Noah update

I really can't even begin to tell you guys how amazing Noah has been doing lately. And this has a little to do with my blog quietness. He's just so BUSY. He wants attention 95% of the day, and honestly, after trying so long to get him interested in being social? I don't mind one bit. He doesn't just want me around. He wants to play games with me, jump on the trampoline, give me kisses, have me tickle him, sing songs... it's just so amazing.

 

(he thinks it's hilarious when we take turns spitting water out at each other)

His vocabulary is taking off like crazy. He can now tell me what he wants regularly. Earlier tonight, he looked at me and asked for, "Cheese"... enunciated perfectly. He's making correct associations. Pictures aren't always necessary. I can say, "Okay, we have to go bye-bye", and he will respond with, "Shoes on!" While shopping at Target, he will clearly ask for "cookies", "cwackers", "apple", "Na-na", or my personal favorite "gweeps" (grapes).
He's now pretending to go potty. He'll sit on the potty, with his clothes on, and say "Potty". Needless to say, I think it's time. We're heading to Lowes soon to get one of those fancy dual toilet topper things, because he's too big for both of the potties we've bought already.

If he wants me to jump with him, he signs jump. He can say slide, swing, and outside. He can tell me if he wants to watch "George", "Tos" (Thomas), or "Tiguh" (Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood).
He does a TON of scripting, which is where he recites favorite clips from shows he watches. Sometimes it takes me a little while to figure out what he's reciting, which is kind of fun. :)

One of his favorite phrases is "Oh no, makin' a mess!" Wonder where he got that from?? (<-- sarcasm font).

Seriously, I'm not even sure I can remember everything he says. Words are just flying out of his mouth now. And so much credit goes to his speech therapist we've had since June. She's tough on him, but so awesome. I tell her all of the time that I know she doesn't always get to hear how much he says when we're with her (because she's making him talk vs him offering it up on his own), but that all of her hard work is showing up at home.

Speaking of his therapists....

He made them cry Tuesday.
Like tears streaming down their faces crying. I had told them a few times how he could sing and sign "Jesus Loves Me", and they finally got to see it. His OT felt it the most I think though, because she's been with him for over a year now.
She saw him when he barely acknowledged our existence. She was with him when he didn't even respond to his name. She knew him when his vocabulary was less than 10 words. So as he sat in front of me, concentrating very hard on following the signs and attempting to enunciate every word, she just couldn't hold it back.

He's come so very far in such a short amount of time.

And then she proclaimed for the second time in two weeks that she's convinced I will be a speech therapist or OT one day. haha. I just told her that the only reason anything I try ends up working is because he's mine. I know how he thinks, what makes him laugh, how to motivate him, when to push him, when to hold back. And really, he's such an amazing kid. I always worry people think I want a ton of praise when I brag on Noah. Because really, it's all him. His personality is just so sweet and silly and bubbly. I would love to live in his world for a day. It seems like a very happy place. :)

In the pictures above, you can see his OT on the horse swing with him. That woman, you guys. She has been a Godsend. She has worked for the past year on building his muscle tone, increasing awareness of his own body, and other sensory issues he's had. And because of her?

This is happening...

I know it probably doesn't look like a big deal, but I've been waiting for the big kid swing transition for a long time. He just didn't have enough core strength to hold himself steady. Now I can walk away, and he stays put, totally happy to hang on.

He had his (very late) well check on Monday. He's 48.8 lbs and 3'7" tall. So 97th percentile in weight, and 94th in height. Told y'all he's a big kid.

We saw a new pediatrician, and he is absolutely amazing. Amazing doesn't begin to describe it honestly. He was able to get a "high five" from Noah when he walked in. He's patient and calm, and I know Noah senses that. I don't feel rushed when I ask him questions. When I explained how the last ped labeled Noah as obese, his eyes got wide and he responded calmly, "That seems a bit presumptuous to label him at age 3". He went on and on about how, yes, Noah is a bigger kid. But that he's clearly healthy. We'll obviously need to watch what his weight does as time goes on, but as of right now, he's fine. He explained how kids on the spectrum are almost never in the middle... they're usually on the skinny side or heavy side. That for reasons doctors aren't fully aware of yet, their metabolisms are different and could be because of any number of things (including being low tone). When talking nutrition, he recommended going to Earth fare. Earth fare!! And to see if I can get him to eat tofu since he doesn't like meat.

