Group ABA session= craziness!!!!

Well Lucas had his first group ABA session today and it was nuts! He has been going to ABA sessions for about 2 years now, but they have all been 1:1 with the therapist- well today was 1 therapist and 3 kids and it was wild to say the least. Lucas was the best behaved one at the session- he was the youngest and the best behaved- makes a mama proud! He did great considering........... we will not be doing those sessions again! Individual is the way to go- he gets a lot more accomplished and learned and it ain't broke so we are not going to fix it!

Pom-mickle please

That is how he is saying Popsicle these days- it is very cute. Also his daddy is teaching to say republican to get him pumped up for the election (can you tell what side daddy is on?)
Lucas did well at school this week and we are going to try to transition him to the next class at school tomorrow- mommy is nervous! At home all he wants to do lately is swing- he is such an outdoor boy!

Bubble time!

We went to Wal mart today in search of a new bubble machine- all we have are manual bubbles and they stink- you blow and get one bubble at a time- pretty boring! Well they had this bubble BBQ pit toy on sale and now I see why. It required 8 AA batteries and it only worked for about 5 minutes! I couldn't believe it! Anyway when Lucas saw the box he yelled bubble time! It was the highlight of my week.

Well until he returns to school tomorrow! Then that will be the highlight of the week for mommy anyway!

Dentist appointment today- went pretty well?!?!

Well, I am unsure if it went well or not. I have taken him a couple of times before since he gives us such a hard time brushing his teeth due to his mouth being hypersensitive to touch and I was worried especially about his back teeth. The dentist tried to x-ray his mouth- no such luck- he would not even wear the protective vest to do them. Then he would not even let the dentist brush his teeth, and he acted like don't even think about it when he got out the teeth cleaner! No way man!

That was as far as he got- he did let him look in his mouth well and he said that his back teeth were starting to soften so we need to brush those more but that the rest of them looked good. He wants to see him back in 6 months- well I guess he might actually get to clean them next time. Overall though I think he did pretty well.

Well we go back to school on Wednesday! Boy I tell you I can't wait- it has been a long week and a half since he last went to school- we both need the routine!

We are back to home sweet home

Lukey did great on our evacuation trip! He stayed at his dad's house in Beaumont for hurricane Ike and then we all evacuated after we stayed in Beaumont for a couple of miserable days. We went to Arkansas to stay with a friend of my mom's and we had a good time actually. We drove about 7 hours each way and did so with no crying and no meltdowns, see attached photos- candy is the key!

We ate a lot of lollipops and M & M's and lots of Skittles- hey whatever works huh? We stayed in Arkansas for about 5 days and then came home after we had some of our friends and family resumed power and we could return home and stay with them. I got power back at my house after 6 days and it was great to return home! We felt like gypsies for a while so it was so good to be back in my own bed. My back has been killing me for a few days- I hope the return home will help- don't want a pinched sciatic nerve repeat!

Lucas did a lot of talking while we were gone- he said Hi Mark, Hi Jack, I love you daddy, and so many other's I can't remember. He did great- I am so proud of him.

Here we (don't) go again- Ike

Well this time around we are not evacuating- I am afraid a lot of people will be doing the same after the Gustav false alarm 2 weeks ago. I am staying at my mom's until the worst passes and we will see how it goes! I hope everyone stays safe and returns home safely! Jill

Put a plug in it!!!

Lukey's teacher told me this morning that Lucas has been trying to keep another child in his class quiet in a not so subtle way. The little boy cries, throws his pacifier, and Lucas grabs it in puts it back in the crying child's mouth as if to say "Shut it already"! Too funny- if we could only do and say the things that kiddos can say.......... doesn't seem fair huh?

He is doing great at school and at therapy- we are seeing lots of progress!

Poll answer: True - 1 in 150 children today are diagnosed with some form of autism, usually boys more so than girls.

I want pancakes!!!

What a big boy Lucas is becoming! He is starting a trend of no eating all day while at school then binging all afternoon at home. He eats lots of PB crackers, sippies of milk, tea, water, bananas, chips, candy- pretty much whatever. I offered him a banana about 500 and he ate it all so at 600 I offered him his PECS picture cards with the choice of a waffle, PB and J, or pancakes. He pushed it away and said NO! I said OK- and he ended up eating an entire piece of cheese- go figure.

Well about 6:50 pm he runs up to me and throws me the pancake picture and screams Pancakes! and runs to the kitchen and waits for me to warm them! It was very cute- he ended up eating 4 of the small ones before bed. I told Captain Pancake that he would have to go to bed, full of sugar or not- we have at least one day of school left before we have to evacuate again!

Big boy in the house!

Well our first night in our new big boy bed went great! I think the evacuation crash course last week helped a lot- I hate to admit. He went to sleep fairly quickly and slept from 8-630 so I will take it! I went and got in bed with him this morning and we wrestled and snuggled for a while so it was fun.

Don't forget today is Grandparent's day- so be sure to tell the grandparents in your child's life how much you love them! I couldn't survive without Lucas' grandparents!

Big boy bed !!!

