My family and I had the pleasure of enjoying a little mini vacation the past 36 hours. We had a great time. We started our trip with a visit to the dentist for the kids to get their teeth cleaned. We then went to the Indianapolis Zoo, spent the night at a hotel, and ended our trip with a visit to the Children's Museum. It was a nice little break from our daily routines.
On our trip I seen a fair amount of autistic children and young adults. It really makes my heart hurt to see individuals in prisoned by the clutches of autism which is really a neurological condition that effects the entire body. It prevents individuals from expressing them self in a typical fashion. Their bodies are so sick and riddled with illness and crapy immune systems. It's not just "autism" and it makes me sick when people think autism is no big deal. I honestly understand that you really can not comprehend what life with autism is like until you have been there. I do not know 100% what Hayden went through. He has told me things while watching old videos of him that the reason he was acting a certain way was because his tummy hurt. That the air conditioner was too loud and it made his head hurt. Or that the room would not stop spinning when he was perfectly still. I know Hayden didn't feel well. I know that he was hypersensitive to stimulus. I also trusted that the reason he did things had a purpose and was soothing to him.
What I often do not talk about is what it is like to have an autistic child. I really feel like I have PTSD from the whole ordeal. It was hard, really, really, really hard. I feared for my child's safety every second of the day. When Hayden was at his worst I could not take an eye off of him as he would wonder off, jump in a large body of water (he couldn't swim), throw knifes, poop and pee everywhere and anywhere..........my water glass, the sink, the floor, the middle of the road, the front yard, in the car. He would run in the middle of the road with out noticing if a car was coming or not. Hayden tantrum pretty much non-stop. He was always naked. He Often humped a pillow. Hayden was super destructive and ruined our drywall, carpet, lamps, bathrooms (yes, we had to gut our master bathroom as he flooded it with every bath and black mold started to grow). He flushed things in the toilet that caused us to have to remove the toilet to retrieve the items. Hayden swam in the toilet on a daily basis. He put anything and everything in his mouth. I did everything I could do to protect him. I got bladder infections from having to hold my pee out of fear of leaving him alone to go to the bathroom. I did not sleep as he did not sleep. I rarely ate and if I did it was at work or something I could shove in my mouth quickly. I didn't leave Hayden with anyone besides his Dad and even then I was a nervous mess. I have relaxed a bit, but it is still very hard for me to let go of my little man.
Ok, back to my real reason of this blog post. While Ruby and I were waiting to ride the carousel a boy maybe 10 years old and his Mom were waiting behind us. The little boy was clearly autistic. I smiled at his Mom as Ruby started to chat with her (Ruby initiates conversations with everyone). The little boy chimed in and asked if I had watched the Harry Potter movies. I told him that we had not and that we listen to them on audio book. He started telling me all about the movies and his favorite part. All the while his Mom had her arms around him trying to keep him in place and keep his movements under control. I really connected with this little boy and enjoyed hearing about the Harry Potter movies. He also told me that he was going to ride on the red bench on the carousel. It was time to get on the ride. I smiled at him and thanked him for sharing his love of Harry Potter with me. On the carousel I sat next to Ruby on the blue bench (as that is what she wanted to ride) shedding tears. The reason I shed tears is because I know what it feels like to try and protect your kid from others hurtful looks and rude comments. I shed tears because I know a little about what that Mom goes through on a daily basis. Even though I have had a child with autism doesn't mean I know what every other parent of a child with autism goes through as every circumstance is so different. I shed tears out of fear that Hayden would regress and that I would not be able to help him back out of it. I closed my eyes for a minute while on the ride and sent that little boy and his Mom so much love and well thoughts. I also thanked God for Hayden and helping us give him his life back.
Often times I want to say to parents of autistic children that are stimming in public that it is okay. That their child is doing what they are doing to take care of themselves. That it is the public that needs to change and love people for who they are and accept that we are all different. We are all different...........not less!!
To the Mom on the carousel I very much wanted to give you a hug and tell you what an amazing Mom you are and what a wonderful son you have. I didn't out of my own fear of rejection or hurting your feelings.
To all my friends facing autism know that I think of you often through out the day. Know that I know how amazing your children are. Know that you can make a difference. Know that you are your child's best resource. That's right YOU are your child's best resource. Know that you are not alone!!
