Snowbird and Other Stuff

For years I've been a big fan of Snowbird, the Channel 4 mascot that let's you know when schools are closing due to snow (or due to predicted snow that may or may not happen) and each year I've tried to win the Snowbird giveaway. Even when I was up at 5:00 a.m. feeding Luke, I still was never one of the first 10 callers. So I was pretty excited when Channel 4 used our church building for their Surviving the Storm event. The first 100 folks got a free Snowbird gift!



So, here we are with Snowbird. Luke was slightly terrified, but no tears. He talked to Snowbird and told him his name. And then asked to leave.



Then Luke found his buddy Tyler and was happy to play with him until the show started. Nice hat, huh? Luke found this in our closet. It was mine in high school. Luke insisted on wearing it to see snowbird and left it on the entire time. Charger pride! Please ignore the chair with ripped cushion in the background. Very classy.


The show was a little loud for Luke. Lots of applause and such. He so wanted to stay with his friend Tyler and was very sad to leave him, but ultimately couldn't handle the noise. Then all the way home he asked me where Tyler was. I kept reassuring him that Tyler stayed but it was okay that Luke left. After he asked for the 50th time I said, "Tyler's gone home and gone to bed." and that satisfied him. Bad, bad lying mother. But I bet Tyler had left by the time I told him that, or was just about to leave.


Luke was very excited to see a weatherman he recognized from TV. And he got this photo that he LOVES. He took it everywhere with him for a few days. His favorite is Dan Thomas, since he's named after his favorite train. But he's also a fan of Lisa Spencer, since she's named after a train too. He loves to spell Thomas and Spencer.

Anytime Channel 4 News is on now he gets so excited. He points to the anchor and says, "Who's that little boy?" (or girl, as the case may be). But he's a little alarmed their going to come back to church. This sweet lady was talking to him at church Wednesday night and out of the blue he said to her, "Are we all done with Channel 4 News?"



Speaking of trains, Luke is super excited about this new t-shirt. Isn't it tasteful and subtle? He firmly believes he should wear a Thomas shirt everyday. This is the first time he's had any preference for clothing. Pretty cool. I can usually convince him to wear something other than Thomas if I act like what he's wearing is really cool. The other day he got orange juice on his Thomas shirt of the day, so I was convincing him to wear a dinosaur shirt. I helped him put it on and said, "OK, go show Daddy. I bet he'll love it." Luke looked at my shirt (some Vandy employee shirt Lamar got years ago that I sleep in) and said, "Mommy, you show Daddy your star and I'll show Daddy my dinosaur."


Luke and his buddy Annie. Is it obvious how much he loves her? I asked Luke what we should get Annie for her upcoming birthday and he thought a long time and said, "How about big Toby?" Don't think she's that into trains, but a nice thought.

Last Saturday we took Luke to the Thomas play day at Toys R Us (which was very not cool. It was a table with a punch out cardboard hat kids could color, which none did that I saw, and some Thomas music playing). Well, the Thomas song just kept repeating and it freaked Luke out. He just froze and asked to leave, but did ask to take a train home with him first. Slick.

Then Sunday at church he was talking, talking, talking in church. I tried and tried to explain he had to be quiet, but he just kept getting louder. He had to go potty so while in the potty I threatened if he could not whisper quietly in church he would have to go the Children's Worship and stay by himself (He's been very afraid of being alone there in the past.) Not two minutes after we got back in church he announced he wanted to go to Children's Worship. So I took him, thinking I've ruined the rest of our morning at church. The kids go straight from Children's Worship to Bible class. We tried this one time and he fell apart. Oh well, so much for my brilliant plan. Well, after church I go check on him and he's sitting in Bible class having a great time. He says hi to me and goes back to playing.

So, I give up. Just when I think I have a handle on what prompts his anxiety and what doesn't, he surprises me. This boy keeps me on my toes, and surprises me all the time.

