Happy Birthday Adam

Today is Adam's 6th Birthday! Nothing special has happened so far. We had a long day at the MIND for a medication study that they are doing for treatment of autism symptoms. Onto that a different time. He opened a few presents from Grandma and Nana & Granddad. Rob is on Cabo on business (ya horrible huh? :)) so we are waiting until he gets back on Sunday to do cake and ice cream. We got him a Leapster 2 for Christmas and a couple games. I think he'll be happy about that. Well, I need to see about putting Ethan to sleep and setting up the other kids with a movie. Eragon will be watched tonight. :)

Evolution in process

I'm seeing the evolution of puberty/teenager taking place in my home. Rebekah has taken up shaving her legs. She also started listening to the radio at great lengths. She likes to hang in her room now playig her DS and blasting the radio. Right now she is taking a shower with the radio in the bathroom...its LOUD!! OMG this is only the beginning. At least I only have little bits I know it gets worse......

Boys at this moment

Thought I'd quickly post why on a weekend at 8am I'm able to post anything.
Well, Adam is in the bath right now with his crocodile that he received for Christmas which he explicitly asked for ("I want a plastic or rubber crocodile that I can take in the bath with me thats this big and can float"). He also has goggles on and is pretending to be Steve Irwin diving in the water viewing the "crocs". I hear jumping splashing and some Australian accent at the moment. :)

Ethan is holding his BuzzLightyear and Woody while watching Toy Story. He knows a lot of the words and just stares at it while talking through the scene. It is almost over and will try and sneak in some play time.

The Joys of school projects

So Rebekah, age 10, has several school projects coming up. I have to admit that I've postponed many to the last minute due to the stress level these projects can cause in my home. By February she has a 3D model of a national park to complete, a Wax Museum Project, and a biography. I have this all in my datebook including when we SHOULD start but it never does. Whose fault is it? I hold the supplies and pocketbook for ones we don't have. Wonder if the kids who don't complete these time consuming projects just don't have a home that has the time or gives the effort in their childs education.

Today we will be working on her 3D model. We have a kit which helps tremendously. But it was $20 and I know not everyone can afford that. We started it late it is due next week. Oh well I figure if it gets done by then and passes with an A or B we are doing alright. If it goes wrong I'll be posting that. LOL We have to work around her 2 brothers which includes one who is absolutely obsessed with her doing this project and has whined that he wants the same kit.
Wish her luck....

The MIND might help me!

Wow this is a huge roller coaster with Ethan and whether or not he will continue services after 3 with the regional center. So I'm thinking that on Monday we will go to the psychologist and it will be a 50/50 chance whether or not they will see more than just pddnos. Well, about 4 weeks ago Ethan was in a study with the MIND Institute called CHARGE http://beincharge.ucdavis.edu/ . There were quite a few tests involved in this study and one of them was the ADIR (which is a lengthy parent interview), the ADOS (Autism Diagnostic Observation Scale), and the Vineland. Based upon these results they said that Ethan is on the autism spectrum. So I have SOMETHING else to back this up. They also rated areas where people with autism are typically affected the most and in those areas he scores extremely low, many were in the one year old range. I'm hoping this will help Ethan be able to continue services. It doesn't say whether he is fully autistic or not but will hopefully find that out sooner or later. Thsi is so damn stressful. I'm yelling at my kids more than normal. I can't stand people touching me right now. I'm so ugly as a person from all the stress. I can't wait for this to be done.

Getting in the swing of thing

Wow taking a two week break can really break some GOOD habits! I can't believe that I've been getting up at around 7am every morning. Even the kids are getting up later than normal. Hopefully shocking our normal routine back into our systems will help us transition better. It's insane though. I've been trying to keep the house picked up but completely forgot how much I clean before Ethan's in home services get here. Yesterday was my first day back and I think I did a good job. I skipped a table that needed wiping, dusting entertainment center, and making sure there were fresh towels in the bathrooms.

Ethan seems to have transitioned well into his therapies. I didn't see any unusual tantruming. We played with salt and shaving cream yesterday and that was fun. I was surprised he was okay with the feel of it to at least feel it. I'm so proud at his progress. I spoke with the regional center and it looks like we are going to get him reevaluated. It is just insane. The battery of tests they run on him are activities that he is being drilled on in home so I think it just skews the results. I don't want him to be autistic or have any other issues but I know autism and I live it with Adam. I know Ethan is affected I just am not sure how severe and whether the testing will accurately show the severity considering he has been in therapy since 13 months of age. I was told that if he isn't made elibible due to his mild autism but once the therapies are gone and he regresses then I can come back or if he is 5 and he has not caught up to his peers in a way that is expected and the gap is even further from his peers than it is now then he will be looked into for being autistic and not just pddnos. They really need to change this system. It is absolutely ridiculous. It will pain me to see Adam getting services while Ethan is left with practically nothing just the way it did when Ethan was receiving services at such a young age when I knew I short changed Adam by not knowing the signs of autism early enough to get him that same help. blah...

Adam did okay in school on his first day back. There was a ridiculous tantrum on his way to class because he couldn't find his watch. He couldn't stop crying and screaming. I guess he did well in class but in resource (he goes 4 days a week for an hour) he freaked because he wanted another snack and threatened the teacher that he "would die if I dont' eat NOW". ((sigh)) We had a long talk and it looks like we will be giving him a more filling snack, however, the outburst was unacceptable.

Rebekah seems to have faired okay on her first day back. She had a small attitude but after an hour of being home she was back to her old self. We will be doing her project this week which will be interesting since I'll be the primary helper on something that has to deal with visual creativity. LOL Wish her luck. :)