If you do not personally have a loved one living in your home with autism what you can do is help someone that does. Go over and vacuum their carpets, mow their yard, make a meal, wash their car, etc. All those things would make such a big difference.
xoxo,
Brandi
Thursday, June 4, 2015
Thursday, April 16, 2015
Update on the AMD IonCleanse Foot Baths :) :)
Brandon and I have both come to the conclusion that we are seeing some positive changes in Hayden since we started the AMD IonCleanse Foot Baths. What we are seeing is maturing. Hayden is almost eight and on most days he is more like a 5 year. Which is absolutely perfect for him and us. We are very happy about all the challenges that Hayden has overcome. We are not striving for *perfection / normalcy*. We are striving for happiness and health for our little man. After all I am a far cry from *normal*. So here is what we are seeing.......................
1) Hayden has started to back his booty up to us and fart. He thinks this is hysterical. I think it is hysterical that he thinks it is hysterical. I do, do my best to keep it together and educate him that farting on people is not okay. Brandon and I both feel that this is something that typical 8 year old boys find humor in.
2) He is playing what Ruby wants to play. She has taken a love for the TY beanie babies with big eyes and pretends they are her pets. Hayden pretends play pets with her. Sometimes he goes with her plots and others he adds his boy flare to the pretend play. For example pets pooping and farting, driving in a car, pets playing video games, etc. Ruby gets frustrated with Hayden about him not following her way of play and it's pretty comical to watch them argue back and forth about the pets. They really act like an old married couple at times.
3) Hayden is commenting and sharing at a whole new level. Last night Ruby wet the bed. She woke up this morning and couldn't find her burpie (her burp cloth, aka love). Hayden went to help her and picked up her wet panties on accident. He said, "Ewwww.........Ruby you peed your pants and your panties are wet." I had a good chuckle over this.
4) Hayden is buckling his own seatbelt! Woot.....Woot!!!
5) Hayden is open to and working on higher level scholastic work with out major support.
6) Hayden is really aware of road safety on walks and bike rides. He is now telling me when cars are coming and to step into the grass.
7) Hayden is making his own breakfast and cleaning up on his own.
8) Hayden is picking out his clothes and getting dressed on his own with out any kind of prompting. He even puts his dirty clothes in his dirty clothes basket.
1) Hayden has started to back his booty up to us and fart. He thinks this is hysterical. I think it is hysterical that he thinks it is hysterical. I do, do my best to keep it together and educate him that farting on people is not okay. Brandon and I both feel that this is something that typical 8 year old boys find humor in.
2) He is playing what Ruby wants to play. She has taken a love for the TY beanie babies with big eyes and pretends they are her pets. Hayden pretends play pets with her. Sometimes he goes with her plots and others he adds his boy flare to the pretend play. For example pets pooping and farting, driving in a car, pets playing video games, etc. Ruby gets frustrated with Hayden about him not following her way of play and it's pretty comical to watch them argue back and forth about the pets. They really act like an old married couple at times.
3) Hayden is commenting and sharing at a whole new level. Last night Ruby wet the bed. She woke up this morning and couldn't find her burpie (her burp cloth, aka love). Hayden went to help her and picked up her wet panties on accident. He said, "Ewwww.........Ruby you peed your pants and your panties are wet." I had a good chuckle over this.
4) Hayden is buckling his own seatbelt! Woot.....Woot!!!
5) Hayden is open to and working on higher level scholastic work with out major support.
6) Hayden is really aware of road safety on walks and bike rides. He is now telling me when cars are coming and to step into the grass.
7) Hayden is making his own breakfast and cleaning up on his own.
8) Hayden is picking out his clothes and getting dressed on his own with out any kind of prompting. He even puts his dirty clothes in his dirty clothes basket.
Saturday, March 14, 2015
A Love for Learning
We have been experiencing some very exciting growth and development in our home lately. It seems that Hayden and Ruby are both learning at lightning speeds this winter. It has really blown my mind how quickly things has just "clicked" for them.
When we initially started Hayden in Montessori school at the age of three. I learned something that has really stuck with me. The Montessori way is creating life long learners. Live long learning is one thing that I really want for my children. I want them to have a thirst for knowledge and understand why they are doing what they are doing. As a parent I want me kids to want to learn.
