NO mama

There is a new issue we are having.....its a Verbal child.  In the last week my son has accidentally let the cat out of the bag....he can answer yes or no questions and he has a sense of humor.  Now don't get me wrong I am SUPER happy about this, but it is posing a new set of issues that I wasn't exactly ready for.

Last week I blogged about the first real conversation I had with the boy here.  So instead of doing something I want him to do, instead of just following my lead while whining he can now say "No, I rather play trains".....um ok well NO, Mama rather you go potty.  I use to put food in front of him and he freaked out.  Then I realized chicken was always a sure thing....and then he realized he had options.  I started giving him options and now I get "no chicken, i want Cereal"......you cant eat cereal for dinner, what do you want for dinner "I want Crackers!"....no, no crackers how about Chicken "NOOOOOO, No chicken, 'Nola Bars".  AHHH......I'm so excited we can have these arguments, I really am, I am so thankful to God that he has given my son a voice, but now what?

So now he is having meltdowns because he realized he has options and I wont let him have them.  I'm not sure which ones are harder.  I guess the non verbal ones were worse because I had no idea what the issue was, now I know but I still don't know how to fix it.  I'm off to the super market to find new options, hopefully if he doesn't eat them Lia will.

As for the sense of Humor.......Mr. Smarty pants has mastered matching...letters to word sounds etc. Except now he will pretend he doesn't know.  He will purposely match the wrong things and say "uh.....no that is not a match"(insert hysterical laughing here).... Q and Chicken....THAT NOT A MATCH HAHAHAHAHA!  He's too funny.  At our last Appointment to talk about his development he kept turning the lights off in the doctors office.  He would turn the light off and laugh and say "oh no its soooo very Dark in here!!!"  Fantastic kid, I am trying to discuss your mitochondria.  Eventually I had to stand up in front of the switch which got him annoyed.  Frankie yelled at me he pointed to the char and yelled "No, mama, You sit down, NOW"......Dr. Jassey said " i see he has progressed in language" Lol....yes yes he has.

I guess with anything, this is a new chapter, I'm just on the first page....I'll figure it out, I always do.

Beautiful Words

Before Frankie was Diagnosed or uttered a word I always got the same comment.  "One day he will start talking and you will never get him to shut up.  You will long for the days when he didn't talk"  You have no idea how many times I heard that.  I remember being pregnant and overly hormonal crying, thinking I would never know what my son sounded like unless it was in nonsense Jargon, grunts or screaming. 

I wrote emails to people asking what I was suppose to do, where I was suppose to go since at that point I had abandoned out pediatrician, who was still on the wait and see bandwagon.  Most never got back because I was contacting the wrong people.  I remember being 8 months pregnant, sitting in the dark, convinced my son had Autism and it meant no future.

I had no Idea of the ins and outs of Autism.  I knew what I read on Web MD, what the doctors said that vaccines didn't cause it etc. etc.  So I kept getting him vaccinated and in January I finally had the evaluation done.  He knew how to say "Ready, Set, GO".....that was it. 

I'm thankful for the psychologist because he did let us down easy, and did give us hope. He really wasn't one of those types that coldly said Autism and walked out of the room to leave you like you just got punched in the stomach.  I think because of him I wasn't as depressed as I could have been.

After about 3 months of intense therapy, Frankie started one word comments, sometimes even 2.  In recent weeks he has started strings of sentences.  Today he said "I see Andrea, I go to school?"  to which I sadly had to say, "No we have to go to the Dr.".  We pulled up to the office and he said " mama that is Dr. Jassey office" 

He is amazing, and I love hearing his beautiful words!  Even when they are used improperly.    I cant help it, I love to hear him.  Granted its only been a few months, but I could hear him say Lia, Lia, Lia, Lia Lia.....all day and not care.  He can repeat the same question over and over or tell me his " feets is broken" when his shoe fell off for hours....it wouldn't matter.

I start thinking the non stop talking may eventually get to me.   But then I just have to bring myself back to that place when I thought he would never utter a word and I remember I am blessed that he can annoy me.

Great Job Yelling at That Boy.......

.....wait what?  Today we went to look at another pre-school program and get a screening.  This was the second school we saw, and I think this is the one.  The first school we toured was huge, I felt like I could easily get lost, it was also one of the only schools close to the house with full day openings.  I found it strange that when we went through the tour, they never showed us a class with kids in it.  Wow, um that's a nice room and all but can you show me some kids?  I suppose they didn't want to disrupt a class but how am I suppose to get an idea of what goes on here if I cant see any kids???

Today, at school two, I SAW KIDS!!!   First thing we did was bring LP into a 10-1-2 class with kids his age.  He did great, he said hi, he danced with the kids, did circle time, played in the kitchen.....it was great.  I spoke to the teachers and got a real good feeling, everything here was just like my boy, including Thomas tables in the entrance and animals on the walls.  It was smaller and was not an ABA program, but there were many ABA things I saw teachers doing.  He looked so happy!

So the title of this post is throwing you off right?  Well, my son is a huge pusher.  If you are in his space and he cant verbally tell you to get out of it, he will push you.  It seems no matter how many times we try to facilitate the language and tell him to use words instead of hands......hands win.  While we were in the class I was getting emotional watching my son with the other kids, laughing and playing.  But then I had a moment where I almost cried (tears of joy, may I add).....

Little Boy : Come lets play (goes to grab LP's hand)

Me: (anticipating a huge push....oh nooo)

LP:  No, Stop it! (keeps hands to self)

Me:  Good job yelling no!....I mean, good job not pushing

Now if he can keep this up with his sister and stop knocking her over 5 x a day