SUMMER

Wow, it has been over a month since I have posted! Needless to say, it has been a busy summer!! I had two summer classes that kept me extremely busy and we did a lot of day trips when we could fit them in! We also spent a lot of time in our pool because it is Kale's absolute favorite!! He and Jaden have definitely improved on their swimming skills since July! They are both swimming underwater and that's exciting!

So, let's backtrack to July. We went to the Kalahari in the Dells over the 4th and had an amazing time! However, Kale was pretty off for several weeks after that. He had been on Vancomycin and Diflucan for 10 days and when those meds ended, he became very aggressive. He started pulling my hair and hitting himself much more than normal. He also started covering his ears which was something totally new. I called Usman's office and we recently put him back on the vanco and diflucan. He also started the new Methyl B12 shots with the increased dosage. He was also not sleeping much!
I took him to the zoo and he did great, lasted 5 hours! We have gone to the beach a couple of times and he also loves that! This was his first time swimming in a lake and let me tell you, he swims for 4 hours straight except for the 15 minute breaks!
I also took him to the Wiggles concert this past weekend. He has had some play dates with Lily and Justin this summer and that was fun for him as well.

We are definitely looking forward to school starting next week. Although I am going to miss my boys soooo much during the day, it is time for a schedule!!! The potty training is not going as fast as I had hoped and I am looking forward to some help with that too at school. He will have to get used to it eventually!!

So, all in all, we have had a lot of memorable days this summer. BUT, I have had an emotionally draining summer also. His lack of sleep is sometimes really hard to deal with. I run on empty a lot of the time and then all of a sudden it catches up to me when I least expect it. I was again hoping for some real improvements over the summer with his language but we really have had none. It is time to really focus on an AAC device for him at school and also push him to use it at home. I NEED to give him an outlet to communicate with us. His lack of communication is his biggest hurdle as well as his (and mine) biggest frustration.
My plan is to get this house really organized when they are in school, create a therapy center for him, add ABA therapy in our home for him a couple of hours a week, hang up visual schedules all over our house and really push him. It's time! I have always tried to let him be himself at home because he is pushed all day at school and then at private therapy too, but Kale needs to be pushed. He made great improvements last year during the school year and we need to build on that!
The good news is that I have recently cut down on my hours at work and I will be student teaching soon! So, I am home more with the boys at night and that will help with the scheduling!!

Will post soon.....Happy back to school everyone!

Sadie