Mama Turns 25

This week, I turned 25!

We had to celebrate most of it before because my birthday fell on a Tuesday, which as you know means busy busy bees.

To cheer me up after news of Butters, Michael gave me my present early--a Nook Color, a tablet made by Barnes and Noble where you can read books and play games and get on the internet. I didn't know how I would feel about an e-reader because I am the kind of person that loves the experience of physically reading a book, but I am actually really loving it. There are lots of free books, mostly classics but there are some good contemporary ones too.

Saturday night, my friends Beth, David, Sara and Jason, and Sarah took me out for a fun night. We went to Freebirds, which is my favorite. I always get the spicy carnitas because they are so tasty, but now they have this poblano salsa that is fabulous--a little sweet, a bit of kick..it's great.

After dinner, we went and saw "Snow White and the Hunstman". It was really good. I wouldn't think that I would like Kristen Stewart after "Twilight", but she wasn't bad if you ignore her complete inability to close her mouth. The love interest was Chris Hemsworth (Thor)...and you can't help but thinking that Kristen, lovely as she is, is batting way out of her league. I half expected the enchanted mirror to tell Charlize Theron that the Huntsman was the fairest in the land.

Sunday, Rhonda and Ken had a party for me at their house. We got Buffalo Wild Wings--I got Hot and Garlic Parmesan, but they also had honey bbq, jammin jalopeno, and Asian zing. For dessert, we had a giant chocolate cake. It was a lot of fun, despite Gabriel's many escape attempts.

Tuesday comes around and starts as all our Tuesdays do: Occupational Therapy with Erin. She is working on Gabe's fine motor skills right now, mostly putting beads on pipe cleaners and drawing horizontal and vertical lines, stretching putty, things like that. Ken came shortly after to pick Emerald up and take her to Grannymom's house, which was good because Michael had wanted to go to the doctor's appointment but would likely have to keep the other kids while just Gabe and I went. With just the boys, we were both able to go to see the developmental pediatrician.

One of the rewards for completing the summer reading list was a coupon for a free kid's meal at Applebee's, so for lunch Michael took us there. Gabriel got chicken tenders and French fries, Ben picking at everyone else's dinner. Michael got the wonton tacos and a quesadilla burger, and I got a small shrimp and spinach salad and three cheese chicken penne. We normally avoid restaurants with the kids because Gabriel doesn't like crowds or noise or anything, but it was quiet and calm while we were there and it went exceedingly well.

At 1 we had our 6 month check up with Dr. Rogers, the developmental pediatrician. She is not the primary doctor for Gabriel, she just sees him for managing his development and autism traits. Our biggest concern was obviously the pitiful lack of sleep we are currently suffering from.

Dr. Rogers noted that we are shooting for around six to seven hours a night, which sounds pretty heavenly to  me and Michael--right now, we are getting woken several times a night, frequently staying up through the night.

She doubled his dose of clonidine from 1 mL a night to 2 mL a night, 1 mL at the onset and another 1 if he wakes in the middle of the night. So far, it has worked quite well. He is falling asleep around 9.30 every night and will generally stay asleep until 7 or so in the morning. It is a much preferable situation.

We also discussed our distress at lack of progress despite PPCD and therapies. Sure, there is minimal improvement, but he is still not talking or showing interest in potty training and still eats anything he can get his hands on. The doctor was not concerned, assuring us that it would take an entire year of PPCD before we saw significant change. She said that his tummy distress was likely from difficulty digesting fructose, the simple sugars found in fruits and juices. If we dilute his juice and cut back on his intake, we will see less issues in the future.

Finally, she recommended giving him a multivitamin to compensate for his dislike of milk and vegetables.

From the doctor's office, we left to pick up Emerald from Grannymom's house. They had a wonderful time together, doing exercises, making mudpies, and eating pistachio ice cream. A quick trip to the grocery store to stock up on essentials, and we are finally back home!

For an hour and a half. We got home near 4 and had to head back out at 5.30 to pick up Gabriel's medicine and drop Gabriel and me off for our Autism Treatment Study at 6.

This is the second time we have gone to the study to help the doctoral student work on her dissertation. This time we are in small groups, they have students playing with the kids while they talk to us about Child Directed Interaction (CDI), the focus of behavior modification in this study. We discussed the PRIDE skills--Praise, Repeat, Imitate, Describe, Enthusiasm--as well as what to avoid during these child-directed play times such as commands, questions, and anger. Ignore the negative behavior, end playtime if they get violent, but other than that you follow the child's lead.

It is all pretty straight forward stuff, though not asking questions is exceedingly difficult. We role-played to practice the skills, then were instructed to practice the skills throughout the week.

Beth has been helping me by following the same verbal rules, but it cracks us up because we sound like a storybook. "Gaby wants to go. Gaby wants to go on the swing. Gaby is swinging on the swing." It is so stilted and unnatural, but we are putting forth honest effort for the sake of the study.

And just like that, my birthday was over. It was a good one, I was pleased--it was nice that we had a good day in this week. Because of his general rowdiness, Gabe and I were asked to leave story time at the library, and Emerald screamed bloody murder when we took her out afterwards. At night, there have been lots of thunderstorms, which is so very nice. It has been up and down for us the last few days.

--Andie