Such an awesome kid...

Waylon is such a cool kid. Actually we have three totally cool kids.
Rose's goofy cuteness makes people in the grocery store checkout line giggle and say, "She's so cute!"
And Caden makes us so proud when brings home perfect report cards and acts like a little man.
But for the untrained eye, it might be a little trickier to spot Waylon's awesomeness.
I can feel the stares of those who just don't understand, when Waylon sits under our table in the restaurant and screams. Or when he races away from us in the video store, laughing uncontrollably. I know he appears to be a terrible kid, but he's not. He's awesome.
Underneath all of the confusion, sensory overload, language barriers, and instability of his world, he has this beautiful personality. He is funny, really funny. He likes to make people happy and he loves to hear laughter.
When he brings home a daily note that says Waylon was a 'rockstar' today, it's an A+ in our mind. And when his bus driver stops us at the church bazaar to tell us how much fun and well behaved Waylon is on the school bus, we beam with pride.

When a teacher or tutor moves on in their career, or we move on to a different program, we have to say good-bye to people who have worked with and really cared for Waylon. And every time, we hear how much fun it was to work with Waylon, how special he is, and how much they'll miss working with him.
(Maybe I'm a bit bias, but I don't think they miss every kid as much as they miss Waylon.) =)
Usually past teachers become Facebook friends, so they can keep up with Waylon's progress, and we know that we have friends we can trust if we ever need advice or help from an autism professional.
Three great tutors just moved on to further their careers, and we will miss them very much! We are so proud that Waylon was able to make a positive impression on their lives.

Facebook message from a past teacher this week:

Hi Lindy! I thought I would friend you to see how my little guy is doing. I miss him SO much - he literally made my day every day and I miss his big smile and energetic personality! Hope all is well with you and the rest of your wonderful family!

Ahhh... That makes me so proud.

Summertime Catch-Up

Wowzers. It's been nearly six months since I blogged last. Can't believe it! I guess time flies, especially during the summer time.
Well we started out the summer with t-ball, which actually went much better than expected. He wouldn't get out of the car at the first game, and by the last game he was running the bases! Ok, so he was screaming while Travis or I was dragging him around the bases... but it was progress!
No t-ball pics this year, he was way out of sorts on picture night, and there was no way I was going to get him to stand still for 30 seconds fully clothed. Oh well.
Mid-summer we had another appointment with Dr. Hoffman (the developmental pediatrician). We got a great report. He was very pleased with Waylon's progress, and with the diet and therapy changes we had made since our last visit. He encouraged us to try a vitamin D3 supplement, and beef up his other vitamins a bit. So we did.
Waylon started a powdered vitamin supplement shortly after our appointment with Dr. Hoffman. Apparently there are testimonials out there of how well it has worked for people with many different health issues, including autism. You are supposed to give it four times a day, so it's kind of a pain. He doesn't really like it, and we have to mix it in chocolate pudding. Plus instant pudding is not on his diet, so I have to make cook and serve pudding. Combine that with his schedule, and I was sending this souped-up vitamin pudding to daycare, preschool, therapy, and then trying to get it in him before bedtime, and it was a pain in the butt.
And then he got constipated. And it was a literal pain in the butt.
I don't know if the vitamin mixture was causing the constipation, but we stopped it about a week or so ago to see if it would help. It's pretty difficult to teach a kid to poop regularly when he can't talk. To save you all from being grossed out, I'll just say that we cleaned him out rather thoroughly and we're trying to keep him from getting that clogged up again.
And, it was a pain in the butt. (Did I mention that?)
This summer we did a research trial with the Kansas Center for Autism Research and Training. We collected Waylon's saliva on a few different occasions and went to Lawrence two different Saturdays for developmental testing. They mailed us the results, which were as always, a little depressing. (His receptive/expressive language skills and visual reception skills were the equivalent of a two-year-old's, and his vocabulary testing was in the 8th percentile.) But hopefully the results from this study helps other families affected by autism!
And, now that fall has started, we are back on our school-year schedule. Preschool in the AM and Autism Concepts in the PM. I am so hopeful that this is the year that he takes off! This is our last hoo-rah before kindergarten! Wish us luck!

And ps- I will try to update a little sooner next time!