And then as we were talking, he said words that were music to my ears. He said the words, "He seems pretty high functioning to me."
Noah's diagnosis says he's severe. I'm pretty sure it was so he could qualify for more services through the state, however hearing a medical professional confirm what you already hope in your heart is true? Cue happy dance.

Socially, he's doing so so well. He loves attention. We've gone to a couple of bigger parties lately, where other kids were there, and he was right in the middle of the action the whole time. At one point, his friend Jackson was wanting to ride in this little push car thing. Noah wanted to ride it too, but I told him he had to wait, that it was Jackson's turn. So he proceeded to push Jackson all around the yard instead. I couldn't believe it. No tantrum. Nothing. Just "okay, then I'll just push him"...

I'll stop here, because I know I'm just gushing at this point.
I guess we're just in a really good place right now, and it has me all kinds of excited at the moment. Had you asked me last year if this is where I thought we'd be? I would've been doubtful. I honestly had no idea what to expect. So yeah, I can barely contain myself when I get going on everything Noah has been doing lately.

I just love this kid so much I could squish him.

where we've been

Unintentional blogging breaks are both good and bad. Good, because it means I'm out doing (hopefully) fun things... spending time with my family and friends, booking more work, therapy, trips to the beach, and just getting outside.

Worst slide ever...

Love  family (and boyfriends) that are totally cool to play with Noah the way he loves to play. :)

 Blog breaks are also kind of bad though, because I miss what's going on with my bloggy buds.

......

Noah's therapies at the school have begun again. I'm still not thrilled with his OT. She's a nice girl, but she's kind of clueless.
Like last week? She had this sudden epiphany that "he seems to really like pressure on his back".

<insert me trying to control my "are you kidding me" expression>

Um... yeah. We had that figured out about a year ago. And she got her start in physical therapy. She should know this stuff. But whatever. She's free.
He has a new school speech therapist this year, and she seems really nice. According to his private SLP (who is AMAZING), she's fresh from the farm (aka. school), which explains why she seemed really excited to get to work with Noah. She's not even certified yet. She sweet thing isn't jaded yet from our crappy school system. haha.

To get an idea of how bad our schools are... Angie, our private SLP, is the best speech therapist we've ever encountered (*ahem* IRL, bc we love our online SLP bud Gina). She's amazing and in the two months she's had Noah, he's saying more than he ever has. Not when she's present of course, because they have a major love/hate relationship. But at home? The boy is talking so so much (mostly scripting, meaning he's repeating clips to shows). She remembers kids from previous years at school, to the point where if one happens to walk into the therapy clinic, she runs to give them a hug.
She's the reason Noah's sleep has improved. Like insanely better. Like he's asleep before midnight and up before 9am. <insert angels singing hallelujah chorus>

Because she's awesome, you would think the schools would be so thankful to have her. But not our schools. She's already warned me not to mention her name to them. That it may have the opposite result of what I would want. lol. The reason? She advocates for the kids. She fights to get them GOOD services, more therapy time, and more therapists. I love her, and the fact that even she has to fight for these kids only solidifies my decision for Noah's school (again, more on that later).

...

Noah now knows his ABC's. He's obsessed with letters now, so I got him some of those awful refrigerator magnets that will probably be crammed underneath the fridge before too long. But since putting them up, he's made me sing the alphabet song 5348503945 times. If I stop mid-song, he'll say whatever letter I've landed on, which is how I test what he's retaining. It's pretty awesome. And his "Du-ooo" ("W") is adorable. I stop on that one almost every time, just to hear him say it. haha

...

Now to go catch up on my blogs!
Happy Monday!

A mini Noah update

Every day, Noah turns more and more into a typical toddler. Now that he's on a routine and better sleep schedule, he's no longer constantly sleep deprived. Which means he wakes up and wants to do stuff. Like be pulled in a wagon in 90+ degree heat.

Or play in the car...

Or eat paper...



Or explore in the garage...

 

Or bake cookies...

 

 

And then throw the cookies...

