I mentioned in my introduction that his socialization ended at 9 months. No one could hold him or touch him, he would rarely interact with anyone outside his immediate family.
In the last 2-3 weeks, he has began to initiate verbal contact with strangers. He'll say "hi" to people at the grocery store, which results in Mommy celebrating stupidly in front of strangers. I don't care, I don't care what people think, I happily dance around and say "good saying hi". Yesterday some friends stopped by, I had ran inside to get something and Mr N was outside, I heard him open the door and say "hi" as he let them in.
For those unfamiliar with Autism, much of the therapy and work done is really breaking everything down into very small, simple steps. Small phrases, small words as to not overwhelm the child. They have a difficult time weeding out the nonsense words and getting the point. With a normal functioning child you say "where's your nose? where's your mouth? where's your eyes? where's your head?", with autistic children that is far to difficult for them to process. So we do "touch head", "touch nose". Head and nose are two of Mr N's new words. He's got them down, he touches them and says the word. These baby steps are like moon landings for us. When praising him it works the same way, we say "good touch head, good touch nose". Everything is simplified. I'm sure this makes us look nuts in public, too. Again, this will not stop me from praising his every accomplishment.
I've been using the same techniques with E, even though she is normal functioning. It took only a few days of praising her sitting correctly vs scolding her w-sitting to get her broke of the habit. She hasn't w-sat in weeks. She still enjoys receiving praise from it and will point out when she sits correctly. Mr N also will say "good boy" if I don't immediately praise him for an accomplishment. It's cute as heck.
2 weeks ago my friend Tracy extended her arms to E for a hug, but Mr N ran up and hugged her. I'm not sure who it surprised more, me or her. She has been trying for 6 months to get a hug from him. I've been waiting for 20 months for him to let someone hold him again.
He is much quicker to play with my friend and her daughter, too. He warms right up and will play hide and seek, let them tickle him, let them pick him up, etc. <3
I really love this one. It makes my heart melt. I agree, Mr N is cute as heck! Everyone who knows you and your family knows how much love you have for them. Your dedication to them is further shown through your words on your blog. Don't worry what anyone else thinks. Those kids have the greatest mom and dad, that love them and will do anything in their power to make them feel that. That is all that matters.
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