February 2024

Welcome back! I feel so guilty that I didn’t write an update about Christmas time. That’s ok. Today I wanted to write about a particular issue Isaiah has. Frequent request to use the bathroom. Sometimes, he will ask to “go potty” every 15/20minutes. He usually does go pee a little bit each time. Sometimes he doesn’t though, he just sits there and tries and nothing comes out. We will go to a park for an hour and he’ll go to the bathroom three times during that outing. Or we will drive in the car for an hour and he’ll ask to go potty multiple times in the car. Now, I’ve tried different strategies. I tell him to wait if he just went 15 minutes ago. But, he obsessively asks and his anxiety increases. So then, I feel bad that I’m causing him this discomfort and say, “ok fine. Go potty.” Of course at home, he doesn’t ask he’ll just go. Very often. He’ll go during his favorite shows, while he has his iPad, when he’s outside, all the time. At school, they have him on a routine. He goes to the bathroom every time he enters or leaves the classroom.

In November or maybe it was December, he had a cough so I took him to our pediatrician. Overall he was fine and just had some sort of virus. I asked them to test his urine. His urine was fine. No blood, no protein, no infection. The pediatrician recommended I go to a pediatric urologist to get an ultrasound of his bladder and kidneys. I took him on February 2. Tested his urine again, it was fine. His kidneys and bladder was perfect. “Very photogenic kidneys” the doctor said 😂. He said that if Isaiah is constipated, poop could be pressing on his bladder and giving him the urge to go pee. He recommended that Isaiah get an x ray of his abdomen. At this point, I’m really over this whole situation. No, he’s not constipated. Every scan and test comes out with no issues. I debated the x ray but then I decided to do it. I just want to rule out the possibility of a foreign object perhaps in there and maybe causing discomfort. Probably not. So today, I took him to get an x ray. As I write this, I don’t have results yet. Feel free to comment on here or text me if you’d like to know.
Surprisingly, Isaiah does great at the doctor. He loves to go to the doctor. He loves to talk about it. I never have to deal with high anxiety or a meltdown on our way to the doctor or during a visit. He just likes it. He doesn’t need a screen while we are there. He doesn’t ask me to go home either. He happily skips school to go.

I’m hoping that the x ray comes back showing everything is fine. I then will need to train Isaiah to not react to every feeling or urge to use the bathroom. He will have to tolerate no. I already do this often, but I will feel way more confident telling him to wait if I know for sure that there is no medical issue here. He is already on a bathroom schedule at school and during therapy.
We have a big trip planned for the end of May. Isaiah is very excited and he tells me the date of our departure on a daily basis. We talk about it all the time. He is very excited about the airplane, and the hotels, etc. He loves to travel. But, frequently using the bathroom is just not going to be an option. He’s going to have to tolerate waiting. So, I need to start diligently training him now. As a side note, we aren’t bringing his iPad either.

Another issue that Isaiah is having (at school not at home) is rocking back and forth and hitting his mouth on the table in front of him while he is seated. It’s usually when he is frustrated with doing his school work. This is happening frequently and the school always sends him to the clinic. Which he probably really likes to go to the clinic. One day, I got yet another email saying Isaiah hit his mouth on the table. I took iPad privileges away that afternoon. He was mad and had a meltdown for about 45 minutes. He wanted to hit me. He wanted to hit himself. Crying, yelling, anxiety…. It was tough. I haven’t gotten an email since then. That was a week or two ago. But, I will have to take away his iPad privilege for the day if I get another email.

I wish there was a book on parenting a child with a cognitive disability from a biblical perspective. Or maybe, I could write about the various things we have done over the years to train and teach Isaiah. The last thing I need is social services at my door 😳. It does take discipline and it is exhausting but effective… for the most part.

