One front tooth down!

I remember when I was this age and started to lose teeth. I was never as patient as Aethan. This stinking tooth was tremendously loose and ready for the pulling for 2 weeks! It finally came out at Grandma's the other night and apparently the
tooth fairy gives $2 for front teeth. This was very exciting to my 6 year old. It was especially awesome to find him sitting at my moms in his dinosaur costume with a big smile, minus one front tooth.



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Happy Halloween!

My family knows how to do Halloween. This costume is handmade by my amazing mother! She did it in only 2 days and even adapted the hands to only have 2 fingers (a special arequest from a certain dino-crazu six year old) Dino fans know that the T-Rex did, in fact, only have 2 fingers. Aethan was as excited about Halloween this year as we were! He still has his limits, though. He told every house he was allergic to chocolate and half way through the neighborhood, he looks at his mostly full trick-or-treat bucket and says "I have enough candy." He still went up to houses just to say "Hi!" This is a fantastic improvement from his 3rd Halloween when he gave his candy back to the people in their homes or his 4th, when he was terrified of dogs and we made it to 2 houses. I love that he's grown in to allowing himself to enjoy the little things, the silly things. He was even excited about his little brother's costume. "This is my brother, Adrian," he would say " He's a sushi roll."

Autism

Four Stars for Easy Bribery

So in 1st grade they have this way of getting kids to behave. It's usually a star or sticker or whatever system where they start out with so many of said symbol and then throughout the day, they get "deductions" for bad behavior. Although, in my opinion, I think it enforces a fear tactic instead of my favored positive reinforcement and instills self confidence issues in most children- it seems to work for Aethan to some extent. Now don't get me wrong. Aethan couldn't give a crap about the actual stars themselves. They are an abstract to him. One thing about any kind of Autism Spectrum Disorder is the that abstract doesn't exist. So after hours of trying to explain to him "why" it was important not to talk during class assignments I finally resorted to good old fashioned reasoning...and bribery of course. It was simple..."Aethan, if you get four stars at school, you can play with my iphone on the way home from school and to school then next day." "OK, Mommy." So that simple. He hasn't had a 2 star day since. Here's the fact. He doesn't care why he should listen and follow instructions. He just need to know what the basic general reprocutions are. He has plenty of self control. He just doesn't use it unless HE finds it important. Simple right? I'm not even sure this has anything to do with ASD. I'm prety sure most 6 year olds are still stuck on "How does this effect me?" In fact, I think this exists in the male species until they are at least 30...maybe longer. So moms...don't assume your child doesn't know how to control himself. They know how. They just won't make a concious effort unless there is a reason valid to them.

Our favorite Holiday...and other cool Aethan updates

Aethan found Jaiden's old OB-Wan costume and decide that's what he wanted to wear to Sea World's Halloween Spooktackular. I'm glad he did, because it was hot and that costume is paper thin. We had a lot of fun with lots of our friends. Now we are getting ready for Halloween and he is so excited about decorating. He tattooed a pumpkin (pictures soon) and Grandma is sewing him a T-Rex costume. He is very in to this. Today was "crazy Hair" day at school and he told me he wanted his hair in a "crest." What he meant was a mohawk, but since he lives in dinosaur world, I made him a "crest" with Vince's hair glue. When I picked him up, he still had his crest, but it was now a gray crest from all the sand from the playground that was sticking it in. He got a bath before the grocery store.

I can't say enough how much he makes my life easier. He is the best baby entertainer on the planet. His genuine smile and silliness just makes Adrian laugh for hours. And happy baby means Mommy can get stuff done. His desire to make his brother happy just melts me!

And he'll tell you different, but Aethan can read now. It happened over night. One night he just decided it was his turn to read the story. I love this!

Growth Stats

I was looking at Aethan's incredibly large feet and realized I should post his growth progress! My big boy is 6 years and 8 months old, 4 ft 1", and 52 pounds! He is wearing size 2 shoes and size 6-8 in clothes. He goes through shoes every 2 months and , like his Mommy, has completely flat feet. He also has his Daddy's allergies and is constantly sniffling and snoring. The little guy knows very well how to stop a nosebleed and blows his nose great for a 6 year old. His favorite food right now is hot dogs (natural ones of course!) and gluten free macaroni and cheese. Of course he eats all of his fruits and veggies too. About 11 servings per day now! He's allergic to Penicillin, as we found out the first and only time he had antibiotics about 4 months ago with strep throat. I forget other people might want to know this stuff!
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The baby who didn't get in to things...

