Videos

Here are a couple of videos taken this week.

This one is the tickling game that the kids love to play with Joe!

http://www.theledvinas.com/tickle.avi

And this is Nate playing with his early birthday present!

http://www.theledvinas.com/natetrain.avi

The Beginning of the End

It's been about a year since we put in the first framed wall, and I'm so happy to say that this is the beginning of the end! The kids' playroom is COMPLETE!! We've started slowly moving things down there and tonight we'll be moving all that's left. It's going to be great to have this room! And the kids love going "dastairs" as they say.

I'm also happy to say that we're very close to being finished with the office/scrapbooking room. All the countertops are in and all the trim around the doorways are in. This weekend, we'll be heading to home depot to make our last major purchase for this enormous project - the drop ceiling for our area. Besides the ceiling, we have some trim to finish once the ceiling is finished. We have 3 or 4 more pieces of insulation to put in and then we'll need to put the plastic sheeting up. Then we can call it finished and start unpacking!

Although I absolutely HATE blogger for doing comparison photos, I managed to get some up so you all can see how it's progressed.

This is a look down the hallway into the kids room. Obviously, this was the first part of the framing stage.

This is the same vantage point except the walls were finished.
And here's the view taken today!

Here's a photo of the room before the floor was installed. And here's the view from today! You can see Nathaniel's early birthday present - the train/duplo table (with a rolling storage bin underneath of it). He LOVES it! I'll be uploading video later today of him playing with the trains. The wooden stand in the corner is the tv stand. We already have an older tv just waiting to be set up.

This is a view of the closets from my scrapbooking area during the framing process. It's a bit difficult to "see" what's going on but you can see the flooring boxes in the left hand closet all stacked up.

And here's a view of the closets taken from inside the room after the walls were finished but before the floor was installed.

And here's the left hand closet (where the flooring was in the first picture) taken today! You can see I've started bringing down some of their toys!

I Hate Autism Today

I'll just preface today's entry by saying this:

Most days, the thought "Nathaniel has autism." doesn't even cross my mind. It is what it is. (Sorry Joey! I know you hate that phrase.) There are things that are more difficult because of it, but it's all we've ever known with Nathaniel. Occasionally, we have an incident like the one we had this afternoon that makes me all too aware that Nate has autism. And makes me hate autism for a split second. But then I think to myself, "would Nate be the sweet, lovable, green-eyed, long lashed boy if he didn't have autism?" and think that it's really not so bad.

Here's the incident from this afternoon.

You'd swear his heart was broken into a million pieces.

I went to pick him up at school this afternoon and was met by his teacher. She apologized profusely - Nate's coat/hat had been lost. She said he had it this morning when they went outside to play and they hung it in his cubby when he came in. But she said she didn't know if it fell out onto the floor and another student picked it up or if it made it's way to lost and found or what, but it was gone.

I told her it wasn't a big deal, as honestly, it really wasn't. The coat he had on was just a fleece parka type of jacket. It wasn't his nice spring jacket or his winter coat, thankfully. But either way, I'm not upset that it was lost...these things happen.

Unfortunately, Nate wasn't as forgiving. He didn't really seem to be crying when he came over with the teacher, but on the way to the car, he cried and sobbed like he was heartbroken. And he continued all the way home, choking out "coat" and "hat" in between sobs. I kept trying to explain to him that I didn't have his coat, that it had been lost but he just didn't understand.

Once I got all the kids in the house, the first thing Nathaniel did is run over to where we keep the coats. Normally, he hangs up his bag, puts his coat/hat away and then sits in his rocking chair. But today, he just dropped his bag on the floor and ran to get his winter coat. He INSISTED on putting it on and zipping it up. Then he put his winter hat on...followed by his mittens. Then donned the backpack.I figured it wouldn't hurt for him to wear it for a little while...but then 15 minutes later, he was still wearing it and wanted a glass of milk. I told him that he'd have to take his mittens off if he wanted milk. I didn't want him spilling ANOTHER glass of milk all over the floor (he did it 2 days ago).