Happy Birthday – September 2023

Welcome back readers! September was fun, Isaiah had a birthday! He turned eleven. He had lots of fun! We went to a water park and he enjoyed it very much. He got a blue icee there too. That is of his favorite desserts, also Publix sprinkled cookies, also air heads…. also chocolate cake. He has a MEGA sweet tooth! Anyways, we ate dinner at a restaurant, which he also enjoys to do. He opened presents and got lots of things he likes. Puzzles, books, dvds, candy, etc. we celebrated all weekend long. He knew his birthday was coming. He knew which day it was on the calendar. He knew about our water park plans. He brought it up almost everyday. He knew he would get presents. He asked for air heads. He even picked out which cake he wanted. He knew we would sing to him. And he was very happy about all of those things. He was excited! 🥹

But, his birthday can be kinda sad for me. I push those feelings down, and decorate the house and wish him a happy birthday multiple times. In reality, he’s not eleven. He’s maybe 4 or 5. Academically, he scores at a kindergarten level. He has for years now. It doesn’t seem like he will get much farther than kindergarten. He’s in the 5th grade now. I’m desperately trying to hold him back so he doesn’t go to middle school next year. I’m not ready for that. And I don’t mean that in a typical mom of a 5th grader who’s moving up to middle school. Because, he’s practically, not a 5th grader. He’s a kindergartner, on his best day. I tried to hold him back last year, they said no. I’ll probably get the same response this school year too. 🤧🤧🤧

If you ask him, “how old are you?”, he will still say “ten”. We’re working on it. Isaiah cares about the simple things in life. What show he will be watching and at what time he will be watching them, where we will be going on Saturday (or everyday really), bedtime, wake up time, and what foods he will be eating. This is what Isaiah talks about. The schedule. The next thing. Time. Dates. When we are going to the next hotel. He doesn’t care about reading or writing or math or science. He’s always focused on the next time he will be able to get whatever it is that he wants.

He’s very happy that we are going to the zoo on Saturday. He doesn’t show too much emotion. He seems stressed out daily but he doesn’t seem to be in some sort of deep distress. He was sick this week. He took a nap on the living room floor. I had to get a picture. He looks so cute when he’s sleeping! And wowzers is he tall! Just under 5ft! He knows about trick or treating. He hasn’t been telling me daily yet. But I bet as soon as it’s October, I’ll hear about it everyday 😏

Thanks for reading! Here are some fun pics from this month. 😊

Anxiety

Hey guys! I felt like this topic of “anxiety” needed a permanent place on my blog. A quick google search will tell you that anxiety is defined as “a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome.” Also, “a desire to do something, typically accompanied by unease”. Also, “a nervous disorder characterized by a state of excessive uneasiness and apprehension, typically with compulsive behavior or panic attacks”.

Isaiah’s day is filled with these “episodes”. Isaiah has anxiety about just about everything. He tries to remedy his anxiety by figuring out the plan for that day or that week or that specific date in the future. He is very in tune with dates and days of the week. He will tell me… today is “Monday October 10th”. He probably will repeat it multiple times. He will then tell me the name of his school, “_______ Elementary”. I respond to his repetitions, “yes Isaiah, Today is Monday and you are going to school”. I’ll even do it ten times. And usually that’s a minimum. That’s really not a huge problem. He likes the affirmation and it’s comforting to him.

Sometimes he gets mixed up. For example. October 1st came around he he tells me “trick or treat!!!”. No Isaiah, not today. October 31st is Halloween. We will go trick or treating on October thirty one. He takes that well, we will talk about in daily until Halloween but that’s ok. Everyday, for thirty days. I can handle that.

