A Beginning to the End???

The last month has been a whirlwind of events for my sweet Hayden.  His language has exploded and he seems to be in our world a large majority of the day.  Hayden plays with Ruby pretty much all day long.  One of their favorite things to do together is Ruby rides her tricycle and Hayden chases her on his scooter.

Speaking of scooters and tricycles this is a new skill for the kids.  I am super excited about it.  Despite Hayden's off the charts gross motor skills riding a bike or kicking around on a scooter have been a challenge for him.  He could pedal but not steer.  Hayden now has the motor planning to coordinate both skills :)  He even rings the bell and wears his helmet while scootering around.

Hayden continues to have the most amazing "spark" in his eyes.  We use to see glimpses of that spark every once in awhile and now all we see is the spark.  He no longer has a flat effect.  Hayden is pretty much all smiles these days.  It is easier to get a good picture of Hayden then to get a good picture of Ruby.  Hayden has amazing energy in his eyes.  It's a spark that I have not seen in him since we "lost" him at 18 months of age.  There are several points in the day when I just stop and watch his eyes in amazement.

He still has occasional tantrums.  Hayden's tantrums have become typical.  He tantrums because he can not get what he wants or because he is over tiered.  Hayden no longer tantrums because he is overstimulated or is unable to communicate his wants with us.  Hayden does test us from time to time to see if tantruming will get him what he wants.  It is actually super cute and I really should try to get it on film.  He has this grin on his face and lets out a puny outburst and looks right at you to see what the reaction will be.  It is hard for me not to laugh at his "fake" tantrum.

Hayden has also exhibited a strong want to be around other people.  We have recently had 3 members or our team stop coming to work with Hayden for various reasons (which we love and miss all of you but are super happy that you are doing what makes you happy).  Hayden asks for them by name using the "w" questions (where, why, when) which is pretty big stuff.  Hayden rarely used "w" questions in the past.  He now asks appropriate "w" questions through out the day. WooT.....WooT!!!

Hayden and Ruby recently had their cousin Corra spend the night.  The kids were so excited to go to Corra's house, play with their other cousins, and bring Corra home with us.  On the drive over the cousins house Hayden told me that he was going to play in Gaige's room.  While we were there Hayden played with the kids non-stop.  He laughed with them, he talked to them, he looked at them in the eyes!, and he didn't have one outburst!!  Pretty freaking amazing :)  When we got home Hayden wanted to sleep with the girls instead of Mommy.  I cried like a freaking baby.  I have been dreaming and praying for Hayden to want to play and be with other people for the past three years now.  He slept with the girls until 1am when Ruby woke up screaming because there were monsters in her bedroom. 

So is this the beginning to the end of Hayden's autism????  I am not 100% positive but I sure freaking believe so.  Hayden has more and more typical behavior and less and less autistic behavior.  Recently he is demonstrating more typical behavior when he is not in his therapy room and more autistic behavior in his therapy room.  I am not sure what to make of this?

The thought of the "beginning to the end" has really got me thinking about what I am going to do when Hayden is 100% recovered.  I don't see myself shutting the door, walking away, and washing my hands of autism. I feel that I have learned far too much not to share it with the rest of the world.   I want to help people live healthier lives.  I want to help people recover their children from autism.  I want to work with autistic people.  So what am I going to do????  Well I am going back to school when the kids are both in school.  What am I going to go to school for???  Good question!  I am not 100% sure yet but I am leaning towards my phd in functional medicine.  I want to write a book.  I want to have my own practice where I can educate people on nutrition and healing their bodies.  I have always felt that I was not done having children.  I am starting to see this differently.

What if I don't physically have more children but I give autistic children their lives back?  I know whatever I do I am going to do it 100% with lots of love and passion :)

Not born with autism and won't have autism one day soon :)