I don't think we will have a Christmas card this year, unless I rent some other kids that are not biologically related to me in any way. When I put the boys next to each other, they immediately start to wrestle...



When they are wearing cut off shirts and underwear, I get the most beautiful smiles. However, when I dress them up I get this...



Oh look it's raining



Then, there is the showoff...



Then, Cotton, who for some reason I always get with his eyes half open...



This is Cotton trying...



*sigh*

Another Sleep Post and Some other Randomness.

So, I thought Cotton was sleeping fine since we moved all the rooms around. However, we went on a trip together this week, and one night in a hotel room told a completely different story. Cotton woke up at 2:30 am. He didn't get out of bed, or anything like that, but for the next FOUR HOURS he tossed and turned, and hummed the Star Spangled Banner... for four hours. Now, I have had many a pity party on my account for the hours I have lost in sleep, but this time I just felt so incredibly bad for HIM. He really wanted to go back to sleep, he was really trying and simply could not get his body to relax. Man, I just wish there was something I could do to help him.

On a good note, he made it through his sedated hearing test fine, and does not in anyway have a hearing deficiency :) He actually did much better than I thought he would (behavior wise). I think every trip to the doctor should start with whatever that was they gave him to make him like putty, and end with a nice nap, while they do, whatever it is they need to do. He woke up and had no idea what had just happened.

So now with all the moving stuff going on our plans are going round and round. I have decided to stay here (in the middle of nowhere) while my husband does the six month training, required to learn how to fly his new plane. Not my first choice, but the boys are doing well here, I have friends, but... here is the new catch. I think we are going to go ahead and sell our house, and move on base. As of right now, there are houses available on base, but that could change at any moment. However, I don't really want to live in a house I own while my husband is gone for 6 months. Plus, it will be nice to have that worry gone, we can save money etc. etc. etc. So now, I have to get my house ready, and sold, and pray that there will be a house open on base, when the time comes. I know it won't be easy to move Cotton at anytime, but I think this might be really good practice for him. We will move, but be in the same community, he hopefully will see that he can handle the change. So when we change for real, he will have a history of success right?? Oh, well just in case you think I have lost it, stay tuned I am liable to change my mind.

Did you understand that?

So this morning I walk into Cotton's room with Landon in tow. For some reason Cotton says "uh oh....Daddy trouble," he obviously thinks this is hilarious, as he goes down the list of family members (including extended) all of which are in trouble:) Except him of course. Landon looks at me and excitedly says "Hey mom, Cotton's speaking english! (okay I have to stop and have a good chuckle). Landon is right, Cotton's language is almost discernable. I think it is because he is practicing soo much ( not that I mind) but let's just say he doesn't stop.... now only if we could make what he is saying relevant. But, we are getting there, every once in a while, he says something that completely makes sense... so wow. Cotton is doing well in school right now too. I was so worried about his writing skills, and let me just say, they have come a long way.... again with that word discernable.

Landon is also improving his writing skills right along side his brother, albeit he is a much more eager student. I don't think I will ever have to worry about school with that one, but let me just say, that teaching him to ride a bike...(WITH training wheels) has been a lot harder than I expected. He can pedal fine, but I think the height scares him a bit. I foresee a big wheel in his future. (do they still make those?)

Rev on the other hand is the exact opposite, that kid can already dribble a soccer ball. If he doesn't have ball in his hand, he has a truck. You have to be ready at any given moment to catch a flying ball (or truck), he has quite an arm. The child is just obsessed with climbing right now, and keeping off the kitchen table is my new full time job. Baby gates are no obstacle for this little guy. I just hope, he doesn't realize that he can climb out of his crib. I like my kids in a crib for as long as possible. He is just a pint size bulldozer.

As for me, can you believe I am done with Christmas shopping (at least for the kids). I went to an autism conference with a friend last weekend, and we power shopped like crazy. It was the most fun I have had in while. There is nothing like friends that understand your passion for your kids, AND your passion for shopping:)

So how is this for crazy. We got our orders (insert singing angels), totally surprising orders let's just say we are heading to the beach. Let's also just say I have been totally landlocked for the last 10 years so Yippee. I was soooo hoping to be moving closer to home, and thus starts my crazy story. My husband put in for a cross flow (to switch to a different plane), his first choice was a plane that is pretty much only stationed 2 hours from my family, and he got selected as an alternate (which means maybe, but probably not the plane you want). So anyway, a few weeks ago, we got a call.... we got the plane (or he but in the military, I swear, I have earned a little bit of that, two years worth of deployments, I'm just sayin'). So, we are dancin' he got the plane he wanted, and we were convinced that we were going "home."

