Playing Catch Up

So I realize I may have left some of you hanging. This blog is supposed to keep you updated on the happenings around here, and we've been through quite a little journey this fall/winter, none of which I have blogged about.
Waylon turned five a few weeks ago, and next year he is off to kindergarten, which seems so unreal.
We will be saying goodbye to the amazing preschool teachers and therapists we've had and diving into the scary world of kindergarten. I know it doesn't seem like such a big deal, but it is weighing on us more heavily than we thought it would.
You might have noticed my facebook post asking for prayers a while back (you probably did, judging by the fifty million phone calls and messages I got to make sure we were all ok). No one was dying- it was just the night before a rather stressful meeting with teachers, therapists, psychologists, and administrators from four different school districts, which I happened to be freaking out about. It seems a little silly now, because I'm really not the type to post sappiness on facebook, but those fifty million responses were just the reassurance I needed to get myself through that meeting the next day, and I appreciated each one of them.
And the meeting went great. I didn't even cry, which I was pretty stinking proud of myself for. (IEP meetings tend to get a tad emotional- if you've experienced one, you understand.)
And so far, we are just weighing all of our options, and making lots of phone calls and visiting lots of places to find out what is going to be the best fit for Waylon next year.

And as far as Waylon goes, he has been just absolutely great. Obviously, he is oblivious to the changes of next year. And for now, he is on this amazing streak of words. He is saying new ones all of the time, and even stringing them together. Of course, a lot of his spontaneous things are still just echoic responses- he knows when he hurts someone to say, "You okay?" and occasionally he'll run into a room and throw up his arms and say, "Ta-Da!" Just things he has heard and repeats, but it's cute as all get-out. And of course it melts my heart when I say "Love you" and he echos in his mumbly little voice, "Love you too."
As for me, most of you know, I graduated nursing school. I'd like to think that means blog entries will be coming out of the chute more frequently now, but I'm not willing to make any promises. It definitely means that I have more time to focus on the kids, and I have been able to be a bigger part of Waylon's daily schedule and working on his plans for next year, of course mixed in with a little job hunting.
And, I should add, we took this amazing vacation after Christmas to celebrate all we have accomplished this year. BUT that is a blog for another day...

A trip to Goodwill

Yesterday afternoon Rose and I found ourselves wandering Johnson County again, waiting for Waylon to be done at school. So we took a trip to Goodwill for a little bargain-shopping.
A few hours into our shopping experience, we decided to meander to the front of the store and get in line, so we could meander our way back to pick him up. A woman came in the store, following a boy who was pretty much running. He was bouncing up and down, eyes wide with excitement. (Obviously he was as excited about the Goodwill as I was.)
His mom (I'm assuming?) said "Wait" and he blurted out in his excited, but dysphasic voice "WAIT" and when she, in her mother-of-a-special-needs-kid way, herded him out of the way of others and said, "Come here, Ben," he blurted out an echo- "COME HERE, BEN."
Of course, I knew. In my mother-of-a-special-needs-kid way, I just knew.
First reaction- fascination. Second reaction- compassion.
I failed to mention that this "boy" was probably in his late teens, maybe even a young adult. I tried my darndest not to stare (I know what those daggers feel like) but immediately some fifty thousand thoughts flooded my mind, and I couldn't help it.
How old is he? How well does he function? Does he still live at home? Where does he go to school? What kind of therapies did they try? What worked? What didn't? I need to know!!!
When I realized I was probably staring, I realized what she saw in me at that moment, because I too, have had those thoughts- who do you think you are, with your cute little girl on a cute little shopping trip? You don't understand!
Oh, but I do understand, and I wanted nothing more than to run up and give that lady a big hug, and then bring her home with me and pour her a cup of coffee and sit and talk for hours.
But, obviously, she had a bit on her plate at that moment.
Perhaps too, years of those trips had given her the grace and strength to ignore those staring daggers. Perhaps she and her son were out for an enjoyable afternoon shopping trip. And perhaps they had a wonderful time.
I'm gonna hang on to that thought.
In the meantime, as I spend countless hours on the road to and from Waylon's therapies, I daydream and contemplate and pray, about where that fascination and compassion will lead me. I feel as though Waylon and this world of autism have given me some sort of a greater purpose- but I have yet to figure it out.
I'll keep you updated.

Pizza

No time for a long blog post today... But I wanted to share a bit of Waylon's recent amazing progress with you all.
Last night he came up to me and said, "Come on, pizza."
Of course he wanted me to get him a piece of leftover pizza from the fridge.
He is surprising us with new words all of the time lately; I promise an update soon to fill you all in!

School pictures

Waylon's school pictures are here, and they're amazing, so I thought I would share:

Amazing, right?

Man I would have loved to be a fly on the wall on preschool picture day. I am picturing five preschool teachers dancing and making crazy faces, one holding him down, and I'm sure he's not wearing shoes or socks. Maybe not even pants.

I'm calling the school office this week to order more!

PROgression!

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!

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!