way toooo cute not to share, doncha think? ;)
Ashton snagged his Grandaddy's hat the other day at little bro's soccer game. Looks quite handsome if you ask me!! :)
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Monday, April 26, 2010
Pictures!! Lots of pictures!!! *beware, LOTS*
Just some pictures from the last month ...... :) Enjoy!!!!!
Both boys wearing BLUE for World Autism Awareness Day, April 2, 2010!
Soccer season has officially started - GO FIREBALLS!!!
Holden with the easter eggs once they were finished!
Moosehead Ashton!
(DH's cousin was playing around and I thought it was funny!)
(DH's cousin was playing around and I thought it was funny!)
On the hunt for eggs at Grandma & Grandaddy's house!
Ashton with his easter card and $$ from grandparents
Chocolate easter bunny demise! (look how BIG it is!)
Hard to believe they are now 11 and 8 years old!
L to R: Holden, Connor (school friend) and Riley (cousin)
YODA CAKE! (half chocolate/half white)
Blowing out their candles!
Holden's own birthday cake for his party with his friends @ CEC
Getting his crown from Chuck E.
Pretending to be asleep (he wasn't really, I promise lol)
He is *never* quiet!! :)
I know many parents of autistic children long for the day that their child starts talking and starts having conversations with them; to hear those three precious words that every parent wants to hear, "I Love You!"
Well, I am one of those lucky parents... Ashtonnever shuts up is never quiet! We heard "I Love You" back when he was around three or four years old, so quite some time ago. Now granted, it was usually in response to us telling him we loved him, but hey, he was saying it! It's not a new thing for him to say it to us, but when he does say it unprompted or unrelated to what was said to him, it's a bit spine-tingling.
My favorite things now are when I'm coming back from the store, getting lunch, etc and Ashton will excitedly run up to me, give me a hug and say "I'm SO glad to see you Mom!" How sweet/cute is that?! This isn't something we've ever really said to one another so it's something he's picked up on his own/formed on his own and just says it at the most appropriate times.
Personally, I love to hear my son talk. It's music to my ears most times and the fact that he CAN actually talk to us, tell us what he wants/doesn't want, and tell us if something is bothering him (although not always accurately) is a true miracle. I know many parents/caregivers are left to a guessing game of what a child wants/needs and are even further perplexed when something is bothering said child and you can't figure out what it is.
Just because I love to hear him talk however, doesn't mean that it doesn't sometimes get on my nerves. This doesn't make me horrible, but it does make me very normal I think. Ashton can be very echolalic. He can get stuck on a phrase from a book or movie and will repeat it, over and over and over and over and over and over and over, ad nauseum. Or sometimes, if you're not paying attention to him when he's trying to tell you something, he does the same thing; repeats it over and over again.
Well, I am one of those lucky parents... Ashton
My favorite things now are when I'm coming back from the store, getting lunch, etc and Ashton will excitedly run up to me, give me a hug and say "I'm SO glad to see you Mom!" How sweet/cute is that?! This isn't something we've ever really said to one another so it's something he's picked up on his own/formed on his own and just says it at the most appropriate times.
Personally, I love to hear my son talk. It's music to my ears most times and the fact that he CAN actually talk to us, tell us what he wants/doesn't want, and tell us if something is bothering him (although not always accurately) is a true miracle. I know many parents/caregivers are left to a guessing game of what a child wants/needs and are even further perplexed when something is bothering said child and you can't figure out what it is.
Just because I love to hear him talk however, doesn't mean that it doesn't sometimes get on my nerves. This doesn't make me horrible, but it does make me very normal I think. Ashton can be very echolalic. He can get stuck on a phrase from a book or movie and will repeat it, over and over and over and over and over and over and over, ad nauseum. Or sometimes, if you're not paying attention to him when he's trying to tell you something, he does the same thing; repeats it over and over again.
Yep, sometimes I DO tell my son to "please be quiet!"
I know I should be grateful that he talks and converses (although not age-appropriately) and I really, truly am. But there are times, when I've heard the same phrase/noise so many times that I can no longer hear anything else! He also has a very annoying habit of tapping you on the shoulder when he talks as well as talking with his hands (basically moves his fingers as though his fingers are talking while he's speaking). He also likes to talk in your face which I am sure as you can imagine, is a bit unnerving as he's in your space.
Anyways .... yep, a child with autism can talk, and talk and talk and talk..... and yes, it can be annoying. But it doesn't mean I'm forever grateful that I am blessed with a child who can speak his mind and tell us like it is. I love knowing what he wants/needs (or doesn't) and that he can tell us when he's not feeling entirely well.
I'll take the incessant talking over never getting to hear my child's voice....
I know I should be grateful that he talks and converses (although not age-appropriately) and I really, truly am. But there are times, when I've heard the same phrase/noise so many times that I can no longer hear anything else! He also has a very annoying habit of tapping you on the shoulder when he talks as well as talking with his hands (basically moves his fingers as though his fingers are talking while he's speaking). He also likes to talk in your face which I am sure as you can imagine, is a bit unnerving as he's in your space.
Anyways .... yep, a child with autism can talk, and talk and talk and talk..... and yes, it can be annoying. But it doesn't mean I'm forever grateful that I am blessed with a child who can speak his mind and tell us like it is. I love knowing what he wants/needs (or doesn't) and that he can tell us when he's not feeling entirely well.
