Behavior...

Woo... We have major slippage.

JT's behavior is a little extreme right now. Hitting, kicking, biting, throwing stuff at people, throwing stuff just at nothing, headbutting, SCREAMING, laying down kicking throwing fits and squeaking.

Oh man. I'm usually the one that gets the brunt of his anger, although Audrey is a target if she happens to be really close at the moment.

UGH.

He's doing fine otherwise... he's just stressed from the change I think. He's counting A LOT - whenever he gets upset he counts. Alphabet, too. He lines things up, gets upset when we mess anything up - usually that doesn't bother him.

Ah... we will ALL be glad when school starts again...

Christmas Present Time

JT loaded up on gifts today!

We opened so many... here are the ones that he enjoyed the most:

From Santa:

(except it's a yellow plane)

From mommy and daddy: Skechers light up shoes (ooh, they're gonna *love* those at school!).


From Nanny: soccer ball.


From Great Gran: Transformers.


From Papa and Ginny: Scooter.


Hooray for Christmas!!! He even opened a few himself :)

Merry Christmas!

I got so many presents. Here are my favorite presents from everybody.

Santa brought me a water baby.



Mom and dad bought me Skechers Twinkle Toe shoes that light up.



Papa and Ginny bought me a scooter.



Nanny bought me Cinderella perfume.



Great Gran bought me an Aurora sparkly Barbie with a sparkly horse.


JT even bought me a cute Webkinz.

Gummibar

JT LOVES these YouTube videos! It is hilarious to watch him... He is just fascinated! He even said "Ni-ni, bear" when we were putting him to bed a few nights ago.

Here's his 2 favorites:

SANTA!!!!!!

I am SO excited. Santa's coming tonight. I'm going to get presents tomorrow!!!

There's already a lot of presents wrapped already. I can't wait to open them ALL!!!

I miss my family.

Mommy and me are watching Santa on the computer. You can see where he is. I can't wait until he's here. He's getting closer!

(NORAD Santa Tracker)

Happy Christmas Eve!

Bug Squasher

JT LOVES this iPhone app. It is pretty funny... the bugs run across the screen, and when you squash them with your finger, they really squish... visual effect and audio, too. He thinks it's really funny when I yell, "GROSS!" (seriously, sometimes it is!).

There's a level with cars that he's pretty fond of, too. When you squash the cars, they make a crashing noise and blow up.

Anyway, definitely a boy... bugs, stunts and action scenes are his favorites!

Wheel of Fortune

The Hubs and I have always loved Wheel of Fortune. We're both really good at it, and between us we can figure out any puzzle faster than the contestants.

Anyway, our kids have joined in the WOF love. Watching tonight, JT and Audrey really got into it, too.

JT likes to tell them what letters to buy (and will tell them "No" if Pat says their choice is NOT there, haha!). Audrey sounds out the letters that are there and tries to solve the puzzles!

Looks like Wheel of Fortune is Family Fun Time!!!

I'm just excited that my kids share our interest in something - it's hard to find something the whole family enjoys!

I Read a Book!

JT got a little book for Christmas from school - it's a little Elmo book with each letter, big and little, and then a picture with a label next to it.

He read the whole book today... The letters. But he went through every page, pointed out each letter, and then flipped the page to the next one. This is a kid who used to flip out when we'd try to read books in order, because he just wanted to open/close, open/close...

I am SO excited!!!

The Tree!

Here is the beautiful 9' Seneca Spruce tree that The Hubs won. Audrey is standing in front of it.

Harmonica

After a week of trying and giving up, this morning JT figured out how to play the harmonica! The look on his face when he heard music was priceless... he was pretty shocked!

And the Winner Is...

The Hubs!!!

Haha - seriously, though...

So far, this month his store has won 3 competitions.

First, they won some Polo/Ralph Lauren sales event. The Hubs won $300.
Next, he won a coat day event. He split the $1000 prize with his ASM.
And... today he found out he won a Christmas tree sales event - and we get a FREE Christmas tree - a 9' one!!! I am SO excited - Dillard's has beautiful trees.

Not to mention the money....

Letter SOUNDS

JT pulled out another shocker...

After school a few days ago, he not only labeled letters, but also said what sound they make!

Big deal!!!

Letter SOUNDS

JT pulled out another shocker...

After school a few days ago, he not only labeled letters, but also said what sound they make!

Big deal!!!

The Hubs's Store

I forgot to post...

The Hubs's store made the month for November! It's the first time the store has made it's month in over 2.5 years :)

(Made the month = beat sales from last year).

