Random pictures

I haven't had much time to blog, but here are few quick pictures...

The kids at Wyatt's preschool Halloween party. (Wyatt's in the cape, Saige is in the baseball cap)


Saige dressed up for 60's day at school.

Here's our superhero again at his preschool's party!

A day at the park...

Bath time fun

At Loose Park...

Check out my awesome kid!

Wyatt has continued to make AWESOME progress lately. I used to keep track and count all of his new words, but after 100 I lost track! Here is a video of a work session we did at home. He does 23 hours of therapy each week, not all this structured, but it's hard to describe to people how much time, energy, and effort you put in to get just the smallest amount of progress. I had no appreciation for the milestones Saige met as a toddler, for each and every word she said, and for her developmental progress. The progress just came...it's of course very different with Wyatt, but we truly rejoice with each new skill he gains!

In this work session we use a color block schedule to identify which task is next (he matches the color block to the work box), then he is working on matching the colored pegs to the correct slot on the peg board. He needed help with the first two, but then gets the last three on his own. I love that he tried to say all the colors too. I think he said each one except yellow.

"Penguin", "sheep", "frog"

Another therapy activity Wyatt enjoys. It's a bucket full of beans and various animal figures. He finds an animal and then we name it.

"I want bubbles", "pop"

Grocery discussions

John and I are having a "discussion" about our family food budget. Perhaps you have had similar "discussions". Since I'm the one that does most of the grocery shopping and food preparation, I think he loses touch with how much it costs to feed a family of 6. I went back in our recent bank statements for the past three months and added up what we spend at Walmart, Hyvee, Big V, Target, Whole foods, and Costco for the entire month. I was shocked! It really is a lot of money, and it does also include certain household items as well. But I thought that perhaps he was right (did I just say that?). BUT, then I did a google search for food budget calculators and linked to this site at the USDA.

http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/FoodPlans/2008/CostofFoodFeb08.pdf

For our family of 6 on the moderate plan, it figures $1169 per month. On the low cost plan it would be $1056. Let's just say I'm not admitting to anyone being "right" yet, I am well within the parameters that good ole' Uncle Sam has figured and that is including Wyatt's gluten free casein free foods which are at least 3 times as expensive as regular food.

The "discussion" will continue....

Octoberfest

Picts from Smithville's Octoberfest this morning....


Saige dancing to "Gitchy Gitchy Goo" with her Dance class



Saige and I marching with Brownie Troop 32 in the parade

...and Hot Dog Man....not sure what bet he lost to have to wear this in front of all Smithville, but a funny picture anyway!

Homecoming parade

I love that we live in a small town with some small town traditions. One of those is the Homecoming Parade. It is, to say the least, a BIG DEAL! The entire town shuts down, school is let out early, every boat, trailer, firetruck and tractor within a 5 mile radius is deployed to carry hyped up high schoolers around the streets of Smithville while throwing huge amounts of candy at screaming children along the way. The parade is of course the precurser to the football game which the ENTIRE, yes I said ENTIRE, town attends. This is the first year we went to the parade. In years past I have not wanted to venture out on my own with four children to supervise, but this year we decided to go for it!

Here we are loaded up in the wagon waiting for the parade to begin

Saige was way too cool to have her picture taken that day. :)

My pictures don't do it justice. I was trying to snap them while making sure Wyatt didn't get run over by a fire engine! But it was a lot of fun, and the kids got a lot of candy.

Wyatt's favorite place to hide

:)

Darn YouTube

In surfing the net this morning (like I don't have a million other things I should be doing), I searched on YouTube for autism videos and saw many that depressed me and others that inspired me. Then I found this beautiful song/video. Truly inspired, but darn it I cried all the way through it! Darn You Tube! If you need a good cry, an uplifting cry, watch this video!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hiQYurSJCQ&feature=related

1 in 91

1 in 91 children, 1 in 58 boys......do you think we are in crisis yet? When will we put enough resources into researching causes and cures for Autism? How high do the numbers have to go? In the 1990's it was 5 per 10,000 children. In 2003 it was 1 in 150. Now 1 in 91 children are diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Are you alarmed yet?
http://www.autismspeaks.org/donate/we_need_answers.php
This legislative session the state of Missouri along with many others are considering passing legislation requiring insurance companies to pay for the diagnosis and treatment of ASD. Many people don't realize that insurance companies will not even pay for you to take your child to a developmental pediatrician to have them diagnosed with Autism. We received Wyatt's diagnosis about a year ago, and our insurance company denied payment because he was diagnosed with Autism. If he had been diagnosed with any other disorder that day, they would have paid the bill in full. Not only do they deny payment for diagnosis, but even worse, they deny payment for treatment!
Autism is the only neurologic disorder that insurance companies refuse (and they do this legally I might add) to pay for speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and behavior therapy. Discrimination?
As this legislative session gets underway, I'll continue to post updates and links to sites where you can write your representatives to urge them to vote for Autism insurance reform. Please support this worthwhile cause! These kids are worth it!

Super moms don't need sleep, but I do :(

I remember shortly after giving birth to Saige one of the nurses jokingly saying that she hoped I enjoyed my last night of good sleep for the next 18 years. I laughed, and being a new mom didn't think much of it. Now, I'm not saying I haven't slept through the night since becoming a mom 7 years ago, but you definitely sleep differently with little kids in the house. You definitely sleep differently when you hear one of those kids coughing all night long. You sleep differently when you just gave one of them tylenol and put them back to bed, but you don't know if their fever is going down or not. You sleep differently when you know one of them has had rough day and you wonder if they are sleeping or laying awake. You sleep differently when your mind is racing trying to plan out the schedule for the kids for the next day. And you definitely sleep differently when your almost 3 year old wakes up at 3 a.m. and decides to use your bed as a trampoline for the next 8 hours before he finally decides to crash. Bed time will come early tonight. Is 6:00 too early?