A couple of weeks ago we went to Vanderbilt for a follow up on the KidTalk study we completed several months ago. While there I ran into a therapist we worked with right around the time Luke turned 3, shortly after his diagnosis. She and I visited and then she asked if it was okay if she observed Luke for a minute. When she came out of the observation room she hugged me and said, "I cannot believe him. I just cried. He is in there having a conversation!" Then she reminded me of the video she has of Luke and me rolling a ball. He wouldn't stay focused. I had to redirect him multiple times and remove the ball from him mouth. Just keeping him engaged was exhausting.

I don't really have any video of that time in our lives. It was just so hard, and there was a lot I didn't want to remember. But now I wish I did. I do have the blog. But I've always tried so hard to be positive--it's been important to me to always emphasize his strengths--that I think even the blog doesn't accurately reflect the struggle of those first months. It's so easy to forget where we've been and take for granted how far he's come.

Recently I've tried to be a bit more transparent in my blogs, about both the positive and negative because I think both are such an important part of the journey. And today I can look at our struggles more optimistically, because he's proven that what's a struggle today may not be tomorrow. I'm so blessed to be this boy's mommy.

Zoo Time

We wanted to take Luke to the zoo over spring break, but work schedules and weather didn't cooperate. So we went last week, and it was crazy busy! It was the first pretty day after rain and more rain was on the way so everyone was taking advantage of the sunshine.


Here's Joe Cool ready to see some animals.



He always talks about the blue birds when we mention going to the zoo, I'm sure because it's the first exhibit.




These glasses are a big deal with Luke right now. But he wants everyone to wear glasses or no one to wear glasses. Lamar never wears sunglasses (but he should so maybe he will for Luke).


I think this is a funny series of Luke we took at lunch:


Stealing my drink

His reaction when I pointed out he stole my drink

Making amends. Such a monkey.

He was also very excited about seeing the fish, not that you can see fish in the tank in this photo, but they were there. He so scared in the aquarium the first time we went to the zoo last August. He's an old pro now.

A reaction to something Lamar said. This was our first zoo visit without a stroller or wagon. He did great, though he's not very considerate of getting in other people's way. I apologized a lot and reminded him to watch where he's going more times than I can count. But just a few short months ago he would have bolted away constantly. I couldn't go anywhere without him in a stroller or cart or holding his hand with a death grip. He's doing great staying with us now with an occasional reminder.

Checking out the meerkats. He saw other children doing this so he tried. He will imitate pretty much anything he sees other children doing. He's rather obsessive about it. Like if he saw another child being carried at the zoo, he would ask to be carried. If Lamar offered to pick him up, but the other child was being held by his mother, he would ask me to pick him up. Fortunately he is not difficult to redirect when we can't (or choose not to) comply with his request, at least most of the time.

Isn't this a cute photo of Lamar, Luke, and some random child? Lucky for us we have a nearly identical picture from our last visit, minus the child we don't know.

It was a really fun visit despite the crowds. And we ran into several friends. We didn't see nearly as many animals but still really fun. And we need to make a separate trip just to check out the playground. It's open again and looks super fun.

And a quick funny story about how Luke's quirky little mind works. We were leaving the house the other day and I rolled down to the window to ask our neighbor, who was in his driveway, a question. After we drove off Luke said, "What's the dad's name?" I thought a minute and said, "Oh, he's Mr. Heath." Then he asked, "What's the mom's name?" and I said, "Ms. Kim." And then he said, "What is the Luke's name?" I laughed and said, "The baby is Wyatt."

Easter

What a great Easter! Luke really got into all the "festivities" (quotes because it was so incredibly simple it probably doesn't warrent that word).





Here he is ready to dye eggs for the first time ever. Look at the excitement. I don't think he had any idea what we were about to do, but we said it would be fun so he was pumped.





Oh, the magic of egg dye. Notice I put the orange tablet in the green cup. The only ones I got right were pink and blue! The tablet color was quite different than the color it turned in the vinegar.




