ISam

I started this post at 4 this morning after yet another sleepless night. For some reason, the magic cocktail that had Sam sleeping for the majority of the night stopped working a couple of days ago. But that is the subject of another post.

When I saw that Sam was number 19 on a list of 20 at the Mission Ipossible site, I really thought it would be a year or more before enough funds were raised to purchase his ipad. What has happened over the past few months has been amazing to watch.


I got an email from Ken, one of the people in charge of Mission Ipossible, earlier in the week letting me know that Sam's ipad was on the way. Since I am a teacher, I was home for the Jewish New Year and I was able to watch for the mail. Friday at 11, this box was on my front step. My mailman was a little lax with the signature required issue (although to be be fair he could probably hear the dog going nuts and me yelling at her so he knew I was home).





Is that the most neatly wrapped box you have ever seen?


I started to open it up while Sam was with one of his home therapists. I had to move from place to place as I opened because I knew Maya would go bananas when she realized what was inside. To my surprise, as I pulled apart the layers of bubble wrap, I found a bag of little toys and this little guy. That's a Dream Date Gonzo in case you can't tell (What are you trying to say, Ken? ).

Then I pulled out this:

Seriously, the wrapping job was amazing. Neat tape, perfect corners, no wrinkles. I distracted Sam when therapy was over by leaving the shipping box out. This is Sam balancing it on the edge of the table. He is gearing up to watch it drop again and again and again and again. . . . .

I left the bubble wrap on the floor to see how long it would take the kids to discover it.

30 seconds.

WHile they popped bubbles I took a look at this. I didn't try to get Sam to unwrap it. He CAN rip paper but he doesn't understand the meaning of a present and won't attend to the task.Over the course of the afternoon I set up the ipad with simple apps. One of Sam's home therapists has her own and so I already knew a few things that were worth getting. Maya ended up being the first to play with it because there was a crazy 3 kids yelling at me all at once moment and it gave her something to do for a while.

Sam didn't really "get" it when I showed him that we have our own ipad now. I felt a tiny twinge of jealousy each time I read an "i" post detailing a kid's enthusiasm over the new device. For us this is going to be a way to try to focus his attention and, hopefully, communicate. I would LOVE it if Sam could develop some recreation skills but I think it is unlikely. WHen I sit him down, Sam can do simple shape puzzles and discrete trial programs. We are working up to investing in the big guns - Proloquo2go. What is amazing is that the kid who had to be taught to point with his pointer finger in early intervention understood the concept of the touch screen right away.

Is this an instant game changer for Sam? No. But I see a lot of possibilities (Ipossibilities? Too corny?) The ipad is an amazing teaching tool that will allow us to work where ever we are without lugging tons of supplies. Hopefully, once we get speech software and Sam is able to hear the ipad speak for him he will find that motivating and appreciate it even more.

I am trying not to drip my wet hair on the ipad.

Here is Sam doing a shape puzzle ( no pieces to throw or eat!!!):

Here he is doing a discrete trial program for color identification (bonus-no flashcards for Sam to fold and chew):

My deep heartfelt thanks to the people at Mission Ipossible and the community of donors without whom this gift would not have been posisble.

Recent Projects, Baby Hannah, and Sam with Water

I recently made Maya two skirts using an Oliver and S free pattern. You can make your own using these very EASY directions:http://www.oliverands.com/blog/2008/08/lazy-days-skirt-free-pattern.html

The bottom skirt is made from a great remnant I got at the fabric store and some pretty blue ribbon. The top one is polka dot Riley Blake fabric with ric rac trim. Maya LOVES them and has worn them every day this week. I think I will need to make a few more soon. SHe calls them her big girl skirts and tell me she is going to wear them to school.

The project below is a knit necklace I made my sister for her birthday. The kit is from Jimmy Beans Wool (http://www.jimmybeanswool.com/). the yarn is a beautiful silk/merino blens and the tiny beads are glass. I designed some simple earrings to go with it to make a nice set. I hope they wear well.

We have been adjusting to life with three children. Hannah is a pretty easy going baby as long as mommy is in sight. She does not get through the night without nursing a few times but I don't really mind. She goes to bed in her crib and then after her first wake-up she sleeps with me. She is growing FAST. At five months she was 17 lbs 6 oz. Since she was born earlier in the year than Maya and she is growing faster my goal of trying to only re-use Maya's clothes is not going to work out (I got her a few things of her own at first but I was hoping to limit the shoppingas much as possible). I caved and bought her more short sleeve items to last into the early fall. There she is on my lap.

Maya loves to be a big sister but she has some jealousy to manage. She also wants desperately to play with Hannah and finds it hard to be gentle. She is not displaying anything out of the normal range of sibling adjustment. Whenever I take a picture of Hannah, Maya wants in on the action.