Hayden taught me very quickly that academics was on the back burner for him. What we wanted for him was to develop social skills first. This is a concept that while at a Son-Rise training I came to total peace with. I came to the conclusion that what good would academics do for my son if he is unable to communicate. I wanted him to have a love for people and feel comfortable in his own body. We incorporated scholastics in Hayden's Son-Rise program, but they were never the focus. We would count jumps while jumping, verbalize letters as writing words, count cars that went down the slide, and talk about colors. We kept the scholastics light and natural. We never forced Hayden and respected him when he asked us to stop counting.
I am grateful that I stuck with following Hayden's lead with scholastics. He is open to learning to write, read, and do math now. In fact he now seeks out those activities on his own. I have worked hard at incorporating different activities to motivate Hayden to practice his reading, writing, and math.
Less than a year ago Hayden refused to hold a pencil. He had absolutely no interest in writing. I didn't force him. I thought of ways to prepare him to be a successful writer. We worked on eye hand coordination, fine motor skills, and I modeled how much I love writing and how helpful writing is. Hayden now has confidence in his hand writing and is writing words of motivation like a pro. He loves to write names of family members, words related to angry birds, and words related to mario. He can write all letters and numbers in manuscript. Hayden's school teaches cursive. Hayden has chosen manuscript as his preferred writing method. I am trilled :)
Hayden has always loved being read to. He has recently started to underline words with his finger and pretend read. Hayden knows several words, but it is hit or miss on demonstrating what he knows. Hayden is an extremely visual learner and has some sound sensitivities. He would not allow us to sound out letters until the last month or so. Much to my surprise he knows all the sounds the letters make. With in the last several weeks he has started to spell words. It is crazy how easily he has picked this up. Everything we have done with Hayden has been on his time schedule. No matter what goal we set for him and how hard we worked to achieve that goal. If Hayden was not ready to achieve that goal he didn't. It has always been when we let go of our expectations of him Hayden not only meets that goal but exceeds it.
Ruby is always learning at a lighting pace. My sweet little girl a year ago could not count to 10. She had no desire and would become extremely frustrated if we even talked about numbers. Ruby cakes can now count to 100, she can count to 100 by 5's, count to 100 by 10's, and even by starting at 1 and ending at 100 (not sure what to call this). She can count to 20 in Spanish. Ruby is now adding 1,000th place numbers. It really makes me giggle to think my little girl a year ago was so adamant that counting was not going to be part of her life.
Ruby is now writing sentences in cursive. She is my little writer and fills up a writing journal on a monthly basis. Ruby is well on her way to reading bob books.
This winter has been a huge area of growth for both my kids. So exciting!! I love that my little loves have a hunger for learning. I feel that it is my job as a parent to fill that love, nurture it, and respect their pace of learning. They are my guides. I often simply observe them to see what kind of new learning activities they are ready for. Hayden and Ruby are in charge of their learning. I am happy to guide them, follow their lead, respect them, and find innovative ways to motivate them.
When we initially started Hayden in Montessori school at the age of three. I learned something that has really stuck with me. The Montessori way is creating life long learners. Live long learning is one thing that I really want for my children. I want them to have a thirst for knowledge and understand why they are doing what they are doing. As a parent I want me kids to want to learn.
Hayden taught me very quickly that academics was on the back burner for him. What we wanted for him was to develop social skills first. This is a concept that while at a Son-Rise training I came to total peace with. I came to the conclusion that what good would academics do for my son if he is unable to communicate. I wanted him to have a love for people and feel comfortable in his own body. We incorporated scholastics in Hayden's Son-Rise program, but they were never the focus. We would count jumps while jumping, verbalize letters as writing words, count cars that went down the slide, and talk about colors. We kept the scholastics light and natural. We never forced Hayden and respected him when he asked us to stop counting.
I am grateful that I stuck with following Hayden's lead with scholastics. He is open to learning to write, read, and do math now. In fact he now seeks out those activities on his own. I have worked hard at incorporating different activities to motivate Hayden to practice his reading, writing, and math.
