steps forward!

Being honest, it has taken me a very long time to come to terms with how much my life is different from the way I had planned it. I am not working, am a full time mummy and basically have become a therapist to my son. Its not that I am upset about the changes, it is just not where I thought that my life would head. Autism has changed our lives. It means that things that most kids his age can cope with or like, i have to understand that he may just not be interested, does not have the comprehension or understanding to cope with it or may just send him into a meltdown or freak him out.

This week however has been a great week as Jellybean has taken some great steps forward. Mostly, Jellybean ignores other children when it comes to play. He may laugh or look at what they are doing but generally does not try to join in or follow in their game until quite recently but this week has been big for him. He actually initiated play!!!! He cannot say PLAY but he gave his sister a PLAY compic and after I told her what it was ( I am having to teach her compic so that he can talk to her too) they went off the the bedroom giggling to play a game of hiding. They closed the curtains and doors till it was really dark and were hiding. Music to my ears!!! My kids playing together!!! Woo HOO!!!!!

He has also made a step forward with his school friends. He actually got excited when they arrived at school wanting to say hello to them and smiling so big. It was AWESOME. He wanted to see them which is something he would never normally care about. Even his school teacher has said to me that he doesnt really acknowledge other children with play activites, that he prefers to just do his own thing. Me...super excited but I did think...mmmm I wonder if his teacher will tell me to watch/stop this behaviour as it may be distracting and sure enough that afternoon at pick up that is what she said. Thankfully though she said just not to let it be a pattern for him having to say hello and goodbye to everyone, to mix it up so that he doesnt get stuck on having to say hello and goodbye to everyone. I think she did realise that it was a step forward for him.

But, their rule at school is to have a goodbye routine and it is expected that Jellybean say hello and goodbye to everyone individually...so it is pretty obvious that once he got the hang of that, that he would try and generalise that skill to say hello and goodbye to other mums and kids when he could!!

Also after a false start last week and me actually turning up to swimming lessons for jellybean a week early...we started swimming lessons again!!!

HE DID BRILLIANTLY!!!

It only took him a few minutes to settle in and feel comfortable and to stop looking over at me and pointing at me to come in/over to him. He liked his teacher almost straight away and he laughed and smiled the whole lesson. She was awesome with him, so at ease with him, talking in short sentences and praising him when he did great following of instructions. He was also happy to say goodbye to her even saying "Bye Lou"...I think the only words he said during the whole class but thats a start. he was happy in the water, happy to have Lou hold him and take him away from me to swim, happy to go underwater and even laid on his back to count to ten and practice floating. FABULOUS!!

Jellybean used to love swimming but when the ear problems and autism problems set in, it was just so hard...So so so very excited that he likes it again. Babygirl loves swimming and she swims with her daddy on Saturdays. If Jellybean likes swimming again, it means another place we can go as a family and both kids will like it!!