Tomorrow, a new week starts

Last week felt kind of "hard" in this house with Liam and his potty accidents, the three kids with runny noses, Dusya with her five days of low-grade fever, Dusya crying a lot, Liam wanting people to draw for him all the time, Tony jumping around the house, Dusya waking up at night, cold weather, last minute changes in the schedule, etc, etc. 

There are times when I look at my kids and they may look like they are going backwards -- specially when we are doing some strong clearings in their bodies ... In those moments, I choose to believe that Liam's accidents, Dusya's crying, Tony's jumping are all TEMPORARY. They will go away. I think the Universe and God sometimes want to remind us that this is a journey and that we need to live in the PRESENT. Antonion and I tend to project in the future that day when the kids are ready to go to school and Antonio and I will have an empty house from 8am to 3pm like all other parents have. Can you imagine that day? All kids having friends and enjoying their time at school. The silence in the house :) And then 3 kids coming back to school at 3pm.

The reality is that we are not there, YET, so it is more helpful to focus on the PRESENT and to tell myself: "Today, I will draw for Liam and share that love he has for all the fascinating vehicles in the world". "Today, I will relax when Duch cries and will show her that she can get so many more things done when she chooses to be happy." "Today, I will admire Tony's energy as he jumps around the house considering that this is the boy who had a shorter leg and that leg is actually growing and catching up the longer leg."

The key is also to sleep as much as I can.  The more I sleep, the calmer I am :)  All this to say that there will always be some days when the kids don't look too happy to play. On those days, and really every day, renew your intention of going to the playroom with them: "Today, I will have as much fun as possible" and then go into the playroom, and have fun :)

Speaking about balloons!

Take a look at this video and posting from Son-Rise about how to use toys in the most creative ways!



http://blog.autismtreatmentcenter.org/2011/01/balloons-away.html

Notes from my last consultation with Megan on Feb 3rd

I talked to Megan last week. I told her that Liam was really focused on people drawing to him. Here is what Megan said:

1) If Liam wakes up at 5:30am and the first thing he asks for is a marker for me to draw, that really means that he needs the drawing for whatever reason it is. It may feel safe for him. It is predictable. He is in control. It feels good. He is taking care of himself. He likes the visual stimulation. For whatever reason it is, he wants us to share the drawing with him, so Megan said to do whatever he wants us to do. She reminded me that he will be flexible again and then we can try variations and new games, but she said that when he looks inflexible, we should not fight it, but embrace it. If he needs it, we give it to him because we love his drawing interests. So, ladies, let's continue embracing this drawing phase that Liam is in. The more he gets teh drawing the way HE wants it, the more he will be ready to let go and change the game the way WE want it. But first, he needs to feel in control and be sure that we like what he likes.

2) About the throwing things from the balcony, Megan said, we should not react in an alarming way, but just tell him: "hey, remember, we don't throw things over the balcony". We can also explain to him that it is not safe and that there is a difference between a hard toy and a soft toy. She said we should throw lots of soft toys in teh playroom with him.

3) Megan thinks that right now Liam is interested in "visual stimulation" and that may be why he likes the drawing and the throwing. Some ideas he gave us are:
- hang party streamers from teh cealing
- play with pompoms and batons
- maybe a remote control helicopter
- water guns
- spray bottles
- balloons flying like rockets or like balls
- bubbles

I did get balloons and a helium tank and Liam had a lot of fun with Ashley blowing balloons and letting them go. Also, when we ran out of helium, we just blew the balloons ourselves and he loves when teh balloons fly away. We also put stickers on balloons. I want to hang balloons upside down from the cealing, so I am hoping some of you can help me with that project this week.  I also have party streamers to hang from his cealing. And, I have bottles of bubbles, too. Keep thinking of visual things that Liam could like. I know he loved to play with teh colored scarves with Kenia, too.

Here are some pictures of Liam throwing leaves in the backyard!

Our Tony is liking school!

