So in our house we call Peter's pacifier his "nuky"...it's one of those baby talk things that I vowed to never use, but things sure do change. Some people use the word "binkie" or "plug".
Anyways, since Peter will be 3 in May he only gets his nuky at bedtime. Otherwise he has to sit in his bed if he wants it during the daytime. Sometimes he tries to be sneaky by playing "sleeping" on the living room floor--he brings out blankets, pillows, stuffed animals, etc and lays down. He has started bringing his nuky out and carries it behind his back as if we wouldn't notice this. Last night it was about 6:30pm and we were watching Wheel of Fortune (Peter's favorite). He began to get a little whiney and went and got his nuky. He stuck it in his mouth and right when I was beginning to noticably look at him, he took it out of his mouth all quick-like and pulled the band on his sweat pants. He dropped it down his pants into his pant leg...on PURPOSE! Then he very proudly said "All gone!"
Now I was trying not to laugh because as a parent I am supposed to keep a straight face, right? He walked around a little bit, then said "Stuck". I agreed with him but didn't help him. I repeated "All gone". After watching him struggle, fall over, push and pull I told him to pull his pants down. (I was really just seeing if he could listen to this command) He stopped, pulled down his pants to his ankles and of course the nuky was revealed! Right away he said "Found it!" and "Got it!". He was pretty darn proud of himself. He pulled his pants up and very sure of himself he put that damn thing back in his mouth. Ick! But I have to pick my battles...
Do you think he's ready for potty training?
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Play ball!
It was finally nice enough to play at the park this past weekend...It was a bit cold but there was very little wind. :D Peter is a lefty just like his Momma!
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Oops
Our cat, Charlie ate our fish, Bernie. RIP little guy. :( (I didn't really feel like moving our fish tank holding one little guppie anyways!)
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
What we know for sure...
Wow. What a long couple of weeks. This has literally been my first opportunity to update the blog. We have been driving, working a retreat, going to appointments, driving, driving, planning, sleeping and on and on and on...
We are physically, emotionally & mentally exhausted.
Ben's job interview up in East Grand Forks went really well. We are still waiting to hear on that.
I accepted the job I was offered by BBI Biofuels-Media, located in Grand Forks, ND. I will be working with 6 websites and 6 magazines operated by this company. I begin on Monday, June 23rd. I am thrilled!
Peter underwent many observations and tests in the past week at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. He did fantastic and handled things extremely well. This past Thursday we had a conference with the doctor and he diagnosed Peter with having an Autism Spectrum Disorder. On the spectrum, Peter falls somewhere in the middle and the correct name for this is Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS). This is what we expected to hear so it's not too shocking at this point. Most kids that are Autistic have this label. Educationally speaking, there are 2 ways to be labeled: Autistic or Not Autistic. It is only in the medical field that they try to pinpoint where exactly an individual lies on the spectrum. There are 5 different disorders, Peter's being PDD-NOS. The prognosis is good. With extremely intense intervention, there is a possibility that he could be mainstreamed into a regular classroom by kindergarten. Only time will tell. The doctor suggested 20-40 hours a week of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy. This is hard to come by because the demand is high. Because it is a 1 to 1 approach there are always long waiting lists. We have already contacted the school system and professionals in East Grand Forks that will be handling our case. As we receive more information I will post it here. Please pray that we receive the most help possible, especially in a timely manner! Most likely, Peter will have a combinaton of some ABA therapy, an aide in a classroom/daycare setting, private OT, PT & Speech. It has been a long road thus far and it is only getting longer...but he is worth every single second. :D We also met with Genetics. Ben, Peter & I will be going back to have another meeting with them on May 9th. What we know so far is that if we decide to have more children, there is a very high likelihood that they will have a disorder as well. So we will be keeping this in our prayers too. Obviously we will be making decisions about this much later. I think I've covered most things regarding Peter. If anyone has any questions, please don't hesitate to shoot us an email. We are very willing to share our situation with our friends and family. Sometimes it's hard to keep track of who we have told what to so just let us know if you'd like any more information. The more people we have acting as advocates for Peter, the better. :D We are firm believers that knowledge is power.
On Monday after our appointments, Peter and I drove my mom from Rochester to St. Paul to the train station. We stopped at the Mall of America & Nickelodeon Universe to kill some time. I have added a few photos. We also had dinner at The Rainforest Cafe. It was a lot of fun. Peter had a little bit of sensory overload during the entire experience but he had a lot of fun too. We try to push his limits little by little. The funniest thing is that he didn't want to ride any of the little itty-bitty kid rides, he wanted to ride the Ferris Wheel (the largest thing in the whole mall!). It was great!
