A belated August summary

Lots has been going on around the Anker household in the month of August.  First a visit by Nonny and Great Grandpa Ra while Mommy went to Lauren's bachelorette party in South Beach.  

Adam has been suffering from ulcerative colitis for almost a year and a half.  His body was not responding to any of the myriad number of treatments that his doctor was trying.  The last resort was surgery, which we reached.  He is having a three part surgery to remove his large intestine and create a fake one.  Surgery #1 was a huge success and his recovery has been impressive and much faster than anyone expected.

Lastly, the most life changing event for us was Grayson's diagnosis of Autism.  We have been working with Early Intervention for almost a year and have conquered so many obstacles already.  His social anxiety and sensory issues are 90% better than they were when we started.  He has many red flags, he has zero words, eye contact issues, social interaction is extremely limited, and his receptive language(understanding) is not close to where it should be for a 28 month old.  He still is the cutest, happiest little boy with the best disposition.  Two weeks after diagnosis we started a therapy called Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA). Over 40 years of empirical research has shown ABA interventions to be highly effective at reducing challenging behaviors and teaching foundational skills. It is the only treatment method recommended by the Surgeon General of the U.S.  They have initially started to work with sign language in order to help him communicate more effectively.  He has picked up on several signs when prompted; chip, cereal, and ball are the ones that we see the most frequently.  They are very impressed with how he has picked up on these signs, how he works at the table to do activities, and how easily he transitions from one activity to the next.  Like us, they are extremely hopeful and optimistic about his future.  The words of his tutor and her supervisor after our first session was "He is going to soar."  No parent can hear that enough.  It is very encouraging and I can't wait to see all the things that he will accomplish there.  He will continue to go to his regular pre-school Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 8:30-12.  He will do ABA Mon-Thurs from 3-5 and on Friday from 8:30-12.  

Now for the best part of the blog.  The pictures!!!

More sensory work with some pom poms.  We practiced pouring them out and throwing them in.  He liked the way they felt so he was putting his hands and feet on them.

 "What are you looking at?"  One of his ritualistic routines he would step over the bar and then walk around and do it again, and again, and again.  Not anymore since mean Mommy blocked his entry way.

 School had requested family pictures to put up in the room so we had a mini photo-shoot.  It turns out we have a TON of pictures of Grayson, just very few with anybody else in them.  We will have to work on that.

 Four pictures is a little much of one event, but I couldnt decide which ones I liked best!  Eating pudding with his spoon. :)

 Cute outfit for school.

 This in itself is a huge feat for Grayson.   He was scared to go through anything that was closed off.  Now he goes through this long tunnel with ease!  He is hard at work, notice the tongue sticking out. :)  Of course Teddy had to be there to help him through.

 After a hair cut.  What a big boy he is!  So handsome.

Quality time playing with Nonny.

 What service this little kid gets.  Being hand fed his morning snack.

 He loves to be read to again.  Thank goodness.  The teacher in me was dying when he was off books for a few months.