate cake

and now he's painting himself with the cake in the process of trying
to get it off his fingers...

birthday cake

just had tristan put his birthday cake in my hand, upside down, in its
container. I think he wants some...

door

tristan is swinging my bedroom door back and forth from the wall and
putting his hand in between the door and wall and laughing and
jabbering at it and saying something that sounds like ow and aaaaaa

now he's tapping the doorknob with a stick in his right hand while
continuing to do the above.

he seems quite content.

pressies

trying to figure what I can get tristan that he'll play with as much
as he's been playing w/ his christmas present....

drummy

Christmas was interesting for trister. He ran all over the house (and
his sister crawled) during present unwrapping, so I had to either open
gifts for him or chase him down and pick him up or chase him down and
open in front of him.

he got all sorts of baby toys, which is good, because they're the kind
that make sounds or have interesting textures. He likes them.

I got him a music set, with a drum on a stick, a stick with bells, a
triangle, a weird stick thing, and maracas (sp?). He loves the drom
and the maracas. He likes to tap a maraca on things and likes to tap
things on the drum :)

Santa put a play kitchen utensil set in his stocking. little metal
ladels and spatula and whisk and a wooden spoon and spatula. he liked
them, and used them to tap on his drum.

right now he is tapping a plastic spoon on a cookie, and I have to go
save the cookies from him.

pressies

Got this music set with what looks like a tamborine on a stick with no
symbols for trister

opened it up (but didn't take it out) and showed it to him to see how
he likes it.

I loved it and tapped on and stroked the drum and tried to take it out
of the container.

hopefully we get that reaction on christmas eve. :)

Yo-Yo Ma

I am such a .... I don't know.

I couldn't resist and gave them their present early (imma doing the
real shopping on friday anyway)

anyway. the classical music on tv seems to have lowered the volume in
my household just a bit. and it is much more relaxing than regular tv.
:D

dvd we're watching, vol 3 struggle for hope, had too much explaining
how they made it in the beginning but the music is beautiful.

Toy tristan likes

tristan doesn't 'play' with toys.

He sure likes this thing though (Lily's bday pressie from godmom):
http://trus.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pTRU1-2878312dt.jpg

and aaaaaaaaaaack bloggers down!

Plugged Autism Search

Pluggd Demo

found via Wired


podcast audio search

messy boy

my completely messy just woke up from a nap crying boy has turned into
a clean content boy after a shower and then a bath. :)

it will take days to fix the mess he made whilst I was at work :(

This is my life

looking forward to two IEPs in one week.

Tristan already had one, but he needs another because they're moving
him to a new school.

AI Program visit

visited tristan's potential new school.

It's closer to Lola's (I can see trying to arrange parent teacher
conferences on the same day) but harder to get in and out of than his
current school (not the school itself but the neighborhood - train
tracks and other schools in the area pose issues). So it may or may
not be easier to get him there if he misses the bus.

It's not set in stone - some children need to transition out for him
to transition in. but it's pretty sure he'll begin after winter break.

I never think to ask questions...

All the kids there are autistic. and I was amazed at how they all sat
for story time and listening to music time.

The all use picture schedules much like Tristan's object schedule. and
some facilitated communication (holding the childs hand to help the
child focus and direct)

There's a variety of developmental abilities in the small room.

The teacher's son goes to the same daycare as tristan does after
school and she plans on popping in when she picks up her son to
observe him :) so she can meet him. She'll also be visiting his
regular school when she gets a chance.

They'll start letting him do whatever, until he gets used to the
class. He'll then have alternating choice time and specific
instructrion time. They'll also help steer choice time to be
beneficial.

They have a trampoline in the room :D

fingers are crossed that everything goes smoothly and this is good for him.

Also, as we were wrapping up, one of the boys that will be
transitioning out came by and gave the autism specialist a half hug,
and lightly pressed against my side for a second. I explaind that
Tristan also does stuff like that and will spontaneously go up to you
and hug you sometimes. His current teacher then remarked, with a smile
that they will miss him very much. :)

found at meijer

pro
freshionals

corn brush

by Good Cook

for $2.99

Just like those little brushes they use for therapy for Tristan,
except oval instead of square.
If you read and remember the name of the therapy, please reply! It
involves brushing his limbs and moving his joints.

With a nice handle. The handle is also the perfect size for Tristan to
hang on to, as he likes to have an item of that size, preferably
roundish, in his hand.

two birds w/ one stone. yay!

and I found it at the Okemos Meijer to be exact. In the produce aisle,
on a little stand with hang tags. had other producy items like another
type of brush that resembled a round scrub brush. It was near the
center aisle. (in case by some freak chance someone in the area who
needs a one of those things happens to read this)

I'll like maybe bring it to ganpa's and post a pic on flickr with this
same description, I think.

AI program

We are looking at putting tristan in our county's AI program:
http://www.inghamisd.org/schools/ai_program.html

there's an opening and since tristan wil be four soon, we can look at
different options for him, other than the special needs preschool
class he's in.

