Saturday afternoon we took a stroll through our local downtown. At one little souvenir shop Mr N insisted "I want to get this" stuffed wolf, after repeatedly telling him no and walking away, he came to me again "I NEED to get this" to which I again responded no. He then more firmly said "I need to get this for Sissy". My eyes filled with tears because the extent of his sweetness knows no limits, I handed him my credit card and steered him towards the checkout. He proudly paid then handed Sissy the wolf he just bought her. This amazing child of mine didn't ask for anything for himself, he only wanted to get his sister a stuffed wolf, which she loves, he knows her so well.
Let me back up a few hours, we started our afternoon at the library trying to get new library cards so we could check out some books. However, they require seeing something with your current address on it, which we did not have with us. The kids were disappointed so the librarian directed us to the books for sale where we bought four books for them. Then we headed to a thrift store where the children scored five more books. E began reading when she was four which has resulted in her being a very strong reader at seven, Mr N is really beginning to love books, even likes to look through Sissy's chapter books. His favorite books, of course, are dinosaur books. By Sunday afternoon they had finished the nine books we bought the day before so Monday morning we again headed to the library for a library card. Mr N got one monster book, one chapter book and E got two chapter books that she wanted and one chapter book I insisted she needed to try. Thankfully, E loved all of the books she got so we'll be heading back to day for more.
As the school year fast approaches, my anxiety and nerves start to rise. We had completed the IEP process at the end of the last school year but we still should have at least one more meeting to discuss Mr N's needs for Kindergarten. I'm anxious to know what Mr N's school day will look like, what will he do at school, what will be expected of him, what is he capable of doing? In Kindergarten they count to 100, know their ABCs, recognize their numbers, begin basic addition and early reading. What does this mean for Mr N? Is he capable of all of that? How much help will he need to accomplish these things? His sheer knowledge amazes me as we read books he identifies the animals in the pictures, but will he able to keep progressing at a higher rate than his peers to ever catch up to them?
One of the things that impressed Mr N's teachers the most last year was his determination to be understood. If he said something he would repeat it until they understood what he said without getting upset. They said it's not often that a child has such a determination to push through instead of getting frustrated. For me, I get irritated and frustrated when I have to repeat myself when my husband doesn't hear or understand something. Mr N will repeat himself many times over and over until he's understood. He's speaking so much better that it's rare now that he has to repeat himself. However, last week he said something that we couldn't figure out, we never did understand what he was saying and it ended with him in tears. It's heartbreaking to see him putting forth so much effort then not being understood.
My son is amazing.
Mr N starts his day every morning cuddling with Daddy, he stumbles into Daddy's office rubbing his eyes and climbs into his lap to cuddle. His sweetness is unprecedented.
I find myself at times being surprised when Mr N acts autistic, for lack of a better way to word it. He's progressed so much, is so friendly, easy going and happy most of the time that when he starts to have a sensory overload, starts with the echolalia or any kind of stimming it's a shock at first. Stress seems to bring on echolalia in a big way, he hasn't really done it much in the last couple of years so when he recently encountered a very stressful situation we had to adjust to keep him from getting too stressed. At meetings he still gets overwhelmed, sometimes holding him tight and cuddling will get him through, other times it's a trip out to the car to relax.
I don't think I've posted about Gabby, our golden retriever we got to have trained as a therapy dog. She's been through an obedience class but no therapy training yet. Mr N is still pretty rough with her, lays on her, shoves her foot in her mouth, pushes her ears back to make her smile, etc. She takes it all in stride and doesn't seem to mind.
