I wish he would just leave her alone..............

This morning Hayden, Ruby, and I sat down at the table to work on some school work.  We worked on school work for about 15 minutes.  Ruby worked on her hand writing and Hayden worked on reading. We then did a puzzle.  This is when the "picking" started.  Hayden took one of Ruby's puzzle pieces with a big grin on his face.  He waited for her to look at him then he threw it on the floor.  Ruby then screamed and Hayden snickered.  I turned my head from the kids and snickered too :)  The kids went back to work on their puzzles.

When they finished their puzzles Hayden started looking at and reading his I-Spy cars book.  Ruby joined him in looking at the book.  It started out super sweet.  Ruby would point to the picture she wanted Hayden to find and Hayden would find it.  After a bit of this I suggested that they take turns finding the pictures.  They took turns for a little bit then Hayden decided to "mix" it up a bit.  He looked at Ruby with that mischievous little grin of his and I knew he was plotting something.  He would point to the picture Ruby was to find, give her a second, and then point to the picture, and say, "here Ruby."  Ruby then quickly said, "It's my turn."  Hayden actually shrugged his little shoulders at her with the little grin of his.  This went on for a few turns and Ruby got sick of it and went to play with her pony.

Hayden finished looking at the book and then went to Ruby's bedroom where Butterscotch pony and Ruby where playing.  He quickly climbed on Butterscotch's back and said, "Giddy Up Butterscotch."  Ruby's face was priceless.  She put her little hand on her hip and sighed.  She continued brushing Butterscotch and Hayden continued to ridding Butterscotch.  Ruby then decided that Butterscotch was hungry.

We have a board game that has little acorns in it.  Ruby like to feed the acorns to Butterscotch.  I stayed in Ruby's bedroom with Hayden while Ruby went to get the acorns.  Hayden made that little grin again.  I thought, "Hmmm.....I wonder what is going to happen next."  Ruby came back with the acorns and Hayden left.  Ruby started feeding the acorns to Butterscotch and Hayden came back with the rest of the board game.  Hayden said, "Ruby play squirrel." (the name of the game is sneaky squirrel).  Beautiful moment :)  Ruby said, "No."  Hayden then took the acorns.  Ruby screamed at Hayden.  Hayden ignored her.  She then said, "Those are mine."  He looked her right in the eyes and with his little pointer finger poked her in the arm.  

Ruby then choose to become super unhappy about the poking.  She ran screaming out of the room and Hayden continued down the hall with his pointer finger in the poking position.  Hayden caught her and continued to poke her.  Ruby screamed, "Leave me alone."  For that brief moment I thought man, I wish he would just leave her alone.

Wow, what a thought.  I stopped myself super quick in that thought.  I absolutely do NOT want Hayden to leave Ruby alone.  I then thought that this is pretty freaking normal!!! Siblings poke at one another.  What an amazing morning.  My sweet babies have played and poked at one another for 90 minutes straight.

Amazing......Amazing......Amazing.........2012 has been an amazing year for us :)

A Magical Trip to See Santa

It amazes me how much your perspective can change in an instant.  If you have been following my blog you know that Hayden has had a rough month and I have allowed myself to be an emotional mess during this period of time.  Well that all changed at about 12:40 pm today :)

I was ridding in the car on our way home with my husband and both children from visiting Santa.  What a treat it was that all four of us were able to go together.  While ridding in the car I was reflecting back about the events that had just taken place.  I have to admit that it took my breath away and brought tears to my eyes.

We had a rare break in therapy today and decided to take full advantage of it and go visit Santa at the mall.  I had no expectation of the trip and decided if Hayden didn't want to go in I would just wait in the truck with him and Daddy and Ruby could visit Santa.  Hayden has not went anywhere but Grammie's house for the last several weeks.  The reason we have not been taking him places is because he was showing signs that he was stressed.  While we are recovering Hayden from autism we want him to be as comfortable as possible and avoid stress as much as possible.

We got to the mall and Hayden was very excited.  He could hardly wait to get out of the truck to see Santa.  Hayden kept saying, "See Santa....I want a dump truck."  Ruby was not as eager but still wanted to see Santa.

We entered the building and Hayden began to verbally stim a bit.  He was repeated the sound "ahh..ahh.ahh" in high pitched tone about 3 times.  Then grabbed ahold of my hand and calmed down.

We turned the corner and we could see Santa.  The kids both had a huge smile on their faces.  We went through the little set up, wrote letters to Santa, and then we got to see the big guy.  The kids both stayed about a foot back but were very interested in Santa.  They carefully looked him over.

Santa then asked Hayden what he wanted for Christmas.  Hayden promptly said, "A dump truck."  Santa then asked if Hayden had been a good boy.  Hayden said, "Yes."

Then it was Ruby's turn and Santa asked her what she wanted.  Ruby said, "a helicopter with a remote."  She told Santa she was a nice girl.

I then told the kids that they could give Santa a hug.  Hayden actually stepped close to Santa and I thought he was going to hug him.  Hayden then put his hand on Santa's hand and said, "Merry Christmas."

I was blown away.  Hayden generally doesn't talk to strangers and in the past screamed at the sight of Santa.  It was pure amazement.  I began to cry tears of joy.  I am so proud of Hayden.  It is hard to believe that three years ago I was told that my son might never speak or interact with people.  Here was my little man having a conversation with Santa with a big smile on his face the entire time.

We were getting ready to leave and Hayden said, "Go to bookstore."  So that is just what we did.  We went to the book store and both kids picked out a book.  Hayden and Ruby both walked, didn't have a tantrum, didn't even scream.  When it was time to pay for the books we were getting Hayden had no problem waiting in line, giving his book to the clerk, and only getting one book.  He was calm and still had a smile on his face.

Brandon and I took the kids for lunch at Red Robin.  Hayden and Ruby were super excited for this.  Hayden had chicken on a stick and steamed broccoli.  Ruby ate her adult portion of whiskey river wraps and her adult serving of steam broccoli.  Hayden and Ruby both sat on their bottoms in the booth and ate their food.  It was AMAZING....I even got to eat my food.  While we were eating Hayden said, "Go downstairs."

The carousel at the mall is downstairs.  When we finished eating Ruby and Hayden walked holding hands all the way to the carousel.  We walked past candy stores, gum ball machines, cookies stores, toy stores, and the play area.  Hayden didn't even ask once for any of those things.  In the past he would have a tantrum at the sight of forbidden food.  I think he is getting the concept that those types of food hurt his tummy and make him not feel well.

We got to the carousel and both kids rode their own animal. When were done Hayden thanked the lady with out me telling him to.  We then went potty and were on our way home.

We had such an amazing morning together!!  Hayden didn't even want to wear his hat to help block some of the noise.   He didn't have one outburst or tantrum.  He was just a typical kid today.  I would even say an extra well behaved typical kid today :)

At 12:40 after my reflection.  I said to Brandon, "Why do I let myself get so worked up when Hayden is having a rough time?  He has come so far and me getting upset is helping no one."  Ahh.....the truth comes out.  I think about where we were 3 years ago when we started our journey to recover Hayden from autism and where we are today.  WOW...WOW...WOW!!!

Absolutely mind blowing :)  3 years ago Hayden didn't respond to us, we didn't think he knew what his name was, he tantrumed 90% of the day and night, he had NO language (actually no sounds except screaming), he wouldn't allow us to touch him, and no eye contact.

Here Hayden is today having a conversation with Santa :)