Summer is over…for the most part. All the neighborhood kids are back in school and the pool is only open on the weekend. Time to get back to business. Admittedly, we took it kind of easy this summer and I didn’t run the Son-Rise Program that I would have liked to have run. I would love to have had Jakob in his playroom from 9-6 every day. We didn’t quite hit that this summer. And we did do a few things that we didn’t last year…like go to the park and swim in the back yard. I don’t think any permanent damage was done but we certainly didn’t make the kind of progress we would have made had we been in the playroom. Can’t beat myself up about it…we still did do some wonderful things.

I’m constantly amazed at his level of eye contact. It’s so cute when he throws one of his little fits…stomps his feet, musters up some alligator tears, yells “no banana, I want 2 hot dogs” and the whole time, he’s looking me right in the eye. It’s a beautiful thing.
And his receptive language is remarkable. I can give him 3 and 4 step instructions and he does ‘em.

It’s so cool too how I’ll ask him “do you want to brush your teeth?” and he’ll say “brush my teeth”. That’s a big deal.

One thing is for sure…this kid lives in the here and now. He does not like it when I use the words “tomorrow” or “later”. I can’t even get sneaky with “in a little bit” or “after awhile”. He gets all feisty and squeals, “no later, no tomorrow, no in a little bit” and he means it. Giving him times doesn’t work either. At 4:00 never flies. Sometimes he likes 2:00 but that’s it. Whatever it is that he wants, he wants it NOW. That’s livin’ in the moment…Eckart Tolle would be impressed with this kid.

We go back to the DAN doctor in a few weeks. More tests have been done and we’ll go over the results and make adjustments where necessary. I think at last count, he takes 15 different supplements. I have a feeling there will be more on the way.

And he’s turning 8 this week. I can’t believe it. A couple years ago I would have been really really depressed about this birthday. The “experts” say that not much changes after a child with Autism turns 8. B.S. Anything is possible. There is always hope and I KNOW that if we can dream it, we can achieve it.

I also know that in the end, it’s not up to me. It’s up to my living-in-the-now, always-knowing-what-he-wants, adorable 8-year-old little man. And all I can do is create the environment for him that will make it easy for him if he decides to join us in our world. And I’m on it.