YAY THE HUBS!!!

We Love Juice

Walking down the stairs, half asleep this morning...

JT: Joo, joo...
(picture the most pitiful voice ever)!

But he's requesting, no prompting, didn't even ask him... :)

HUH?!?!

JT is talking up a storm. There are so many examples...

Here's a cool one:
I made JT some chicken nuggets and chips. He was munching away, so I got him more. I set down the plate, and JT shook his head no. He said, "joo" (juice). Hooray!

He took off his shirt (not sure why, he was upset about something). Once he calmed down, he was watching Yo Gabba Gabba in just his diaper. I sat down next to him and said, "oh no, JT, you're SO COLD!!!". I snuggled him while The Hubs got him a shirt, and JT suddenly said, "coh, bur" (cold, brrr). It was adorable.

So, so many words this weekend. We are LOVING the language and communication!!!

We can ask for kisses or hugs (or 'nose') and we get them. Adorable!!

It's kind of crazy to us. We're still surprised whenever he starts talking!!!

Talking

JT is REALLY starting to talk... we have TONS of echolalia. TONS. But he gets the meaning of the words as he repeats them - very cool.

At the bus stop two days ago, JT was talking to himself. "Whe sissy? I don know. Whe sissy bus?"

SO EXCITING!!!

When I went to wake him up yesterday, he stretched and grabbed his sippy cup, handed it to me and said "joo" (juice). A week ago even, he would've handed it to me and squeaked LOL. Anyway, I was picking out his clothes (really quick, just didn't want to go back upstairs) - he picked up his cup from the dresser, handed it back to me and said, "JOO". Cracked me up!

He's talking a TON around here - we love it!

Love

Audrey really has earned the reputation as the sweetheart at school. All the moms tell me when they visit that she is always such a precious little girl.

Apparently one day another kid was really upset, and Audrey went to hug them. Her teacher said "Everyone needs a Audrey in their class"...

Her best friend is Mercer. He is a super cute little boy in her class. When I went to help last week, Mercer's mom was also there... they both talked us into staying for lunch. They sat in between us, and they turned around maybe once to say hi. The rest of the time they were facing each other (not even facing the table!) and laughing and giggling. It was REALLY cute!

Anyway, we're hoping to hang out with them - especially over Christmas break. I'm not sure Audrey can take two whole weeks with no Mercer!

Dog

After JT got off the 'bus' today, he heard the neighborhood dogs barking...

He said "dah!", then repeated it so I could hear.

When I told him that was right, he said "dah, woo-woo".

Super cute :)

Audrey Kisses!!!

I would apologize for multiple posts in a day, except this is a progress blog, and that's a GOOD thing!

Audrey came running in the room wanting me to watch something... Of course, JT is following her (awwww...). She leans forward, does her 'mm..mm...' gimme a kiss noise... And JT leans forward and KISSES HER ON THE LIPS!!!

He hasn't done that since two and a half years ago (and only then because she would freak out and he thought it was hilarious).

Today has been a great day!

"I don't know"

Add this to the list of things that shocked me...

JT has been playing with those 5 Yo Gabba Gabba characters... and he walked up and only had 4 (all but Muno).

So I said, "JT, where's Muno?"

He looked right back at me, didn't miss a beat, and said, "I don know". And proceeded to go look for him in the living room.

HUH?!?!!

Well, add that to the list of things that I had *no* idea he could do... but obviously he can when he wants.

Yep, JT appropriately answered a question.

Oh yeah, and as we're looking, he's going, "Whey Moodoh" (where Muno - pronounced moon-oh).

Yo Gabba Gabba

Yet another birthday present... Our family really knows what JT likes!

My aunt and uncle bought JT a set of the 5 Yo Gabba Gabba characters. For those who don't know:
-Muno is the red guy with the two teeth
-Foofa is the pink one with the flower on her head
-Toodee is the blue cat
-Brobee is the green striped one
-Plex is the yellow robot

He opened the package, and was SO excited. He named all of them, and hasn't put them down in 24 hours. He even SLEPT with them!

The best part is when he sets them up, he says their names as he puts them down! Then he says "Yo Gabba Gabba!" (just like DJ Lance does at the beginning of the show). It is SUPER cute.

As a side note: My mom bought him a Toy Story shirt that we got on Thursday. JT pulled it out of the box, put it on OVER his long sleeved shirt he had on (the new one was long-sleeved as well) and refused to take it off.

Such a funny guy!!!