I'll take the incessant talking over never getting to hear my child's voice....
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
LIGHT IT UP BLUE for World Autism Awareness Day! (April 2nd)
Thanks so much!
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
The excitement is building.....!!!
What struck me the most about the packaging is ... it's "pretty"! I love how it tells you everything you need to know about the product right on the front! Better yet? It doesn't even look cluttered.... and they share a LOT of info right there on front! The picture of the cheese on the front (although I can't tell if it's a picture of the product, or if that's a clear window and you see the shreds through it) looks absolutely scrumptious..... like CHEESE - you know, the dairy-laden stuff....
I'm anxiously awaiting my arrival of the Daiya cheese I ordered with a group of friends. While this won't be directly packaged from Daiya, it's a good teaser for when the product DOES become regularly available directly from Daiya. My favorite allergy free food store, Navan Foods, is hoping to have it in their store within the next week or two! I jokingly told Jennifer Elizondo that maybe I should camp out at the store the night before it becomes available so I can be sure to get some! ;) Seriously Jennifer... I was kidding..... though it is a tempting thought. :)
So enjoy this product when it becomes more readily available..... I know that my son sure will!
10 things to know about Ashton......
Reflection .......
(this is a favorite picture of mine of Ashton...
taken back in August, 2006)
I got the idea for this blog post from a book titled "Ten Things Every Child With Autism Wishes You Knew" by: Ellen Notbohm. Many people don't understand the differences in each child with Autism .... plus, the child might have Autism ... but Autism doesn't define the child themselves..... (yes, the book defines 10 traits/characteristics of children with Autism., but I wanted to do a more positive spin on it).
These are ten, very important things to know about Ashton .... (btw, I have been working on this particular post for about two days now.....)
1. He's a very sweet and loving boy. Almost to a fault. I know.... some parents of autistic children never hear a spoken word from their child. Nor do they ever get the first sign of affection and adoration from their child. Well, we definitely do! Constant hugs and kisses and "I love you too"s! It's very sweet and endearing.... and I do truly LOVE it. He's truly connected with his family, teachers, peers and friends and I'm very grateful for his social connectedness.
2. He loves to watch TV and movies! Again, to a fault..... that's all he does sometimes! And if he's not watching them, he's talking about them, or quoting them.... NON STOP! Current favorites are: "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs", "9", "Earth", "Iron Man", "Hulk", "Ben 10: Alien Force", "Super Hero Squad Show", "Spongebob Square pants", and many others ... Unfortunately, Ashton also knows how to use the TV/DVR/DVD remote..... and if we make that inaccessible (by removing the batteries, putting them in backwards, hiding the remote, etc), he's learned how to use the buttons on the DVR and the DVD players. He will watch what he wants to watch .... the only good thing is... without the remotes, he can't fast-forward, rewind, or pause what he's watching. But, he's freakishly fast at controlling the players. He'll look around to see if anyone is watching and then speeds through the guide/menus to get to what he wants and then rushes back to the couch. Sneaky turkey!
3. Ashton loves his hair "short, with a little bit of hair". That's what he asks for everytime he goes to get his hair cut. I've learned (from the self hair-cutting incident in December) that when he starts pulling at his hair, etc that it's time for a cut. Basically, it's a buzz cut, or a military-style cut. Right now he's sporting a marine cut! It makes me sad he won't let his hair grow out more... he's got such thick, shiny, and soft hair! But because I don't want to deal with an odd-ball cut because of him trying to cut his hair, I get it cut as soon as I start to see the signs. Maybe at some point he'll let it grow out a bit, but for now.... this is much better.
4. He does not like it when his brother gets fussed at or punished. If I punish Holden by sending him to his room or standing him in the corner, Ashton is right there, to rescue him. We haven't figured out what exactly he doesn't like, but Ashton will usually clap and/or flap his hands together rapidly, if we're fussing at Holden. Sometimes he'll fuss or yell at us or question the given punishment "Mommy, can Holden come back downstairs from his room?" It's kind of annoying but in the grand scheme of things... OH WELL!
5. Keeping in mind that Ashton is on a special diet... Gluten Free (wheat/barley/rye/oat), Casein Free (dairy), Citrus Free (oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruit) his favorite foods are: macaroni and cheese (Amy's Kitchen non-dairy rice maraconi and cheeze), cocoa loco bars (they are kind of like a brownie bar), Lay's Original potato chips, and he LOVES french fries and chicken nuggets providing they are safe for him to eat. He also loves to drink water and Coke!
6. If there is one thing you should know about Ashton... it is, that he LOVES to read! He loves books, comics, reference materials (encyclopedias, dictionaries, etc) .... really, just about anything that can be read, he'll read. His favorite subject matter used to be animals.... but it's slowly transitioned into being super heroes. ANY super hero will do! Batman, Spiderman, Superman, Iron Man, etc. He also loves storybooks, that is... books with multiple stories in it. More bang for the buck, I suppose? His current, favorite books are: "Sumo Mouse" by: David Wisniewski and "Five Little Monkeys Storybook Treasury" by: Eileen Christelow. He especially loves "Five Little Monkeys Bake A Cake" from the the storybook treasury book.
