nate is great

We are a family that loves holidays.  When Chad and I got married, I warned him that I will, someday, become that woman who decorates her whole house for each and every one.  With Nate’s arrival, my ability to decorate has been slowed down somewhat. (Our St. Patrick’s Day wreath is still hanging….and Easter has passed.)  But what we lack in decorations, we make up for in holiday-related treats for Nate and his cousins and friends.

These are Nate’s friends Hannah and Zoe. Hannah (on the left) is mom to Cubby, who is Hobbes’ cousin.  Small world, eh?

For the smaller holidays (Valentine’s Day, Easter, and Halloween), we try to send a card with a treat, like stickers for the little ones and money for the older ones, to our nephews, grand-nieces and nephews (we have four with a fifth one on the way!), and the kids of our dearest family friends.  Between potty training and weather-related disasters, we totally missed Valentine’s Day this year.  To make up for it, we sent the kids treat bags filled with large Easter eggs that could be decorated foam stickers so they could make a masterpiece like this!

If we’re sending cards, then I make sure to send one to each kid even if they live in the same household because I think it’s a pretty special to find something with your name on it in the mailbox.  In this case, because the gifts were all bagged up, I combined them in padded envelopes per household.  The kids have been receiving them all week and so far the gifties are a hit!

For Nate, we chat with the holiday spokesperson and tell him (interesting that it’s always a “him,” isn’t it?) about certain things that we know Nate will love and are supporting his current goals.  This year, gifts from the Easter Bunny couldn’t fit in one basket this year so he delivered two – plus Nate got a basket of sweets from his Auntie Anne and Uncle Kent!  And to make sure Nate knew they were for him, we used the name card that Ms. Susie created for our family.

Each basket had an anchor item with lots of fun things to supplement it.  Big gifts included the brand-new movie Curious George Swings into Spring, which Nate watched two times in a row in glee, and Lakeshore Learning’s Feed the Bunny fine motor skills game, which Nate is obsessed with at school.

Nate also enjoys the line of Peek-a-Boo apps from Night & Day Studios on his iPad.  He loves Peek-a-Boo Barn, Peek-a-Boo Fridge, and Peek-a-Boo People, which uses characters from Richard Scarry’s books to teach professions. Prior to playing Peek-a-Boo People, Nate paid no attention to Richard Scarry’s books, which were my very favorite as a kid.  But after playing it, he started to really study each page in the books we have.  So the Bunny also picked up the Best Counting Book Ever and the ABC Word Book.

Of course, there’s sidewalk chalk (in egg shapes!) for outdoor springtime activities, too. The Bunny, Ms. Susie, and I also had a conference about tasty holiday treats for Easter.  Since Nate’s potty training reward is a Hershey’s Kiss, Nate doesn’t get chocolate unless he went potty.  We didn’t want to mess up Nate’s progress so the Bunny and I asked Ms. Susie if it was ok for Nate to have a chocolate treat or two for the holiday.  Ms. Susie felt if the chocolate did not look like a Hershey’s Kiss, it would be appropriate for the special day.  Well, the Bunny found Grand Slam Bunny, which he had to buy since Nate dreams of being a baseball player.  But the Bunny also found Carrot Patch Pete — how could he not add that to the basket in honor of our family’s newest member!?!

And speaking of Pete, it’s his first Easter in his fur-ever home so the Bunny couldn’t forget him.  A giant jar of catnip and some new toys, including Smacky the Squirrel, a favorite of our late JD and Archibald, filled his basket!

In true fashion, it took Nate a really long time to warm up to the whole affair.  While most kids would tear into the baskets, it took my sweet boy about two hours to even look at the stuff.  He instantly wanted the Feed the Bunny game, which was familiar, and we had to put the Curious George movie in the DVD player for him to get the picture (ha!).  But the rest was too new to be immediately comfortable with. And the funniest thing?  For all of my fretting about if the chocolate treats would mess up Nate’s potty training success, Nate never realized they are chocolate.  The bunnies? Totally missed it and they haven’t been tasted.  The chocolate coins?  Nate thought they were great fun to line up on the windowsill and take for a rolling ride.  However, Nate did figure out that the Lindt carrots were actually hazelnut chocolate and he did enjoy two (kindly asking permission before each one)!

We also colored Easter eggs for the first time, which Nate loved.  After dyeing eleven eggs, Nate didn’t want to end the activity so we also dyed some pasta for Nate’s pasta box.  (Total Pinterest win!)

We hope your spring is as sweet as ours!

As autism affects people of every race and every gender around the world, some smart marketers designated April is World Autism Awareness Month.  And, six years ago, Suzanne Wright of Autism Speaks spoke to the United Nations to get April 2nd designated, in perpetuity, as Annual World Autism Awareness Day.  On that day, there’s a movement called Light it Up Blue, led by Autism Speaks, to have international monuments washed in blue light for autism awareness.  Last year, more than 3,000 buildings in 600 cities in over 45 countries (on every continent!) participated.  It ranged from the International Space Station to Graceland, from the Empire State Building in Manhattan to the Christ the Redeemer Statue in Brazil.  (Go to this link to see an awesome photo gallery of buildings that participated last year!)

