Dear readers - a whole year has gone by in Seattle - while we still "feel new", it also feels like ages since we left Tennessee.
here is how September been
A
Developing R
Making Songs
You all know how much music has been a part of
our lives in raising R –it continues to be
a short cut to him.
R has been making all these Old Mc Donald songs
about everything
Like “Old
Mac Donald had an Idylwood park” (which he has clearly thought about before
as in fact this park has many ducks )
When it came to Old Mac Donald had a Cascades
view park – he had to say “And in that park he had some ….. Kids” (as there are
no animals there )
I was waiting to say what he would use for the
sound that kids make – but he made me laugh
when he said “With a say-say here and a say-say there “ ( implying that the kids
were saying things !!
Remembering old friends
I love
that while he has made so many new friends he has not forgotten his old ones .
Any time we play with some toy that he played with his beloved Miss Gypsi or
Miss Sadie or Miss Kristen he will quickly tell me
“miss gypsi play with me and baby Beethoven”
God
While R and I say a simple prayer of gratitude
at bedtime – we have no idea that he gets the concept of god
Recently, we all went to the Ganesh temple
to celebrate Lord Ganesh’s birthday and when I asked him what he was planning
to pray for, he said unexpectedly “I want to pray for a trumpet”
Then he told me that “first we go to temple ,, then we pray for trumpet .. then we go buy
trumpet”
We had to break it to him that prayers do not
work like that J but it made us smile when he said
later that he would like to pray for
money.
I think god appreciates the honesty of these simple thoughts
Other kids
One thing where R
does not seem to be really transferring skills- is in the social area. While he
has certainly beein going to social skills classes and apparently doing quite
well too – he still mostly avoids other kids.
In Portland we met some of DH’s friends whose kids had a Wii.
The girls were so
sweet in letting him play with their Wii and not even asking to play with him.
But let alone appreciating the favor that these kiddos were doing for him, he
was going into the settings of their video games and changing them.
Its always hard to
take R anywhere as he immediately starts to whine but we are telling him that
its really important to do some things that he does not exactly want to
do - because everyone’s interests must be taken into account.
This is a tough
lesson for him to grock.
He does so many funny things to make us laugh
The other day, he handed me a large lump from
his nose and told me to please put it in the trash
Homeschooling
Is really going well.
R loves it so much more than regular school.
The
other day R and I were playing the alphabet game at the park – where I pick a
letter and tell him to name something with it
I picked A and asked him to name a teacher with A.
When he was quiet – I answered for him “Miss Alyssa” from his regular school –
he quickly changed my answer to “Miss Angie” who is a teacher at his new home-school.
The therapist who runs the program says that all
the therapists want to work with him because he is “so interesting”
When I told my MIL this over the phone, she said
that it was because he was one of the “hopeful cases” (kid that makes progress)
I don’t agree though. In TN, most of the kids
that had an Autism diagnosis were quite obviously autistic.
Here in WA, I feel that R is one of the more classically
autistic child. Most kids that I have met here with an autism diagnosis –seem
to be more mildly affected (good eye contact, playing with other kids etc. )
while R is more obviously on the A team.
I think it’s simply that he is a very interesting
and endearing child- with or without autism
Or maybe
I think that because I am his mother.
Crohn’s
We came to the hospital today to prepone his
Remicade infusion – he has started
having symptoms once again and the doc is thinking that maybe the Remicade
doses are too far apart ( 8 weeks)
We have tried a lot of natural methods as well –
adding a lot of greens like Kale and Spinach that are helpful in reducing inflammation.
We are also giving him extra turmeric (which is magic for inflammation )
Its quite easy to fix the dose so we are not
worried ( or at least trying not to)
Vacation
The trick to being happy with change is to focus on the good thing
that change brings instead of the focusing on the things you miss about the old
ways.
And
there is plenty to enjoy. First, our beautiful house (which we love a lot more
than our rambling old house that we lived in Knoxville - I used to tell DH that
I wanted to live in a fat house and now we do). Second, being in a part
of the country that we have never seen before and finally, of
course all the autism services here.
But one thing we really miss about our TN life - is how much we used to vacation. Just having the cabin means that we used to have a little holiday every weekend.
We
realize that on Sep 1 we completed an
entire year in Seattle -And
in all that time we have not taken a single trip outside WA !!!
We
decided to rectify this immediately on the last day of the first year (so we
would never have to say that there was a year when we did not vacation at all)
Vacation in Portland
We go to Portland and visit the Rose Garden.
We are in a
residence inn hotel and its very good – we have our traditions for these hotels
– eating the buffet breakfast.
We meet friends - we also meet boat people - a couple who have decided to say that they would like to eschew regular life and just live on a boat.
I chat with the lady and she tells me that I must try it. This below is her.
Canada
We also decide to go to Calgary in Alberta, Canada.
As per usual, I want to fly and DH wants to
drive.
DH does not like public transport
as he feels he is “at the mercy” of another driver
I, on the other hand , think of finding clean restrooms,
the long hours in the car.
Still I agree to his plan- mostly as I tell him
for the great pleasure of telling him” I told you so”
But guys – the 1600 miles is breathtaking.
DH and I get loads of time to talk and talk in the car- which we do.
And what we see outside is spectacular
We go to Banff National park and its paradise. I have told DH that he must scatter my ashes here.
Somewhere where a mountain( not a hill ) meets a lake.
We picnic in paradise
We stay in the house of one of DH’s Engineering
College roommates.
They are just so wonderful and know just how to
treat R. (Ignore him mostly – let him wander around and let him play with
their Wii)
Sandra makes me tear up one day when I am
trying to pile up all the discs in their boxes neatly.
“Let it be.. He likes to spread it all around.. so he can see it all in
one glance”
Such insight!!
She reminds me so much of my sister.
Their daughter (4) is amazing as is Ivor and we
are so much at home in their place that its very hard to leave once the weekend
is over
We are definitely coming back - look what we missed in this trip- pics by Ivor who is an artist ( engineer by profession) but in regular life an amazing cook and photographer
Here is Lake Louise
Here is a view of the Canadian Rockies
Here is Lake Maligne
I am in love with Canada.
Physical health and Wellness
I turned 39 this week.
I have had the most amazing birthday thanks to DH, my family and of course R who is mad for birthdays like he is mad for Christmas ( which you know is saying something)
This year I have gained 15-20 pounds( that too without enjoying it)
I am
quite worried about the weight gain.
One very
interesting thing that a dietician said to my friend was “you have to eat like
a thin person ... not like a fat person
who is on a diet all the time”
This is what I have
seen about all the naturally thin people – is that they really don’t care about
food.
They naturally eat less and don’t have automatic association with food as celebration
or comfort as plump people do.
I have also wondered
if I am eating too much unconsciously
But after writing a
food diary many days as to what I am eating and how much – I am convinced it’s
not just the attitude about food or the calories. It’s something else
I go and meet a
wellness coach, who asks me to describe my life.
She tells me about
the important relationship between stress, lack of sleep, Vitamin D, cortisol (stress hormone)
and weight gain and that to lose weight I need to lose the stress.
DH and I are on a
diet but I think rather than think about just the calories we put in our mouth,
and the minutes I spend on the treadmill (though those are essential).
I think it’s about
the amount of stress I am letting inside my life.
More on this
experiment later.
How do you cope
with stress?