Progress

just a few words that they've been saying lately...

little man: sea lion (he yelled this out when he saw them at Sea World last wkend), dolphin, shark, dog, cat, a noceros (Rhinoceros), elephant, food, milk, red, blue, yawoah, green, orange, tons of numbers, fish, turtle, cookie, anana(banana), nemo, oink (when he sees a pig in his books) and Mama (((sigh))). He finally said Mama for the first time (again) about 2 wks ago.

peanut: all the colors & numbers, what, thank you much Mama, Momo (Nemo), sharka, dolphie (dolphin), car, bird, milk, fur (bread, but she signs bread perfectly), yum, coco (cookie), come sit down, welcome(your welcome), follow me, color, cracker, and many more little things are popping up.  YAY for PROGRESS!

V.E.N.T

I've realized over this last year that everything seems to be word of mouth in the ASD community.  It's a shame that you are thrown off a cliff at diagnosis.   The only reason we found out about HBOT for autism was b/c we go to events and chat with other parents.  We stood in line for sensitive santa for 3 hours and talked all about it.  (BTW, SS was so NOT WORTH IT.  It was at Westshore Mall and totally disorganized. It's better to wait the normal 20-30 mins for the amazing Santa at I Plaza.)  Two days later, we called the center and were booked for January.  That's how fast it happened.

Any-who, I decided to start an online support group and I named it VENT (Varying Exceptionalities Network of Tampa).  Honestly, we have people signing up from all over, so you don't have to be from Tampa or from the USA.  This is a place where you can go to vent about your crappy day, shout out one of your kiddo's milestones, discuss therapies/treatments, extracurriculars, sell things you are no longer using for PT, OT or Speech, etc etc.  It's a private group, so message me if you'd like to join. It's neat to hear what treatments are working for other families. especially from over seas.

HBOT update

I told you that I'd try and post an update here and there, so here it goes...

Both have been sleeping at least 12 hours EVERY night!  The kids took a couple days to get used to it again and now they are DIVING into the machine, yelling for us to come in.  :)  We are so glad it only took 2 days to get in the groove again.  I always tell people that you need to give it a few weeks when you start.  Most of the kids at the center we were at took a LONG time to get used to it, but that was also a noisier place.  We have moved ours into a spare bedroom that's quiet and cool.

B is saying a lot more words and is even partially spelling a few, esp. "ELEPHANT"!

E is also talking more.  Yesterday she asked for a magazine while potty training!  :)  Speaking of potty training, she is remaining dry all day and is hardly wet when she wakes from 12 hours!

Woo Hoo for less diapies!

Just keep swimming....

Many of you are wrapping up the school year this week and I'm right there with ya.  There are only two, count them, TWO days of school left.  YIKES!  If you are like me, you have been plugging away for months trying to set up therapies and things to keep your kiddos entertained.  I'm sad to report, I. HAVE. NOTHING.  :(  We are keeping up with our HBOT and we are trying to set up in home speech, but we have nothing else planned. All of the camps require the kids be at least 5 yrs old, so those are out.  We are still looking into one or two and I'll let you know what I find.

A friend of mine also posted concerns about the summer.  I wrote back, "Say it with me, 'Just keep swimming, just keep swimming....'".  If  we can just keep pushing along and keep our heads above water this summer, we should be good.  This should be the mantra for all of us in the ASD community.

Life is difficult enough and we should be able to look to our friends for love and support.  A true friend is someone who will lift you up, not tear you down, so beware of the devil working through supposed "friends".  A little something to ponder....

“The righteous should CHOOSE HIS FRIENDS CAREFULLY, for the way of the wicked leads them astray.” (Proverbs 12:26)

Hands full

Okay, how many of you have done this?

Today I made the kids' lunches (back up, in case they don't like the hot lunch), got shoes on and headed to the car.  They made a fuss about taking their stuffed animals, so i grabbed my purse and then offered to carry the crazy amount of animals.  One big problem...can you guess?   Yes, I forgot their backpacks and lunches!  Oops!  We get to preschool, they get out of the van and look at me like, "Where are our backpacks?".  Poor things are so used to having them (even though they don't need them for preschool) that they looked sad.  Hopefully they will forgive me when i pick them up and they see the goodies i got today.  I was very busy shopping for their rooms and even found another elephant for little man. He is obsessed with them now and it's adorable.  Of all the words, that's the one he started saying a few wks ago & I LOVE watching him light up when he gets a new one.  Now he tries to carry them all around the house!

Hyatt Coconut Plantation - Another fabulous resort for Special Needs Families

The Hyatt Coconut Plantation in Bonita Springs is where we vacationed during Easter.  I can't say enough about this resort.  WE LOVED IT!  This has to be one of the best resorts for families, especially those with special needs.  Everything is centrally located and almost all of it is FENCED in!  Bonita Springs was a good location too b/c it's south of Sanibel Island & Ft Myers and just north of Naples & Marco Island.  The beaches were beautiful.  FYI, if you travel to Sanibel or Captiva there is a $6 toll to cross the bridge.  Just a heads up!  We had planned on staying on Sanibel Island last year and changed it to Marco Island at the last minute.  Now that we've seen Sanibel, I think we'll shoot for it soon. All this is less than 3 hours from Tampa!  Here are some pics from our trip.

Our lanai - fully screened in and HUGE!  The kids loved playing out here.

  The kids relaxing.

    
 One of the many pools. This one had a beach entry and basketball hoops.

   This is the baby pool.

  Fully fenced in rubber play ground with sand.

  Our kiddos loved the cabanas and hammocks.  They even asked to nap there.  :)

  The lazy river....relaxing!  There are 2 ports of entry - convenient since it's so long!

Jenny McCarthy on HBOT

Jenny McCarthy on Ellen talking about HBOT!