I used to read all these educational materials on autism. These things listed all the early warning signs all the way back to 4 months oldand I always thought "How can you tell that young? That's not possible!" Now that I raise this new little one, I am starting to see that Aethan may have not been the typical baby. I know all babies are different, but my husband can see my shock as Adrian exhibits seemingly "normal" behaviors and asks me if my reason is because Aethan didn't do these things. Most of the differences were positive at the time. Aethan could crawl by 5 months, feed himself with a spoon, and drink from a sippy cup. I watch Adrian throw the cup on the floor and laugh as he smooshes up food he dumped off the spoon between his fingers. Adrian bangs and throws, where Aethan would spin and line up. Adrian doesn't sleep at night well, but if I let him cry he will go to sleep within 30 minutes. Aethan kept it going for hours. Aethan screamed at the vacuum. Adrian stares it down as if its going to do something, but never cries over a loud noise unless he can't see what's making it. Aethan wasn't interested in age apropriate toys and tv shows. Adrian gets in to the trash, tries to eat electrical chords and puts the cat's tail in his mouth. We never needed to baby proof the house when Aethan was a baby. Adrian laughs at puppets and turns to look at you when you say his name. He lights up when he sees his Mommy or Daddy or brothers. Aethan called Grandma Mom. Aethan's stoic behavior seemed like he was just an easy baby. No temper tantrums, no separation anxiety. But the truth is, the little boy didn't know how to connect with me. Or with anyone. Even now, he's the kid who will say "I'm fine" while hiding his face full of tears. He goes deep within when he is upset. The most fantastic thing though- he has no difficulty expressing when he is happy. I get to see his excitement, his enthusiasm, his joy. One of my favorite things in the world is his love for his little brother. He makes him so happy and the feeling is mutual! They just spend hours smiling at each other, almost having conversations. Aethan knows him...hears his thoughs..knows his needs (and of course, tells us what they are) Amazing to me that this nonverbal child became such a strong voice.

Laughing at a thought

Thinking and laughing about a funny video a friend posted on facebook.

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Getting ready for 1st grade!

Here is Aethan at his well visit today. 51 pounds,4 1/2 feet tall and loving growing up! He was so excited to shop for school supplies. We met his teacher yesterday. She is an autism specialist and specifically requested to have him in his class. Also, my mom's neighbor, whom he has known his whole life, is the new after school program director. It's going to be a great year!


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Summer Fun

I can't believe the summer is almost over and Aethan will be in first grade in a matter of weeks! Summer camp has been great for him. It was the same place he does the afternoon program at his school and Jaiden got to join him this year. They went to great places like ripley's believe it or not and The water park, along with a fantastic trip to the science center with an array of dinosaur fossils. I'm so happy with his new love of everything prehistoric. He knows every dinosaur name by species and can even tell you when and where they lived.
Aethan has been the big brother that every Mom imagines. He feeds the baby, plays with him and even cuddles him when he cries. All he has to do is play next to Adrian and his eyes light up with joy. He makes parenting a little one so much easier.
It is most amazing that no matter how things change, he exhibits adaptability and the ability to grow with every experience.
We still keep him on a pretty strict diet. Although dairy doesn't seem to bother him anymore (which is good for his love of ice cream) we continue to substitute gluten and wheat.
He has become impeccable with tooth care and even reminds me when we are running low on dental floss. He must wear his socks to bed every night even when it is 100 degrees and he hums the "dinosaur king" theme song in the shower, expressing his uniqueness in every cute way imaginable.
With all the changes... The baby, the upcoming wedding, etc, he just never ceases to amaze me with his fantastic positive aura and endless desire to make
people happy.





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My New Little Brother

Adrian was born on January 21 at 10:34pm. He was 7 lbs 14 oz, which is a full pound less than Aethan was at birth. His birth was beautiful! The things I have learned over the years in working with natural childbirth paid off tremendously and I was abe to give birth naturally at the Birth Center I work at. Aethan got to meet his new little brother the very next morning before he went to school and was extremely excited. He even has his birthday memorized! Every now and then I will just catch him standing there looking at the baby smiling. I ask him "Aethan, why are you so happy?" He says "The baby. If I am happy then he will be happy." I love my litttle impath and his desire to create such a loving environment. He has been so helpful and willing this past week and has done everything possible to make life easier for all of us. I miss taking him to school in the mornings, but before I know it, things will settle and back to regularity we go.

Awaiting Adrian

Aethan is so excited about meeting his new little brother, which could happen at any moment now. The new baby has the same original due date as Aethan did, but we managed to move through Aethan's birthday without him emerging. I never thought it would be a six year difference between Aethan and his next sibbling, but after he has waited so long I know he will make an amazing big brother.

Holidays are fun with kids!

The holidays this year were no more hectic than normal, but as I come near to the arrival of Adrian I can definately apreciate Aethan's adaptability and amazing way of making chaos so much less than it could be. We took a road trip to Kansas for Thanksgiving- something he has done waonderfully well at before and I think our family was pretty amazed to see my completely verbal and communacating little man. He's really grown up since the last time we were there. Christmas was a mass of family back in Florida- we finally had my 2 sisters here at the same time and on Christmas day at that! Aethan was actually interested in Santa this year and was very excited to get to meet him. He told him very kindly that he had e-mailed his Christmas list. Every day is just a wonder!