Though Autism Speaks uses this opportunity as a fundraiser, our family participates by leaving on our hall light (which is blue) in the evenings.  And on April 2, Nate will be wearing this super special shirt to school, which we bought from CafePress (in blue, of course!).

Nate’s school also does monthly fundraisers for various causes where kids can, say, wear a hat in exchange for donating a $1 to a charity.  A few weeks ago, I went to a PTA meeting with Ms. Susie, Nate’s lead therapist, where she pitched an autism fundraiser, which was approved!  In exchange for $1, Nate’s school mates will be allowed to wear their pajamas to school.  (Who doesn’t want to do that!?!) The funds will go toward his school’s team in the Autism Services & Resources Connecticut Walk/Run for Autism in May.  And yes, we will be walking (I don’t run) with the team!

So on April 2nd, if you notice blue light bulbs in house porch lights or see a metropolitan landmark awash in blue, know it’s celebrating and bringing awareness to people like Nate.  And if you want to participate, Autism Speaks has partnered with Home Depot, where you will find blue light bulbs for sale; $1 of each sale is a donation to Autism Speaks.

There are few things in this world that make my sweet boy more happy than an apple. A bright, crisp apple.  It’s one of the few words that Nate will spontaneously say (it comes out as “app-ah?”) and, if the apple basket is left too close to the edge of the counter, Nate uses his newfound height to taste test each and every one to see which apple is truly the best.  (The last time I foolishly left the fruit basket within Nate’s reach, it took seven tries to find *the* perfect apple.)

Eating foods that are crunchy or soft are part of Nate’s “sensory diet,” which his school-based occupational therapist established a few months ago.  We have seven sensory systems in our body: visual, auditory, smell, taste, touch, vestibular, and proprioceptive. (There’s a really great article about it here.) Your vestibular system is in your inner ear and regulates your body’s movement.  Your proprioceptive system is in your muscles and joints and regulates body awareness and balance.  In order to regulate his body and his behavior, Nate needs “input” throughout the day.  Without it, he becomes unfocused and hyper.  He will jump over and over from high heights onto hard surfaces, spin in circles endlessly (he enjoys the dizzy feeling), and his ability to be productive is severely decreased.  In addition to potty training every half-hour, Nate’s teachers (who do God’s work) also provide Nate with input every half-hour and follow the menu of options that Ms. Jen laid out.

He’s got three menus: Proprioceptive input, applied hourly, which includes skin brushing every two hours (his skin is brushed with a soft surgical brush) plus activities like rolling a weighted ball, wearing a pressure vest, or sitting in a vibrating beanbag chair; Vestibular input, applied every two hours, which includes jumping on a trampoline, rocking in a rocking chair, or spinning on the Sit & Spin; and Oral input, also every two hours (and conveniently scheduled at snack & lunch times), when Nate eats soft or crunchy foods and drinks through a straw. I deliberately pack super crunchy and super soft foods in Nate’s lunchbox and, to work on making choices, Nate gets three snack selections each day.  (Almost always one comes home, unless Nate was super hungry that day!)

By following this menu, Nate’s teachers have seen a huge improvement in his focus in the classroom.  And, somehow, in between the potty training and the sensory menu, they’ve managed to teach Nate some pretty awesome stuff, too.  He’s working on spelling his name and, this week, he identified his name in writing when finding his seat at circle time — with no prompting!!!  (My boy can read!  Yale!  We’re coming for ya!) And he’s blazing through his individual programs at school, too.

So, as I said, when Nate’s eating an apple — part of a healthy and oral sensory diet, he’s the happiest kid I know.  He calms right down, he savors every bite, and he just enjoys life.  I caught this video of him yesterday enjoying his treat.  When I posted it on my Facebook page, Nate’s four-year-old gal pal, Hannah (in Pennsylvania), watched the film with her mom.  She noted that Nate needed to pet Baby Ralph (Nate’s stuffed pup) with his toe because “his hands are full of apple.”  Then she sighed and said, “I think Nater is my bestest friend….” Right back atcha, Hannah.  I think Nate’s pretty dreamy when he’s eating an apple, too.

Our little Nater Tater isn’t so little anymore. We’re two months shy of being parents to a four-year-old boy (!!!) and this means the useful life of many things we got when he was born are near their expiration.

I assume most parents aren’t in need of their baby monitor anymore; your toddler can, well, now toddle and get in and out of bed on his own.  If he needs something, he’ll holler out or come get you, and he doesn’t need constant audio supervision in his sleep.  Not Nate.  We’re going to be needing a baby (ahem, toddler) monitor for a long time.  Nate still doesn’t get out of the bed if it’s dark and he still lacks the words to tell you what he needs when he wakes up.  Chad and I recognize the different types of cries.  There’s one that makes us run to get him before he hurts himself.  There’s one that means, “Yeah, I woke up but I’m going to roll back over and give this sleep thing another try.”  And then there’s the most haunting of them all: the cry of laughter, which means, “I’m up, people!  I’M UP!  Let’s start our day NOW!”  That giggle has been heard anywhere between 11PM and 4AM.  It’s maddening.