 

 

 

Seriously, by the end of the day, I'm exhausted. It's a good kind of exhausted though.

He's also making his preferences known more. Last night, he absolutely did not want to wear his Thomas pj pants. However, he was cool with wearing comfy shorts. I guess the pants were making him too hot at night?

And oh the tantrums.
For the first time in his entire almost-4-years of existence, he shoved someone when he got mad. He was cranky (he actually was sleep deprived yesterday), and his speech therapist was making him work for his goldfish crackers. He knew they were in her lap, so he reached for them instead of doing what she asked first. Of course, she didn't give him one, and he pushed her a little. My sweet, tender-hearted little boy who makes people laugh because his tantrums are so mild... shoved someone. Speech therapists will do that to ya though. haha. I swear she makes that little brain of his do more work than he ever has before. It's uncomfortable for him.

But oh my goodness, she has done more for him in the last month than the public school therapist was able to do for him the entire year. It makes me want to cry and hug her neck. And also be angry at our local school system for being so crappy... to the teachers, therapists, and kids. Seriously, our area's schools are awful. But I won't get into that here. We'll just leave it at, "My kid will not be attending them." ;)

We've been working on waiting recently. Noah, being autistic and an only child, absolutely loathes the word "wait". He's getting much better though. He'll get annoyed at first, then look intently in our eyes and repeat, "wait!"

Or if we tell him to clean up, he'll respond with "wait!" haha.

I can't believe he's turning 4 next week. It's just too soon. It's gone too fast. We've got a lot of celebrating to do this weekend, starting tonight with "uncle" Chase coming back into town. And hopefully some 4 yr birthday pictures squeezed in there too.

Have a great weekend!

the ER trip

I wrote just a blip a couple weeks ago about Brad and his hospital stay. Like you probably missed it, the blip was so small.

So, here's a quick recap of what actually went down.

My husband already has a congenital heart defect. He had open heart surgery as a baby, and in college, he had some serious health stuff going on (including TIA's... aka, mini strokes). Since then, he's done really well. However, he's hyper aware of anything that feels different. A few weeks ago, he mentioned that his heartbeat felt "off". We decided to just monitor it and if it didn't change or got worse, then he'd go get checked out. He was already up for his yearly cardiologist appointment anyway.
A couple days later, he called me early in the morning and said he was going to the ER. He felt lightheaded, and his heartbeat was definitely doing something weird. Unfortunately, he got stuck in traffic, so he took the safe route and called for an ambulance to meet him.

Thankfully, we have the best neighbors. She and her daughter came over at the last minute to stay with Noah while I ran off to the ER downtown. I know I was a total mess... trying to remember everything they'd need to know for Noah, while wondering what was going on with my husband. I've made a mental note to write out instructions for Noah to hang on the fridge.

At the hospital, they did all their routine tests for him and decided to keep him for the night, just to be safe. Noah and I came back with his parents later on. Noah promptly kicked Brad out of his bed so he could play on it. Such a stinker. Noah could see Brad in the mirror, and spontaneously announced, "You see Daddy". Clear as day. Silver lining, people. Always a silver lining.

Brad told me yesterday that when we had all left, he sat in his bed and thought about us. What would happen to Noah and I if something really was wrong with him? And he resolved to live better. Take better care of himself. Ever since, he's changed his diet, works out every day, and has even ordered us a fancy home gym. Seriously, it's like having my high school Brad back. We keep running out of cups, because of his protein shakes. ha.

I'm so incredibly proud of him.
And I can honestly say it makes such a huge difference when you have a partner to go through this whole getting healthy thing with. It's so much easier to say no to Chick-fil-a when your husband says, "Nope, we don't need it." A month ago? He would've gone to Chick-fil-a "as a surprise" and brought me back something fried and fattening. And then I would've HAD to eat it, otherwise I'd feel like an ungrateful wife, which in turn would make me feel like I gained 10 lbs in 10 minutes. So yeah, it definitely helps when everyone in the house is eating better.

As for his heart, the doctors didn't seem to be too worried. Brad thinks it was most likely due to extra stress going on at work. He still has his regular appointment in a month, so they'll be checking him again. But since he's changed his diet and started exercising, he claims it hasn't happened again. So yay for that!