After a particularly hard week, the weekend was a welcomed relief. Matthew was his sweet, funny and happy self. Sunday we met friends at Adventure City for an afternoon of fun in the crazy heat.
If there are animals around, Matthew wants to see them....no matter how bad they smell!
Special friends.....
Great afternoons with great friends...what could be better?
Initially Matthew didn't want to ride the roller coaster but after awhile he changed his mind and went twice. It would have been three times but Mark was so done!
That look of sheer delight! Matthew loves to end the day at Adventure City by playing in the train yard. He had so much fun and was in a great mood. He had moments of difficulty but overall was such a good boy. I feel badly because too often I dwell on the negative instead of recognizing how hard Matthew has worked and how far he has come. I am so proud of you Matthew and love you so much. You are my joy and I am so blessed to be your mom! XOXOXOXOXO
Saturday we went to Temecula to celebrate Devin's birthday. I thought this was a cute photo of Matthew with his cousins.
Sunday morning Mark went to Vegas with his brother Kirk for a few days of golf, fun and R & R for his b-day. They had a beautiful suite at the Venetian with a great view of the strip. Of course pictures were the last thing on Mark's mind but he did take a few.
On Mark's b-day we decided to surprise Matthew and pick him up from school for a visit to Disneyland.
It was not crowded but boy was it hot! We went to Tom Sawyer's Island. Matthew had fun but I think it will be a bigger hit once the weather cools down.
He was really good about trying some new things this time and kept saying "Mom, I wanna go more rides".
He was beat on the way home so I tried to give him a lollipop and keep him awake. Didn't work!
He just could not keep those big brown eyes open a moment longer! Truth be told it was a fun day but the last hour was hard. The two weeks or so have been very difficult. I think it is partially because Matthew's schedule has changed and he is having some challenges adjusting. We have been dealing with some really tough behaviors, tantrums and all the fun that goes with having a child with autism. I hate autism and wish my son could be typical...... I am grateful for the progress he has made, progress I would not have believed 2 years ago. I know that we have much to celebrate but I am not feeling it lately. Regardless, I love my son beyond measure and feel blessed when I see that beautiful face.
It has been a fun past few days so lots of photos to post. Matthew went to a birthday party Thursday night but my camera died after about 5 minutes but I did have these photos that I thought were so cute of my little man. I can't resist that smile!
Saturday, once it cooled off a bit we went to Boomers with our friends the Raos for some fun with the kids.
Is it me or does Matthew always look mischievous?
Look at those smiles!
We had fun and went back for the Rao home for a delicious dinner while the kids played. A wonderful and relaxing evening.
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On Sunday we headed over to Pretend City after social skills to check it out with some friends.
WOW! Very well put together and you could literally spend hours there. It is literally like a little city with a bank, restaurant, grocer store, beach, post office, house, movie theater, roads to drive cars on, etc. with tons of activities.
The first stop was one of Matthew's favorite...the grocery store.
He had fun running around collecting food
Checking out the "frozen foods" and paying the cashier.
Out sweet buddy Zachary!
The had a cute little 2 bedroom house with a kitchen, tv room and bathroom with dress up clothes. Matthew came out in these red pumps and said "Look Mommy! I find new fwip fwops!" We laughed so hard because he did not want to take then off and walks better in heels than I do.
Washing windows and filling the gas
Picking apples and going through an ATM drive though....yes, the ATM dispenses play money!
Brenna got face paint...doesn't she look adorable!
Cupcakes with Brenna and Riley make any outing even better!
They had a little restaurant with a back kitchen, counter for ordering and place to eat.
They had a little beach too. My Matthew, always the sensory seeker.
There were plenty of chances to dress up too and drive around the city in cars. Kind of funny because the pedestrian cars were mostly BMWs.
Don't mess with Officer Sumida
And then it was time to go home. Overall, the kids had a great time and Matthew is already asking to return. Matthew loved it though due the crowds and noise level he did go into overload mode a bit. He is very sound and light sensitive and too much sensory (visual and auditory) can be a little overwhelming. I realize how far he has come as this type of stimulation would have sent him into orbit last year. Mark and I are enjoying new and fun experiences with Matthew this year that would not have been an option for us in the past. .
We started this blog because we wanted to be able to keep our loved ones up to date on Matthew and the wonderful progress he is making. It has been a crazy time since receiving Matthew's diagnosis of moderate to severe Autism in February 2007. Autism is classified by the World Health Organization and American Psychological Association as a developmental disability resulting from a disorder of the human centralnervous system. It is considered to be a neurodevelopmentaldisorder. It typically begins before 3 and is lifelong. It is characterized by varying degrees of impairment in verbal &non verbal communication skills, social interactions, and restricted, repetitive & stereotyped patterns of behavior. Children w/autism often fail to respond to their name, areunable to speak or have delayed speech and often avoid eye contact. They tend to engage in repetitive movements like rocking, spinning, hand flapping and in self-abusive behavior such as biting or head-banging. All behaviors that Matthew was exhibiting regularly. At the time we sent letters to our loved ones, we described whatautism was and that there was no cure for autism. Well...... that is not the case. You canrecover from autism and to that end we are pursuing a combination of therapies. Matthew is in an intense intervention program consisting of ABA (Applied Behavioral Analysis), Speech Therapy and Occupational Therapy. He is in this program for between 6-8 hours daily. He is also on a gluten-free and casein-free diet which he has been on since February 2007. We began biomedical intervention in June 2007 as well and homeopathy in April 2008. We read stories all of the time about these parents who start the diet, biomed or other modalities and see a miracle before their eyes. We have not had that experience but with each added intervention we see improvement..... 10% here, 8% there. We know that we will reach that 100% mark and that day will be the second best day of our lives, the first being when our little angel was born! We will update this as often as possible to that you can celebrate Matthew's success with us.