We have two baby monitors – one upstairs, one downstairs.  Sometimes we tend to forget to turn them off so the little green light is on a lot.  A few weeks ago, I noticed the downstairs monitor was on so I went to turn it off.  I couldn’t.  The darn thing stopped turning off.  And it was wicked hot.  I had to take the battery out to turn it off.  Now, to use the downstairs monitor, we have to put the battery back in it and place it on the charger (because the battery’s on its way out, too).  We also recently discovered that we can put it on the charger without battery and it still works.  However, it means we have to be in the room with the charger to keep an ear out for Nate.  So getting a new baby monitor is on the list.  (We’re taking suggestions, folks.)

P.S. I cannot believe that Chad’s wearing the same shirt in these photos…

Then there’s the stroller.  Chad’s brother and our sister-in-law bought us a really great travel system.  The car seat is long gone and Nate has now reached the height of the canopy, so his head touches it as he sits inside.  (His head touches the canopy whether or not it is fully extended.)  He’s also 34 pounds and I think we’re pushing the weight limit of this thing.  Again, we are going to need a stroller for many years to come.  Nate runs and doesn’t respond to his name so when just one adult is present he’s often in his stroller for his own safety.  The stroller also provides Nate with  personal space so he feels protected when adults and other kids come up to him.  Not wanting to go the adaptive stroller/push-chair route (because a. it’s way more expensive and b. they’re not attractive), we started a search online for a high capacity stroller.  Turns out, they’re all jogger strollers.  Though many friends recommended the BOB, which has a weight capacity of 70 pounds, we went with the Joovy. The Joovy was cheaper (it was $235 vs. the BOB’s $329 price on Amazon — though the BOB is $400 at our Toys’R'Us) and it came with all of the accessories–drink holder, rain cover etc.–that we would have needed to buy separately with the BOB.  It also helped that a lot of the Amazon recommendations said that they preferred this stroller over the more expensive BOB. The Joovy also holds 75 pounds and the good Lord knows that we might need those extra five pounds.  The Joovy arrived last night and we assembled it while Nate was asleep.  Pete was the guinea pig; he approves the new ride.  

Then there’s the ankle braces and the shoes.  Nate’s low muscle tone makes him pronated — a fancy way to say that he prefers to walk on the insides of his feet rather than distributing the weight evenly on his feet.  To help correct this and build up his muscles, Nate wears Super-Maleolar Orthosis better known as SMOs or, well, ankle braces.  Prescribed by his pediatrician and recommended by his physical therapist, Nate’s braces cup nearly the entirety of each foot–from behind the heel, under his foot to the base of his pinky toe, and are tightened up and around the top of his foot and around his ankle.  The braces have made a world of difference for Nate; he falls over less and can run faster.  And they’re super cute!  Nate picked the dinosaur pattern with blue velcro straps.

The braces are worn over socks and in sneakers, so those sassy summer sandals are a no-go.  Because the braces add extra bulk, Nate needs to wear wide-width shoes.  Each time he goes up a shoe size, he needs to get a new set of braces.  Thankfully, the braces have been covered by our insurance so far, but the special width shoes aren’t.  Wide-width toddler shoes aren’t too easy to find and are rarely on sale.  It’s hard to take advantage of online specials, too, because we need to try the shoes on to make sure they’ll close around his foot.  Two weeks ago, I found a store that sold wide-width shoes — and we couldn’t get the velcro to close over the brace!  Thankfully, they had extra-wide toddler shoes (who knew!?!) and those did the trick.  We’re planning on buying Nate another pair of mesh sneakers so his feet can breathe a bit in the summer months.  His socks are often stinky and wet, even in the cold weather, from the plastic braces and enclosed shoes.

And then there’s the diapers!  Most kids are done with diapers by age 4 but we are just beginning to pull out of the station on the potty train.  The protocol is to put Nate in underoos – and just underoos – during the training process but, because his ankle braces can’t get wet, Nate wears underoos underneath a pair of pullups.  He goes potty every half-hour and there are a lot of accidents.  In regular diapers, it’s not uncommon for a tot to be wearing one for three to four hours at a time but, when it’s checked every half hour, I can’t bear to make him put a wet pullup back on.  So we go through pullups like water.  And they’re expensive, I think, because the vendors know it’s your last hurrah in Diaper Land and they want to squeeze you for all they can. We go through a case of them every week (we buy them at Costco) – so it’s about $160 a month in pullups.  It makes me miss diapers.  They were so much cheaper….

And the boy keeps growing!  Nate goes to bed one size and wakes up another.  He’s now a 4T in shirts and a 3T in pants but he’ll be a 4T in pants any minute.  I just marvel at growth — no one’s telling Nate to do it.  He just does it, in his sleep, no less.  It’s quite amazing.

After this round of replacements, we think we’re square for a while…we hope….