School Holiday Fun

When Bobby got home from school today I opened up his backpack and handed him all of the gifts that were hiding inside.  I had him sit in front of the tree, but he opened each gift without prompting and even looked at the gift inside.

This was a perfect way to top off the past two weeks of holiday fun and successes at school.

I already wrote about his holiday program.  His ability to sit in the bleachers for an hour and watch the rest of the school perform lead to some other successes.

Bobby went on a class trip to the bowling alley. Parents were not invited to attend the activity, so I had to leave it up to Ms. Kim.  We had worked out a couple of plans in case Bobby was not behaving or having fun.  However, Mr. Bobby stayed for the entire class trip and bowled with his class!!!  According to Ms. Kim he did GREAT and she was overjoyed.  There was one little incident....when Bobby bowled his first ball, he ran down the lane after it, Ms. Kim ran after him and fell down the lane!!  OOPS...I would have loved to have witnessed this!!!

The next day Bobby walked up to the middle school with all of the other kids in his school to watch their holiday concert.  Ms. Kim and Bobby sat in the bleachers with the middle school kids (and a couple of teachers that he worked with last year).  Kim said that Bobby was making some noises during the "quiet" songs that the middle school kids sang, but that he was perfectly still and quiet when the steel drums were being played.  His favorite part of the concert was when the school band drum line came in playing their drums.  Overall, a huge success!!

Now we get to relax and enjoy Christmas vacation from school and wait for the impending snow storm to hit.  I know that other autism moms are laughing about the "relax" part of that last statement!!

Bobby played with this paddle ball toy all afternoon until he finally pulled the ball off of the string.

I didn't pay too much attention to the writing on the gifts that he opened, but one of the gifts was for me...an ornament and a card (that he signed all by himself).  The other artwork was in his folder.  I love these Christmas treasures from my favorite boy!!!!

I hope that the snow doesn't mess up everyone's holiday travel plans.  Hopefully it won't be too cold and Bobby can get out and play in the snow.

It's All Good

Things have been going very well in Bobby's World lately.  He has been surprising us almost daily with new achievements, some big (at least to us) and some small.  It is like he has entered the toddler developmental stage where you are so excited to see what they are learning...better late than never!!! Compared to where we were this past Feb-July (almost rock bottom), we couldn't be happier!!!!

Santa's watching you Bobby...you'd better be nice!!

Today was his school's holiday program.  This is the first year that Bobby is actually going into music class and participating (well, participating Bobby style...I'm sure other kids would get in trouble if they acted this way!!  LOL).  Bobby had a HUGE achievement yesterday while the school was having their dress rehearsal.  All the kids sat in the bleachers to watch each other so that they could see the show.  Bobby Smith went into the gym and sat in the bleachers and watched the program for an hour.  Yes, for those who really know him, I said an HOUR!!!  He sat for an HOUR. In case you didn't get that...he sat for an HOUR.  Ms. Kim sat beside him, not holding him.  They used his token system and he earned his tokens for his reward.  Yeah Bobby!  Now this is a skill that this child really, really, really needs to learn.

He didn't/couldn't stand with his class during rehearsal without being held by his teacher, so his teacher and I decided that he wouldn't participate in the actual program.  I didn't want him being held there by a teacher, I want him to be able to stand there independently and participate.  But I am still so beyond thrilled that he stayed in the bleachers and watched.  Who know, maybe one day we will be able to take him to a movie or a show or something!!!  I know, I'm jumping way ahead of myself.  I went to the program anyway and watched the other kids, they did a great job.

 Checking out the Christmas tree before school this morning.  Grandma did a great job modifying Bobby's holiday shirt so that he can't chew on the sleeves anymore.

I already shared that Bobby ate lo mein, well he also ate a whole piece of Long John Silvers fish.  I know, it's definitely not the healthiest fish, but it was a piece of fish.  Even funnier, he didn't eat the french fries (his absolute favorite), just the piece of fish.  He took a bite of my hamburger the other day, chewed and swallowed it.  He didn't come back to get another bite, but he didn't spit it out either.  He has also been trying yogurt, it takes him over an hour to eat about 1/4 container, but it is not his preferred consistency of food.

He gets himself set up on the computer all on his own (it's a touch screen computer).

Putting on his coat to leave school today.

Bobby figured out how to zip his coat completely independently.  I don't have to start the zipper for him, he's got it covered!!!  Fine motor skill triumph!!!!

A few weeks ago Bobby was sitting playing in the dirt.  He removed all of the rocks from his dirt pile one by one and pitched them away.  I finally dawned on me...he is throwing those rocks overhand with purpose and getting them to go where he wants (over the fence).  Throwing overhand has been a goal on Bobby's IEP since he was 3 years old.  Yeah Bobby, he's got that one down!!!!!  Not sure if he has demonstrated this for Coach Lorri, I'll have to remember to ask.

Words are starting to come to Bobby.  After we got home from school today Bobby said "outside" which he does often.  This can either mean that he wants to play outside or that he wants to go for a ride in the car.  He then said "play."  This is a word that I have never heard spontaneously so I jumped up and said "yes, Bobby!  Lets go play outside!!"

For those of you who have heard Bobby in therapy while you were in the waiting room because your child was next or if you were in with another therapist, you know very well that he has had some rough sessions this year.  Over the past month or two he has been doing so much better.   The tone of the sessions lately has moved from feeling like pulling teeth to his behavioral therapist and I jumping for joy.

