Getting a little bit older.

I started this blog wanting to document my daily on-goings. It started out that way and I had many posts that talked about what was going on in my life. Now that it's been almost 8 years, things have started to settle with dust. I've contemplated over and over again about deleting the blog but there are so many wonderful moments on here. It's practically a journal. So many things have happened from a miscarriage, to finding out we were pregnant, to the birth of our first child--a son named Michael, work, life, and everything else in between. I don't think I'll ever part with this blog no matter how I am feeling at the moment. Maybe I'll sit at my laptop one day and just start writing  without stopping, but for now, a post at a time.



On a different note, Spring Break is here and oh my! It was much needed. Michael and I have such a hectic schedule every day, it wears us both down. From going to school from 9-3pm and then ABA therapy for another 3 hours, plus homework and our nightly routine. It's exhausting (another reason why I haven't been back) and it's been only a few years. All of the hard work is paying off though, a lot of progress has been done and we still have quite the journey to go. Hopefully I can get mini breaks from our schedule to just pop on in and say hello around here. I do miss it.

Progress.

An extinction procedure is essentially an intervention that makes a behavior occur less often or stop occurring altogether: Extinction procedures apply the "principle of extinction" which proposes that because behaviors occur for a reason - they get us things we want - if we stop getting what we want after we engage in a certain behavior then that behavior will eventually stop occurring because it no longer serves any purpose for us. Said another way, any behavior we engage in will become "extinct" (stop occurring) if it no longer has a function.Applying the principle of extinction to implement an extinction procedure means that you would deliberately stop allowing a behavior - a “target behavior” - to obtain the reinforcing outcome(s) that the behavior has always previously gotten. This procedure then makes the behavior ineffective and so it will occur less and less until it eventually stops altogether.You could describe it as a procedure where you would stop giving the behaviour “what it wants” and what it has always gotten in the past.

 - Educate Autism"

So far it seems to be working. This past week has proven to be working. One of the tasks that needs to be worked on is tooth brushing. Boy! Does he not like that. Once that task comes up, everything goes out the window. Literally! Michael began throwing items at both his tutor and myself. This behavior lasted for about an hour, even after his tutor had to leave. I didn't know what else to do and just walked straight into the bathroom. I sat down and cried. I could feel the weight of the items (possibly books) being thrown at the door. I've never felt this helpless before. After about 15 minutes of being inside, I walked out. Michael came up to me and just said "Im sorry you are having a bad day." It took a lot for me to not yell that it was me, but in all honesty, I was. His tutor and I received some reinforcement and we are now better equipped. He has now calmed down a lot quicker from that behavior and we praise him for it. Whew!

A lot of these sessions take a toll on me. My husband had a week off from work to heal from his surgery and has witnessed how much work is done with Michael during his work hours. When people ask me what I do, he explains in the most prideful way how much work I do. That sort of pride with how hard I work is what helps me keep pushing forward and give everything I can to our son. It's a lot of hard work, I won't lie, and most days I don't even know how I do it. We talk about another child, but that's for another post. However,


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That post was written in October. It's been sitting in waiting to be finished since then. However, a lot has changed.

Michael now brushes his teeth when asked, and about 80% of  the time does it with out complaints. New Foods is also a task we do during session time. We have don't have a lot of non-compliance like we used to for trying out new foods. He's matured a lot. We see it.

Speaking of maturity, Michael is now 6 years old. We don't do birthday parties as it takes a toll on him with being around so many people, but we did celebrate it. We started on Sunday the 2nd of April and continues until Tuesday April 04th. On Sunday, our day started with our annual trip to Toys R Us to choose toys he wants,  to dinner at Chilli's. Monday evening, we spent it at my parents house where two of his cousins came over for a pizza party and birthday fun. Tuesday, we kept it low key and it was just the three of us.

Just keep swimming....

I'm finally sitting down and writing a post. About time, right? Like usual, life got in the way. But that's okay, I'd rather enjoy it anyways.

Michael started school and is officially a Kindergartener. Funny how I started this blog with pregnancy updates and now he's in kindergarten. That's how easy and fast time flies by. Quick! He's doing great in kindergarten. He has even gotten a pair of glasses to help him focus. Yes, we are officially a family of 3 who all wear glasses--dark rimmed ones to be exact, which converse. Somehow the inner geek in me smiles at that statement. 

We have also started Applies Behavioral Analysis Therapy (ABA Therapy) along with Social Group Therapy. The 1:1 started out nice and easy. I could do it! But that was to establish a trusting relationship. Now today, we started the real sessions. It was intense! I felt my heart melt so quickly. I just wanted to jump in there and swoop him out of there--my own home. The therapists weren't being pushy nor aggressive, he just didn't want to try new foods. One day we will get there, one day. 

On a different note, my husband is finally getting his second surgery. After months and months of insurance issues and starting a new job, we can finally say that it's healing time. It turns out that aside from his ACL, PCL, and MCL, he also tore the miniscus. What a doozy! He's been out of the boxing world for a bit over 7 months. He does not like it at all. I'm sure it will take a full year from the point he tore everything until he can fully function as a boxer. He too will get there.

Right now we are mourning another loss. My cousin lost his wife to a tragic car accident. His twin 2yr olds made it but not without one being in a critical state. The 2yr old boy is healing wonderfully though, all while his twin sister had very minimal injuries. I just pray that they can heal so they can move on. ❤️

Endless Summer

Since Summer School has ended, we have had our mornings full of fun. Which was the plan. All of this is brand spankin’ new to me. Yes, I have been a mommy for almost 5.5 years, however, I am a homebody. I do like to venture our and have fun. I do like to go out with my son and do our thing—but its usually errands or appointments. For me, to actually get out and do something just to do something—that is like WHOA! You know what? I kind of actually liked these past couple of weeks. I liked going out and doing something instead of just being lazy at home and only leaving home for errands and appointments. This is huge!

