Overcoming my prejudices

Lately I have been reading the book "Let Me Hear Your Voice", by Catherine Maurice. I'd heard of it many times, but avoided because I associated it with the words "Lovaas" and "recovery", both of which I have mixed feelings about.

I was immediately drawn in by her writing, and by the fact that she's not any sort of zealot (so far, but I haven't finished it yet), just a very hard-working and loving mom. Even though she gives so much credit to her ABA therapists, I think equal credit goes to her, and all her "incidental teaching". She sang songs and played and talked with her kids for hours every day.

I was particularly moved by the section of the book in which she realizes that her youngest child is also autistic. The huge effort she put into convincing herself that it wasn't true reminded me of myself almost a year ago. I remember staring at each twin thinking, "He just smiled at me, he can't be autistic"..."He is climbing up into my lap, so he can't be autistic" and so on.

It is a little hard to read this book and not think "If I hired enough people, and spent every second getting my boys to interact, could they also progress so fast?" G. is pretty easy to engage, and even seeks me out, but B. spends quite a bit of time doing his own thing. It's hard work to get him interested in things, and it might help if I hired a fresh face to work with him. While I think he should have times to relax and be himself, I also feel like I could use some help from somebody with experience interacting with kids like him.

As far as the concept of "recovery" goes, neither my husband nor I consider ourselves completely "normal", so we've never expected to have kids who were so. To fit into our family, it really benefits one to be, at the least, eccentric. But I do find Maurice's book encouraging, because her kids started out from a point a lot like mine. I feel re-energized, not necessarily to go out and set up an ABA program, but to believe that the songs we're singing and the goofy games we play are on the right track.

Movie Note: Finally saw Little Miss Sunshine, and loved it. I never cry in movies, and I cried all through this one, although officially it's a comedy, so that's a little odd.

Back on our Feet

Thanks for the well wishes after the previous post.

B. went through the same lethargy as G. had. For him it was several days after the stomach symptoms. Because he's not as communicative to start with, it wasn't as dramatic a change. It is a real relief to have everybody up and being as demanding as ever (a pain in the neck, but still a relief).

Great new development: sometime in the last few weeks, B. has learned to raise his arms when he wants to be picked up, which I find completely irresistable. It's interesting how those social milestones still happen, but so delayed (he's 27 months old now).

G. is trying so hard to talk! Except for waffle, he hasn't added any words recently, but he will walk up to me, stomp his foot, yell out one syllable, and slap his thighs with his hands. I'm not sure if he has a word in his mind, or if it's a more general dissatisfaction he wants to express.

I went to my first Chuck E Cheese birthday party today. Ye gods! I'm not someone who thrives in an atmosphere of a lot of flashing lights and noise. I'd say J. dealt with it well (his first birthday party that didn't eventually dissolve into tired tears), but he did spend almost all of his tokens riding on a Telletubby ride that was intended for the really little kids. He looked so blissful that I didn't try too hard to get him interested in the flashier activities.

Last night we watched "Walk the Line", about Johnny Cash and June Carter. I'd give it three out of five stars. Reese Witherspoon didn't work for me in that role, although I've liked her in other things.

Birthday Preparations

This'll be quick, because I'm preparing for our first actual children's birthday party. Up until now it's been just the family, but now that J is turning three, I have found the wherewithal to invite other people and their children into our home/therapy center.

Note to Self: Next year, don't invite ten children thinking that half of them won't come. Not only are most (maybe all?) of them coming, some are bringing siblings. Luckily, the twins don't seem to mind crowds, as long as they can do their own thing. I'm very excited about seeing other adults who don't work for either Early Intervention or for me.

Most of these people don't know that the twins have autism, so I asked my husband if he wanted me to take down the picture schedule and other PECS-type choice boards we have around. I didn't know if he wanted to spend the party explaining things to people. But he's more laid back about such things and said to leave them up.

Movie Note: Impromptu was not as good as I'd remembered it. I've ordered Stranger than Fiction, which looked funny. Wish the previews wouldn't give away so much of the plot!

I have been trying to add pictures to this blog, and so far have not succeeded. Maybe because we have an Imac?

It's the Little Things that Get Me

When I bent down to kiss G. good night, he started fake snoring.

After carrying G. up to bed, I started down the stairs to get B., and met him crawling up to meet me, with a big smile on his face. This had never happened! He also had his bedtime animal, Sprinkles, with him. It's a little thing...he realized it was bedtime, and he was coming upstairs on his own initiative. But it's also a huge thing, in my book.

Quick review of Ocean's Twelve: the most unlikely plot I've seen since Ocean's Eleven, but I still enjoyed it. At no point in the movie did anyone in a dinosaur costume sing or dance, so right there you know it's got something going for it.

Next in the queue, Impromptu.

Un-nerving moment of the day: J (the supposedly NT big brother) has discovered dimmer switches, of which our house has many. As I tried to clean up this evening, he dragged a little chair around and adjusted the lighting in each room until I finally put a stop to it.