Adjusting to 1st Grade

Not wanting to pose on the first day of school

Bobby has had a full week of 1st grade under his belt.  He has had a couple of trying behaviors, but is having some new found successes. 

The biggest (no pun intended) thing...we stopped a new medication that we tried with Bobby over the summer.  The only major noticeable difference was that he could not get full!!  The poor boy wanted to eat all day and night.  When he reached 80 pounds (a 15 pound increase in 2 months), we decided that enough was enough.  He is now weaned off and eating normally.  Hoping that the weight comes off easily. 

A teacher that worked with Bobby during summer school, using ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) is now coming into Bobby's classroom once a week to work with him.  His autism teacher is also using these strategies with major success.

We met with a former WVU student that worked with Bobby last summer in the Life Sciences lab, using ABA.  She has since graduated and only has to pass a test to get her BCBA (Board Certified Behavioral Analyst).  She is going to start on in-home program with Bobby next week.  So excited!!!

Bob is finally home!!  He had to go to the Mine Safety and Health Administration academy for 2 weeks. 

It has been a crazy, hectic couple of weeks.  We have just been trying to get back into our school day routine. 

Having an after school snack!!

Summer is Slip Sliden' Away

Bobby was helping me "wash" the car yesterday.  Well, he actually just playing with the hose.  So I got out the slip 'n slide and let him go. 

He also brought over the soapy sponge to help "clean" the slide.

Sorry Bobby, that's as far as the hose will go!!

Here, let Mommy help!!

Well, there went the car washing water!!

Mom, this is fun!!!

The new game...pour the bucket of water down the slide.

You have to fill it up again in order to have something to pour out!!

Cutting out the middle man...just hose yourself instead of hosing the slide and then getting wet!!



Boy's Day Out

Bob and Bobby loaded up the Rhino for a boy's day out!!!

I packed up a basket of snacks....

I think that I need to find a more manly snack basket!!

Bobby couldn't wait to get in his seat and go...

They got in the car and left around 10:00 am...

and got back home around 3:15.  They went to Hundred and rode for hours with Bob's boss.  I don't have any pictures of the actual ride because I got to stay home and have a break!!  Bobby has had an awesome week of getting to do his favorite thing-riding!!

OOOOOOHHHHH BOBBY!!!!!!!!!

In many aspects, Bobby is like a toddler in a 7 years old body (with the strength of a 12 year old).  One of the most challenging things about him is that you never know what he is going to get into and you have to keep at least one eye on him at all times. 

Yesterday, I finally had to break down and run the sweeper in the house.  I just could not stand it anymore.  In the past couple of years Bobby has become deathly afraid of the sweeper and I try my hardest not to run it while he is at home.  As soon as I open the closet door that houses the sweeper, he stops what he is doing, comes to see if I am getting the sweeper out and if I am he runs upstairs and hides out.  It isn't that big of a deal most of the time, but he has been out of school for 2 weeks and home all day long with me. 

After I ran the sweeper, I went back to put it in the closet.  He will not come back downstairs until it is safely put away and he hears the closet door shut.  The closet is at the bottom of our staircase and the closer I got to the staircase, I could smell trouble....

Bobby got into daddy's shaving cream.  I must not of closed the door perfectly when I got the dirty towels out to put into the laundry and Bobby found his opening.  They played in shaving cream multiple times this summer at school, but Bobby never got to rub it all over his body.  His poor eyes were red for hours. 

Bobby knew that he was in trouble, because he got the wet wipes off of the back of the toilet and tried to clean up.

He even got the hand soap and some toilet paper to aid in the clean up process.  Obviously he still needs some lessons in clean up (he takes after his dad!!). 



At least it was soap this time which is easy to clean up.  A few days ago it was lotion....

It took three hair washings in a row and his hair still felt yucky, so I had his go swimming for a couple of hours to get rid of the rest.

Day trip to Presque Isle

We headed off for our annual visit to Presque Isle (Lake Erie) yesterday.  As soon as I put the beach chairs and life jacket into the car, Bobby knew exactly where we were headed.  He happily sat in his booster seat for the three hour ride, ate his goldfish crackers and drank his juice.

At one point in the ride, he reached over and got his life jacket and put it on.  He wanted to be able to get out of the car immediately!!!  He wore it until he stopped to use the bathroom and I made him take it off.

When we pulled into the state park, Bobby got restless....park this car NOW and let me out!!!  I turned a little too soon and had to end up driving going around another loop to go down the beach a little further to park and Bobby was not happy.  He got out of his booster seat and tried to get me to park the car.  Daddy put him back in his seat and we got to our destination.  Bob had to take him across the street to the beach because Bobby was not waiting one second longer!!  I grabbed our things and took them over to the beach. 

Bobby didn't run into the water like he did last year.  He was more interested in investigating every inch of the area.  I took Bobby for a walk up the beach while Bob set up our chairs.  When we came back to our area, Bobby still wasn't too excited to go into the water.  He wandered over away from the crowd (of about 15 people!!) and then went into the water. So, Bob moved our station over to where Bobby wanted to be-off by ourselves.  It took him about 10 minutes to start playing in the water...