But often, it’s not that easy. Isaiah will repeat something over and over and over again that he wants that it’s just not time for. He wants to do everything in his life really really fast. Isaiah is all about routine. If it weren’t for me…. Isaiah would get up at 4am eat breakfast at 4:10, got to school at 4:15am, come home and have his iPad, go on a walk, eat dinner at noon, take a shower at 12:30pm and be in bed for the NIGHT at 1pm. Of course, that’s not how life works. I spend my entire time with him going over what we are going to do and at what time we are going to do them even when he wants to do all those things but much faster. In real life, there is “down time”. Not every second of every day has a “to do”. Some things go longer and some things go quickly, some things get cancelled, some days it rains, sometimes there’s a hurricane. Life is unpredictable. It actually is OFTEN unpredictable. Especially with a family of six. Isaiah hates to wait. Isaiah loves to do all the things he does in a day but he just wants to get through them extremely fast. Sometimes, he can tolerate the prolonging of time. Other times, he can’t. After dinner, he will beg and beg and beg for a shower. I’ll finally cave, earlier than our normal 6:30pm time. He will run to the shower, stand in the for 20 seconds and come out and be done. Hours of pleading for a 20 second activity. Sometimes, it’s tough. I have to be strong, stand my ground, and force him to wait. It’s for his good. I simply, won’t allow him to go to bed at 6:31pm. Not all days are this hard but many are.

I’ve noticed that Isaiah’s anxiety affects other people too. His constant nagging is annoying, it’s actually infuriating. I cringe when people respond with “OK FINE!!”. I know it’s hard to be nagged and to not have the person accept, “hold on…. Not yet…. Almost”. It’s still hard for me to not get angry and I’ve had years of practice! With children, “no means no”. If Silas comes up and asks me to go outside and I say “sure, after we are done with lunch”…. I expect him to accept it and not ask me again. And he does just that! Because he knows that he must obey and he really doesn’t have a problem with waiting until after lunch. Autistic anxiety is a whole new ball game. I hate it for him. He has a hard time enjoying things that he loves. He begs to go swimming and then he begs to go home after being at the pool for 5 minutes. He begs to go to church and then he begs for the iPad when we are there. I do my best to distract him so that he begs less but ultimately, he usually does not get get his way when he wants it.

So what do I do? I use a variety of tools to help me help Isaiah. First of all, his doctor recommended magnesium. So I give him a magnesium gummy in the morning. I also give him four drops of a “natural stress relief for kids” concoction that a friend told me about. Do these things help? I really don’t know. Maybe? I also show him calendars, set times, show him the clock, repeat schedules, keep things as consistent as possible. And on a day to day basis, these things are helpful. Probably the most helpful thing is when I patiently and calmly tell him the plan as many times as he needs me to. I don’t give in, I stand my ground but I do it calmly without showing anger. Isaiah tends to respond well to that. If Isaiah wakes up at 4:40am (like he did today). I go to him and remind him that he needs to go back to sleep until the green light turns on and it’s 6:30am. I also give him melatonin. I didn’t give in, I quickly reminded him the plan, gave him something to help him and went back to sleep. Today it worked. We’ll see about tomorrow.

Some weeks, I feel like I can’t take it. I feel like Isaiah can’t enjoy his day to day life because his anxiety is so high. I contemplate a prescription medication. I often feel one phone call away from going that route. But some days, it’s not so bad. So here I am… hanging in there and hoping for a chill day from a boy who has ZERO CHILL.

Thanks for reading!

Catch Up Time

Well hello there old friends! Did you know that it’s been almost 2 YEARS since I posted on my blog? It’s funny, my last blog post was posted about a month before my 4th child was born. I guess having FOUR kids will make me a little busy…. Or crazy. 🤪🤪 Anyways, it’s time. I would like to thank fellow authors of some recent books that I have read. These authors have persuaded me to write again. And who knows….. maybe I’ll be able to compile all these blog posts into a book that people may actually want to read. Wouldn’t that be wild?! Thank you Katie Blackburn, mother of 6 with one of those six with autism. Thank you Andrew and Rachel Wilson, parents of two on the spectrum. Thank you Carrie Cariello, mother of five, one of those with Autism. Thank you Kate Swenson, mother of four, one who has autism.

So the real question here is…. How’s Isaiah? Is he better? Is autism gone? Or is he normal now? Has he improved?