So then, we got another call. Apparently the plane that really is only at one base, has decided to set up a new unit. Not anywhere near my family. Seriously? So now I have this new place, I know nothing about, and while I am excited to go anywhere, I have a load of work ahead of me trying to get a program for Cotton in place. So we just basically visit grandma, and show up at the new house. As soon as I posted this on facebook, two of my friends inform me that they have a friend that lives down there (in a totally different plane, and that is unusual), and get this has a kid on the freakin' spectrum. So, whew, feels a little like someone is looking out for us our something;)

Trick or Treat...

We had a great halloween this year. We had some good friends come over, had a little party and off we went. We were quite the motley crew. Our friends have 3 kids, one is on the spectrum (Cotton's best friend), and it was way too funny seeing those two trick or treating. "M" could care less about the candy, and politely asked everyone if he could come inside to see their ceiling fans. Cotton who does not exactly like candy all that much, would jump up and down excitedly, repetitively saying his approximation of "candy." Landon was with M's older brother, who was too cool for us, and I laughed my pants off watching my 3 year old try to act like he was also way too cool for us:P Rev was a super cute giraffe and did a good job TOTing for the first time. Funny he is only one and a half, and totally knows what candy is:) He definitely got his daddy's sweet tooth.


Needless to say everyone was ready to go to bed after our exciting night!

Hot Pool

We made a quick trip to Dallas this weekend to visit my sister. We do this a lot, as the town we live in has little by way of shopping, it really rocks that she lives so close. (Plus, it was her birthday so bonus) Anyway, the kids really love going down to see her, but it was the first time that we ever had to deal with our kids REALLY missing someone. Landon cried half the way home, when i finally got him to tell me what was wrong he said "I just miss Aunt Jee." (insert pouty lip and deer eyes). Cotton clung to a frog toy that Jee had bought them at the zoo repeatedly pointed to it and said Aunt Jee. When we got home he ran to his talker and typed "Aunt Jee, come again." Rev was fairly oblivious to the whole "missing" thing. It was very sweet, and I am glad that the boys are really getting to know their aunt, it doesn't hurt that she has a super cool house with super cool parks near by and who can forget the "hot pool" as Cotton calls her hot tub:)

The really nice part for me an hubby, was how easy it was. Rev is really starting to out grow his general grumpiness. I am sure it has something to do with an increase in being able to communicate and understand. I love when he signs for milk, instead of pumping his fist like this... he balls both of his fists tightly and looks a little like he might have an aneurism. He also can really play with his brothers now, and when they are not stealing toys from each other, I can get a free 15 minutes:) The kids traveled easier than ever, and packing only took an hour!!! I don't want my kids to grow up too fast, but this was a nice, welcome change. This year I am so happy to say we are staying home for BOTH holidays (hippee in the words of Landon). We figure next year Rev will be much more willing to travel long distances, and if we move, it will be very likely that Dad will not be here for both holidays. My little boys are getting so big, and grown up.

IEP

We had our annual IEP last week, and it was really the easiest one ever. I usually leave an IEP feeling like there must be something I am forgetting. This time we all seemed to be on the same page. I even scored a 19" touch screen computer for Cotton's classroom:) Our biggest hurdle right now is bridging the gap between what Cotton knows, and what Cotton can communicate. That of course puts a strong emphasis on increasing communication, and finding alternatives to writing (thus the 19" touch screen). Don't worry writing itself is still on the "list" but we need alternatives to achieving his academic goals. While we have made unbelievable progress with Cotton's talker, Cotton uses it to tell us what he wants to talk about, and not necessarily anything "conversational," although that is happening with greater frequency.

So about the computer. Apparently, the lab just got a new touch screen. When they showed Cotton computer, he picked it up right away. They were doing a reading program that everyone thought was above his head, lo and behold Cotton set to work completing the task easily, and with a crowd of about 15 faculty and staff behind him in amazement. They were all so giddy about it, it was not a hard sell to request one for the class.

I am truly blessed to have such a great team behind him right now. I know my last post was a bit somber, sometimes it gets so hard to explain why some kids just take off, and others continue to struggle. But there is progress, I really like this school because they are very much focused on working with the disorder, respecting his limitations, but not letting him use them as an excuse. Personal accountability is of the highest priority with this group, and I know that this will bring him farther than any academic skill.

When I start feeling defeated I always go back to the same mantra " you can get a job with a 4th grade education, but not if you are sniffing all the girls hair." I think I have mentioned this on my blog before. A lovely lady that speaks in our area, has a 20 year old son with autism. Her story is a success story although it is not a recovery story. This was something she said at one of her speeches that has just really resonated with me, and has comforted me in so many ways.