Well, that set off the water works again...finally I just yanked his mittens off and gave him the milk. But then he went and got the mittens and put them back on himself. Well, since he was still wearing the backpack and he's a little back heavy when he has it on, he bumped into the ottoman and it set him off balance. When he tried to catch himself by putting his hands on the end table, his mitten covered hands did nothing to help him...they just slid across the table. And his face planted into the edge of the table. He bit his tongue and was bleeding and was back with the water works full force. I took the opportunity to go ahead and pull off everything he had on (coat, hat & backpack plus the dreaded mittens). I figured he was already upset, I may as well get it over with. I immediately pulled him up onto my lap and held him even as he tried to throw himself down off of my lap. I held tight and within a minute or so, he relaxed a bit and sat with me. He finally meandered over to the couch and watched Little Einsteins. He seems to be over it now but has a nice purple spot on the under side of his chin where he hit the end table.

It's instances like this that I absolutely HATE autism. I had no idea how to handle the situation. He has absolutely NO attachment to the coat...none whatsoever. He's only worn it a couple of times. But it was the routine that was broken that upset him so much. And I just don't know how to deal with that. I wonder if he thought we were punishing him for something? Or if we didn't care?

Another day in the life of a child on the spectrum.

Handy Dandy Notebook, Anyone?

During our parent/teacher conference with Nate's teacher and his SLP (speech and language pathologist) last Thursday, we were told an amusing story. Apparently one day last week, Nathaniel pulled a chair over to some shelves on the wall desperately attempting to get something down. The teachers finally figured out he wanted this little spiral bound book of picture words. The SLP said she tried to get him to look at the pictures but that wasn't his intention. She asked us if he had a notebook similar to this at home that he played with. We told her no and almost at the same time she said, "he started asking for a crayon right after we gave him the notebook". Joe said it first "Blues Clues!" We went on to explain that Nathaniel LOVES the kids show, Blues Clues. And on the show, the character Steve carries around a "handy, dandy notebook" that he writes his clues in. Nate's never said anything about the notebook before so we were kind of surprised.

So over the weekend while we were out and about, we picked up some "handy, dandy notebooks". I have never seen Nate so excited. He immediately asked for a crayon and would hold it out in front of him like Steve does on Blues Clues. And then he tried to put the notebook in his back pocket. For those of you who've seen Blues Clues, you'll know exactly what I'm referring to. He's barely let the notebook out of his sight. And he remembers the episodes of Blues Clues that he's seen often, so he'll either ask us to help him draw some of those familiar clues or he'll attempt to draw them himself. He does quite well, as you'll see below.

So today after the girls went down for a nap, I pulled his notebook down with the crayon color of his choice and pulled out the camera. He loves to stand in front of the glass door on the entertainment center, so he can see himself as he holds the notebook out for all to see. Enjoy the photos!

Here he is in front of the entertainment center door showing off his "handy, andy otebook" as he calls it!

His drawing of eye glasses from the treasure hunt episode!

Just looking handsome here!

Another handsome shot!
Here he is drawing glasses from one of the episodes! Contrary to this photo, he's right handed!
Nate thoroughly enjoying his notebook!

Holding his notebook out for all to see!

Intently drawing his clues!

The Writing on the Walls

After an incident at school last week, we found out at parent/teacher conferences that Nate likes notebooks (the little spiral bound, handheld pads of paper). So being the good parents that we are, we went to Michaels and bought each of the kids their very own notebook. Upon arriving home, all 3 chose a crayon to use for drawing in their notebooks. They did well for a day and a half. Yesterday, I was cleaning up in the kitchen when I heard an unfamiliar noise. At first, I blamed Joe. I thought he was being a pain and making noises on the door from the basement. But then it hit me...I knew what that sound was. Sure enough, I caught the culprit in the act. This picture was taken shortly after I asked her "what do you think you're doing?" in a stern mommy voice. Miss Madison played those big ol' puppy dog eyes and a sniffle or two as she clung to her blankie. I couldn't be too upset as they're washable crayons and I had my magic eraser to help me out. But I couldn't resist a photo or two.

A New Outfit!

The girls got a new outfit and one day last week, Lexi got a chance to try it out! I love the ladybug pants!

Some Camera Fun!

The girls and I were bored this afternoon so we brought out the camera for a bit. They're wearing new summery dresses (even though it's only 45 degrees here today) and loved twirling in them!

