First week down

Today completes Puppy’s first week of four in a process that will slowly remove one medication and replace it with another by decreasing and increasing the doses, respectively. So have I seen any changes yet? Yes, the first two days did bring about a couple of crying episodes with no real cause for them. I already see fewer bursts of anger, yelling and anxiety attacks. But overall, he is more alert, talkative, and creative, as in wanting to draw, cut and paste.

It almost seems as if his alertness is making him aware of more things. For one, his voice is changing already, and has been upset that he can’t talk like everyone else. But I also interpret that he wants to make conversations with a back and forth dialog. This seems to bother him several times a week. I sure wish I could get inside his head and understand what he is trying to communicate.

Two, he is now aware of the fact that it is summer vacations and a break from school work. We went over the schedule of “How many days do I go to daycare?” and “How many days we stay home?” Each question followed by a “then?” and I went into a loop. This was followed by him saying, “Wow, that’s many days, no school!”

Three, he is getting particular about what he wears. This may have started a few months back, but every night before bedtime, as part of the PCS schedule, he will layout his clothes for the following day. Some days after he wakes up, he goes back into the closet to pick out something different to wear. He even has favorite socks! I bought him white and gray ankle socks and he won’t wear the gray ones, saying he doesn’t like them anymore. The socks are of the same brand, shape, emblem, but still a no-go. Go figure.

Four, he wants to play outdoors. He has always enjoyed being outside, but now he wants to play with the ball, kick it around, water the grass, etc. Usually he would simply sit on lawn chairs or pace up and down the sidewalks. I like this Puppy better because I like that he is interested in being more active.

I could keep on going, but I think you get the picture. And I’m going to work on that…pictures. There’s a place to upload to this webpage but I haven’t tried it yet. Maybe I’ll take a few minutes on the weekend to test this feature. Wish me luck on this.

If my child was a flower

Tonight I read the latest posting from Stuart Duncan, a father to a son with autism. I hope you can take the time to read from the link below. After reading it, I felt that I too could see that Puppy is a flower I picked from the garden nine years ago.

http://www.stuartduncan.name/autism/if-my-child-was-a-flower/

Temporary Writer's Block

Some of you who know me won’t believe this, but I have writer’s block. It seems so hard to believe because I could easily pick a day, any day, and write about something that happened on that day. Something always happens in our lives, good or bad; something to write about is going to happen.

Lately, I’ve been spending some short periods of down time catching up on my facebook friends. You may not find me posting much, but I do read just about everything that reaches my Wall. I also follow some other pages, and find myself flipping from link to link to read other stories about kids, autism, places, service dogs, amusement parks, and other blogs. I even have a separate fb page that will instantly show a link to this website when I post to my blog. Go find it and “LIKE” Claire and Puppy on fb, too.

However, my job requires me to sit in front of a computer all day, so I don’t always want to do it at home. I’ve even considered dropping my Internet provider, but then I come to my senses and remember I have a blog to keep up, lol.

Well, since my writing is about Puppy, I should take a moment to give a brief update. He is doing great! There’s more to this but I don’t want to squeeze the story into a small paragraph. We are in the beginning stages of changing his medications. This is always a difficult decision, one I wish no one has to make. But my priority is to make sure that Puppy is happy, with the ability to function on a daily basis. If he needs medication to achieve this, then I will do whatever is within my power to find good doctors for him. Bottom line…he’s doing amazingly well! J

ESY and Reading

I'm going to have to go back a few weeks to update what has been going on in our daily lives. Sorry for this, but I know it's my own fault for not blogging regularly.

Puppy had four (4) weeks of Extended School Year which were over June 30. It was good to keep his routine going as long as possible. He still hasn't learned to keep track of the days of the week. He understands the days he attends classes are Monday through Thursday. Then he has one full day at daycare on Fridays. And that we stay home other days, on the weekends. But I haven't been able to keep his interest in following the calendar. Or at least, not unless it's counting down to a special day, then he will manage to make it to the fridge and mark each day as it goes by.

He did so well with his reading during the year and summer. However, give him something new to read and he puts out all the stops saying it's not what he learned in school and simply says, "I don't know". Puppy has always had the habit of seeing the first letter of a word and then saying any word that comes to mind with that same first letter. This explains why he doesn't mind reading what's already familiar to him; the first letter will obviously be one of the words he has been reading for several days. But then again, isn't that how we all begin to read? He just needs to find his own way to keep the words he knows visually and how to spell or write them in his memory bank for later. And unfortunately, that does not come easy for him.

I have much more to write about June days, but he's bugging me that he's bored and we need to get out of this house that is quickly getting warmer as we speak. I know I haven't mentioned this, but my A/C is not working and with temperatures staying in the upper 90's to lower 100's; we need to get out of here. Ah, did I mention it's the Fourth of July weekend and repairs won't be made until after Tuesday? Wish us luck. I'll follow up on this adventure later.

Back to writing

I can't believe we are already in July. It seems like the month of June went by me with the blink of an eye. Yet, so much has happened, so many routine changes, etc.

I've been telling some of you that I had about three postings started, but not completed. This is true. But somehow it just seems more difficult to pick up where I left off. My train of thought isn't there anymore. My reason for the story is gone.

I do have some catching up to do with events that have taken place before today, so I will try to go back as best as I can to continue my novela in Puppy's and my lives with autism. Stay tuned.