He Pointed!

This sounds so trivial and so meaningless to parents of typically developing kids....but to us it's huge! This morning Liam was snuggling with me on our bed, and Brian walked into the room. I asked Liam "Where is Daddy?" And Liam pointed-with his index finger. For the first time (at something far away)! This is a huge milestone for him-one that one year old babies achieve with no big "hurrahs." I'm so happy!


Later on this morning he was watching Sesame Street and a song came on that talked about high and low. And what do you know--he reached high on the word "high" and crouched low on the word "low," totally imitating what they were doing on the show. Again-HUGE for him.  I slowly see improvement, especially in the last couple of weeks. I believe this is a combination of a couple of factors--mainly school, and me switching to almost 100% English when speaking to Liam. 


I hated switching to English. It's something that I really hoped I'd never have to do. Being bilingual is something that's so important! And while I still speak Hebrew to Liam at home, and still show him Hebrew videos and read Hebrew books, I've slowly (and deliberately) made the switch to English. And just like with Coby back when he was that age, there is a big difference with Liam as well. He definitely understands more, follows directions better, and is more aware. 


Now camp is almost over for the summer, and in the month that is left before school begins, there is a lot of work to do. But for the first time in a long time I'm so hopeful and positive! Liam will be ok. There is no set definition for "ok." But who cares? For us, for him, he'll do just fine! :)

Preschool

This is week 6-the last week of preschool "camp" for Liam. Boy, what a busy 5 weeks it's been! I was very very worried about starting Liam in a preschool. He'd never even been with a babysitter (aside from my mom, and she definitely doesn't count as a sitter!) The preschool at our temple has a reputation for being wonderful. I knew the director, I knew some of the teachers. I was ready. Maybe. 


The deal was that we'd start slow. Leave Liam there for a couple of hours and see how it goes. Leave Liam? WHAT?  How can I leave Liam? Day 1 came and I packed Liam a snack and lunch, change of clothes, diapers, wipes, etc. and off we went. He went into the classroom, saw a puzzle he liked, and started playing. I nonchalantly said goodbye and left, feeling great! He didn't cry! Well....not quite.


I got a text message from the teachers a little while later saying Liam was crying on and off. I went to get him at 11 ( 2 hours before the end of the day.) Snotty nosed and red from crying, my baby looked quite miserable. He didn't want to eat anything, didn't want to drink his water, didn't want to play much. I was broken-hearted! Plus, we knew that the next day would be worse because by then he'd know what school was, and that mommy left. 


Sure enough, the next morning I walked him in and he immediately started to cry. I quickly left and prayed for the best. I got many text messages from the wonderful teachers. Liam threw up because he cried so hard. Liam has calmed down a bit.  Liam was playing. Liam was crying again. I went to get him at noon and sat with him through lunch. He ate a few bites and that was it.

The following morning the crying started when we turned into the parking lot. He threw up again. I was ready to give up! But his teachers and his amazing daddy kept encouraging me to push through the tough period. Liam had tough mornings, but as the week would progress, by Friday he was doing better. We also started having his teachers come get him from the car, because it was easier on him to leave me, than for me to leave him. 


The weeks passed, and while I was still waiting for a day I wouldn't have to wash pukey clothes after school, I saw improvements. He was eating in school! AND he was eating better at home. He was starting to feed himself at home, and didn't need distractions to eat anymore (well, only on occasion he still needs a toy or a video). Best of all??? He was starting to show me what he learned. He was doing the motions for songs! He didn't cry anymore when people sang in groups. In fact, he likes it when the teachers and class sings in group time or in Shabbat Party. No, he doesn't talk yet, but so what?

                                                      

         










Today is the last Monday of the summer preschool session. After this week there will be a 4 week hiatus and then school will start for the fall. Today was the best Monday this summer! He only cried a little bit, didn't vomit, and had a great day! He ate snack and lunch, and was happy to see me at the end of the day. I'm sure things will be a bit difficult in the fall, but I know his teachers will make the transition easier for him. I'm so grateful to have such a wonderful school here for my son, which such loving and dedicated teachers! Thank you Ms. Freddi, Ms. Jenette, and Ms. Elie!!!