7. Ashton's favorite person in the world, is undoubtedly, his younger brother, Holden. Ashton's taken to calling Holden, Baby Swinub (yes, the Pokémon character). We have NO idea why he insists on doing this, but Baby Swinub, Holden is. :) Holden doesn't seem to mind all that much, just when Ashton starts trying to treat him more baby-like. We're trying to break the "baby swinub" habit, but so far, it's been pretty fruitless.
8. Ashton has an uncanny knowledge of some of the most obscure animals! I mean, he doesn't spout off random facts about said animals... but if you see one on TV or out in the "real world", he'll name it.... even if it's the wrong name! ;) hahaha! (example... a bongo at the local zoo was called an "antelope"... and there's no assuaging him to the correct name once he's named it...) By the way..... did you know that the sound an armadillo makes is: "I'm an armadillo!" (cute story.... back when Ashton was three or four years old, we used to ask him what sound any certain animal makes. He didn't know what an armadillo says, so he asked us back..... my husband spoke up and said an armadillo says... "I'm an armadillo" and it's stuck ever since. I'm not even sure what sound an armadillo makes)
9. Ashton is finally...... and positively, absolutely, unmistakably no longer wearing pull-ups of any kind. Yes... nearly eleven years of age, and this is finally a fact.... not a pipe dream of ours. He has been completely potty trained since June of 2009. I don't think I completely stopped the pull-ups until July of 2009, but he literally, potty trained himself, virtually overnight. A kid who wouldn't stay dry all day and never at night.... and would absolutely run SCREAMING if you asked him to use the bathroom for number two..... just up and started using the potty, all on his own with very little (really, none) pushing from us. Yay! It's so nice to not have that bother anymore!
10. and last but certainly not least.... while he has challenged me at every possible turn of his life ..... it's also been an incredible joy and pleasure to watch him grow into the wonderful young man that he's becoming. Sweet, thoughtful, loving, funny, cute(nope, I'm not biased....) and such a wonderfully happy personality that you can't help but smile when he's around! Sure.... he's got a long ways to grow and mature... but from the tiny little newborn that I held nearly eleven years ago, to the two and a half year old that I could no longer connect to (because of him being in his own world due to Autism), to that oblivious big brother of a newborn brother at age three, to the big brother who danced and hugged his baby brother at age five, to the eight year old that knew every animal that he saw, and to the now, nearly eleven year old boy that can run circles around me when it comes to electronics and makes me smile every day..... he's wonderfully, happily, and joyously mine.
Hope you've had fun getting to know Ashton :)
Monday, March 15, 2010
Toys R Us and Autism Speaks pair up to raise funds for autism research
Anyone who knows me, or who has read this blog, knows that I have a son with Autism, Ashton. Well, duh..... AUTISM is in the blog title "I Can Has Autism"! Autism is obviously, very much a part of our everyday life and is something that our whole family will continue to live with for the rest of our lives.
Since April is coming up, I thought I'd post about this. Some of you may not know this, but April is "Autism Awareness Month". For the past three years, Toys R Us has taken on a fundraising campaign for Autism Speaks. Their (Autism Speaks) mission statement is as follows:
I'm speaking up here, for all you out there, to do what you can from now until May 1st to help raise Autism Awareness. Autism is on the rise, whether we like it or not. As of December 2009, ONE (1) child in every NINETY-ONE (91) children has Autism. Eleven years ago when I had my son, I hardly ever heard of anyone who knew someone that had Autism. Now, you can't go anywhere without hearing someone talk about Autism or without spotting an autistic individual. (it's pretty easy to see, especially if you are familiar with it).
All of this to say... please, help raise Autism Awareness and post this link to make others aware! If you can't donate to Autism Speaks, that's okay! I just hope to raise others awareness of Autism and what it is, and is not.
Thanks for reading (and hopefully, reposting/sharing!)
Since April is coming up, I thought I'd post about this. Some of you may not know this, but April is "Autism Awareness Month". For the past three years, Toys R Us has taken on a fundraising campaign for Autism Speaks. Their (Autism Speaks) mission statement is as follows:
Autism Speaks is committed to facilitating research that will uncover the causes of autism, develop effective biomedical treatments, and hasten the discovery of a cure. We are committed to researching all potential causes of autism and we invite researchers to submit grant proposals covering a wide spectrum of ideas.
I'm speaking up here, for all you out there, to do what you can from now until May 1st to help raise Autism Awareness. Autism is on the rise, whether we like it or not. As of December 2009, ONE (1) child in every NINETY-ONE (91) children has Autism. Eleven years ago when I had my son, I hardly ever heard of anyone who knew someone that had Autism. Now, you can't go anywhere without hearing someone talk about Autism or without spotting an autistic individual. (it's pretty easy to see, especially if you are familiar with it).
All of this to say... please, help raise Autism Awareness and post this link to make others aware! If you can't donate to Autism Speaks, that's okay! I just hope to raise others awareness of Autism and what it is, and is not.
Thanks for reading (and hopefully, reposting/sharing!)
Sunday, March 7, 2010
In the presence of a gold-medal winner!!!!
Yes...... I did indeed say a gold-medal winner!
Holden won his VERY FIRST GOLD medal yesterday!