Well we assembled the big boy bed today and it will be interesting to say the least! Lucas helped me disassemble and assemble the crib and the bed and I had to bribe him with candy and new toys to get him to help a little less so I could get it all finished!
He played on the bed for a long time after it was all together so I am hoping tonight goes well- I am a little nervous- but he slept well in the bed at the hotel last weekend so I am encouraged it will be OK- I will let yall know tomorrow!

What a day!

Well my girlfriend Rebecca and I went to The Woodlands today to a huge church sale that they have there every year that sells gently used baby and children's items. It is like a HUGE garage sell, but very organized and all in one location. We brought her scooter and loaded it up to the max with clothes, toys, and more clothes for Lukey and Emma. It was fun and a nice day trip. It is hard to believe my son is 3.5 years old and I spent the day buying size 5-6 clothes for him- he is getting big, fast!!!

Lucas went to school and did well the couple of days a week that he got to go. Hopefully we will get back into a good groove after next week begins- barring no more hurricane evacs! He is making progress in asking for things to eat- today he told his dad "I want candy" when asked if he was hungry and wanted something to eat. He got some candy then he told dad that he wanted a sandwich when given it among other options- he ate the whole thing! I am so hopeful that he will start to realize how powerful his language skills are and start to use them more!

I saw an employee that worked at the Conroe Head Start program, and I told her all about how well Lucas is doing- it felt so good to give her a positive update on him!

Nana, nana please!

Well Lucas has become quite fond of bananas lately, or as he says, "nana". On our road trip that was about all he would eat, and after a few days of nothing but nanas and cookies, the old tummy started to rumble, if you know what I mean. I told him no more nanas for at least a day until things settled down.

Well he watched some show on TV yesterday that sang a long drug out song about nanas, and he drug me to the kitchen and said "Nana, nana please." Well how do you say no to that???? I tell him all the time to talk and I deny him of a banana when he clearly asks for one? No way! He got the nana and ate it all in about 5 minutes.

Well the rest of the day, no eating. I tried, Lord knows I did and he said no to everything! He went to his dad's house and was starving to death, poor baby, and he ate 7 silver dollar pancakes........... what an appetite!

Answer to poll: What is echolalia? It is when one repeats things that they hear others say. It is almost like a parrot talking- children with autism often do this. They often do not understand what they are saying they just repeat. An example is when you say "Say good bye Joe, he will say "say good bye Joe" and repeat it all verbatim.
Lucas is not only repeating things he hears, but also saying and repeating things he reads! We have started to not only try to not say bad words, but we can't spell them anymore either! I have to say shoot or that bad word that starts with an S now rather than to say shi!!! for example.

***The picture above that says "messy day" he must have heard someone say at school or at home- it had been raining alot that day and then he spelled it.***

Lucas, the organizer

Well Lucas does get his organizational skills honestly :) I organized some snacks that Lucas likes in a clear, Rubbermaid storage thing that has 3 drawers so that he can access them and hopefully pick out his own snacks. I labeled all the drawers- cookies, crackers, cereal, pop tarts, etc. I brought him over to it last night and said see here is where your crackers are.
Well there were several packages of the round Peanut Butter crackers in there that we often call "cookies" so he will eat them- and he pulled one out and said to me "cookie?" like why is it in the cracker drawer :) I thought that was very cute. Well he proceeded to eat the whole pack and I moved the other packages like it to the cookie drawer. Hopefully this will encourage him to go to the drawers and pick out what he wants to eat on his own.
A little bored today- as we were yesterday too- no school due to Hurricane Gustav evacuations. School resumes tomorrow- yeah! Lukey gets to go to work with me today to help Rebecca shop- it is always interesting with those two out shopping together :)

Home sweet home!!!

Well we did make it to New Braunfels finally on Sunday- we left Saturday afternoon and Lukey did not quite make it all the way there- exhaustion and refusing to eat or sleep in the car led to a pretty nasty, hour long meltdown in the car. We ended up at some po-dunk, electric yellow painted, icky hotel for the night....... let me tell you though- we were all so tired and ready for bed that it looked marvelous when we did get a room there.
We stayed there overnight and headed to New Braunfels the next morning. Lucas slept in a regular bed with me for the first time EVER and he did great! Of course I slept very little as the dogs were barking, the cat was locked in the bathroom and screaming, and Lucas crying out in his sleep kept me awake most of the night- but I can sleep later- right?!?!?
Anyway we finally made it to New Braunfels and the road that the camp sight was off of was Purgatory Lane (no you can't make this kind of stuff up.) We were staying with my brother in laws' friends parents property- did ya catch all that? and Jesse (my BIL) had not been there in several years. It was nice before..... but oh boy, this time around not so good. There was a cabin with two open rooms and a bathroom- no kitchen, no microwave, very small fridge, and an old worn out travel camper parked next to it. The cabin had one fold out couch and nothing else in it! Luckily we brought air mattresses and lots of blankets so it worked out OK. No TV, no satellite, OMG! We are all so rotten. Well the camper was tiny; Lucas, Mom, Becky and I all stayed in there. The best part was the musty smell from all the previous water damage :) The bathroom had a toilet that worked but no working shower, and the shower roof had a hole in it (when it rained it leaked).
Anyway we stayed there one night and decided that if the hurricane passed through enough we were getting out of there- so we came on home today. I was so glad to get to my new little house I could cry! The quality family time was nice- but there is no place like home!