Forgotten Challenges

A friend whose son has autism made an interesting comment this weekend. She said that when she is asked how her son is doing, she often thinks only of the most recent challenges. However, she knows he is making progress, but the current issues of the day sometimes cloud that knowledge. It dawned on me that I often think of the latest challenges without realizing the latest steps toward progress. There's always something new to work through and without the big accomplishments of clear speech and walking unassisted I forget the hurdles we have climbed together.

This weekend we took X-Man out of his crib and he is now in a big twin mattress. I feel like he has aged dramatically over the weekend with that one move. We had to take the crib down because our little man has grown so much in the past six months which has lifted a big burden of worry. We are still not comfortable with leaving him to explore when he wakes up so we purchased a large gate for his room, but we are still moving forward at least.

X-Man requested our music ministers' cd by name this weekend saying "Kirk" very clearly. He still doesn't say "Mommy" as the "m" sound is an obstacle for him. Maybe I'll have to record a cd to get him to say it. HA! We went to breakfast at a sit down restaurant (the fancy IHOP) this weekend and he made it through the entire breakfast without fussing. X-Man used to not sit at the table for more than 5 minutes without a melt-down so this is some great progress that has made dinner time much more enjoyable. He drank from an open cup this weekend too. Of course, he would rather spill the cup...like I said there are always new obstacles.

We are looking into some new therapy options, including therapeutic horsemanship. It has been mentioned by just about everyone who has ever worked with him so we are going to give it a try once it warms up. My older kids think this therapy sounds like lots of fun.