Holden, as I've posted before, is an avid youth wrestler in our local wrestling club and has been wrestling since March of 2009. At this point, some kids his age have already been wrestling for two to three years, so he's already a bit behind the punch to begin with. Add in his small size (he's only forty-six pounds at nearly eight years old) and he's at a big disadvantage when it comes to most matches. (At most, he's at the bottom of the weight bracket).
He's always done pretty good in most tournaments, but the most recent tournaments he's experienced a fair amount of anxiety and doesn't seem to wrestle his best or wrestle to win. Rather, he wrestles "not to lose". In fact, at one of his tournaments in December, he got so anxious and worked up, he walked off the mat. Now, I would normally not condone this behavior, and he did indeed realize he had made a mistake. Both myself and his father expressed our disappointment in him. Not necessarily for him not winning, but for all-out quitting. We all had a talk with him (his coach included) and told him that he's too good of a wrestler to just quit when he's not winning. Yes, he's sometimes going to win and sometimes going to lose. Not everyone is going to be easy to wrestle. You learn more from your mistakes than your wins, and become better from losing.
Anyways ..... he'd been really excited about this tournament. It was a rookie tournament where wrestlers cannot have had more than one year of experience (wrestling since September 2008) to participate and compete. We figured if any tournament was one he would do good in, this would be it. He even woke up Saturday morning proclaiming "I'm gonna win the gold medal. I'm gonna come in first!". We tried to assure him that it wasn't about winning; it was about going out and having fun and doing your best. But he was pretty insistent that he was going to win the gold medal.
So we get there and find out that there are four people in his weight group. (well, there were actually lots more, but they split the lower weights into lots of smaller groups instead of fewer, large groups). He had a very good chance of medaling at this point. The wrestlers were warming up and there were tons of people around. The good (or bad) thing was, we didn't know any of the kids Holden would be wrestling. This is good because he wasn't able to say "they beat me before!" but bad because we knew nothing about how good any of these wrestlers are.
At this point, Holden was still pretty insistent that he was going to win the gold. He was going to have three matches, and we told him all he had to do was win all three to win the gold! He went out for his first match and won ... by pinning the kid in the first period of the match. We told him one down, two to go! He wasn't showing ANY signs of anxiousness/nervousness as in previous tournaments and of course, now had a big boost to his self-confidence since he had won. We had a little wait for his second match and when it came around, he pinned that kid too, in the first period, again! :) At this point, we were all pretty excited (coaches, other teammates parents, and us) because we knew all he had to do was hold it together and he could WIN THIS THING! We went and grabbed some lunch and then sat around and watched some teammates wrestle. By the way ... a big, huge SHOUT-OUT to the Western Branch Bruins for their awesome wrestling yesterday! When it came time for Holden's third match... we told him all he had to do, was pin the kid, or win by points and he would indeed, get the GOLD MEDAL! He was pretty psyched (in a good way) and the coaches were joking around with him. He goes out on the mat, and by golly..... PINS THE LAST KID! He had WON (by pinning) all THREE KIDS he had to wrestle.... GOOOO Holden!! He was SO excited at this point and the one coach jokingly told Holden he had to share the medal with him. Holden kind of gave him a look like "Are you CrAzY?!" We sat around a bit watching some more of our club's kids wrestling and waited around to get Holden's medal. We had noticed earlier that they brought a podium in for the medal winners to stand on... talk about another huge self-esteem boost! He got up on that podium and had the biggest smile on his face! Rightfully so..... he deserved that gold medal!! Anyways..... we are very proud of our little guy..... and he's INCREDIBLY proud of his gold medal!
Below are some pictures from yesterday..... enjoy!
Holden won his VERY FIRST GOLD medal yesterday!
Holden, as I've posted before, is an avid youth wrestler in our local wrestling club and has been wrestling since March of 2009. At this point, some kids his age have already been wrestling for two to three years, so he's already a bit behind the punch to begin with. Add in his small size (he's only forty-six pounds at nearly eight years old) and he's at a big disadvantage when it comes to most matches. (At most, he's at the bottom of the weight bracket).
He's always done pretty good in most tournaments, but the most recent tournaments he's experienced a fair amount of anxiety and doesn't seem to wrestle his best or wrestle to win. Rather, he wrestles "not to lose". In fact, at one of his tournaments in December, he got so anxious and worked up, he walked off the mat. Now, I would normally not condone this behavior, and he did indeed realize he had made a mistake. Both myself and his father expressed our disappointment in him. Not necessarily for him not winning, but for all-out quitting. We all had a talk with him (his coach included) and told him that he's too good of a wrestler to just quit when he's not winning. Yes, he's sometimes going to win and sometimes going to lose. Not everyone is going to be easy to wrestle. You learn more from your mistakes than your wins, and become better from losing.
Anyways ..... he'd been really excited about this tournament. It was a rookie tournament where wrestlers cannot have had more than one year of experience (wrestling since September 2008) to participate and compete. We figured if any tournament was one he would do good in, this would be it. He even woke up Saturday morning proclaiming "I'm gonna win the gold medal. I'm gonna come in first!". We tried to assure him that it wasn't about winning; it was about going out and having fun and doing your best. But he was pretty insistent that he was going to win the gold medal.
So we get there and find out that there are four people in his weight group. (well, there were actually lots more, but they split the lower weights into lots of smaller groups instead of fewer, large groups). He had a very good chance of medaling at this point. The wrestlers were warming up and there were tons of people around. The good (or bad) thing was, we didn't know any of the kids Holden would be wrestling. This is good because he wasn't able to say "they beat me before!" but bad because we knew nothing about how good any of these wrestlers are.