Well, the answer to that is complicated. He’s older. Some things are “better” and some things are “easier”. But, things are still hard and Isaiah is still pretty much Isaiah. I guess you will just have to stayed tune and keep checking for updates on Isaiah for all the juicy details. 😉

I will say this, Isaiah is handsome and his one liners make me laugh sometimes. He’s 10 years old. He’s in fourth grade. He goes to a public school in a special needs classroom that has about 8 children and three teachers. He still loves puzzles. He does 300 piece puzzles now. He loves Encanto!!! He still looooves to climb trees. He loves dessert after dinner. He loves taking a shower. He only sleeps in his underwear now 🙄. His clock lights up green at 6:30am and tells him he can get out of bed. And sometimes, he does that. He loves a plain bagel toasted with butter and strawberries and blueberries for breakfast. Everyday. Except Saturday when Mama makes cinnamon rolls and bacon 😋 He still loves the beach, and boogie boarding. He loves the science center. He loves ice cream and more recently, crumbl cookie. He LOVES to hang and swing on the pull up bar. He likes to sit in the front passenger seat of our SUV. Most of the time, he’s told to sit in the third row, sorry bud. He still loves vacation, hotels, and hiking. And he looooves the boat and tubing and this past summer, he grew very fond of knee boarding 🤩🤩.

He requires a lot of patience. But, I love him. ❤️

🦃 November Update 🦃

Hey guys! November brought on some cooler weather and different routines! Thanks for reading!

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• Isaiah is doing well in school and really this past month hasn’t been too difficult for him. His daily routine is pretty much the same but now that there isn’t any more pool time, we have been going on walks and playing at the playground on a daily basis. Both boys need a lot of physical activity so I’m doing the best I can with this growing bump of mine! Isaiah loves to push my poking out belly button but I keep telling him that there is a baby in here and it’s a girl.
  * Thanksgiving break was spent going to lots of parks and playing outside. We had the best weather! I could tell that he was getting a little bored though with the same thing to do everyday. Makes me a little nervous about Christmas break coming up in just two weeks. 😬 Overall, he did really well with thanksgiving day. We had about 20 people over and although he had a hard time sitting still and eating his food, ultimately he found things to do inside and watched tv.
  * I took the bigs roller skating for the FIRST TIME EVER. Isaiah shocked me with how much he enjoyed it. For his first time ever trying, he did really really good! (Even better than Trinity who has ice skated several times prior). I definitely old take him again. We stayed for 2 hours plus and he kept at it! I know the flashing lights were also very stimulating to him.
  *Isaiah still loves SeaWorld. And he still loves the roller coasters in Sesame Street. He’s not quite tall enough for the bigger roller coasters but we plan to make him try them when he can. I think he will love it once he gets over his initial fear of heights.
  * he has had a loose tooth since October. It’s not ready to come out yet though and I have told him that maybe in January we will pull it out. He reminds me of this promise everyday 🤦🏻‍♀️😂 “in January, tooth come out”….. I sure hope it’s ready in a month! 😳 He also asks to go to grandmas house everyday. Well, I told him the exact date that we plan to go and now he tells me everyday when we are going to grandmas house. There are many Isaiah-isms that we use around the house and joke about. He’s precious but still naughty 😜.
  Some cute pics! Thanks for reading ❤️
  

