Hello Floor. Meet Nose.

Life with boys is interesting at best and frustrating at worst. Boys are rough, tough, and very active. I'm finding it not easy to relate to their little world. The bright spot is, having a little brother when you have autism is a blessing. Casey will not give up on his older brother when it comes to playing. He adapts to Wes' playing habits and that's not always a good thing.

It was a busy morning Saturday. We were planning on trying to get rid of some old stuff in a yard sale. That didn't go so well. While we were cleaning up, Casey was trying to get in his brothers face and Wes was not happy. He shoved Casey hard and Casey's poor little face met the hardwood floor hard. He immediately started screaming which was a good sign. I scooped him up and noticed his little nose was already showing signs of swelling and broken blood vessels. It was slightly bleeding, but not gushing. Off to Urgent Care we go!

We had no time to prep Wes for what was happening so I should have known what was ahead of us. He was MAD! He threw a huge meltdown outside while Tim was trying to get him out of the car. Meanwhile, I was running in with Casey who seemed too calm for someone who smashed his nose on the floor.

Two and a half hours later and about 4 meltdowns, no broken nose. Just very badly bruised. My poor little man. Do you think that he learned his lesson? Nope. While in the waiting room, he started on his brother, nearly hitting his face again.

When parent's have boys, you should be able to keep a running tab at the Emergency room.

It's been too long

Wow, I've certainly neglected this blog. It wasn't my intention, but you know how life can be. You get so caught up that you forget the little things.

Life has been eventful in the last couple months, I'm not sure where to start..

The milk free diet has been going well. It's still in the infancy stage in terms of finding foods that not only he will eat, but that are dairy free too. Sometimes, when planning meals for the week, we forget to check our normal menus to make sure they are dairy free or can be prepared dairy free. We have not found a milk substitute that he will drink at meals. He will not drink soy, almond, or rice milk, that's any flavor. He will drink his EO-28 Splash so that is helping him with calcium and vitamin D. Wes has had a follow up with the gastro this past week and he was surprised and very pleased that the diet has worked so well with his constipation. We are pleased as well.

Wes' behavior has not gotten any better in the last few months either. It's progressively gotten worse. He can no longer tolerate any changes, even those he's been prepared for. Transitions are, once again, very difficult for him. We've gone back to PECS all the time as well as reinforcers to help him get over the rough times. The school consultant also recommended buying the handheld version of the V-Smile that he can work towards when we're out and about and he's having a hard time. So far, it's working, but we still have issues.

Casey has been following in his older brothers footsteps. His behavior has been pretty bad lately too. I know he's just trying to get attention because we've been so focused on Wes' behavior and correcting that. I set aside some time during the week for just he and I to do special things. We go to the library to read books, visit a park we don't normally go to, and have special treats. He will be starting preschool in the fall as well, so that should help a lot. He really loves to play with other kids and we don't go on playdates because they are just too difficult.

Wes will be starting his summer program next week and I've included a playgroup two days a week for him. It's a social skills playgroup. They are ABA trained and will include mainstreamed kids. He's on the cusp of wanting to join in with other kids. He just needs to learn the skills to get him over that first hurdle.

For the moment, that's all.