Thanks for all the love and support! Peter has come very far in the past couple of years since the start of his intervention. The doctors at Mayo are very impressed with his numbers and such. None of it would be possible without all of you! God Bless.
We are physically, emotionally & mentally exhausted.
Ben's job interview up in East Grand Forks went really well. We are still waiting to hear on that.
I accepted the job I was offered by BBI Biofuels-Media, located in Grand Forks, ND. I will be working with 6 websites and 6 magazines operated by this company. I begin on Monday, June 23rd. I am thrilled!
Peter underwent many observations and tests in the past week at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. He did fantastic and handled things extremely well. This past Thursday we had a conference with the doctor and he diagnosed Peter with having an Autism Spectrum Disorder. On the spectrum, Peter falls somewhere in the middle and the correct name for this is Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS). This is what we expected to hear so it's not too shocking at this point. Most kids that are Autistic have this label. Educationally speaking, there are 2 ways to be labeled: Autistic or Not Autistic. It is only in the medical field that they try to pinpoint where exactly an individual lies on the spectrum. There are 5 different disorders, Peter's being PDD-NOS. The prognosis is good. With extremely intense intervention, there is a possibility that he could be mainstreamed into a regular classroom by kindergarten. Only time will tell. The doctor suggested 20-40 hours a week of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy. This is hard to come by because the demand is high. Because it is a 1 to 1 approach there are always long waiting lists. We have already contacted the school system and professionals in East Grand Forks that will be handling our case. As we receive more information I will post it here. Please pray that we receive the most help possible, especially in a timely manner! Most likely, Peter will have a combinaton of some ABA therapy, an aide in a classroom/daycare setting, private OT, PT & Speech. It has been a long road thus far and it is only getting longer...but he is worth every single second. :D We also met with Genetics. Ben, Peter & I will be going back to have another meeting with them on May 9th. What we know so far is that if we decide to have more children, there is a very high likelihood that they will have a disorder as well. So we will be keeping this in our prayers too. Obviously we will be making decisions about this much later. I think I've covered most things regarding Peter. If anyone has any questions, please don't hesitate to shoot us an email. We are very willing to share our situation with our friends and family. Sometimes it's hard to keep track of who we have told what to so just let us know if you'd like any more information. The more people we have acting as advocates for Peter, the better. :D We are firm believers that knowledge is power.
On Monday after our appointments, Peter and I drove my mom from Rochester to St. Paul to the train station. We stopped at the Mall of America & Nickelodeon Universe to kill some time. I have added a few photos. We also had dinner at The Rainforest Cafe. It was a lot of fun. Peter had a little bit of sensory overload during the entire experience but he had a lot of fun too. We try to push his limits little by little. The funniest thing is that he didn't want to ride any of the little itty-bitty kid rides, he wanted to ride the Ferris Wheel (the largest thing in the whole mall!). It was great!
Thanks for all the love and support! Peter has come very far in the past couple of years since the start of his intervention. The doctors at Mayo are very impressed with his numbers and such. None of it would be possible without all of you! God Bless.
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Crazy Day...
Today has been nuts. This morning my mom and I took Peter to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester for more testing regarding his Autism diagnosis. The doctors and nurses are very nice and very thorough. We are excited to have the final "conference" tomorrow with the whole team of people. They will reveal their findings and give us a prognosis for the near future. At the same time we are nervous because it's never easy to hear the truth in such a raw fashion. Since Ben is not able to be with us (teaching and a job interview in EGF: Yea!) he will be on conference call, as well as the special ed teacher from Mankato. I will keep this blog updated with the latest news...
After a long and stressful day, I ended up with some great news! I was offered a job at the company in GF that I interviewed with 3 weeks ago. I am very thrilled and will hopefully begin the middle of June, after our move. I don't want to post too many details right now because I still have to finalize some things...I will keep you posted on that as well!
I must say "goodnight" for now as we have a very long day ahead of us tomorrow. Keep us in your prayers as we forge ahead. Thanks!
After a long and stressful day, I ended up with some great news! I was offered a job at the company in GF that I interviewed with 3 weeks ago. I am very thrilled and will hopefully begin the middle of June, after our move. I don't want to post too many details right now because I still have to finalize some things...I will keep you posted on that as well!
I must say "goodnight" for now as we have a very long day ahead of us tomorrow. Keep us in your prayers as we forge ahead. Thanks!
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