Our lovely eggs. It was so fun to do this with Luke. It's just such a blessing to have him enjoying these activities. I hoped and prayed motherhood would be full of these kind of experiences. And now much later and differently than I anticipated, it is and I am so thankful for every one of them.

Just a photo of Luke watching the Charlie Brown Easter special. I think Luke gave up TV for Lent. And he doesn't know Lent is over. It's so funny how everything runs in cycles with him. There are many times TV has been his passion and I have to limit and drag him away from it or he would watch it all day. Right now he is passionate about playing with his trains and could do it ALL DAY LONG. This is great, but he really wants someone to play with him. So, I'm loving it but I'm also exhausted. And for about the past two weeks, he asks to go Target everyday to get a new train. The first time has asked, we honored the request. It was the first time he'd ever requested a new toy. And we've worked for so long to get him interested in toys. If only he was passionate about some less expensive toys . . .

Easter morning with the basket. Lamar had to work on Easter so I was solo capturing it on film. I was not at all anticipating how fast Luke would grab the basket and get things out. That was a first. Last year he had no interest in his basket. He was most excited about "Big Bulgy".

In his Easter clothes. This is the first Easter he had big boy clothes. Tear. But I think he looked pretty cute. And the shirt and shorts were consignment! Thanks friends who let me preshop their consignment stuff.

In Mimi and Papa's backyard just before Easter Sunday lunch. It was nice and sunny.

After lunch Mimi hid eggs for Luke. He found them by color, as in first found all the yellow eggs, then the pink ones, then the purple ones. Easter egg hunting on the spectrum. :) But it wasn't hard to get him to break out of the pattern.

And one of Luke's new favorite activities, playing cars on the fence with Papa. I think he could do this for hours. Papa was contemplating adding some sort of edge to the wood so the cars would stay on their "track". Aren't grandparents the best?

Playing with Bulgy on Mimi and Papa's deck table

And most importantly, when I picked Luke up from Bible class on Sunday and looked at his coloring sheet, I asked him, "Where did Jesus die?" and he said, "On the cross."

We hope you all had a wonderful Easter!

The Program

On Thursday when I dropped Luke off for school, I noticed lots of parents parked and walking in. My first thought--was it Teacher Appreciation Week and I forgot? I'm such a good Room Mother. No that's in May. My second thought--there must be a program. My next thought--poor Luke.

Since Luke first day of school, when Luke attended his first program (or tried to) he has hated them. Hundreds of kids in the gym and applause is just too much for him. He usually lasts only a few minutes before he has to go back to the classroom, if that. Sometimes he doesn't make it in the door.

Well, later Thursday morning my cell phone rang. Ms. Judy identified herself and my heart started pounding, and I immediately started making a mental list of what might be wrong. She'd never called me during the school day before.

She said, "Amy, I just wanted to tell you that Luke sat through the entire kindergarten program."

Mr. James, the student teacher, took these photos on his cell phone for me.

He looks apprehensive, but taking it all in.

Judy said he was nervous about going to the program and the deviation from the normal routine. But she said they went in the gym before all the other kids came and she explained to the class what was going to happen. She said Luke was doing fine, but getting a little nervous as all the children came in. She said she counted out the order of things for him: #1 go to the gym #2 watch and listen #3 go to Ms. Judy's class, etc., like we'd told her we do at home. (Which is a funny story. At Luke's IEP in January, I was talking and giving feedback throughout the meeting. Shocking, I know. The only thing Lamar said the whole time was mentioning that we give Luke a numbered list/schedule when he's nervous or wanting something we can't do right away. And all the teachers and therapists wrote it down and raved about what a great idea it was. Since then Judy's told me more than once how glad they are Lamar shared that. Hey, it was my idea in the first place!)

So, Judy said he just kept repeating the list, which he does when he's nervous. Judy she ran to the office and grabbed a pen and paper and wrote the list down for him so they could mark things off as they happened, and that really helped. You can see his little piece of paper there in the photo. He made it through the entire program, and even clapped appropriately and called out, "Great job!"

