Movement is coming soon . . . .

Well, Nathan has started going up on his hands and knees more often now. He did it once a few weeks ago and didn't do it for a while, but yesterday he did it a bunch of times in a row (I never saw it, but Brian and Lynsey testify to it:)) and he's done it a few times this morning. This is a bit sooner than Lynsey did it, so we might have a hands-and-knees crawler before eight months this time! We'll have to see! He had his six month shots yesterday (although he's actually closer to seven months) and he was 19lb 7oz and 28 inches long. He's about the 70th percentile for weight and a bit more for height, so a big boy! He doesn't seem big to us because we look back at pictures of Adam at this age, well, most of you will remember:). I just looked up Adam's weight and surprisingly he was only about 3 pounds ahead of Nathan. He seemed a lot bigger than that! I guess three pounds at this age makes a pretty big difference, too:).

Lynsey loves Kindergarten! She looks forward to going, and while we don't get a ton of information from her about what she does all day, we hear a bit here and there about "circle time" or having a different teacher for gym class, or how she really wants to be the "kid leader" but it's not going to be her turn for a while:). We are still walking her back and forth every day, which has been great because the weather has been fantastic! I have also lost a few more pounds now after being stagnant for a long time, so I guess the extra 35 minutes of walking a day is finally tipping the scale in the right direction:).

Adam had his second assessment at the Children's Hospital last Wednesday. I brought him and Lynsey to play in the play place they have there, and the therapists met us so they could observe him in a social setting. It took him a long time to warm up to being there - he was not happy. He did eventually de-stress somewhat and separate from me to go play a bit. Again, I felt they saw how he often is in an unfamiliar environment with other kids. He actually got a bit aggressive with another kid that was trying to play with his toy which was a bit out of character for him, but all in all, he was Adam. They asked me a bunch more questions and I gave them some questionnaires that Brian and I did, so it was still mostly information-gathering at this point. We have not received much feedback yet, apart from the odd comment here and there. On Monday, he goes in to have a formal speech assessment. I really wonder how this will go, but this is what she does so she's familiar with how kids are supposed to respond etc.

Some of you might be wonder how are we feeling about all this? Well, you'd have to ask Brian to know how he's doing, but I will tell you that I am ready to hear the diagnosis. I don't think that hearing the words "He has Autism" will be a devastating blow to me at all at this point. We have known for some time that Adam is different, and while I could not love him more for who he is, I just want him to get some help so he can learn to cope with the world around him. The world isn't going to stop using vacuum cleaners and other loud noises just because he's around. The world isn't going to clear the room because he walks in and doesn't want strangers talking to him. I am very optimistic that this help he can get will teach him skills that we don't know how to teach him! One of the few observations the therapists made was that he seems interested in other kids (as in, he looks up at them when they're walking by etc.) which is a good sign, but he just doesn't seem to have the skills to engage them, so he doesn't try. It makes me sad to think that he would want to play with another kid but wouldn't try because he just doesn't know how. Every mother wants their child to have confidence and flourish! Some children need more help to do this than others, and I have no problem accepting this help on his behalf:).