broken bones

Maya's kimono sweater. I love how easy the pattern was and I think I will whip up another with some other yarn I have.

First pair of baby booties.

Second pair with a yarn I LOVE (Malabrigo 100% merino)

Matching hat

I also made an olive/burgundy baby blanket and I started a burgundy baby sweater.

I also have this lovely organic merino wool waiting to be knit.

But it may be a while before I can knit because I fell on some ice on Tuesday and I broke my left arm in 3 places. I spent the day and most of the night in the hospital having the baby checked and then getting surgery (awake with a nerve block b/c of pregnancy). I guess I am lucky it was my left arm since I can still do some things. The kids are freaked out and giving dad a very hard time when he has to do something I would usually do. Both are having a hard time sleeping. My arm should heal up by the time the baby is due. sigh.

Big Kid Cup

Sam got this cup in his stocking this year. I decided it was important for him to have a more age appropriate cup to take to school or out in the community. It is not that I want to "hide" his autism, that is pretty much impossible due to the constant stims and noises, I just don't think he should use sippy cups forever. He CAN drink from a regular cup but he has to be very closely supervised. He is so stimmy with his hands that the cup often gets knocked over. Also, he has a bit of an obsession with how he "releases" objects. He doesn't place things down gently, he has to release quickly so that they fall a little - not always good with an open cup. Sport water bottles are not good because he loves to let those drop as well and they make a bog mess. He gets a kick out of water dripping on the floor or on himself. This cup has been almost perfect. It doesn't leak in his bag and it doesn't leak when he "drops" it. He figured out the bite valve with no trouble. It is age appropriate (I have one myself but it doesn't have the cool pictures on it). The only issues with it is that, as with everything, Sam had figured out how to stim with it. He holds the spout/bite valve with his teeth and walks around flapping his arms and making his stimmy noise. I take the cup aways as soon as he starts that so hopefully we can defeat this behavior before he ruins the spout. Overall, this big kid cup was a great buy.

A note from the teacher

I got this email from Sam's teacher today:

Hello
I just wanted to reach out to you and tell you how well Sam has been doing lately. He recently has shown an interest in two of his peers (_______ and _______). He will get in their face and smile or he will pull on their shirt. It's very cute! After he gets a reaction from them, he has a big smile on his face.
Have a great day!!


This fits with what Sam seems to have been trying with his sister as well. I also caught him looking over at his babysitter's son the other day and flapping his hands like he was excited. He saw the son playing with a friend and he looked like this tiny little part of him deep down inside wanted to join in but he had no idea what to do.

Moments of Normal

Every so often it is possible to look at what is going on in our house and not notice anything about Autism. Sam has recently figured out how to play chase with his little sister. Unfortunately the way her asks her is to walk up to her, pinch her and run away but it often does the trick and the two of them circle the house in a chorus of laugher. Sam has also started to realize that he can chase Maya too (much to her delight). He doesn't like the game as much that way but with a little nudge from me, he can sometimes be persuaded. Add dad to the mix and both kids are in total ecstasy. They both get to run away and to be tickled. Maya insists that dad yell "yar!" as he chases them (she associates this sound with dinosaurs and pirates). There is very little else they would choose over this game. When they are running and laughing together, you hardly notice Sam isn't really using any clear language. It is all squeals and laughs from everyone involved.

The new trampoline was a hit. I got an adult "jogging" trampoline this time which will be much harder to break.

Christmas was horrible - really one of the worst days in a very long time. Sam frantically stimmed all day long and destroyed books after book. He seemed distressed at his inability to stop but he just couldn't turn off. Eventually I packed the books all away upstairs in Maya's room. Her room has a gate we have to keep closed so Sam can't get at them. I am going to have to try to figure out ways to steal a few minutes alone with Maya to read from time to time.

The rest of the week was better. I was off of work and Sam and Maya were home with me. With the help of increases in meds, Sam was able to relax a little and he seemed a bit happier. I a relunctant to say the meds are working because it seems that as soon as I draw a conclusion about something, Sam's brain regresses back and I have to re-evaluate. He has had a good week at school so far so that is nice.

I am starting to get some of the fun symptoms of a pregnancy in the third trimester. I am tired most of the time (although I guess I am lucky the fatigue really didn't kick in until now. Previous tired spells for me were clearly linked to sleep problems with the kids). My hips bones ACHE. THe ache makes it tough to sleep and tough to get comfortable during the day. I consider myself lucky that I haven't gained a ton of weight in any of my pregnancies so while my belly feel big, the rest of me hasn't blown up too much and I can still get around well. I also have never had trouble with leg or foot swelling.

I am shocked sometimes to realize how close I am to having three children. I feel like I have barely had time to think about this pregnancy. I didn;t find out the gender this time. People ask if I am curious but I haven't spent a lot of time thinking about it. I don't want it to sound like I don't care, I just mean that it hasn't been something I have obsessed over because I have been too busy. For months Maya insisted she was having a sister "like Maya". But now she is demanding a brother.