Big, big day for Luke. I think going to Children's Worship helped him be more comfortable in the program. While it's much smaller, there's enough similarities that maybe it may have made the program a little less intimidating. I'm so proud of him. And I'm so thankful for his great team of teachers that really go the extra mile to help him succeed.

egg hunting

Last Saturday was our third annual egg hunt at our good friends', the Robertsons, house. I don't remember exactly how our egg hunt began, but I know it was during a rough time for us. Luke was 2, and we were just realizing the extent of his developmental delays. He was in therapy, but we didn't have his autism diagnosis yet. It was a time of a lot of unknown and worry. And his anxiety was really beginning to manifest. So, I remember talking to Lisa about how the church egg hunt was just out of the question. He couldn't handle 200 excited, screaming kids running for eggs, and I couldn't either. And then Lisa came up with this great idea for an egg hunt at her house with just a few friends. And now it's a tradition.



Here's Luke with the cupcakes we made. Note the Easter theme (green sprinkles for grass and jelly bean eggs). My original design. Also, note the official Tupperware cupcake carrier. That's right. Look out Martha Stewart!




Here's some of the kids ready to head out and find some eggs. Luke was so excited waiting at the door (don't let his expression in the picture fool you). I asked him, "Luke, do you know what you're going to do outside?" He said, "Um, nope!" I told him to find eggs and put them in his basket. I really should have practiced beforehand. Slacker mom. But he figured it out really quickly.

See, he's got it down. Even looking at camera with a smile! This was the first year I didn't have to walk around carrying his basket for him and giving him specific instructions on each egg. Woo hoo!

Alison (aka Miss Ellen. Luke gets those names confused all the time.) helping Luke stretch for an egg.

Aiden was very sweet to help Luke find some eggs. I just can't believe how grown up these kids are! Luke is really into following the lead of peers, doing what they're doing. It's a skill we've worked on, as in when you don't know what do, look and see what your friends are doing (standing in line, sitting down for circle, etc.) So he did this very literally at the egg hunt, following his friends, going exactly where they were going, reaching for the same egg. I was able to explain that he needed to find his own eggs though and he got it.

Luke and Carley running for more eggs.

The kids and their loot.

And the moms and the kids. These ladies are great friends to me. The past two years I've met lots of moms of other kids disabilities and delays. And those ladies have been a lifeline to me and I'm so thankful for them. But these ladies here were my friends prior to even having children, and they've really tried to be supportive to our family, despite not knowing what it's like to walk in our shoes. And I'm so thankful for them too. Their children are some of Luke's favorite people in the world, and he is so comfortable at their homes. And boy has that taken some work. There was many a get-together that Lamar and I did nothing but tend to Luke. But I'm so glad we kept trying, and I'm so thankful for my friends who hung with me through those really tough times.

And then of course there was some jumping. The kids sure loved the trampoline. I suggested the kids play Simon Says while they were on the trampoline. (Luke practiced that game at speech a few weeks ago). So the kids (all 3's and 4's, and one 2) took very brief turns as Simon, and they all gave the same direction, "Simon says hop like a bunny!" (which I guess makes sense given it was an egg hunt and they were on a trampoline). Luke typically just copies the same directions when he's the leader too. But when it was his turn he said, "Simon says touch your toes." I think he really understands the game on an age appropriate level.

We also played Duck Duck Goose. Luke really likes that game too. He has a hard time remembering when to sit down and stop running. I think we need to practice that on the floor with a marked circle or pillows to sit on, just some visual cues I think would help.

I think the egg hunt was a big success this year. It just warms my heart to see Luke enjoying time with his friends.

The next day as we looked through his eggs, I asked Luke if he wanted to eat some of the candy. He opened the egg and pretended to eat it. I guess it makes sense he thought it was pretend food. The plastic eggs look a lot like our play food. So I opened a mini bag of Skittles and ate one. He looked at me in shock, and then tried one himself. Then he devoured the bag and asked for another. I wonder why I thought he needed to learn it was real candy.