🎉 September Update 🎉

• Hey guys! WordPress has changed so much since my last blog post, it’s taking me a long time to figure out how to type words and upload pictures onto the post. 🤦🏻‍♀️ So in this post, I hope to remember how Isaiah’s school year has started off and how Isaiah is adjusting to the new school/home schedule.
• Isaiah has a new teacher or teachers I should say. From my understanding, there are three kids total in his classroom with one teacher. Then, a different teacher takes over in the afternoon. It appears as though Isaiah’s academic lessons, reading, math, and language are 30 minute sessions that are one-on-one with the instructor and take place before noon. Mornings are better for Isaiah, he has better focus and less hyperactivity. Looks like that Isaiah is struggling to retain material and as a result, he is going at a much slower rate in his lessons. This isn’t all bad, his teachers are focusing on retention. They are even wanting to change his Math curriculum that he is doing to “Touch Math”. I like that “Touch Math” uses material that he can actual touch to learn. My hope is that Isaiah will continue to work hard and be pushed to do hard things.
• I took Isaiah off his medication several months ago. He wasn’t sleeping well at night, he would be awake for several hours in the middle of the night. He’s not having this problem anymore thankfully. He’s consistently sleeping from about 7:45 to about 6 or 6:30. Sometimes he does wake up around midnight to pee. Side note, I would also like Isaiah to say “bathroom” instead of “go potty”. Changing that habit seems impossible at the moment lol. At home, Isaiah has trouble sitting still, not jumping constantly, constantly putting something in his mouth, and doing an activity for longer than 5 minutes. I am hoping that with constant correction and redirection, Isaiah will learn to submit and settle down.
• He hates to be corrected. He gets really worried when i rebuke him and sternly tell him “no” or “that’s bad” or “don’t do that again”. He says “say I’m sorry. Please forgive me.” Which, is really a pretty good response to getting a strong rebuke. But, if I don’t say “I forgive you” and continue on in my correcting him….. he says it again. Louder. Sometimes, it’s hard for me to forgive him because his disobedience is so great and I feel so disgusted with it. So then he panics, stares me in the eyes, worried look all over his face, and starts yelling “SAY IM SORRY. PLEASE FORGIVE ME”…. it’s hard not to laugh at that point. But, yes I forgive him and he settles down.
• He still gets pretty high anxiety over his OCD type things. He tells me to turn a different way in the car even though he knows that’s not where we are going. He wants “what’s in the Bible Christmas” dvd after school everyday. And everyday it’s “no”. I’m simply not ok with him watching the same thing everyday. I will fight to change up his routine. He gets over it. As long as I am firm from the beginning and don’t give in to his manipulation. He eventually sees its futile and that Mama won’t back down and he will settle to watch something else.
• Isaiah turned 8 on September 17th!! 🎉 🎉 I think he will now say “8” when asked how old he is. He took to the idea of his “birthday” a lot better this year, he really enjoyed his cake, presents, and singing to him. We then celebrated with an overnight hotel stay in Orlando that had basically a water park open for us to use for two days. Isaiah enjoyed the slides and hot tub. He wanted to stay longer and sleep at the hotel another night. It’s really nice to see Isaiah actually have an opinion and really want something that isn’t a repetitive stim behavior.
• Chase has pulled out another couple of teeth making it a total of 6 teeth lost in about 1 year. Isaiah looooves to get his teeth pulled out. He frequently asks us to get a “towel” and “pull out teeth”… even when they aren’t loose 🤦🏻‍♀️🤣.
• His recent loves include: playing on a large floatable in the pool, getting into a hot hot tub, playing on our playground across the street, going on hikes, “towel spankings” (when Chase whips a towel at a stuffed animal) 🤷🏻‍♀️😅, What’s in the Bible Christmas, going to a local playground before school, chewing gum, skateboarding (I think I’m gonna get him a scooter for Christmas). We switched over from the storybook Bible to “The Action Bible” and Isaiah is slowly getting used to us reading that Bible to the kids every night. He has struggled with the switch but it’s getting better and he is more accepting of it now.
• Isaiah adjusted well to Mama and Papa being gone for 4 days on a trip. Chase’s parents were here to take care of the kids and Isaiah still went to school and had a pretty “normal” routine. He was even asking for them when we came back and they had left lol.

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Some highlights from August/September

Thank you for reading! ❤️

October update 🎃

Hey guys! Well, I have intentionally put off writing an update about Isaiah. Things are just hard. He’s got PICA issues and “getting out of his seat and jumping around” issues at school. Outside of school, if he doesn’t follow the same routine as a school day then it’s just one meltdown after another. It’s difficult when you can’t leave your 7 year old alone in another room even for 5 minutes without him jumping off the walls or doing something he’s not supposed to be doing. Sunday’s… a day when we try to act like a normal family and go to church and then go to some sort of event like a fellowship or church meeting or something… are the most difficult day of the week for Chase and I. May the Lord God give us the strength to endure these difficulties because I know without the Holy Spirit…. Id be a mess All. The. Time.

