Talking talking talking..

Why hello! Life seems to be non-stop busy and there arent enough hours in the day to do everything.

Let's see..what is new..Well, we have been doing the usual activities plus more! I'm getting more time with Autumn by myself. I take Autumn to this place called Jumpin' n Jammin. It is in Mission Viejo. We go every Tuesday morning with my friend and her young son. Autumn LOVES IT! It has a rock wall, bounce house, toddler area, games, obstacle courses, etc. It is made for adults too so I am able to go in the obstacle courses with her and such. I have a bunch of pictures. I will have to update this post later with pictures. But, she is talking A LOT more! We have really been focusing on body parts and names of objects. She can say and point to her eyes, nose, mouth, head, feet, tummy and ears. She has a hard time with ears sometimes but almost there! She is saying two-three word phrases. Still says no to everything but is starting to incorporate yes into her vocabulary haha..She is OFF the paci! WOO HOO. That was hard..and still is! Since she cant have that to soothe her she has become a little butt head! Such an attitude she has...haha. Probably the terrible two's kicking in too!

Devyn has also been talking A LOT!!!! It doesnt surprise but but does in a way. For the longest time I just hoped for the day to have a conversation with him. That is what I really want to hear. Not all the way there but close. He answers questions with more than yes and no now and I think he is really starting to get the difference between the two. His sentences are getting longer and longer now. He is getting really used to our routines and knows what is coming next. He is still having struggles with food and the variety of food he eats but he is getting a little better with it. I've been trying to think of new things to put in his lunch. Because they have been working on cheese and pepperonis/salami in therapy I got some thinly sliced cheese and cut up some salami put it in a tortilla and rolled it up. He ate practically all of it in therapy! So, I put one in his lunch today. I really hope he tried it. OH MY GOD. HE ALSO ATE GRAPES YESTERDAY. HE ATE FREAKING GRAPES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have only seen him eat a grape once and that was when he was like a year. He ate them in therapy which might be hard to break. But, he grabbed them and ate them all by himself. So proud of my little dude!!

Yesterday, his stuffed little stuffed horse came in the mail! When he was younger he had a bunch of stuffed animals. Dinosaur and horse stuffed animals. When we move we had lost a few and ever since then I havent been able to find them in store or online anywhere. I FOUND THEM THE OTHER DAY! I ordered one and it arrived. He was so excited. He was talking so much! He was saying how he has 1 new friend and now he has 3 horsie friends. He was doing pretend play and saying one was a big horse and one was a baby horsie and he was pretending one was the mommy and one was the baby and he made the mommy say I love you baby and gave the baby horsie kisses. SO FREAKING CUTE! I wish I would have gotten that on video. He also pretending to put them to sleep. I did get that on video. I will have to upload it soon. Him and Autumn were chasing each other with the animals and pretending to be dinosaurs. It is a great feeling seeing them play together! Makes me happy. Just so proud of his progress and Autumn's progress. School is REALLY helping him. He should have his IEP later this month and I have no doubt that he has met most of his goals. I'm sure he is still struggling with his sensory issues and goals but he will overcome those in time. I talked with D's OT at UCP and she things I should mention something at his IEP and incorporating some motivating using certain objects when he sits down for lunch. Hopefully they will understand and help with this. I also really need to get on the ball with potty training. This is going to be hard. They kind of practice and school and he sits on it occasionally at home. I need to make some kind of reward chart and get some little undies! I think I will but some this weekend and try to contact his teach again regarding this. That is another thing I need to mention in the IEP meeting. COMMUNICATION SUCKS AT HIS SCHOOL! I get that they are busy..but when they dont get back to me in 2 weeks when I left a voice mail that is just unacceptable to me. Hopefully they will get better at this.

Another thing that happened! We have been going to Pretend City for over a year night. We go to the free family autism night every month. He has NEVER gone into the pretend grocery store. When we first started going he had limited pretend play skills and was only concentrated on just a few areas of the museum. He is branching out and actually went into the grocery store! This was a few weeks ago. This made me SO HAPPY! He was pretending to go shopping, eating, weighing items. He loved it. I also got pictures and videos of this too. I was so proud of my little guy. I'm hoping this is the start of him getting over his fear of going to new places and doing new things. Baby steps.

So let's see. No more neuro for us. No more endo. We just have speech, OT and regular pedi and a few other appts. Speech 3 days a week for both kids and OT 2 days a week for D. Not to mention I take autumn to her play date once a week and occasionally story time. I plan on getting them Pretend City passes for their birthdays! They LOVE that place. So now on the weekends and make during the week we will start going more.

I cant believe I will have a 4 year old and 2 year old in a month!!!! Makes me feel so old! Just kidding..kind of! Haha. I need to get working on invites. I'm pretty sure I have the one I want picked out. Just have to get it from this website and then print them myself. They are having a pirate and princess them! So cute! Hopefully the party comes together and goes smoothly. I'm going to be inviting more people to this one. Last year I tried to not invite a whole lot of people because I wasnt sure how D would react but he did great! Hopefully he will get excited about all his little friends being there! We are going to have it at a park by their therapy center and I'm going to get these little stomp rocket things. They have them at his play group and they are really fun for the kids. I was thinking about a cupcake station too..so the kids can decorate their own cupcakes! Fun stuff. I cant wait for them to have THEIR day. I am probably thinking too into this. But, unlike a lot of other kids..they dont really have much family, no grandparents to brag about them, etc. That makes me sad..and of course all they need is us and we always do family stuff. But, I really want them to have their own little day and feel special. Not sure that they will understand that the party is for them. But, I'm sure they will have a blast! :)