Usually about once a year, Waylon goes through a spurt of regression, when he starts to slide backward a bit and struggles a little more.
I am pretty sure we have now entered a spurt of PROgression!
Last week Travis and I observed at Autism Concepts, and he did amazing. His tutor was so excited to show us all that they are working on. He is mastering more and more skills each week!
Friday night was a family wedding rehearsal- and the dinner afterwards happened to be at the Cafe.
The Cafe where I'm pretty sure we walk in and they say, "Oh, crap, it's the Katzer's..."
(So, he ran behind the bar and pulled the tab once and beer free-flowed everywhere. No big deal, right?)
Anyways, we prepared for the worst, got in strategic positions, and geared up for tag-teaming.
We waited for a sneak-attack, for him to scale up the arcade games, or steal a chicken strip from a paying customer's plate (yes, he's done that too.)
But he was great. He was just like any other kid there. He actually INITIATED ring around the rosy with another little boy we didn't even know. He chased them and played just like any energetic little four year old! It was wonderful.
Sure, by the end of the night he was sneaking ring-pops from behind the bar, but I'm not about to blame autism for him being ornery. He gets that from his Dad.
Apparently a tote of trains were accidentally delivered to the wedding reception amongst the totes of decorations Saturday. (God granting us mercy in disguise?) And again, we sat and ate our meal in peace, while Waylon was entirely engrossed in train track assembly. A little tag-teaming got us through the first few songs of the dance, and we actually escaped the reception around 8:30 without a single whimper from anyone!
It's hard to describe, but what I'm really impressed with lately is how
alert he is. He seems to understand when he has hurt someone (he can give a kiss and say 'sorry' with prompting), and he is making excellent eye contact when he is trying to communicate with us. He stands aside and watches Rose and Caden interact so intently, and I just feel like his little brain is 'taking notes.'
Tonight while Travis and the kids were reading a book, I overheard Waylon count five pictures. Six months ago he wouldn't have even sat on our lap long enough to read a page, let alone become engaged and count along.
Such amazing progress!