So in other news…

• Isaiah got an MRI with anesthesia this month to rule out any possible brain abnormalities. With much prayer, Isaiah did great that day! Results were all normal. I’m not really sure if this is good or bad news at this point.
• Isaiah super enjoyed going trick or treating and “trunk or treating” at Trinity’s school. He practiced at school with his class and can say “trick or treat” clearly. The boy looooves candy. He choose starburst and skittles EVERY time 😂
• The time change has been a bit tricky. He is suuuuuper tired by the time it’s 6:30 but we hold him off until 7:30. He is definitely waking up earlier than 6:30am… he hasn’t adjusted yet. Neither has Silas. I think Trinity is the only one really.
• Isaiah loves to play Candyland, makes s’mores in the backyard fire pit, go on walks to see the “ducks”, watch “umizoomi” or “Daniel tiger”, catch frogs, jump of the trampoline, wrestle with Papa, take baths with Silas, and listen to veggie tales worship music and “seeds family worship”. Oh man, it is soooo sweet how he can sing “Amazing Grace” and “Hosanna” and “This Little Light of Mine”. He also loves going to the zoo, feeding the animals, and playing in the splash pad.

Thanks for reading!

 

March update

Hey guys! It’s autism awareness day! And Chase’s birthday! 🥳🥳🥳 And Trinity’s last day of VPK! Yay for April!

So March was a little rough for us all but I think we are finally getting back to normal here! Here are a few updates….

• Spring break “broke” me. It was hard. We didn’t have much planned and it was rainy and cold the first couple of days. We did spend a day at the beach but the rest was mainly at home and Isaiah was hard to keep occupied and not stimming. His vocal stims are ALL the time now and very annoying to me. It’s like he can’t stop no matter how many times I tell him to be quiet. To top it all off, Isaiah developed a cough that pressed on for two weeks. After 10 days, I decided to take him to the doctor and she perscribed him an antibiotic which helped decrease his cough. Because of this, his sleep has been terrible. He is exhausted and begging for bed by 7pm and sometimes even falling asleep earlier but waking up in the middle of the night and sometimes not falling back asleep. Being up since 4 or 5 am definitely negatively effects Isaiah. 
• I busted out the humidifier that I hadn’t used in 5 years and Isaiah saw the vapor coming out and called it “volcano” and later he said “smoke” 🤣
• We got a pass to the zoo and I’m glad we did because Isaiah loved it! He loved to feed the animals and he has asked to go back by saying “animals” when we were on the highway. 
• Isaiah has grown to love DVD’s called “What’s in the Bible” and asks to watch it often. 
• Isaiah asks for “science center” almost every Saturday but we have done other things like Leu Gardens, new parks/playgrounds , zoo, beach, the mall (for the escalators… duh), and rebounderz (spring break). 
• School is back in session and won’t be out until summer so I will enjoy these last two months of a routine before summer throws our routine out the window. 
• Isaiah shows more lovin’ on Silas from time to time. He stares at him when he is getting his diaper changed. He sticks his fingers in Silas mouth… because that’s where the loud crying comes from. 😆 He smells Silas and gives kisses when I ask him to. 
• Isaiah is showing more preferences about things. He has a preference on what clothes he is going to wear and what shoes, what food he wants to eat and doesn’t, what thing he wants to do and where he wants to go. He is sharing his opinions and preferences more, often tell me “no” or “no I don’t”. This is mostly good but sometimes not good when I need him to obey. I often say “good job saying no but I need you to ______ right now. Say “ok mommy””. Then he typically does it. 
• Isaiah LOVES to make coffee. He loves to watch the coffee drip from the Keurig into the coffee cup. He pushes the buttons, throws away the k pod, and puts the mug on the table. He even will add creamer and is fascinated by the whipped cream 😂 it’s becoming a daily thing now and he does a great job. He also likes to refill his water cup…. because the water drips out of the fridge into his cup. 😄 

Thanks for reading! Bye!