It's the Little Things

It really is the little things that make the most difference. I'm so happy tonight I could cry. Not only has Liam started making more sounds and understanding "if....then....," he's been making more connections too. Tonight, after bath, I had Liam laying down on my bed. While I get him into his PJs I always sing songs to him and do finger plays.  So I started singing "if you're happy and you know it" and wouldn't you know it, my little prince clapped his hands in the right place, several times! I called Brian and Coby to watch! I helped him stomp his feet while laying down. Then when it was time to shout hooray, he raised his little fist in the air, all 3 times!  WHAT? 


We have so much we need to catch up on with Liam. Speech issues and social issues are at the top of our list. But tonight? Tonight I'm just so happy about something so trivial for many parents, but for me it's as if my Liam just got that much closer to the finish line in his marathon.

Frustrated and Yo Gabba Gabba

Ugh....
I love being a mom with all my heart. I really do. It's just that it gets frustrated sometimes. With Liam not talking and being unable to really communicate the frustration is mutual. I also feel so lost as to what to do to help him! Aside from going to school (which is not going well so far-he cries and cries and throws up and cries), he's not really receiving services yet even though we're going through Early Intervention and have a case worker. Liam just doesn't like strangers and any therapy so far has been useless because he just cries. 


There is no doubt in my mind he has Autism. The signs are all there. But he's so different from the way Coby was at this age! Coby was talking some-though he was echolailic. Coby wasn't as attached to me, so therapy was much easier. But all that was so long ago, I don't remember things in detail. So really, I'm not sure how to help Liam. We're giving him time to adjust in school and then starting speech therapy. When he turns 3 he'll be able to go to a special needs preschool which will also help. But what can I do at home????


For example, Liam's new obsession is the show Yo Gabba Gabba. If you don't know what it is, consider yourself lucky-but if you're really curious, go look it up online. It's not a bad show. Each episode teaches a social lesson and the characters are cute. Liam has many Yo Gabba toys. His favorite, though, is a set of bathtub squirters, each in a Yo Gabba character. We don't put them in the water (he has Yo Gabba foam characters for the tub). All Liam does with them, and he can do this for over an hour straight, is move them, one by one, from one spot to another. On his way he stops by where I am or if Brian is there where Brian is, and will not move until we name that character. He then places the character in its new spot. They're always in order-in the order they are presented in the theme song. So we made a game out of it-I'll ask him if it's a certain character and name a wrong one. He'll shake his head no. That's progress for answering questions, though he won't answer yes, just no.  But I don't know what to do-do I encourage this behavior and let him have his fun, or do I take the characters away and discourage this very Autistic, OCD behavior? I simply don't know. For right now we take breaks from Yo Gabba Gabba and play with other toys for short periods of time. That's something!


But the obsessions and OCD tendencies worry me for sure. I suppose the worry never goes away, does it?

Liam is 2 Years Old!

So life's been busy, and many months have passed since the last post. In some ways, so much has changed, in other ways, not much. Liam turned 2 yesterday.  Where has the time gone? He's such a sweet little boy! Still the "terrible twos" are here! Ok so here's the rundown of what's going on:



Liam had a birthday yesterday! He's 2 years old and we celebrated at Chuck E Cheese!

Here's the nitty gritty:


Speech: He's still non-verbal, though he shakes his head for no when he doesn't want something, and more often now, if the answer is no (pointing at daddy and asking "is this mommy?").  Yesterday he started clapping his hands while saying "aaaaaaayyyyy" which I assume means "yay" so that's something too! :)  He signs more, all done, please, open, bye bye, and we are working on "help me." Due to his stranger anxiety, we're waiting until the fall to start speech therapy. He started preschool a couple of weeks ago and is slowly adjusting. Hopefully being around other kids will help with speech as well, and once he's adjusted we'll get the therapist to come to school and do sessions there.


Food: Liam's definitely eating better now, though we've seemed to come to a standstill with progress. He drinks milk, drinks from a straw too, which is great! He eats a lot of pureed foods still.  Loves oatmeal, and fruit and veggies are only eaten pureed (Gerber pouches--but hey-at least he gets his fruit and veggies in). Solid foods include pizza, hotdogs, fish sticks, chicken nuggets, fries, buttered toast, grilled cheese sandwiches, and peanut butter sandwiches. Not too healthy, but we try to do veggie nuggets and turkey hot dog type of things. His favorite snacks are veggie straws, goldfish, and crackers. We're working on self-feeding now, which is a must. He needs to learn to feed himself not only finger foods (he self feeds snacks), but to eat with a fork and spoon as well.  The good news is that he's now able to eat with fewer distractions. He no longer needs the TV or the iPhone/iPad, but will eat with books or flashcards. 