At this point, Holden was still pretty insistent that he was going to win the gold. He was going to have three matches, and we told him all he had to do was win all three to win the gold! He went out for his first match and won ... by pinning the kid in the first period of the match. We told him one down, two to go! He wasn't showing ANY signs of anxiousness/nervousness as in previous tournaments and of course, now had a big boost to his self-confidence since he had won. We had a little wait for his second match and when it came around, he pinned that kid too, in the first period, again! :) At this point, we were all pretty excited (coaches, other teammates parents, and us) because we knew all he had to do was hold it together and he could WIN THIS THING! We went and grabbed some lunch and then sat around and watched some teammates wrestle. By the way ... a big, huge SHOUT-OUT to the Western Branch Bruins for their awesome wrestling yesterday! When it came time for Holden's third match... we told him all he had to do, was pin the kid, or win by points and he would indeed, get the GOLD MEDAL! He was pretty psyched (in a good way) and the coaches were joking around with him. He goes out on the mat, and by golly..... PINS THE LAST KID! He had WON (by pinning) all THREE KIDS he had to wrestle.... GOOOO Holden!! He was SO excited at this point and the one coach jokingly told Holden he had to share the medal with him. Holden kind of gave him a look like "Are you CrAzY?!" We sat around a bit watching some more of our club's kids wrestling and waited around to get Holden's medal. We had noticed earlier that they brought a podium in for the medal winners to stand on... talk about another huge self-esteem boost! He got up on that podium and had the biggest smile on his face! Rightfully so..... he deserved that gold medal!! Anyways..... we are very proud of our little guy..... and he's INCREDIBLY proud of his gold medal!
Below are some pictures from yesterday..... enjoy!
This is Holden and his friend/teammate Ty
(who is 6, but a whole lot bigger than Holden!)
Holden is the winner!
Holden pinning his second opponent! (This little boy walked by
Holden right before Holden's 3rd match and boy... "if looks could kill!")
(the following 3 pics are from his last match .... he "had this kid at hello".... LOL)
Holden getting his medal
On the podium (how cool is that?!) in FIRST place!!!
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Another cute pic from yesterday
Don't they look like they are sharing secrets or something? Love it!! :) so cute!
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Some outdoor fun
Got this keeper of a photo of the boys this afternoon when Ashton wanted to go outside to play. I thought it was cute :) Once it falls off the main page here, I'll retire it to the sidebar, because I think it's *that* cute! ;)
Have a great night everyone!
Sleep, it's such a precious thing!
Ashton's been sleeping...... ALL NIGHT LONG!
Yep, whispering and yelling at the SAME TIME! LOL
Wednesday and Thursday nights he slept from 9pmish to 6:30am. I swear he must hear my alarm clock go off, because as soon as I hear it go off, I hear him stirring and waking up.
Friday night (last night), he slept until almost 7am! Woot!!! *happy dances*
Even better ... ? I've been able to cut his Melatonin dose in half (5mg from 10mg) and his Clonidine dose in half (.1mg from .2mg) and he's STILL SLEEPING ALL NIGHT! I guess the Abilify really has been knocking him on his putt throughout the day if it's helping him sleep this well at night.
Wednesday and Thursday nights he slept from 9pmish to 6:30am. I swear he must hear my alarm clock go off, because as soon as I hear it go off, I hear him stirring and waking up.
Friday night (last night), he slept until almost 7am! Woot!!! *happy dances*
Even better ... ? I've been able to cut his Melatonin dose in half (5mg from 10mg) and his Clonidine dose in half (.1mg from .2mg) and he's STILL SLEEPING ALL NIGHT! I guess the Abilify really has been knocking him on his putt throughout the day if it's helping him sleep this well at night.
Now, he did decide to go out on our back porch patio to swing on the swing back there this morning. The bad thing? It was 7:00am. The second bad thing, we have a house alarm and because he opened the door before the alarm had been disarmed, it set it off. The scary thing... WE DIDN'T HEAR THE ALARM GO OFF!
The alarm company tried calling the house but we didn't recognize the number, so therefore didn't answer the house phone. We typically have our cell phones set to mute/vibrate at night, so we didn't hear THOSE ring either. What made me get up to investigate, was the strange number calling and that I had heard Ashton wake up. So I came downstairs and panicked when I didn't see or hear Ashton anywhere. Since we hadn't heard the alarm go off (the alarm company had disabled it) I didn't realize that the alarm was still sending a signal to the company. I yelled upstairs for hubby since I didn't see Ashton anywhere. He had the wherewithal though to look at the panel and see that the back patio door was the one that had been set off, and there Ashton was, sitting on the swing, clapping and flapping his happy little self away.
Tried calling the alarm company to let them know it was a false alarm, but police had already been dispatched. When they got here, I just explained to them that my ten year old autistic son had went outside in the backyard and had set off the alarm. I said he didn't realize that what he had done was unsafe. They took down Ashton's name and age and my name and age. fun.... :P
Since this has become a recent trend, we're taking steps to prevent this from happening again. We've put a wooden rod down in the track for the back patio door so he can't get out that way anymore. Then, hubby is currently at Lowe's getting a keyed deadbolt set for the front door (if he gets out that door and takes off running.... he'd be lost for sure....) and also something for the door from the laundry room to the garage.