February update 💕

Hey guys! Things are getting back into routine and our family has aclimated to our new way of living. Isaiah just about refused to get into my car the day when Chase went back to work after being home for 2 weeks on paternal leave. I drove up in my car at his school that afternoon and as soon as I saw him in the parking lot he says “papa… where’s papa?!?”. He stood at the door looking through the window…. “WHERE’S PAPA?!?”. Sorry bud, you’ll have to accept second best 😑. Thankfully we are past that now 😆

February was mostly warm and so almost all of the pictures I have of Isaiah are outside. We spend a lot of time outside… in our backyard, on a walk, at a park, at the beach etc. Here are a few updates…

• Isaiah is becoming more fascinated with his baby brother. He will often put the pacifier in Silas’ mouth, even if Silas is not crying 😆. Isaiah wants to make sure that he won’t start lol. Isaiah will also come up to Silas and smell and kiss his head and touch his face 💕. I encourage him to do so often and I’ll even make Isaiah hold Silas even for 5 seconds. Silas is almost 6 weeks and more and more awake but still takes long daytime naps so there isn’t a whole lot of opportunity.
• Isaiah is having trouble sitting down during group activities at school. He does well in a small setting like 1 teacher and two students. The teacher is able to keep him seated by sitting close to him. His hyperactivity is not interfering with his school work though. He is still able to get through his work and do it well. I sent in his extra weighted blanket to use at school during those group activity times. His teacher said that the weighted blanket is working very well to keep him sitting. I notice at home how he sits on the couch with a huge pillow or blanket on his lap. I also sent in some fidget toys for him to hold while sitting and then taken away when he gets up.
• At home, Isaiah has been requesting to go to the bathroom as a means to escape from the situation, particularly at dinner time. Sometimes, he actually has to go but other times he goes in there to mess around and then when I make him sit on the potty, he says “no I don’t” 😐. We are on to his manipulation and now he gets in trouble when he cries “wolf (potty)” when he is faking it.
• Isaiah loves “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” 🐛 and has most of the book memorized. He even points to the words as he “reads” them.
• Isaiah loves doing his paw patrol puzzles that he got for Christmas. Thanks mom!
• He still loves to climb the fence in our backyard and does so without escaping. Unfortunately he got a splinter in his toe and screamed his head off when I had to get it out…. on two separate attempts. 😖

My phone is overwhelming bombarded with pictures of Silas but I managed to find some good ones from February. Thanks for reading! ❤️

 

December Update

Happy New Year! I’m finally breathing a little easier now that the kids are back in school and Christmas is over. Don’t get me wrong, I love the holidays and all the fun stuff that goes along with it. But, it has been a little crazy and I’m so glad to be back on our regular routine…. until I have this baby 😉 I’m now 39weeks, due in FIVE days! 😱 There is a lot to update on so I’ll try to be concise.

