Pieces of Us: Three Months Into the Son-Rise Program!!

I can't believe that we are already three months into Hayden's Son-Rise Program!! Hayden is averaging about 40 hours a week of therapy. I would like to work up to 60+ hours a week. We really need help in on the weekends all day, afternoons or evenings during the week if anyone would like to help out. You could watch Ruby so Brandon or I could work with Hayden. If you can commit to at least four hours a week we would love to train you to work with Hayden.

The last 10 days have been kind of rough because of Hayden going through yeast die off. Through all his hyperness and stimming we are still seeing some great results!! The biggest would be Hayden's overall happiness. My little man smiles and laughs all the time now. I love seeing all of his facial expressions after only seeing blank ones for so long.

Hayden's speech is also blossoming. He is talking in two word phrases consistently. We are pushing him hard to get three word phrases and I would say he uses them 80% of the time. He tells me if he is happy, sad, and mad. He tells me he loves me. The best though is that he calls me Mom all the time!!!! I love hearing "Mommy," truly music to my ears :) He is also calling everyone else by name.

Hayden's eye contact has also greatly improved. We are continuing to work on improving his eye contact. I can actually request eye contact from him and he gives it to me. I love when our eyes connect. Every time he looks me in the eyes it is a huge celebration!!!

Hayden has also started drawing pictures of things besides shapes!!! This is HUGE :) He is drawing faces and animals.

I think the biggest change is that Hayden is so much more connected to us. He is frequently in the same room with us (he use to always be off doing his own thing, in his own world). He loves to snuggle, hug, and kiss. He enjoys playing with his sister in a typical 4 year old way. When one of us is away he asks for us. This is my favorite part of the Son-Rise Program!! When I am in the therapy room with Hayden I get to just enjoy him. I don't worry about anything else. I just get down on the floor and spend time with him. I have always felt a strong connection to Hayden. I knew in my heart that he was connected to me even though he couldn't express it. Now I see it and feel the connection every single day :)

As Hayden grows and develops it blows my mind how much he reminds me of his Dad. I use to always think that Hayden favored me. We recently watched our wedding video which has pictures of us growing up in it. Hayden looks just like his Daddy. He may have my big, dark brown eyes but the rest is all Daddy. Hayden also has Daddy's mannerisms as well. I LOVE it!! Brandon is a great man and I completely okay with Hayden taking after his dad with a little tweaking ;)

Hayden and Kit drawing faces :)