SCARY morning but alls well that ends well .... and the all night sleeping IS a very welcomed thing.... Zzzzzzz
Tried calling the alarm company to let them know it was a false alarm, but police had already been dispatched. When they got here, I just explained to them that my ten year old autistic son had went outside in the backyard and had set off the alarm. I said he didn't realize that what he had done was unsafe. They took down Ashton's name and age and my name and age. fun.... :P
Since this has become a recent trend, we're taking steps to prevent this from happening again. We've put a wooden rod down in the track for the back patio door so he can't get out that way anymore. Then, hubby is currently at Lowe's getting a keyed deadbolt set for the front door (if he gets out that door and takes off running.... he'd be lost for sure....) and also something for the door from the laundry room to the garage.
SCARY morning but alls well that ends well .... and the all night sleeping IS a very welcomed thing.... Zzzzzzz
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Finally! Our specialist appt @ CHKD
I had no idea what to expect.
Things with Ashton have been calming down, and he's become a lot more pleasant to be around. There are still some lingering issues; mainly having to do with sleep (too much during the day, and the lack thereof at night) as well as some lingering OCD issues. He's also got some major attention/impulsivity issues, but who knows what is tied to the Autism or what is manifesting itself as ADHD or OCD.
Anyways .... this doctor, is the director of Psychiatry at Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters (CHKD). All I knew is he has a specialty in pediatric psychopharmacology (big, fancy term for dealing with children and medications that are used to treat mental diseases and/or disorders).
I went into this knowing that this isn't a long-term care type place. They help you sort out the issues, treat them, and get your child "evened out" so to speak, so you can go back to your regular doctors and have them manage your care. We get there and they do the whole basic thing of checking Ashton's weight (87.2lbs) and height (4'7") and blood pressure. He was absolutely fine through all of this. It does bare mentioning that we had his portable DVD player (thanks Grandma & Grandad for that Christmas present!) as well as a boatload of snacks. Since Ashton is GFCF, I tend to take a lot of snacks since you never know how long you're going to be gone and what foods will be available.
Then, the doctor comes out and asks to speak to Ashton, by himself, first.
Ok, I admit it... at this point I'm wondering .... what exactly does this doctor hope to gain from talking to my autistic child, by himself? Not to mention, what was Ashton going to do without me in there? .....
Oh mommy of little faith..... he did just fine. Turns out, it's pretty routine. He wanted to get an unbiased feel for Ashton's personality. He only had him back there for a few minutes. The doctor then came and brought Ashton back to the waiting room (my wonderful mother-in-law went with me) and it was my turn.
We then spent about forty-five minutes going over Ashton's medical history, developmental history, our current problems and issues, etc. He actually listened! Now, I don't mean to say that other doctors haven't listened (you hear me Dr. Madren..... you too, LISTEN! ;)) but then after listening, he actually explained medical things in easy to understand ways. We talked about different medications, side effects, what medications work for what conditions, etc. It was just a different knowledge-set that he can better explain since pediatric psychopharmacology IS his specialty.
He then had me go back to the waiting room while he looked over all of his notes, my notes that I had taken in, and came up with what will be our initial game-plan. We then talked another thirty to forty-five minutes talking about family history, what our issues with medications have been, what we need to prioritize as our most important concern, and came up with a game-plan.
We've decided to move Ashton's morning dose of Abilify to the evenings. It seems logical that the Abilify might be what's causing the morning sleepiness and extended day-time naps at school. Since he's also not sleeping through the night on a consistent basis, (but seems to nap on a consistent basis) the hope is that the Abilify will help him sleep at night. Well, for the last two days, he hasn't fallen asleep during the day. He's a tad more irritable, but then again, his schedule was messed up yesterday with no school and then a pretty lengthy doctor's visit. But, the best news is..... HE SLEPT ALL NIGHT from 9pm-6:30am! Yes, I typed that in really little letters... I just hope this sticks and works! I am to call him back next week with an update, and we'll go back for a follow-up appointment in April.
The hope is, if the Abilify works to help him sleep at night, that we can decrease (or eliminate) some of the other medications he takes to help him sleep. Now granted, keeping him on Abilify for sleeping issues, long-term is not ideal. Abilify can have some pretty serious side-effects (weight-gain, increase in cholestoral and sugar levels, etc) We're considering doing a sleep-study to get a better idea of Ashton's sleep patterns and see if we can possibly figure out why he wakes at night. We'll discuss those at our April appointment. We need to figure out if the stress that the sleep study might cause Ashton will be worth the knowledge we might gain from it.
We have a check-up with Dr. Madren in a couple of weeks, so that'll give us a good couple of weeks to completely sort things out and hopefully get Ashton on a better sleep schedule and routine. Hopefully we have better news for Dr. Madren at this upcoming appointment rather than the news we had at our last appointment in January (when we were in the thick of things with the aggression, mood issues, defiance, etc).
Thanks for reading.... time to go watch "Burn Notice"! :)
Things with Ashton have been calming down, and he's become a lot more pleasant to be around. There are still some lingering issues; mainly having to do with sleep (too much during the day, and the lack thereof at night) as well as some lingering OCD issues. He's also got some major attention/impulsivity issues, but who knows what is tied to the Autism or what is manifesting itself as ADHD or OCD.