I’m hoping that the rest of his little summer vacation is full of more adventures. We only have a few weeks left and I’m going to be excited to surprise him with new memories to come—especially since the weather is perfect for it and the heat wave is gone.

Summer time is Adventure Time + Review

We are finally done with Summer School and Swim Classes. It has made our lives quite busy these past couple of weeks. I'm really hoping that now that Michael has a break from school that he takes well to the change. Here's hoping for a great start next week!
Now that Michael is 5 and he’s a lot more verbal, I thought we should have more adventures together. It’s not easy having a child who is on the Spectrum (regardless where he may fall on it) because it makes day-to-day life quite unpredictable. Some days we could have a picture perfect day out and it gives me hope to be able to venture out again. Then we have days where one thing triggers a meltdown and you have the entire section at Target or Wal-mart staring at you. Those are the days that aren’t fun—especially for him. BUT!!! We are going to take it one day at a time and hope for the best. Summer vacation is when memories are made, and we inted to do just that.

Now since I gave you a small update, I’d thought I’d tell you about a box I received. It’s the Bonita VoxBox and I am so excited to review it. So far I’ve had the Fiber One Brownies. It’s quite rich and oh so delicious!! I’m really eager to try out the Dickson’s Hydrating Toner that I recieved. More than likely it will be to help clean my face tonight before bed. Two hair treatments were in the box too, they are the Madam C.J. Walker Protein Treatment (it’s a pre-wash treatment) and the Wonderful Deep Conditioning. I have a BBQ tomorrow which I am sure I will use it for that. Two lip samples from Revlon’s Ultra HD and Super Lustrous Collection came as well, again hopefully I’ll love the swatches and purchase them. The colors are right up my alley. Last but not least was a Sinful Colors Nail Polish from the Kylie Jenner line: Porcelain Matte in Mad matter. That’s going on tonight on my fingers. Here’s a quick look at what I got:

Disclaimer: These opinions are my own. Influenster has not paid me for my opinions.

School's out for Summer-- sort of.

Ever since the school district recommended Michael attend Special Education Classes, they also recommended that he attend Summer School. Poor guy hasn't had a break since he turned 3 years old. However, this is just a small sacrifice for a brighter future. Now that summer is here once again, we are trying to cram a few activities before his Summer School starts back up again. This time, we are doing swim class!

I'm not a swimmer. I never learned. My parents never really took us 4 to the water parks or beaches to enjoy the summer. We mainly stayed indoors and just--laid there. Now that I am a parent, I want Michael to learn to swim. It's a very important skill to have. Now that summer is here once again, we signed him up--and he's loving it! He's a slow learner so I think we may have to re-sign him up for another class or private lessons after his current session ends. That's okay. I'm sure he wouldn't mind jumping into the pool every day after school now. Who wouldn't with this 100 + weather we've had here all week--and it's just starting!

Now that he's learning to swim, I too have signed up for classes. I'm a little intimidated since the swim instructors are either high school age or just graduated high school. Oh well, it's only for two weeks and it's a something I have always wanted to learn. I just hope I am not the oldest student in my group, which is quite likely since the class is for 12 and older. My being the older. Ha ha! I'll write about my adventures when it comes.

Our New Normal.

I'm up at about 6am Monday through Friday. I stagger over to the kitchen and grab our coffee grounds to add to the coffee machine. Three times out of five, I clumsily end up with about a third of the grounds on the countertop versus the coffee filter. Six in the morning for most isn't too early, but for some reason my body doesn't like it.

After the wonderful smell of coffee starts to drench our morning air, I can feel my senses start to wake up. This is when I head on over the bathroom and try to deflate the morning mess of a puffy face that I have going on. A shower would do much better, but I'd have to wake up much earlier than that--let's face it, I suck in the mornings. 

After I wake up a wee bit  more and finish my morning ritual in the bathroom, it's time to wake up the 5 year old child. If you think I can't function, ha! I try to wake him up and make sure he's fully awake before we all rush out the door. However, I still have to gather his outfit for the day before heading to my mom's. 

Everyone is up by 6:30 and trying to get themselves in order before the clock hits 7am. Most mornings we just blink and viola--it's 7am is here. Out the door we go!

My mom has started to handle Michael's morning routine since Stevan's injury. I drop Michael off by 7:20am (the school bus picks him up from her home now) and head back into traffic. It's a lot easier getting "there" versus my getting home. By 7:45am, I've already dropped everyone off and I'm starting my route back home--which most days means that I don't get to leave my car in the drive way until after 8:30am. 

This is a new normal for us. It's just temporary since the school year will be ending and then we start a new normal. Since Michael does have Autism, all of these changes will be really hard on him. He's capable of handling daily transitions (random trips to the store, family outings, etc.) just not major shifts in his daily schedule. 

We've already started contacting a plethora of ABA agencies and all of them have wait lists from 1 month to 6months of just waiting. I'm hoping our number one choice calls back soon to say we are next. 

Our daily routine right now is just a temporary one until September, I hope. Hopefully by then Stevan will have mobility in his right knee (so he can drive to work and I can drive Michael more calmly to school as opposed to stressed out for traffic.) and we have started ABA therapies for Michael. But for now, we are hoping we can help Michael with all of these new changes. It's not easy but we will try.

And just for fun, so it's not all texts.