Autism Speaks Walk 2013

This morning we participated in our first Autism related event, the Autism Speaks Walk.  After getting Grayson's diagnosis, my research about Autism began.  One of the first things I found was that this walk that was scheduled a mere 6 weeks after diagnosis.  I registered "Go Grayson Go" immediately.   I set a goal of $200, I thought that was a good place to start.  I am completely baffled and speechless that our final fundraising amount was $1,512. We were #10 out of 99 teams as far as fundraising goes.  What an amazing accomplishment!

  It warms my heart and brings me to tears to hear from people that I haven't heard from some in over a decade, showing their support. Some of these people live in state, out of state, and even in other countries.  Your donation means a great deal, but what meant more to me were the kind words that you had to share.   We are completely overwhelmed and so appreciative of the generosity and support shown by friends and family near and far. Looking at the pictures from the morning just makes my heart smile.  I am forever thankful for the people that are in our life. I consider myself one of the luckiest people in the world. It makes our journey just that more easy knowing that you are all behind us and there for us.

Dylan and Grayson before the walk.

Yael can put her "Go Grayson Go" shirt on while baby Oren is still attached to her!  What a talented lady!

Gabriella loving on Grayson.

Nice profile shot.

Most of our group!  So thankful for each one of them!!

And Grayson leads the team!!  (Too bad he wanted to go off the course a bit.)

 Family shot while walking.

There were a few booths along the route of the walk.  This one had a bubble machine.  You bet your a** that he saw those bubbles and headed right over!

He did a good job walking in the beginning.  Coaxing him with some food never hurts!

Took a little break mid-way.

Daddy with Grayson and Daphne with Cooper.

Talking another pit stop with Mommy.

I love when Uncle Andy runs around with me.

So thankful for my supportive Mom friends! They keep me sane and their support and understanding is invaluable.

Hard to get little ones to all look at the camera. We will definitely have to work on this!  Grayson and his first real friend Cooper (and their families)

Grayson with one of his baby-sitters, Brooke!

Our favorite neighbor Melanie!  So sad they are moving away from us :(

THE sweetest family I know.  I am so thankful for Aimee and Gabriella!

After the walk, we rewarded our inspiration with some pizza at our favorite restaurant!  That smile right there makes all of the hard work worth it.

Family picture.  First one of the three of us together in forever!  Thanks Uncle Andy for being our photographer.

Godfather and Uncle Andy visit!

 Godfather Lucks made a trip up to Jacksonville to spend time with Daddy to help him recuperate.  Luckily, he was doing so well, that he got some play time with his favorite godson.  Here they are playing footsies on the couch.  Below is Grayson's favorite game called "throw me in the air until you are ready to vomit or pass out."  Lucks got a good work out doing that repeatedly for a good bit of time.

 This Mommy is so excited that Grayson is into books again.  We get to read before bed and now he will go over to his shelf during the day and select a book to read.

 I just can't resist taking pictures of this kid.

 He likes to play games on his IPAD. The new sign we are working on is "computer."  He hasnt really mastered it yet, but he knows where it sits up on the counter, so he will walk one of us over to that spot, look up, and attempt a point.

 Uncle Andy came up for a quick visit to walk with us for Autism Speaks. G had a lot of fun with him and some pillows.  It sure is a good thing we have hundreds of dollars worth of toys in our home

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.

 

More July activities!

Cousin Jason came into town to visit!   We got to spend the day with him.  Above Jason is imitating Grayson sticking out his tongue.  Below is a cute shot of the two of them.  I love how Grayson's hand is over Jason's.

While we were sitting on the couch, Jason asked what that door was used for.   We said it was a doggie door that Layla was too scared to use.  I didn't believe he could fit through it.  He had to prove me wrong.   An action shot of Jason going through the door.

I am back to trying more sensory activities with Grayson.  I had read about boiling and dying spaghetti. I thought it looked interesting.

I don't know if you can see Grayson's face, but he was not very into this activity.  He picked up one red strand and......

went to hide behind the window shade.     He stayed there until the pasta was out of sight.

He doesn't like to get his hands dirty, so his OT told me to try paint in a bag.   That way he could run his hands over it, but not get anything on them.

"Oy vey, Mom!  Stop making me do these dumb things!"   (This is what he would say if he could talk.)

But after a bunch of pushing, I actually got him to run his pointer finger over the paint a few times. Hopefully we will be able to work up to more interaction with the paint in a bag.

We are trying to do more things that involve pretend play.  Here he is pushing his shopping cart.  Before, he insisted on it being turned on its side.  Now he sees it, pushes it, and "parks it" i.e. slams it into one of the dining room chairs.

G has had a bit of a runny nose which turned into a cough.  I took him to the doctor today because it started to sound really yucky.  Sure enough, when she listened to his chest, she said she couldn't hear anything due to the amount of gunk in there.   Enter Grayson's first nebulizer treatment.  I also earned my alligator wrestling degree while we were there.  Holy cow, that kid has some superhuman strength when he doesn't want to be doing something.  Long story short, he has bronchitis.  No school, errands, or play dates for us this week.   Overall, he has been in good spirits, just with a nasty cough.  We were cooped up inside all day, so I decided to bring out an old favorite, bubbles.   This little face just gets so overjoyed when we play with bubbles.   He has gotten really good at using his pointer to pop them and point to things. For right now, he points but he has to actually touch the item.  He hasn't yet picked up on the concept of pointing to something out of reach.  We will get there.  He kept poking me in the face when he wanted more bubbles.  Like I said, he may not talk yet, but he certainly gets his point across.