Sam loves water as much as he did last year. He has a water table on the deck which I fill a few times a day. He has various items thathe dunks and then lines up on the table or the railing. He also has Mega Blocks (like large legos) that he lines up on the table upside down. THen he sucks up a mouthful of water and fills each block to the brim. Then he knocks them off the table and repeats. The only problem with the water play is that he ends up drinking a lot of the water. He pees and pees all afternoon and then wets the bed at night. I think I am going to have to cut off the water play at 4 from now on to see if that helps. He refuses to go back to pull ups at night (and I don't really want to anyway). Here is my tall handsome boy with a selection of water filled items:

Watching through the window and simple goals

Summer is winding down and I am feeling that mix of emotions that comes with "back to school" time. I anticipate the extra fatigue of having to get the girls and myself out the door by 7am after interupted nights. Then I will teach all day, pickup the kids, manage Sam's afternoon therapies, try to keep up with the house and grading only to go to bed expecting, at best, an hour or two of sleep at a time. I feel sad about not being with the girls during the day. I feel guilty about NOT being sad about time away from Sam ( I don't know how you homeschooling moms do it). I feel frustrated before Sam's school year even starts because I am pretty sure we will see little progress again this year. Who knows, maybe Sam might be able to get to 3 whole minutes on his "waiting" program. (insert sarcastic eye roll here)

I also feel a little down that yet again we have done nothing away from home as a family. I have been watching through the window while neighbors pack their bags and their cars and head out to make memories at the beach or in Europe or at a campsite. I am not dreaming of a a resort vacation but a day or two at a lake or the ocean would be nice. My mother, my sister (with her husband and son) and my father all ended up on holiday in England (my parents are British) this summer. They were there at different times but they got to see the places we lived/visited when I was a child. They got to see where my grandparents ashes were scattered. jealous. jealous. jealous. I was so jealous I felt sick to my stomach. I know it is selfish and stupid when considered along with all the real problems in the world but that it how I felt. Yet again this year I thought about buying a bathing suit but didn't. Yet again I didn't need it. I can't blame it all on autism. We couldn't have afforded a trip even if Sam were typical.

So, can we pick up your mail? Sure, we are not going anywhere. Can we pick up the papers? Sure, we are not going anywhere. Keep an eye on the house? Sure, we are not. going. anywhere.

* * * * * *

I have been keeping a mental list of simple things that would make life a little nicer here at home. I am hoping to add these into Sam's home program over the next year. Some of these goals are more about me than Sam

1. I would like to be able to take a walk - a long one. I have had three kids now and I need some excercise. We actually started this one already by teaching Sam to hold the stroller and walk with me. He gets Skittles every so often if he "walks nicely". If anyone has a more natural alternative for Skittles please tell me. They gross me out but Sam won't go for jelly beans or gummies with natural colors and flavors. He has done pretty well. A few block is he starts jumping up and down osessively and hooting but we will keep at it.

2. I would like to be able to sit together at the table for more than 2 minutes.

3. I would like to be able to have something to drink with dinner. If I bring a glass of water to the table Sam will either steal it and spill it, stick his hand in it, or break the glass. If I use a plastic cup he will go bananas wanting to play with it.

4. I would like to put the books back on my bookshelves and know that Sam will not destroy them.

5. I would like to be able to take Sam to the grocery store and not have him try to knock all the cans off the shelves.

6. I would like to be able to spend a day at a beach next summer - any beach. I don't expect to get any relaxation from this but I want to girls to have summer memories that include sand and water.

I had more goals on my mental list but I can't recall them right now. Sam has been up since four and the baby still nurses during the night so that might have something to do with it.

Good Work

Good work is being done over here:
www.missionipossible.blogspot.com

Take a look at all the wonderful kids who have their ipads now. Sam is on the list (#19).

If you know any philanthropists, send them over as well : )

Funny

Sam has trouble pulling his pants up properly after using the toilet. He sits to pee and often his pants and underwear go too far down for him to get back up on his own. Sam's solution is usually to just step out of them and be naked from the waist down. After dinner yesterday I heard him go pee. Then I saw him prance out of the bathroom without any shorts. It had been a looooong day so I shrugged and said "whatever". Less than a minute later I walked into the living room to see this:

Just hanging out on the couch in his birthday suit. Very pleased with himself.



Sam goes through periods of obsession with different things. Thankfully his book (and by book I mean destroying books) obsession is lessening (at home at least). He has gone back to obsessively stacking and dropping/throwing blocks. It appears that there is no pattern or meaning to what he is doing but every so often the stacks look like this:

Interesting.

Maintaining Sanity

I like to work on projects to maintain my sanity. It is something I do "for myself" even though the projects are often for the kids. I have been avidly knitting and crocheting for well over a year now. I recently took up sewing again. Knitting, as long as the pattern is simple, is something I can work on while I hang out with the kids. I use circular needles and follow them around. Sewing is a little harder. I doubt I will get into anything too complicated. I leave a half hour or so per night after the kids go to bed and pin or cut or sew. Yes, this is sometimes at the expense of chores. Oh well.

Baby shoes for Hannah:

Maya's hooded sweater:

Elephants:

Emergency Plans

I have had a number of quiet panics over the past few months about what I would do with Sam in a real emergency. I started to worry about it when I broke my arm and had surgery this winter. Taking care of the kids on my own while pregnant with a broken arm was. . .interesting. The massive snow storms were dangerous. Now we are in a heat wave. I am thinking about that huge blackout years back. . .

What if we lost power and had to go to a cooling center or a shelter? What would I do with Sam? He does not have major medical needs but his behavioral issues would cause a disaster. He can't sit still for more than a few seconds. He would run and jump all over other people's stuff. He would grab their water bottles and tip them upside down. He would throw things everywhere and spit on people. We have no way to control him despite hours of consultation with behaviorists and therapists. He does not have the receptive language skills to understand why we need him to stop. He is ruled by hyperactivity and compulsion. Even holding him by the hand doesn't bring him down when he gets worked up.

So what would we do? Get in the car and drive until the power is back on? Drive to a state with power and find a cheap motel room and hope not to catch anything gross (I have a thing about hotels/motels)? I have no idea. This needs some thought.