Bobby decided that he liked sitting in the water and letting the waves hit him in the back of the head.  A couple of times, he even got knocked over.  He stood up, we laughed, and he sat right back down.

Bobby and I took 3 different walks up and down the beach.  We all played in the water, which was much warmer than we thought that it would be.  The beach wasn't very crowded, especially since it was a Thursday and a little cool outside.  There is a more crowded beach area at Presque Isle with a concession stand and playground, but Bobby likes to be alone.



After about 2 hours on the beach, Bobby was all done.  So we gathered up our things, went and changed our clothes (poor Bobby had a cup full of small rocks and sand in his swim trunks), loaded up the car and headed home.  Bobby is just as excited with the car ride part of any trip as he is about the destination.  







Aloha Uncle Tom and Tiffani

Uncle Tom has had a crazy couple of weeks in his life.  He went to work on Monday (two weeks ago) and was laid off!!!!  Oh no!!  Got a job offer in Hawaii and is moving back to the island.  Tiffani put in her notice at work and they are selling most of their belongings and packing the rest to ship over.  Since there are a few things that they didn't want to part with and couldn't take with them, we got in the car yesterday and drove to Charlottesville, VA.  We got to say good-bye and bring back some of their things to store for them.

Bobby putting his headphones into his car bag

Since Bobby loves to go for car rides, we weren't too worried about the travel part of the day. 

Having a great day!!

Took us a little over 5 hours to get there and Bobby only had one little issue, but after we stopped and he "pee pee pottied" it was back in the car with no problem.  We had never been to this apartment before since they had recently moved.  Bobby got to ride an elevator.  You would not even believe that this is the same kid that had to be drug onto an elevator kicking and screaming.

His wheels are spinning..."I would love to run up and down these long hallways"

We weren't even there for 5 minutes before Bobby escaped from their apartment without any of us noticing.  Grandma Carolyn, Uncle Tom, Tiffani, Bob and me running around the halls of each floor and the parking lot of the apartment building hunting for Bobby.  Grandma Carolyn found him in the stair well.  What a way to start our visit. 

It wasn't long until we all calmed down, blocked the door with Tom's luggage and began gathering things to bring home.

Grandma Carolyn and Tiffani searching through the treasures

Bobby having some fries from Five Guys for lunch

Even though it was hot, hot, hot outside with major humditiy, Bobby wanted to go outside.  So, Uncle Tom took Bobby outside to show him around his neighborhood.

Uncle Tom, lets go shoot this canon!!

Big kisses for Uncle Tom

Aren't they sweet!!

Taking a break...boy, it's HOT!!

Bobby was getting tired and ready to get back into the car (really, he just wanted to run up and down the hallways!!), so after an autism meltdown, we loaded the car, had a years worth of hugs and kisses and took off for our 5 hour drive home. 

Bobby is not letting go of the "shaky egg."





A Made For TV Story

One evening last fall, my brother Tommy (he has been known as Tom for years, but I still call him Tommy) called me.  Tommy:  "I have just had the most bizarre half hour and I don't even know where to start."  Me:  "It has only been a half hour, it can't be too hard."  Tommy:  "I just got a call from someone who said, 'I think that I am your brother.' "  Tommy told me that this person had found out his fathers name and looked up the name on Facebook and found Tommy (Tommy was named after our dad).  Tommy was so stunned that he couldn't even remember this persons name, only that he had friend requested Tommy and his daughter Ashley.  Me:  "I saw that you and Ashley both became friends with someone today on Facebook."  Tommy:  "That's him, what is his name."  So, I turned on the computer and found Chris Armstrong.  Lucky for us, Chris had all of his pictures available to everyone.  I started looking through Chris's pictures and started laughing.  Me:  "Tommy, this boy is our brother.  He looks more like Dad and Uncle Steve (our dad's brother) than either of us do!!!"

I sent Chris a personal message on Facebook and since he lived in Marion County (yes only 30-40 minutes away from me), I invited him and his family over to meet us and answer any questions that he might have.  I told Tommy when he was supposed to come to my house and Tommy got in his car and drove 5 hours to be here for the meeting.  It was only awkward for a few minutes when they walked in and soon we were all talking and interacting like we had always know each other.  The family bond was somehow already there-very surreal!!

Tommy called our dad and talked with him about the situation.  After Dad realized that none of us were upset and we all thought that it was kind of cool, he confirmed that Chris was his son.  Now all of the sudden, I am the middle child instead of the baby (LOL).  It's really funny when you stop and think about it-how many times have we been in the same room shopping, eating...since we live so close.  Chris's wife Tiffany even went to the same high school that Tommy and I did-although many years later. 

So, a few months ago, Bobby's World grew when he got a new uncle, aunt and 2 cousins. Chris, his wife Tiffany, daughter Kinlei and step-daughter Brenalin have instantly become a part of our family.

After Christmas brunch (l to r):  Brenalin, Tiffany, Kinlei, Chris, me, Bob, Ashley, Tommy, Tiffani, and Bobby

Brenalin and Bobby hanging out in the trampoline

The Armstrong Family-the latest addition to Bobby's World!!