Anyways .... this doctor, is the director of Psychiatry at Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters (CHKD). All I knew is he has a specialty in pediatric psychopharmacology (big, fancy term for dealing with children and medications that are used to treat mental diseases and/or disorders).
I went into this knowing that this isn't a long-term care type place. They help you sort out the issues, treat them, and get your child "evened out" so to speak, so you can go back to your regular doctors and have them manage your care. We get there and they do the whole basic thing of checking Ashton's weight (87.2lbs) and height (4'7") and blood pressure. He was absolutely fine through all of this. It does bare mentioning that we had his portable DVD player (thanks Grandma & Grandad for that Christmas present!) as well as a boatload of snacks. Since Ashton is GFCF, I tend to take a lot of snacks since you never know how long you're going to be gone and what foods will be available.
Then, the doctor comes out and asks to speak to Ashton, by himself, first.
Ok, I admit it... at this point I'm wondering .... what exactly does this doctor hope to gain from talking to my autistic child, by himself? Not to mention, what was Ashton going to do without me in there? .....
Oh mommy of little faith..... he did just fine. Turns out, it's pretty routine. He wanted to get an unbiased feel for Ashton's personality. He only had him back there for a few minutes. The doctor then came and brought Ashton back to the waiting room (my wonderful mother-in-law went with me) and it was my turn.
We then spent about forty-five minutes going over Ashton's medical history, developmental history, our current problems and issues, etc. He actually listened! Now, I don't mean to say that other doctors haven't listened (you hear me Dr. Madren..... you too, LISTEN! ;)) but then after listening, he actually explained medical things in easy to understand ways. We talked about different medications, side effects, what medications work for what conditions, etc. It was just a different knowledge-set that he can better explain since pediatric psychopharmacology IS his specialty.
He then had me go back to the waiting room while he looked over all of his notes, my notes that I had taken in, and came up with what will be our initial game-plan. We then talked another thirty to forty-five minutes talking about family history, what our issues with medications have been, what we need to prioritize as our most important concern, and came up with a game-plan.
We've decided to move Ashton's morning dose of Abilify to the evenings. It seems logical that the Abilify might be what's causing the morning sleepiness and extended day-time naps at school. Since he's also not sleeping through the night on a consistent basis, (but seems to nap on a consistent basis) the hope is that the Abilify will help him sleep at night. Well, for the last two days, he hasn't fallen asleep during the day. He's a tad more irritable, but then again, his schedule was messed up yesterday with no school and then a pretty lengthy doctor's visit. But, the best news is..... HE SLEPT ALL NIGHT from 9pm-6:30am! Yes, I typed that in really little letters... I just hope this sticks and works! I am to call him back next week with an update, and we'll go back for a follow-up appointment in April.
The hope is, if the Abilify works to help him sleep at night, that we can decrease (or eliminate) some of the other medications he takes to help him sleep. Now granted, keeping him on Abilify for sleeping issues, long-term is not ideal. Abilify can have some pretty serious side-effects (weight-gain, increase in cholestoral and sugar levels, etc) We're considering doing a sleep-study to get a better idea of Ashton's sleep patterns and see if we can possibly figure out why he wakes at night. We'll discuss those at our April appointment. We need to figure out if the stress that the sleep study might cause Ashton will be worth the knowledge we might gain from it.
We have a check-up with Dr. Madren in a couple of weeks, so that'll give us a good couple of weeks to completely sort things out and hopefully get Ashton on a better sleep schedule and routine. Hopefully we have better news for Dr. Madren at this upcoming appointment rather than the news we had at our last appointment in January (when we were in the thick of things with the aggression, mood issues, defiance, etc).
Thanks for reading.... time to go watch "Burn Notice"! :)
Monday, February 22, 2010
KID - isms.... Out of the mouths of babes
You know, those funny things your kids say that you just HAVE to write down for posterity. Well, I was sitting here listening to Ashton ramble on about some movie, and a couple of kid-isms came to mind that my boys have said. I'll quote them here as I remember them .... some are just a line or quote, some are actual stories..... Enjoy!
Now some of these are especially funny when you keep in mind that Ashton is autistic and also that some of these things were said a few years ago when the boys were younger.
Ashton (age 10) - "Hey Ladies! What's crackin'?" - don't ask .... I do NOT know where he picked this up! LOL
Holden (age 5) - "Mom, what was life like before cars?" - I couldn't help myself, I BUST OUT laughing at that one! At the time, I was thirty years old, so therefore, am not aware of what life was like before cars. HAHA :P stinker! We told him that even his great-grandparents (Granny and Papa) don't know what life was like before cars.
Ashton (age 10) - "I'm getting married today!" - this is a line from a movie, not quite sure which one but he was walking around and saying this at Thanksgiving - TOO funny!
Holden (age 3?) - "I'm going to take you out like batteries!" - said one night while horsing-around with his Daddy. He said it with the fiercest little look on his face. To this day (nearly five years later) we're not sure where he picked up that saying from. We've googled it and searched for it on IMDb as I thought for sure it'd be a quote from a movie, but alas.... nothing.