Physical:  Last time we were at the doctor, Liam weighed about 30 lbs. We go in for his 2 year check up soon, so we'll know more. He did get tubes in his ears in April (not fun!!!) with hopes they'll help with speech and ear infections. Well, we haven't had an ear infection since April, but no change in speech. 

Getting ready for surgery

The iPad helped a lot!

Also related to physical, this past Friday Liam fell in school and knocked out one of his teeth. It was terrible and awful and gut wrenching. We had to go to the dentist, covered in blood, no less. She pulled out the very loose tooth and now my munchkin will be sans front tooth till the adult one grows in in about 5 years. 


Cognitive: Despite showing signs of Autism, like big brother, Liam's a smart cookie!!! He knows numbers, letters (in Hebrew and English), colors, animals, and shapes receptively (he'll point to the correct ones when asked). He knows what he wants and will make sure we know too, by dragging us to whatever it is and signing "please."  He also knows what he doesn't want and will shake his head vigorously when he doesn't want something. If we insist he'll (gently!) ease himself onto the floor into tantrum position and squeeze his eyes shut, then whine, and open one eye to see if anyone is paying attention. It's very cute!


And touching back on the Autism note, he's definitely "spectrum-y." He doesn't always answer to his name, has sensory issues like hating finger painting because it gets him messy (though noise is not an issue-he loves loud things!), and has terrible separation anxiety. He doesn't always play appropriately with toys--he'll line them up or move them in order from place to place. He doesn't follow a point, but will point at objects when asked to identify them.  Pretend play is not a strong suit either. But on the other hand, he makes great eye contact, is very very affectionate, and loves to be hugged, kissed, cuddled, tickled, etc. He also will come to us and make eye contact and want us to identify things. So he'll bring me Big Bird and will hold it in front of me and make great eye contact and hold it until I say "Big Bird."  At the end of the day the diagnosis is only important in that it will help get Liam the help and services he needs.  Feeding therapy (again), as well as OT and ST are definitely in his (near) future.

I hate finger painting!

But as I sit here and type this, he comes and gives me a quick hug, going back to play with his Yo Gabba Gabba toys and eating a snack.  Nothing out of the ordinary for a typical 2 year old! 

Chugging Along

There are so many things to share, I don't quite know where to begin. That's what I get for neglecting to blog for several months. Liam is making a lot of progress in many areas. He's eating much better! While non of the real solid foods that he eats are enough to constitute a meal, he's eating more of them to complement the purees, formula, yogurt, and soup that are his staples.  He'll now eat pizza, chicken nuggets, fries,  hot dogs, pretzels, crackers, pita chips, goldfish, cheerios, and anything else that is hard and crunchy and has flavor.  He'll sometimes eat a fruit bar or a piece of toast. No "real" fruit or veggies to speak of, but he gets those through purees, Gerbers, etc. He doesn't like sweets at all, which I suppose it's a good thing, but will make it harder to bribe him later! :)

Physically, he's right on par with little nuggets his age. He's running and climbing and going up and down stairs.  We recently got out a little slide that Coby had as a toddler, and then got a matching one for Safta's house because Liam wants to slide all day long!  We went to Chuck-E-Cheese a couple of times and he did a lot of sliding there too...as in, 50 or more times.  He loves to go to the park, but when we do, it's nothing buy swings for him.  He'll slide a couple of times and then take my hand and take me directly to the swings. And when it's time to go....It's the terrible 17 months that come out LOL.  Screaming and crying and just being...well...a toddler!

Liam's language has definitely seen a lot of improvements as well.  His receptive language is great! He understands commands and follows them most of the time, helps clean up, and knows his colors (as shown in the video below):



As far as speaking, we're not quite there yet, but boy, is he trying! A huge accomplishment for Liam is that he now imitates several sounds when we tell him to, which he wasn't doing before. He'll combine some sounds too, which is great.  He'll say "ah," "Esh," Grrrrrnnnnn," and "hahaha" when we tell him to.  He also likes to scream and yell a lot (in delight, not in anger).