These first 2 photos are of Maddie and were taken completely from the hip. No looking through the viewfinder - just a point and shoot. I really like the first one. The second one would've been great had the focus point been on her eye instead of her cheek.

Maddie sitting pretty!

Maddie being silly.

The girls twirling - Maddie is closest to the camera.

Funny that the girls ALWAYS spin in opposite directions. Lexi spins clockwise, Maddie counter clockwise.

Lexi sitting pretty.

Lexi

Uh oh, Boo-boo's Aplenty!

Last week, we had our first real taste of spring. On Wednesday, we hit 74 degrees and boy was it nice! So in lieu of the gorgeous weather, the girls got to wear cute little summery outfits. On our way to the car to take Nate to school, Maddie fell on the driveway and scraped up her knees. After we got home, all was better when a Spongebob bandaid was applied. The top photo is Maddie saying "Pongebomb" as she points to the bandaid. In the afternoon on our way to pick up Nate from school, we had to make a quick stop at Blue Canoe and as Lexi was getting out of the Explorer, she tripped and fell. Her knees didn't fare nearly as well as Maddie's. Her right knee actually bled a bit. When I asked her if she wanted to get back in the car, she quickly sucked it up and in we went. After we picked Nate up, we hit the grocery store where Mommy let her choose the bandaids of her choice (Dora the Explorer), since Maddie had received the very last Spongebob bandaid. Once home, I cleaned the scrapes and put some medicine on it and promptly covered with not one, but two Dora bandaids. You can barely see them in the photo above but they're there. I'm glad to say all boo-boos are now healed!

Nate's Learning to Read!!

I thought I'd give another brief update on what Nathaniel's accomplished as of late. The biggest and most exciting news is that he's learning to read! I spoke with one of his therapists today and she said she's been working on the words for numbers (one through eight so far) and he's doing great! She said she's hopeful to get through ten by the end of this week. A few other things that he's been working on:

• Days of the week; he can now say all the days of the week in order!
• Months of the year; for the first time today, he did all the months in order without help!

Spring Fever is here!

We've had several days in a row now where the temps have been 45 degrees or above - and now we have Spring Fever! It's too bad that the high temp at the end of the week is 21. Oh well! We enjoyed some outside time today! The kids rode their bikes on the driveway and then the girls had some fun splashing in a puddle of water! Check out the pics!

Lexi's in purple, Maddie in pink.

Videos

I haven't done videos in quite a while so yesterday I took a few. As you can see, Nathaniel speech is getting much better. :)

Don't mind the low light conditions - I hadn't turned on all the lights yet. And sorry about all the camera jiggle - Nate likes to see the LCD on the back of the camera so he's always super close.

Here's one of Nate when he says his own name plus both girls' names.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8bkYI-GNs0

Here's one of the Riding Trio. Grandma Sandy & Grandpa Butch bought one for Nate for Christmas and we bought each of the girls one. Since it's been arctic temps outside, they insist on riding in the house. It's LOUD but fun! :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xugNNKmeBxI

Here's Nate singing (more like signing) The More We Get Together - a song he sings at school. Near the end of the video, he requests Itsy Bitsy Spider but isn't that interested!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ciac6m5eoo

This video starts off with Maddie doing some talking and then ends with Nate saying "Hi Grandma!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wEepOZq94I

And Miss Lexi being cute!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cV2WcR4qwAQ

Autism Now 1:150 up from 1:166

I can't say that I'm all that surprised at the staggering statistics. The diagnoses of ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorders) have been on the rise for quite some time. According to the CDC's report, they're not exactly sure if the actual number of cases are increasing of if it's better diagnostics and the awareness of these disorders.