Ashton (age 6?) - "But it's not on my schedule!" - Keeping in mind that children on the spectrum are pretty schedule-dependent and need consistency, Ashton said this one evening while out at his grandparents house. We were attempting to get him to use the bathroom as well as get ready to leave and this lovely gem of a quote is what he came up with. He was SO RIGHT, it was indeed, not on his schedule! LOL
Holden (age 5?) - "I'm going to build a tunnel from my house to your house Grandma and everytime my mommy yells at me, I'm going to come over." Then when he was asked what would he do if mommy came through the tunnel after him, he quipped "Well, I'll just make it small enough so she can't fit through!" HAHA! He's such a little charmer. This was prior to his ADHD diagnosis and we'd been going through a rough patch with discipline and behavior. Thought this was pretty funny :)
----- More to come as I remember them -----
*edited 2/24/10*
Told ya I'd be back when I thought of some more!
Ashton: Some acquaintances have "interesting" names! ;)
Corbin was "Baby Cornball"
Ella was "Baby Elephant"
Camille (former teacher's aide) was "Ms Chameleon"
Holden is "Baby Swinub" (a pokemon character) - NO IDEA why he calls his brother that! LOL
Dr. Madren is "Dr Magic" .... Dr. Madren has gotten quite a kick out of this comment :)
Dr. Dozier is "Dr. Bulldozer" ... hahaha, sorry! I think it's funny! ;)
Ashton: Fictional Characters
Abominable Hulk "Obama Hulk" - HAHA!!! ;)
he came up with a list of names for family members once:
Daddy was a "Vampire"
Mommy was a "Mummy"
Ashton was a "Skeleton"
Holden was a "Ghost"
Grandma was a "Witch" (later corrected by Grandma as a "nice witch" LOL!)
Grandad was a "Werewolf"
Papa was a "Zombie:
Granny was "Herky Jerky"
Uncle Kevin was a "Prince"
*edited 2/25/10*
Ashton said this wonderful gem last night
"My, this is a tasty, tasty meal" .... huh?! LOL! I promise you, this was not anything special..... all he was eating was some ham and some pretzels. Apparently, according to him, it was quite tasty! LOL
Again..... more to come later :)
Now some of these are especially funny when you keep in mind that Ashton is autistic and also that some of these things were said a few years ago when the boys were younger.
Ashton (age 10) - "Hey Ladies! What's crackin'?" - don't ask .... I do NOT know where he picked this up! LOL
Holden (age 5) - "Mom, what was life like before cars?" - I couldn't help myself, I BUST OUT laughing at that one! At the time, I was thirty years old, so therefore, am not aware of what life was like before cars. HAHA :P stinker! We told him that even his great-grandparents (Granny and Papa) don't know what life was like before cars.
Ashton (age 10) - "I'm getting married today!" - this is a line from a movie, not quite sure which one but he was walking around and saying this at Thanksgiving - TOO funny!
Holden (age 3?) - "I'm going to take you out like batteries!" - said one night while horsing-around with his Daddy. He said it with the fiercest little look on his face. To this day (nearly five years later) we're not sure where he picked up that saying from. We've googled it and searched for it on IMDb as I thought for sure it'd be a quote from a movie, but alas.... nothing.
Ashton (age 6?) - "But it's not on my schedule!" - Keeping in mind that children on the spectrum are pretty schedule-dependent and need consistency, Ashton said this one evening while out at his grandparents house. We were attempting to get him to use the bathroom as well as get ready to leave and this lovely gem of a quote is what he came up with. He was SO RIGHT, it was indeed, not on his schedule! LOL
Holden (age 5?) - "I'm going to build a tunnel from my house to your house Grandma and everytime my mommy yells at me, I'm going to come over." Then when he was asked what would he do if mommy came through the tunnel after him, he quipped "Well, I'll just make it small enough so she can't fit through!" HAHA! He's such a little charmer. This was prior to his ADHD diagnosis and we'd been going through a rough patch with discipline and behavior. Thought this was pretty funny :)
----- More to come as I remember them -----
*edited 2/24/10*
Told ya I'd be back when I thought of some more!
Ashton: Some acquaintances have "interesting" names! ;)
Corbin was "Baby Cornball"
Ella was "Baby Elephant"
Camille (former teacher's aide) was "Ms Chameleon"
Holden is "Baby Swinub" (a pokemon character) - NO IDEA why he calls his brother that! LOL
Dr. Madren is "Dr Magic" .... Dr. Madren has gotten quite a kick out of this comment :)
Dr. Dozier is "Dr. Bulldozer" ... hahaha, sorry! I think it's funny! ;)
Ashton: Fictional Characters
Abominable Hulk "Obama Hulk" - HAHA!!! ;)
he came up with a list of names for family members once:
Daddy was a "Vampire"
Mommy was a "Mummy"
Ashton was a "Skeleton"
Holden was a "Ghost"
Grandma was a "Witch" (later corrected by Grandma as a "nice witch" LOL!)
Grandad was a "Werewolf"
Papa was a "Zombie:
Granny was "Herky Jerky"
Uncle Kevin was a "Prince"
*edited 2/25/10*
Ashton said this wonderful gem last night
"My, this is a tasty, tasty meal" .... huh?! LOL! I promise you, this was not anything special..... all he was eating was some ham and some pretzels. Apparently, according to him, it was quite tasty! LOL
Again..... more to come later :)
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