He's become quite a little rebel, which I complain about, but actually really enjoy because it's just typical behavior! A few weeks ago Daddy taught Liam that it's lots of fun to stand outside, throw cheerios on the ground, and stomp on them.  Liam took that idea a step further, and is now doing that inside, and with goldfish too.  He also loves to crush crackers in his highchair. Lovely!  Today when we weren't watching he "took a bath" in the cat's water bowl.  Thought it was so funny!


Sleeping is getting better too! Our 2 mattresses on the floor plan works really well, and out of the last week or so he slept through the night for about 5-6 nights , and only woke up once.  I'm worried that he's getting night terrors because a couple of weeks ago he woke up one night screaming and inconsolable. But he was fine after about 20 minutes.  He had his eyes wide open but wasn't really seeing or hearing anything. It was pretty freaky!

We really have to work on stranger anxiety with Liam, though. That's an area which needs a lot of improvement. I'm so fortunate to have my mom here to watch Liam if we want to go out, but what about when the whole family wants to go out together? Babysittes have been out of the question for a while now. This is also why we had to stop all the therapy with Liam because he refused to cooperate and would just cry and cling on to me for the length of the session. And with me out of the room? Fuggetaboutit!  Well, Coby had a Christmas concert coming up.  A huge one, where he has a solo!  WTG COBY! But the whole family wanted to go and Liam is not exactly up to sitting quietly for 2 hours (two minutes???).  So we got a sitter and she was training for a while to get to know Liam. She came to the house or to Safta's house about once or twice a week and hung out with Liam to get him used to her. It didn't really work!!! He didn't want anything to do with her. So at the end, safta decided to stay home with Liam.  Coby did a fantastic job with his solo...the video is from far away (on my IPhone) but you can hear him really well!



Speaking of Coby, he's just an amazing 11 year old! He's turning into a young man, and I'm so proud of him! He's doing well in school, sings in the choir, and will start soccer in February.  He's come so far from being jealous when Liam was born!  Now Liam squeals with delight when he sees Coby, and they play together, and love one another so much.  Coby really wants Liam to talk and I'm pretty sure one of the first words Liam will say will be "Coby."

Progress

There is a light at the end of the tunnel!  After months of struggling with Liam and food, he's now starting to eat solid (non pureed) foods. I'm the only mom in the world who got giddy when her little boy ate a whole chicken nugget at McDonald's along with a couple of fries and a few spoonfulls of hot fudge sundae.  He also ate a half of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich yesterday, and some pizza today. The strange thing is that the only way he'll eat those things is if he's not in his high chair. This makes for some messy areas, but it's worth it. Though today he ate a few bites of pizza in the high chair at the restaurant. YAY! His main source of nutrition is still pureed foods, but hey-progress is progress.

Another area Liam is progressing in is his fine motor and play skills. He puts rings on a stacker, shapes in a sorter, and plays appropriately with toys. He even started building with blocks. While he doesn't like crowded places that are very loud, he enjoys new places. We went to Marbles Children's Museum yesterday and Liam had a blast! He ran around, played with the blocks and the trains, and loved the slide. When we go on playdates Liam does great parallel play, and even goes and grabs toys from his little friends (something which for now I see as a positive social interaction, as opposed to no interaction at all.)

We came to a standstill, though, with progress on sleeping through the night. This has been an ongoing struggle. A few weeks ago Liam got sick with a sinus infection, and because he was miserable and congested, we brought him to our bed for a few nights. What a mistake that was! Once he was better, Liam REFUSED to sleep in his crib. We'd rock him to sleep, and as soon as we put him in his crib he'd cry. This went on all night long. We were at a loss. So we finally decided to change things up....and got rid of the crib. We put the crib mattress on the floor in Liam's room, with a twin mattress right next to it. No more rocking to sleep. One of us lay lays down next to Liam until he falls asleep, and for now, if he wakes up (which he does still, 2-3 times a night), one of us sleeps next to him.  This is progress because it's at least in his room! In a week or so we'll start stage 2-which is going to sooth him if he cries but not staying in there with him.  Last night, by the time I got to his room when he cried he was already at his door (closed, but still!). Nevertheless, all of us getting a full night's sleep is SO much better than the alternative!!!

Yay for progress!!!