A quick update on Tony: He is liking going to school. God knows that for us that is the only thing that matters :) That, and he enjoying other kids, which he is also doing. I have met with his teacher and Tony is learning the routines and having fun. He even told me he wants to be a teacher! Of course, most of the time he wants to be an astronaut. And, he told me he wants to play "school" at home with his toys! Wow, what a difference!!! He is struggling a bit in PE, music, and library because he seems to think he can do whatever he wants in those classes, but that's ok. I am sure he will learn the routine of those classes, too. Hurray for our little kindergarten boy!

Our January Outreach with Megan

January was so busy that I did not get to publish our top 10 learnings from our outreach until now! Here is the list:

1. Don't match the energy level of Duch or Liam when playing with them. You set up your own energy level with lots of energy, excitement and enthusiasm!
2. Duchis' tent does not have a blanket anymore and we will stay outside and "join" her when necessary by creating our own game while she creates her game with the puppets in the tent. I loved seeing Megan playing "hot potato" and "Cootie" with the Barbies and seeing Duchis come out of the tent to play, too.
3. Use Liam's board in new creative ways. It was fun to see Megan draw a firefighter scene on the board while pretending to be a firefighter.
4. Don't expect less from Liam. He can do it. If Duchis has come this far, Liam will, too. The sky is the limit for both of them.
5. Be aware of Liam's eye contact when playing. He is not always looking at us when talking to us. Stop and tell him "Liam, are you talking to me?" or "Liam, if you look at me, I know you are talking to me" or "I need eye power to do  .... ", or just point to your eyes without saying anything.
6. Now that the attention span of the two kids is SOOOO much higher (Duchis was in Level 5 and Liam was in Level 4 during Megan's sessions!!!), our next emphasis is FLEXIBILITY with both kids. "It is ok if I don't get what I want all the time"
7. Duch is ready for board games with more "rules". Show them to her like it is the most amazing game in teh world.
8. Enter the room and start selling your game idea right away to the kids. Don't give it up too early and mix it up with whatever they propose to you.
9. Celebrate them a lot for all they are doing!
10. I will show videos of each other in our next group meeting.

Enjoy our group meeting pictures!

Some pictures of January games

Here is a little sample of games you guys have played with Liam and Duch this month. Enjoy!

Liam writing with Mary just supporting his arm a little

Liam building with Shelby

Duchis doing Valentine decorations

Duchis playing fishergirl with the big pool

Duchis and her castle

Duchis playing dress-up with Ashley

Great story from Cara about Duchis in OT

A note I got from Cara on January 6, 2011:

"Dusya had a great day today. She accepted a new and very challenging ball game in the swing room and was very talkative all day. She also accomplished one of HER "goals" she's been working on since before Christmas. In a cabinet in the fine motor room I have two boxes of sensory toys. One is full of light up spinning toys including a Christmas snow scene that really snows. Another is a box of wiggly balls she's always loved. Earlier this week she finally figured out how to ask for the wiggly balls and we bargained balls for fine motor work. But what she really wanted was the snow toy. She's asked for it several ways that weren't specific enough ("I want that" --pointing to box + saying "It's snowing"). Today she went to the cabinet and tried several unsuccessful requests then told me "I want to climb". I told her "go ahead." She tried for a while then grabbed my hand and pulled me to the cabinet. I stood there waiting for her to communicate and I could tell she was getting frustrated so I prompted "If you need help, you can say "I need help"". She tried several versions of that and I responded with "You need help with what? I would love to help you, tell me what you need, etc" Until she finally said "I need help climbing up there" + pointed to teh cabinet/counter at which point I helped her up and she got the toys she's wanted for almost a month. I am so proud of her."

- Cara.

That same day, I also got a second note from Cara with this drawing:
"Dusya made this on 1/6/11 with only Ms. Cara's finger touching her hand. She wrote Cookie with only about 15% help. I am so proud of Dusya!"