This will offer a full day of instruction, and will be in an area
school, with bussing provided by his home district

They say it's an intensive program and most kids don't need to
continue through 5th grade full day and most are able to function in a
regular classroom within a few years

I have my fingers crossed that all goes well

I visit it next Tuesday.

I'm pretty amazed at how he seems to get into these programs with
limited openings.

the fall after he was in Early On, they got him in preschool at not
quite 3 (the law says 2.5 but usually they wait until the child is 3
unless they believe education will be beneficial earlier) and he got
into a limited seat summer program so he had school all summer, and
now this. I am pleased. They keep saying that a lot of things he does
are really good signs (like being able to tell between skittles and an
m&m wrapper). I'm hopeful but cautious.

I've read that usually real intensive 40hr/week therapy is needed for
progress in kids like him and usually it's better started earlier, as
in the 2-3 range rather than the 4 yr old range, but they seem to
think he will be a kid that will be able to progress significantly in
this program. I really hope so. I know he's bright but it's all
internal and hard for people to see. He likes school so much, I'm
hoping for the best. I also like that even for the lower developed
kids, they still attempt to integrate them with neurotypical children
for at least a few minutes.

they also apparently frequently take trips to the haslett high school
pool. and he loves loves loves to swim. so that is good. The school he
was at in the summer I think had an on site pool so he went there
frequently and I'd get notes on how he loves to swim - I know this of
course from his time in the bathtub and his tendency to try to jump in
the pool at grandpa's - I remember him jumping in the deep end once
and he kept himself afloat for the fraction of a second before my
husband leaped in faster than I've ever seen him move to grab him. and
at a low depth family pool we went to with his godmom he was just
jumping under water. it as great.

I know I said part of me feels like this is another lets get tristan
outta here but it's better for him so even if it is it's okay (he
switched teachers from last school year, but I think that was
partially because his teacher's classroom was changing)

part of me also wonders about that I asked at his IEP in Oct if he
should get any additional therapy of any sort, and they said no, what
was at his school is fine, but maybe that was partially because they
were hoping to get him in this program that will provide what he
needs.

all my fingers are crossed. I want the best for him. and I want him to
be happy and school seems to make him happy.

tristan & stuff

haven't posted much about the kids lately. and the one person who
reads the regularly will know about this stuff already anyway.

tristan has said "alu" and "alu-oo, mom" recently, when giving a hug.
the alu or alu-oo has been around awhile (it's "I love you" as one
word, and probably means "hug!"). But, alu-oo, mom is putting two
words together.

and trister is looking at a possible spot in a full day school for
autistic children. yay! he'll go back to his main school once he meets
"certain developmental milestones," whatever that means.

He gets to go there in January, assuming everything runs smoothly,
since he's going to 4. It'd be nice if the age for such programs was
lower, as I've heard earlier intervention is better done earlier.

spam posting bout lily now

(well I'm not spam posting on lily's blog since I think the last few
posts that mentioned her didn't get sent there I'm spam posting on the
main blog with all of us)

anyway.

she stayed w/ a friend while neal went a hunting and I learned....

SHE WILL FALL ASLEEP IN HER PLAYPEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(we don't have room for a crib)

WaHooooooooooooooooooooooo!

:D

and now tristan's gonna climb in and wake her up. actually I think he
thought about it saw her sleeping and changed his mind. but it still
woke her up.

oh, and one more thing on tristan

not sure if I mentioned this here but he's been copying his sister's
bledder bledder bleh, I guess cause he sees us doing it back and forth
with her and getting so excited (we get excited with him too but I
guess it's easier for him if he's observing us w/ her)

so she's like waving if you say hello, esp if you wave at her

so I'm doing that more anamatedly, since the school is working on
getting him to wave

communication.

last week, I think maybe on Friday, I pointed towards the bus as he
was contemplating the playground and he walked toward it.

Today I came and picked him up from daycare, and held his hand instead
of picking him up.

One of the teachers there asked for a hug before he left, he turned
towards her but hesitated (I interpretted that as yes I want a hug but
don't take me from mommy, I'm ready to go home)

When we got out of the fence (he'd been outside), I directed him
towards the car and asked him where he goes.

Initially he hesitated. then I turned him towards the car again and
asked again. I then put my hand in his and he took me to the door and
brought my hand towards the handle..

When we got home I held his hand and took him w/ me to check the mail
(the boxes are under a stairwell) He just danced around nearby (did
not take off) while I checked the mail.

I then took his hand and we walked towards our apartment. he pulled
back until I switched so he was just holding my finger, instead of
holding hands. I then let go as we stood in front of the door and
asked him to go in. I opened the screen door, he did not take off, I
opened the inside door and he went right in (he usually tries to run
around outside when we are heading home, if he's awake enough).

Then I had come out of the bathroom, and he decided he wanted a bath
so after I'd closed the door he took my hand and then put it on the
knob :)