The hallway of Bobby's school where his classroom is located.  They are having a door decorating contest and the teachers decided to do a theme hall...The 12 Days of Christmas.  SOOO CUTE!!

The door to Bobby's classroom is 3 French Hens and Bobby actually painted the hens.  His teacher picked out the colors and gave him a paintbrush and he painted them with water colors.  Someone else cut them out and made the actual hens, but Bobby painted them.  I'm not sure that I would have believed it if he hadn't done such a great job working on a Christmas craft project (I'll share those pictures after the presents have been distributed).  

Lovely hens...a true genius must have painted them!!

After Bobby was diagnosed with autism, a special needs mom said to me "ebb and flow...ebb and flow."  I totally get what she meant.  We have been ebbing for so long that it is about time that we get to sit back and flow along.  It's so exciting to be in this period where he is wanting to learn.  I pray that it lasts for....well, forever!!!!!

YUM-O

I wish that I could take credit for being mother-of-the-year because I got Bobby to eat a new food that is way, way, way out of his normal food selections.  But alas, I can take zero credit.  Bobby picked up a lo mein noodle off of his dad's plate and ate it.  He reached down, got another and ate it too.  Simple as that??!!??  He showed an interest in the lo mein while we were having it with our Chinese take-out dinner the previous evening, but didn't actually chew and swallow the noodles.  Why he decided to actually put it in his mouth and eat it when Bob heated up leftovers the next day is an answer that I will never have.

This food choice really shocks me because Bobby has never been a pasta eater, even as a toddler before his food selectivity began.  No spagetti, no ramen noodles...he never even showed an interest.  The foods that he has eaten out of the blue in the past few months have been things that he has previously eaten well in his life.

Since he took a couple of bites off of Daddy's plate, I got out the container of veggie lo mein and heated up Bobby a plate.  This time I even remembered to give him a fork.  While I stood there with my mouth gaped open watching him actually eat these noodles and I was smiling from ear to ear watching him try to use a fork.  It was like watching a toddler, after all, Bobby never learned this skill as a toddler.  I had to grab my camera and snap away...

He ate the noodles until all of the remaining ones had veggies wrapped around them.  I then took each noodle and ran it through my fingers so that they would be "clean" and then he finished them.  Oh what we moms do to get our kids to eat!!!  Hopefully this was not a one time only thing.  Can't wait to see if any other new foods interest him soon!!!

It's Party Time...Autism Style

One of our fellow autism families, which I met through the Mon Co Autism Support Group, invited Bobby back to the Hardy Girls Gym at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort for a VIP Christmas Party for children with autism and other disorders.  We were so excited to go back to this gym because Bobby had such a wonderful time when we were there for a birthday party.

Grandma Carolyn had the day off of work, so she came along to witness Bobby having so much fun.  We stopped off for lunch on our drive to the gym.  Bobby sat very well and ate his lunch...

I didn't take my camera in, so we took a picture with Grandma's phone. 

Then the funniest, best part of the day happened....we got back into the car and I started driving.  We hadn't told Bobby anything about where we were going, we just wanted to see his excitement and he didn't disappoint.  I took the next right and turned onto Rt. 40....Bobby started bouncing in his seat with the biggest smile on his face....he knew exactly where we were going!!!  He could hardly wait to get out of the car when I parked at the gym.

He ran right in and claimed his spot on the yellow trampoline!

He was joined by Lucas...

and eventually more kids came along...

I just worry that Bobby jumps way too hard and high for some kids, but no one seemed to mind.  Every once in a while Bobby would get up and run a lap around the room and come right back to his spot.  He looks sad in this picture, but he's not, he's just intently watching other kids jump...

Sonny came over and watched the jumping too...

Bobby spotted the guy that works there, who jumped with him the last time we were there.  Bobby went and brought him over to the trampoline to jump with him again...

He remembered Bobby and commented how Bobby wore him out the last time we were there!!

There were cookies from the resort as well as some other treats for the party guests...

Our friend Lucas was in his glory with these cookies!!!  He kept sneaking away to get another one.  Just like at the birthday party....the treats and drinks were there for you if and when you wanted them.  The kids didn't have any schedule of events dictated for them...they just got to play.

We were happy that the other Smith family could attend this party.  Sonny and Joey came over and joined Bobby and Lucas on the trampoline...

Everyone else needed a break, but Bobby is still jumping...

Alright...break times over...everyone back to the trampoline!!!!

Sonny decided that he would go ride the stationary bike...

Joey went to help a little girl try to get on the rings and when they weren't successful, he decided to swing from them himself...

We had to start telling Bobby that it was time to leave about 15 minutes before we were ready to leave so that he could start the transition.  He finally left the trampoline and went to put his shoes on and go get in the car.  The good thing about it being a very rainy, foggy day was that we could stop the car in the middle of the road and look at the animals (and I could take pictures).  However, because of the rainy, foggy day the pictures are not that good.  Oh well, you can't have everything.

The kids all had an AWESOME Christmas party!!!!!  Thank you so much Mike and Jen for the invitation.  We had a great time!

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Friday was pajama day at school.  I took a couple of pictures of Bobby before we left for school...