He has been wonderful this weekend. Last night he woke up at midnight (he had those hard plastic Yo Gabba Gabba figures in his bed, and rolled over on them). He only wakes up 1x/month, so I can't really complain... he slept in a tiny bit this morning, but not enough to make up for his 2 hours of awake time. He'll be in bed by 7pm tonight (funny... a year ago it was 11pm - haha! - he can't stay up past 8:30 now!).

Fits are still decreasing in number and intensity, he's got the echolalia going on BIG TIME - but that's absolutely wonderful. He uses the words appropriately after he learns them, so he's processing the meaning while he repeats. We're in the next stage of speech!!! He's always making noise - talking or making happy/loud coo noises. And to think there was a time when I wondered if I would ever hear his little voice!

Moon in My Room

Papa's birthday present to JT... He loves it! It cycles through
the phases with the remote, or you can push the smaller button and it
syncs with the current moon phase. Cool!

Heart

So cool...

Yesterday, The Hubs and I were in the kitchen making dinner.

Without us noticing, JT brought one of our little kiddie stools into the kitchen. I have a heart ornament (or rather, HAD a heart ornament) hanging on the knob of one of our cabinets.

I heard something, so I looked behind me to see JT standing on the little stool, arm reached as far as it could go towards the heart, and he was saying "haw" (still no last consonant, but very clearly heart). Of course, using words, JT got his "haw" and he has enhanced the living room/dining room Feng shui with the heart dangling from a knob on the curio cabinet!

He's been talking a TON here at home... when he takes a bath, he is just constantly talking. I can understand a lot (I LOVE "oh doh" aka oh no, and "uhoh".. he says "whee"). Today he was in the bath, and he said "peepee pawee" (peepee potty). I tried to take him, he didn't protest but didn't pee either :-/

JT is also high-maintenance all of a sudden... this is definitely not a complaint! He used to play alone forever... I'd have to go check on him and intrude to get his attention. Now he'll play for a little while (not very long, haha) and come and find me and hover until I get up and play with him. Great progress - he wants to play with me - but it definitely limits my ability to actually WORK while he's here... oh the price of progress :-)

He plays a lot with airplanes - really makes them fly (sound effects and all!). Love pretend play - especially when they fly around the living room and crash into something! He also makes his 'guy' (he says that word! Too funny - I kept saying go get your guy - so now all G.I.Joe stuff is "guy") slide down the banister complete with the 'wheeeeeee'. He's really into countdowns and blastoff too... 5-4-3-2-1-BLASTOFF!!! Making toys blastoff, making him blastoff.. then as it comes down, he does the sound effect and as it lands, says "OWWWW". Cracks me up!

All in all, JT is continuing his awesome development.

Why Walgreens is Awesome

Mommy's Happy Birthday

Four years ago today, a little boy was born fighting to breathe. After making it through 16 weeks of (preterm) labor, he arrived in the world with the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck – his saving Audrey being the fact that he wriggled his hands between the cord and his neck.

He fought through pneumonia at 2 days old. He endured a trach at 9 months to pull out a stuck penny in his esophagus. He had 15 ear infections in as many months, and then finally got tubes. He survived a full-arm cast at 18 months for over 6 weeks when he broke his forearm completely through. Not once would you have guessed this little boy was sick, hurt or suffering.

He was diagnosed at 26 months with autism. He has problems communicating, socializing, interpreting the world around him and behaving like the rest of us do.

He fights every single day. I see him take everything in, try to make sense of things that others might never notice. I watch him try to force himself to do things he really doesn’t want to do – things that scare him. Every day, this little boy wakes up and faces his fears head-on, and refuses to let anything get in his way. He never, never, never gives up.

That little boy is my inspiration. For four whole years, his entire life, he has fought for every tiny thing that he has. It is by sheer determination that he is even here; let alone the fact that he is where he is.

He is proof that life is what we make of it. He wakes up every day with a smile on his face. Imagine going out to battle every day with a grin that could melt the world. That is JT. He is ready, he is excited, and he knows he’s going to make the best of everything that comes his way. He loves to make others happy – in the midst of his crazy life; he wants everyone else to share in his joy.

JT has taught me that most things are accomplished through sheer determination and grit paired with a whole lot of persistence. He has given me a whole different perspective on life and what living really is. I know now that being different isn’t bad, and that conforming is completely overrated. Great things happen when we dare to be different.

Every day, that little boy goes out to fight, and I have the pleasure to be in his corner. He is the toughest person I have ever met.

I love you, baby JT. I believe that you will reach the stars. You are one special kid, and you will make a difference in this world.
To infinity and beyond little buddy!!!

Happy #4 - it will be your best year ever!!!