Fall seems to be approaching today, something about the crispness in the air and the quality of light in the midday sky. Finally, I am again joining the new pencils group: the people that return to teachers, desks and the smell of B.O. in a poorly lit room. Is there anything better?
Ha, well, to be honest I am in week two of my EMT course and it is absolutely awesome! I really love everything about this course. The teachers/captains are amazing and the practical saturdays (read hands on training) as well as the lectures are informative and exciting.
I had no idea I would like it this much, The other, more interesting thing is how much I enjoy having my very own "thing". I think after two years of my babies and their worries, their growth and development, surgeries and all, it feels good to "feed" myself something deliciously all mine.
I found myself telling some Mom friends that I liked being the "loose and easy" girl in class and not the mom...to which they laughed pretty hard saying that I may not want to be known for that :)
The truth is that I am just glad to have this, for me, for my future but also for the balance that it offers.
Eliot and Henry are doing well, Henry's vocabulary is growing exponentially every day. He makes me laugh daily and it seems that his toddler urge to "fight the power" has lessened ever so slightly. "You know what I doing, Mommy? I making some soup and some pizza. Caw-ful, is hot!" is a usual Henry-ism right now.
Eliot has been progressing in his vocab as well, albeit more slowly and much more deliberatly than his brother. I sometimes think that the fact the he has Henry as a model is so helpful. Besides, Eliot teaches Henry plenty: )
We are meeting with the ABA people today to discuss Eliot and we are going to try to line up all the ducks. So far, things are looking pretty good.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Holland is a land of intense paradox. It is quite impossible, but it is there. - M. E. W. Sherwood
We got the diagnosis. After a false start and a lot of well meaning people with the wrong answers, I finally feel as though we have the right one. Eliot was given the diagnosis of Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified ( PDD NOS ). It means that he has a form of Autism that they see in very high functioning people. We are strangely happy. The doctor related a poem/story about parents who find themselves faced with an Autism diagnosis for one of their children:
Becoming a parent is like preparing for a trip to Italy.
You find yourself getting excited about learning the language and you buy tons of phrase books to start learning.
You map routes and destinations to visit along the way, you learn about the cuisine and decide on places to eat.
You learn so much about Italy and then you are in the plane on your way there.
Suddenly the pilot comes on to say, "Welcome to Holland".
I understood what the doctor was trying to say, that Holland (child with Autism) is still a unique and lovely place to visit but it is unlike Italy and what you had prepared for.
For us, I told her it was more like:
We have been flying in the fog for months, we keep landing in unfamiliar places that just don't seem to agree with us.
We keep having to fly around and find out what direction we should be going!
Panicked and exhausted, the pilot comes on and says, "Welcome to Holland!" and we are so relieved!
We sort of suspected that we may have been circling the Netherlands for some time.
The Doctor laughed, but I think she got a feel for what Matt and I have been going through. Now that we have this diagnosis I am eager to get Eliot all the services we can. Our EI person will continue to see us and we will just be adding on. We will be getting an ABA therapist as well as a Speech Pathologist to help Eliot with social pragmatics ( I had to look that one up)
I feel that someone has finally seen what we see, I want to capitalize on all of it. The more help we can provide Eliot with, the better.
Next week, I start my course and that will also be a n adjustment period for the family. I think it will be difficult to adjust to a few nights of Mom away, but I know that everyone will eventually learn to adjust. There is a lot going on for our family and I am feeling as though we are reaching new places.
I want to be strong enough to do it all and to be it all, I am hoping that I will find all of that, digging in a bit and pushing forward.
Becoming a parent is like preparing for a trip to Italy.
You find yourself getting excited about learning the language and you buy tons of phrase books to start learning.
You map routes and destinations to visit along the way, you learn about the cuisine and decide on places to eat.
You learn so much about Italy and then you are in the plane on your way there.
Suddenly the pilot comes on to say, "Welcome to Holland".
I understood what the doctor was trying to say, that Holland (child with Autism) is still a unique and lovely place to visit but it is unlike Italy and what you had prepared for.
For us, I told her it was more like:
We have been flying in the fog for months, we keep landing in unfamiliar places that just don't seem to agree with us.
We keep having to fly around and find out what direction we should be going!
Panicked and exhausted, the pilot comes on and says, "Welcome to Holland!" and we are so relieved!
We sort of suspected that we may have been circling the Netherlands for some time.
The Doctor laughed, but I think she got a feel for what Matt and I have been going through. Now that we have this diagnosis I am eager to get Eliot all the services we can. Our EI person will continue to see us and we will just be adding on. We will be getting an ABA therapist as well as a Speech Pathologist to help Eliot with social pragmatics ( I had to look that one up)
I feel that someone has finally seen what we see, I want to capitalize on all of it. The more help we can provide Eliot with, the better.
Next week, I start my course and that will also be a n adjustment period for the family. I think it will be difficult to adjust to a few nights of Mom away, but I know that everyone will eventually learn to adjust. There is a lot going on for our family and I am feeling as though we are reaching new places.
I want to be strong enough to do it all and to be it all, I am hoping that I will find all of that, digging in a bit and pushing forward.
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