Less than a year ago Hayden refused to hold a pencil. He had absolutely no interest in writing. I didn't force him. I thought of ways to prepare him to be a successful writer. We worked on eye hand coordination, fine motor skills, and I modeled how much I love writing and how helpful writing is. Hayden now has confidence in his hand writing and is writing words of motivation like a pro. He loves to write names of family members, words related to angry birds, and words related to mario. He can write all letters and numbers in manuscript. Hayden's school teaches cursive. Hayden has chosen manuscript as his preferred writing method. I am trilled :)
Hayden has always loved being read to. He has recently started to underline words with his finger and pretend read. Hayden knows several words, but it is hit or miss on demonstrating what he knows. Hayden is an extremely visual learner and has some sound sensitivities. He would not allow us to sound out letters until the last month or so. Much to my surprise he knows all the sounds the letters make. With in the last several weeks he has started to spell words. It is crazy how easily he has picked this up. Everything we have done with Hayden has been on his time schedule. No matter what goal we set for him and how hard we worked to achieve that goal. If Hayden was not ready to achieve that goal he didn't. It has always been when we let go of our expectations of him Hayden not only meets that goal but exceeds it.
Ruby is always learning at a lighting pace. My sweet little girl a year ago could not count to 10. She had no desire and would become extremely frustrated if we even talked about numbers. Ruby cakes can now count to 100, she can count to 100 by 5's, count to 100 by 10's, and even by starting at 1 and ending at 100 (not sure what to call this). She can count to 20 in Spanish. Ruby is now adding 1,000th place numbers. It really makes me giggle to think my little girl a year ago was so adamant that counting was not going to be part of her life.
Ruby is now writing sentences in cursive. She is my little writer and fills up a writing journal on a monthly basis. Ruby is well on her way to reading bob books.
This winter has been a huge area of growth for both my kids. So exciting!! I love that my little loves have a hunger for learning. I feel that it is my job as a parent to fill that love, nurture it, and respect their pace of learning. They are my guides. I often simply observe them to see what kind of new learning activities they are ready for. Hayden and Ruby are in charge of their learning. I am happy to guide them, follow their lead, respect them, and find innovative ways to motivate them.
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| Hayden using his incline writing surface to do a hidden picture find. |
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| Ruby is my little worker bee. She loves learning. |
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| Going over the check list she made for me. |
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| Just doing some electrical work :) |
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| My 5 year olds math work |
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| A work I made for Hayden with a focus on reading and writing. He mastered it in 3 minutes. |
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| My little scientist |
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| Hayden made sponge bob at lego club. |
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| Spelling with ease |
Sunday, January 18, 2015
It's time for an update!!!
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| Having a snack of avocado chocolate pudding |
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| Proud of his gingerbread house |
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| Loving his smoothie |
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| Playing Ned's Head with Mommy |
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| Ready for school |
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| Helping in the kitchen |
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| Giving a friend a check up |
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| Making hot chocolate |
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| Frosting cookies |
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| Made gumdrop trees |
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| Lost his front top tooth |
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| Hayden decorated the area beside where he sleeps :) |
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| Ruby and her melting snowman |
The days seem to be passing by quicker and quicker. I am working more, Brandon is working more, and the kids are in more activities. Trying to find the balance in daily life is challenging!!! I don't like being so busy that there is no time to just be together at home and enjoy each other. I also want my kids to be involved in activities. What a great challenge to face :)
I am so in love with my babies. They are learning and growing at a lightning pace. It seems every day they are learning and doing something new. I feel like in a blink of an eye they will be driving and going on dates.
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| Hayden has the yellow sled and is walking back up the hill |
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| Helping shovel at home |
Hayden's handwriting is getting better and better. He is getting the spacing of letters and the relation of letters and lines. He is also starting to sound out and spell simple words. Hayden also knows how to spell several words by memory (I think he knows way more than he lets on to know). We practice handwriting in several different ways to keep it light and fun. I want Hayden to want to write. I want him to understand the purpose of writing. What we don't do is repetitive writing drills. This week during one of his writing lessons I had Hayden draw a picture and then write a story about his picture. I was not sure if he was ready for this length of task. Much to my surprise he was up for it :) He drew a picture of one of his favorite games, Flying Pigs. It says, "I like to play flying pig game. I like to play with Mom." He then signed his name.
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| Using an inclined writing surface has been beneficial for Hayden. He knows how to write all his letters but it seems there is a disconnect between his brain and vision. Cranial Sacral Therapy is helping with the vision / brain connection. |
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| Corn starch and water mixed together. I put it in a jelly pan. There is a lot of resistance when you write and draw in it. |
The kids have both been asking if we can get a puppy or have a baby. Daddy says no to both. Who thinks Daddy should change his mind???
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