I Can Has Autism: September = BUSY!

Friday, September 21, 2012

September = BUSY!

First and foremost - A happy belated 40th birthday to my hubby, David!!! :) :) :)
He turned 40 on August 23rd and this is what he woke up to ;) Signs and crows in the yard!
He also had a surprise 40th birthday party a couple of days later when he was expecting a fish dinner!
Luckily he's a good sport and enjoyed it all, but I'm told I better watch out in 5years, it'll be my turn!

So September, first of all, the boys participated in the 2012 VA Beach Rock 'n' Roll 1/2 & Mini marathons. Ashton got to ride with Team Hoyt VB in the half and Holden ran the mini (5K). They had a blast! Both Ashton's runner and Holden finished with excellent times in their individual races - great job guys!

Then school has started and so far, both boys are having a great start to the school year! Yay! Hard to believe this is Holden's last year in elementary school, next year he'll be in 6th grade at the middle school - that's SCARY! Ashton, should we choose to let him move on with his typical-aged peers, will be moving on to HIGH SCHOOL! That's an even SCARIER prospect, as I have no idea which high school we want him to attend. He potentially could have the option of 3 local high schools; 1 which is his "home" school and 2 which are local to where his current school is. But, seeing as how he can receive services through the school district until age 21, I'm not too anxious to move him on to high school, *just yet*. We'll see. Will need to connect with his teacher within the coming months to decide what's best for Ashton. I do need to start checking out the programs available though, because I don't want to walk into a situation like what happened with his old middle school.

Lastly, Holden's busy fall schedule has kicked in to full gear. We're in the midst of soccer season, wrestling season starts soon and he's still running in a few local races this fall as well. PLUS, he's decided to join the 5th grade strings program at his school so add in homework and music practice (when we finally get his violin) and he's BUSY BUSY BUSY! I was finding homework was taking him far longer than it should (1.5-2hrs to complete) so we've added a very tiny dose of ritalin to the afternoons when he gets home and wow, what a HUGE difference. He had spelling homework tonight; had to write sentences for 26 words PLUS do a math worksheet. He had it all completed in less than 45mins from the time he started until he had it finished. WOW! Better yet, the med doesn't seem to affect his appetite or attitude at all, nor does it keep him from sleeping at night, which is an even BIGGER plus! He just couldn't quite settle down and focus on what he needed to do. Thank goodness the very small dose seems to be just what he needed! We're anxious for progress reports in a few weeks, but I suspect the boys' grades will be pretty stellar.

So without further ado.... here are the pictures from the last little while; pictures from the Rock'n'Roll half and mini marathons, pictures from the first day of school and everything in between :) Enjoy!

These are just a couple of shots of Holden at his first soccer game of the 2012 Fall season! I was VERY impressed at the amount of active participation he displayed. He actually got to play quite a bit in this first game, so that's testament to how much better he's doing this fall over the spring! Not bad for a kid who didn't play at all over the summer except a 1 week camp!

These are a couple of shots of the first day of school - EIGHTH GRADE and FIFTH GRADE! Hardly seems possible, doesn't it?!?! :\ Not sure how I'm gonna handle them moving on next year (well, possibly moving on in Ashton's case).

here's a good shot of Ashton and his Team Hoyt VB runner, Marc Leber :) We "surprised" Marc by showing up at one of his XC invitationals. Unfortunately though, due to traffic, we totally missed his run and arrived as he crossed the finish line! oops! Great run though Marc! (as always....)

and last but not least - a few of my favorite pictures from the Va Beach Rock 'n' Roll 1/2 and Mini Marathons ...... Marc and Ashton crossed the finish line for the 1/2 marathon with a time of 1:48:57! AWESOME TIME!! It was very hot that morning, and not to mention humid too! Marc did a fantastic time and this was Ashton's favorite race to date! Holden crossed the finish line for the mini marathon (5K distance) with a **NEW** personal record 27:43! Way to go little man! He's running another 5K race in a few weeks and his goal is to get it under 27mins! WE KNOW YOU CAN DO IT! :) Very proud of all 3 guys!