Real talking....

Below is a short clip of Gabe free talking. Where I am not repeating most of what he says. He is talking about Lightening McQueen. Gabe does not sustain conversation very well. This is what he sounds like in a "normal" conversation where I am not prompting or leading him as to what he should say. Gabe does have a lot of very good clear speech as you can hear in the bubble blowing clip below. Most of his clear speech are things we have taught him to say. Or things that he uses everyday. Or what we call well rehearsed speech.

Just recently we purchased an AAC (talker computer) program called proloquo2go. It is run on Gabe's ipod touch. It runs the same as any other talker only it is smaller.
I am hoping this helps with some conversational speech. It did open up communication with daddy yesterday. Gabe told Matt he saw Obama on a plate at he store. It was great seeing him share something like that. Not to mention having your own ipod touch at 4 is pretty damn cool!

Fussy baby, rice cereal, rolling over and infected ears...

My mom kept Zane this weekend because I had to work. She said he acts like he is hungry all the time. She told me he cried a lot and seemed not to be satisfied by his milk. So I said to try some formula. He HATED it...and cried when she tried to feed it to him. So, she said I need to start him on rice cereal. We tried yesterday. he did pretty good but didn't sleep through the night. In fact he was up more often...but he woke up with a 101.6 fever so that might have had something to do with it.

I took Zane to the dr. today and he has bilateral ear infections. Poor kid. They started him on an antibiotic...I hope he feels better soon. We tried the rice cereal again tonight...but he cried through the whole process. So I just gave up. I don't think he is ready for cereal.

Zane started rolling over this weekend too. Well he isn't really the whole way over...his arm gets stuck...but he is almost there! Zane is getting too big too fast. He weighs 13lbs 12oz and is 23in long.

Let the screaming continue

Oh boy...Gabe is still at it. He had speech today. He had some nasty behavior but his ST did a great job redirecting. Well I guess he had too much redirecting with her that he couldn't be redirected with me. He always gets a prize after speech. Just ONE prize. Mr. Gabe thought he had to have TWO. I tried to help him pick one...but there was no way he was giving up. He ended up with NO prize. I had to physically carry him out of the office leaving Zane in his car seat sitting with other clients.

Absolutely devastated this time...one of the gals I work with had her son in for his ST and she saw the whole thing. She knows Gabe has an autism dx...but still...it was rather upsetting. I didn't cry this time. Gabe had two more meltdowns at home. I made him take a nap today. So far this evening he has been pretty good.

I decided I am calling for a TSS. I don't care if Matt doesn't want Gabe to have one. I can't deal with a baby and a child that is running from me in the parking lot. There is a huge safety issue there. Not to mention Gabe has started hitting me.

Wish I knew what was going on that is causing all these tantrums. hmmmm...

The Shot

Everyone that knows me has had their ears talked off about vaccine's by me! I have been researching vaccine's since Gabe was dx'd with autism. I don't think vaccine's caused his ASD but who knows. What I learned was vaccine's have a whole lot of yuck in them. I decided that I am going to vax Zane very, very, very, slowly. That means one shot every month or two...and no combo shots excepts for DTaP because you can't get it separated. Because of Matt's and my decision to go slow and delete some vaccine's we were kicked out of our old pediatricians office! Doh.

Well today Zane got his first vaccine. He got DTaP. He seems to be okay. A bit fussy but not too bad. He did however act really weird when he woke from a nap. In fact, I thought he was having a seizure. His little arms were flailing around and his eyes looked weird...but it was over too quick and I think it was a really bad startle reflex. He woke up and was on his back and I think it scared him. He doesn't like to lay on his back. Of course it scared the hell out of me and I screamed for Matt...but Zane was okay by the time he came into the bedroom. So, I think it is me just being a crazy momma. I won't take my eyes off of him now!

Why does the big Pharm have to put such nasty things in our children....

I thought about going vax free...but with me working in the medical field I am afraid of bringing things home to my children. Hopefully this shot doesn't do anything to Zane. He is perfect in every way. He coo's and make beautiful eye contact. He is interested in people's faces...and I don't want any of that to fade away....

....already dreading shot number two.....

The weekend Melt Down...

Wow...who ate my child. Gabe has meltdowns here and there. Some are extremely unpleasing. Not that any are a fun ride, but the one on Saturday takes the prize.

I took both kids to the store! My first big mistake. Everything was going great until we hit the cereal aisle. "Gabe,pick a cereal buddy" My second mistake...which proved to be catastrophic in nature. "Cereal sticks mom" says Gabe. "No not this time kiddo. Please pick something else" That was all I needed to say. From then on it was full screaming, crying, yelling "let me go", hitting, kicking, and maybe even some spitting.

I have been embarrassed in the store before, but this time I was devastated. I could feel people staring at me. I dare not make eye contact with anyone...because at any given moment I was going to lose it and start screaming and crying.

I quickly finished shopping and proceeded to the check out. Gabe continued screaming and kicking. Now however he was locked into the cart...I had to pull the cart for fear of being kicked by flying feet. The check out lady said "hows your day" I just looked at her with those "you have to be kidding me eyes...and said could be better"

Gabe managed to scream and cry for over and hour. He ran from me in the parking lot...and continued screaming and crying once we got home. Needless to say I cried pretty much the whole way home too. Daddy tried to help...but Gabe ran from him too! Finally I got Gabe to let me hold him...and I rocked him and rocked him...and his little body relaxed...as did I...until the baby started crying...oh boy!

Gabe had another melt down on Sunday but not near as bad. I hope this is just the weather changing. Gabe is not a perfect child. He has some behavior issues...but usually I can redirect him. There was no redirecting this weekend...And the running from me in the parking lot is just...well...it's just scary.

I hope this week turns out to be better....