• Big news…. we have decided to end ABA therapy for this year. This one was a difficult decision for me to swallow. Isaiah has been in some form of ABA therapy for at least four years. I loved the center he went to and all the progress I saw there in the two years he went there. So now, Isaiah receives no kind of therapy for autism. Why stop? Frankly, autism is expensive. Our main priority is to try to keep Isaiah attending his private school. This too is super expensive. The future is unknown. I pray that we would be able to put him back in ABA someday very soon. I did apply for a scholarship known as the UHCCF grant. Hopefully, we get it and it covers all of the therapy expenses. I struggle to think of what I’m going to do with him this summer when school is out but I know that God has a plan. Those 10 weeks will go by one way or another. This obviously would have not been how I would choose to progress Isaiah’s development but God must have another way that is better than what I can see. For now, we are focusing on being able to afford his next school year…. (it was not easy for me to confess that but it’s a major happening in Isaiah’s life). We would appreciate prayer.
• Seems as though I hear less and less of the teeth grinding. Praise God. I hope this never comes back. I do see more and more of eye/nose rubbing and squinting. His hard to explain, but it’s another form of a self stimulating behavior. Probably has to do with seeking sensory input in his face/mouth.
• I took him and Trinity to the dentist yesterday and plan to keep up with the 6 month check ups. We love this dentist because he is very understanding of kids with special needs. Of course, he is not in network with our insurance… like I said Autism is expensive. Isaiah did well and they were able to clean, take x rays, examine, and apply fluoride without any major meltdowns. The hygienists were patient, super friendly, and very understanding. This is rare and hard to find and so worth the price. Both kiddos were cavity free, God’s grace.
• Isaiah fell in love with a “puffer vest” a student had in is class. He loved it so much that he would choose to work towards wearing the vest over high preferred items, even candy 😱. His teacher would send me pics of him wearing it and she even went out and bought another one just to be used in the classroom. When I asked him what he wanted for Christmas? He said “I want a puffer jacket for Christmas.” His teacher taught him to say that. So I ordered him the exact same one and it arrived after Christmas. Isaiah has had no interested in wearing it and keeps telling me “no”. 🤦🏻‍♀️ I’m sending it in his backpack everyday to school and hope to see him more interested in wearing it at home. The drama continues with this… 🤷🏻‍♀️
• Isaiah got several gifts for Christmas that he likes… monsters inc books and figurines, hot wheels racetrack, paw patrol puzzles (he asked to watch paw patrol and actually watched it while we were at a hotel). Gifts are always hard because they are new and Isaiah loves his old things because they are familiar and part of his routine already. New gifts are always accepted immediately but take time for him to grow to love. Just like watching new things on tv, he likes the to watch things he already has seen and knows. New things are hard to introduce and have to be forced. That’s why him asking for Paw Patrol was so surprising to me!
• Isaiahs school had a Christmas performance. Isaiah had a line and said into the microphone “he needs a mouth” as all the children were putting parts on a snowman. Chase and I enjoyed watching Isaiah jingle bells and turn around (at the right time) while his class danced to “All I want for Christmas is you”. I took so many videos and it was so adorable to watch. Isaiah looked a little overwhelmed. He would just stare at his teachers 😂. The lights were bright on the stage, there were a lot of people,  and the music was loud. He seemed a little stunned which is rare to see him so calm. Overall, he did very well, I know how much he practiced!
• We have gone to the strawberry patch several times and Isaiah loves it. He understood that we had to pick them, pay for them, and then eat them. In fact, it seems like he is understanding more concepts like “a series of events” or what will happen “tomorrow” or that “papa is at work” and he will be home later. This is a huge concept for him and can seriously help with his anxiety. Like this morning I told him that first he will go to school, then we will go to the doctor, and then we will go home and play iPad. He says “ok” but then he needs me to repeat it several times to be reassured that eventually. he will get that iPad. The concept of “later” is emerging and is seriously helpful. He still cries sometimes because it’s hard understand but I think his understanding is increasing. Time is a tough concept because it’s abstract and can’t be seen.
• We have seen Isaiah ignore peers in public places that come up to him and say “hi” or try to get his attention. Chase works hard at getting him to respond and increasing those social interactions. One time, a boy was literally tapping Isaiah on the head to get his attention and Isaiah simply wouldnt look up at him. Not until an adult comes to intervene will Isaiah care and respond.

Things isaiah still enjoys…. reading about Paul and Silas in jail in his storybook bible, taking a bath in “papa’s bath”, playing in the backyard, his abc puzzles and large 100 piece dinosaur floor puzzle, dessert after dinner, watching superwhy on his iPad, going to church, wrestling with papa, snuggles in the morning, strict bedtime routine, pbjs, refilling his water cups at the fridge door, aligning his animal figures, having his food separated, blueberries & strawberries & waffle for breakfast, and brushing his teeth.

Thanks for reading! Check out these cute pics 😍