Here are two great articles about the new statistics, the first directly from the CDC.

http://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/media/pressrel/2007/r070208.htm

http://www.health.msn.com/pregnancykids/kidshealth/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100155150&GT1=9033

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

We awoke to our first big snowstorm of the season this Valentine's Day! School cancelled, we're lounging around in our jammies watching Dora, Diego, Blue & Pablo! I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day! :)

Nate is Our 1 Out of 150 Children

Look at that face! It's beautiful. It's also the face of autism. For those of you that don't know, Nathaniel was diagnosed in October 2006 with PDD-NOS (Pervasive Developmental Disorder - Not Otherwise Specified), a mild form of autism. You can check out more information at this site. http://www.autism-pdd.net/ To most people, Nathaniel looks like a typical 3.5 year old kid, but it's often when they ask him a question and get no response or a jargoned response, do they realize something's just not right. When Nathaniel was 18 months old, he was evaluated because he still hadn't said his first word yet. That was when we first heard the utterance of autism. Upon having more extensive testing done, it was at first determined that he was NOT autistic. But a year passed and at a checkup with a specialist, it was quite undeniable that he fell on the spectrum somewhere. So beginning in November of 2006, Nathaniel began a very intensive therapy/schooling schedule (the best possible treatment for a child like Nate).

And that brings to me to my reason for posting today. Joe and I had a meeting with Nathaniel's school team yesterday to discuss how he's progressing and the possibility of extending his hours. I was the proudest mother on the planet yesterday when I listened to his improvements just since the start of his ABA therapy (Applied Behavior Analysis). To read more about ABA, visit this link. http://www.thoughtfulhouse.org/aba-therapy.htm Here is the list of areas where Nate has improved greatly:

• Using Peer Names
• 2+ Word Utterances
• 2 Attributes to Words (Blue Book, Red Ball, etc.)
• Spontaneous Requests For "Help"
• Spontaneous Greetings to Peers/Adults
• Singing Songs and Doing Appropriate FingerPlays
• Increased Eye Contact
• Decreased Echolalia (The uncontrollable and immediate repetition of words spoken by another person.)
• Answering "wh" and Yes/No Question
• Commenting on His Surroundings (It's cold.)
• Decreased Behavioral Problems (Biting/Hitting)
• Verbalizing Locations Within the School (Saying Gym, Cafeteria, etc. as he walks by.)

Some of the things that they've been working on during his ABA sessions are:

• Do This (Getting him to follow a one-step instruction.)
• Give Me (Having him identify an object and giving it to the teacher.)
• Touch Your... (Body Part Identification)
• What's This? (Where the teacher will point to body part and he has to vocalize the word.)
• Put On/In/Under (Where Nate has to identify if the object is on/in/under another object.)
• Naming and Identifying Seasons
• Naming and Identifying Weather
• Naming and Identifying Animals
• Naming and Identifying Shapes
• Spelling his Name
• Identifying Teachers By Name

He's been doing VERY well with all the above mentioned things. One of the points of ABA therapy is that once you've mastered one skill, you have to be sure to revisit it later to be sure that the original skill wasn't lost. So far, Nathaniel hasn't exhibited any signs of losing any of the information he's learned!

We also found out over the weekend that Nathaniel can spell his own name (vocalizing, not writing). We bought him some Valentine's for his classmates and so I decided we'd practice writing his name - Nate instead of Nathaniel since it's shorter. So we had his little Magnadoodle out and using hand-over-hand instruction, we wrote out an N...and then A...and then T...all the while, Nathaniel would say the letters as we wrote them. When it got to E, we wrote E but he said "H". Joe and I just looked at each other and so I erased the E and put H. I asked him what came next and he said "A". Sure enough, he knew how to spell Nathaniel. And then after the meeting yesterday, we learned that they've been working with him on spelling his name. They use a strip of laminated paper with velcro pieces on it. The letters are velcro as well and he will take the letters and spell out his name.

We are just so proud of him and all the things he's accomplished so far. At the conclusion of the meeting yesterday, we decided to increase his hours to almost 30 hours of school per week. For a child of only 3.5 years old, it may seem like an overabundance but it's really not. Nathaniel LOVES school and never seems to tire of it. And according to the "experts", this rigorous school/therapy will surely benefit him in the long run. Now if we could only get him as excited about potty training as he is about school.

I also want to point out that Nathaniel having autism is not a secret. No one should feel ashamed or that they should hide it from their friends when talking about Nathaniel. Just as he has brown hair or gorgeous green eyes or is right-handed, he's autistic. It's who he is.

I've decided that as we have updates regarding his progress, I'll just include them on here so everyone can keep up! :)

Nate watching his favorite movie, Cars! Madison
Madison
Nate
Lexi doing what she does best; pouting!
Madison

Lexi
Madison with her blankie!
Lexi watching Cars