Play Dates

We took Matthew to the Discovery Science Center today to see the Dinosaur Exhibit. He had fun running around and seeing his little friend Zachary.

Later in the day we had a play date with his buddy Brenna and baked cookies, one of Matthew’s new favorite things to do. Are they cute or what!

Mark may end up with a little baker rather than a golfer!

Brenna and Matthew enjoying the fruits of their labor.

In the evening we took the kids to Burger King to play in those tall climbing structures….the very ones I swore I would never let my child touch when I was pregnant…
While we were there we had one of those “Wow” moments. One of Matthew’s challenges is his social skills. He typically does not care much about his peers and usually prefers not to interact. It is frequently a struggle to get him to engage with peers at all but tonight was incredible. He had such a great time and to watch him call Brenna’s name and tell her he needed help to reach the next climbing level was gold to us. She was such a good little helper and never left his side for over an hour, dragging him up that tall structure over and over. She even said “Matthew, come this way” and he did!!!! This is HUGE for Matthew and something his therapist and social skills teacher have worked hard on.
To be honest, it has been a rough week or two with behaviors and incessant stimming and seeing this interaction was so encouraging. Moments like these renew our belief that someday our son will be recovered and autism will be a thing of the past. For now he continues to make us so proud of him and thankful for having this beautiful boy in our lives.

New Years Fun

This is going to be one long post. We have had a busy few days so I am going to put the past few days on one post starting with New Years Day.

We took Matthew to Legoland on New Years Day and had a great time. Matthew had a blast and had fun on the rides and the play grounds. Matthew has been many times and each time we are seeing him enjoy the experience even more. The first time we took him was May 2007, things were so very different. Matthew was still so deeply in the “autism fog”. This time when we left I said “Matthew, did you have a good time?” He answered “Negonand bun!” (Legoland fun). That comment alone was worth the entrance fee! We are so proud of you little one!

My little Speed Racer gets his license!

On Friday we went to Jump’n Jammin with friends and had lots of fun. Matthew loves to run and go crazy, Mommy loves the nap he takes from sheer exhaustion when we get home.

Today we spent the day with Mark’s family celebrating Grandpa’s 85th Birthday. We had pizza (Matthew had GFCF pizza) and cupcakes (all GFCF). The kids went outside and played, they were so cute I had to take some photos.

OK, so the cupcakes did not turn out as planned, they were yummy though.

They were so funny following each other down the path

We finally put Matthew’s bike together and he LOVES it! The pictures tell all. Is he the sweetest boy ever?

What a year this has been. The progress our precious boy has made amazes us. We have no delusions about the amount of work we still have ahead but are grateful for what Matthew has accomplished so far. He has worked so hard and we could not be prouder!

Matthew Dean, you are incredible and Mommy and Daddy love you so very much.