A Good Big Brother Indeed!

Yes, finally our little cutie Katie arrived on June 26th in the wee hours of the morning! Big Brother Zachary loved her instantly and showered her with kisses, hugs and such. He wants to hold her a lot, and talks about her needing a bottle, and so forth. Months of prepping him by reading books about babies coming into the house and boys becoming big brothers REALLY paid off. He totally "got it". And was excited, and still is all about her! Let's just hope this love lasts!

It's been Two Years!!!

Still here.... still pregnant.....

This past weekend marked the TWO YEAR anniversary of Zachary's official Autism diagnosis by the developmental pediatrician. Two years! My goodness they have flown by. What is so neat in looking at the past two years is to really see how far we've come. Of course I'm including Zach's amazing progress in these two years, but I am also referring to how far WE'VE come - in that I mean Matt and myself.

Two years ago this week I was losing it. Chasing after any, ANY piece of reading material I could get my hands on that would explain to me how in the world I was going to get past this. How in the world we were going to deal with Zach for the rest of his life. How would we ever get him to talk? Would it ever end? Is there really a way to "fix" him? And on and on. Every desperate thought you can imagine. Frantic. Panic. Those were very much a part of our lives.

Over the next year I'd read every single book published after 1995 on Autism. I even read a few of the earlier ones for a good laugh - as they all claim that it was the mother not loving the child enough that caused the Autism! HA! Anyway, I of course went all the way around the world wide web and back as well, bookmarking hundreds of websites and blogs like this one and reading every day about all these other kids therapies and progress. ANYTHING I could get my hands on. If there was a random type of non-common therapy out there - I wanted to know about it. If there was some magical cure - I was GOING to find it!

But two years later, as I have slowly over time deleted and deleted those bookmarks from my computer, I realized this anniversary weekend that I now have 4 blogs that I read now. And about 10 websites that I keep because they are relative to where we are now with Zachary and things I will need to reference in the future regarding laws for schooling, etc. And I don't have a clue when the next Autism book is being published anymore. And I don't spend everyday mourning the loss of my dream "typical" child. My every thought is not encompassed by finding that secret cure. Or reading about others in the same boat.

And what all of this is saying is that it's going to be alright. It really is.

Lots of Progress

I just can't say enough that I am so very excited at Zachary's continued speech progress. I had many concerns with the ending of his school year with both classes... that he'd fall out of the routine and pressure from teachers and kids to talk, that he'd get lazy, or maybe that he'd regress, etc. But he's done great in the few weeks with only therapy. I mean GREAT! I think we are at a point now where we aren't going to be seeing his language and social gains in short spurts like the last few years, but instead he's just reached a point of continued learning. Like typical children do. And that is pretty comforting and encouraging.

We've been going to the pool a lot. He's a fish, that kid! Besides swimming great on his own, I've really seen a lot of changes in him socially by just sitting back and watching him interact at the pool. There is not one other social instance where I can just watch and listen from a distance without him really aware of me. At play groups and such I'm never far from him, but at the pool I am (when Daddy's in the water and/or he has his vest on). So I've seen the major changes in him since this time last year - in comparing pool apples to pool apples, if you will. Just today an older kid and his brother were being a little mean to him and a few other younger kids by splashing them like crazy when they came anywhere near them. It only took a minute or two of Zach laughing along and trying to splash back for him to realize that these boys weren't just being silly! So he says "Stop doing that" over and over to them. Loudly. Doesn't sound like much, but he - (1) on his own - made an (2) appropriate sentence and said it at a (3) volume that could be heard by others, to his (4) peers!!! That is 4 major components that are not usually lined up together. Another example; he was playing with a girl's pool toy last week and she decided that she wanted it back so proceeded to yank it from him. He held on tight and with all 4 components above (YAY!) said "You have to share with me!". Loved it! Then many times he'll say to me/Daddy "It's not time to go yet" or "Daddy are you going to swim?" or "I can have some of mommy's drink" (which while not appropriate grammer, it's a full sentence!). Good stuff like that, on and on. But the real gems are when he talks to other kiddos. On his own. Loud enough for them to hear. And in complete sentences. The magic 4-some! He is continually coming out of his shell and joining us. Welcome, welcome!

And on to the Baby Katie update. There's really not much to say. I'm at 38 weeks and five days today. The 23rd is approaching! But of course it could be any second. I'm sitting on go all nested and ready!! The doc said this week that if she doesn't come out on her own, he will absolutely want her out by the end of the 41st week (by the 30th). So worse case scenario, I will meet my little girl in 16 days. But I sure hope it's sooner!!!!