Touchy Feely

Sam is a very tactile, touchy feely kind of a boy. From what I have researched, I think that he is under responsive to touch which is why he is always seemingly seeking out new 'feels'! One of his favourite things is sand, he loves to run it through his fingers! He LOVES all different textures.

One day at nursery when Andy picked him up, instead of sand in the sand tray they had put cous cous in it. We thought what a great idea! So we picked up a large container and change it daily with different bits. So far he's had the cous cous, a mixture of beans and also lentils. He loves this and spends loads of time playing in this tub.

Here he is with his beans, strangely allowing William in for a quick play as well! William gets a bit enthusiastic with the tub and usually there are beans flying everywhere!

William watches every move Sam makes and you can tell by him trying to leap off your lap that he's dying to run after him and have a play. We are encouraging gentle interaction between them which so far seems to be working. Sam tolerates him getting closer and closer, but only for a short time and he has to be in the right mood.

Snow!

Well yesterday we woke up to a blanket of snow and even more falling. Sam was actually well enough this time and had the right gear to go out in it. So we took him around the block a little and in our back alley. You could tell that snow was the best stuff since sliced bread to him and he loved it. He touched it every now and then but the main game was just to shuffle through it. He was not happy about having to come inside. I for one am a little tired of all this freezing weather. Roll on summer when I can get out my sandals!!

Here is Sam flapping away at Andy throwing snowballs in the air!

William has been a good boy this week and slept through the night about 4 times now. You would think that would mean I was getting some sleep but no. Sam has been waking every night at about 3am and not really going back to sleep so no sleep for either me or Andy! Hopefully this is just a phase because I neeeeed my sleep.

One of the things I learned at the NAS meeting I attended was that we could be entitled to claim disability living allowance (DLA) from the government for Sam. I hadn't even thought of this as we haven't had his diagnosis yet, but you can apply without it and he does fit the requirements. The form is enormous and very daunting and from what I'm told is an absolute nightmare to fill in in that it needs to be worded absolutely correctly but also that it is all about what your child can't do in comparison to other children his age so is emotionally hard. Not looking forward to this at all, but the money would come in very handy for his care and could even pay for some extra nursery sessions. We can only apply and see what happens!

Moving Forward

Eek! I've not blogged for quite a while now, apologies! But really, not much has been going on till this last week so you've not missed much!

The boys both have colds again. Sam has been having tantrums again, but definitely not as bad as the last time he had a cold. I think a lot of the tantrums are to do with the lack of communication as well.

Sam's been at nursery again. Andy has dropped him off the last few weeks and he's been fine for the most part. This last time we both went to pick him up and the kids were all playing outside so we could see Sam through the fence. He had a big grin plastered on his face and was running around like an idiot! Even more importantly it looked almost like he was paying a bit of attention to the other kids (even chasing a couple!). It was so lovely to see him enjoying himself.

He also had an appointment this week with his SaLT. She is absolutely fab, really good with Sam and very honest with me. I know and she knows she can't diagnose him, but it is her opinion that he is autistic. It's a hard thing to hear, but a relief at the same time. At least we feel we have something to work from. She was very reassuring again. She thinks he is very bright and will definitely talk, it just might be the last skill he gains, so I could still be waiting a while to hear "mummy"!
She also told us that she had seen the May list for the children being discussed by the multi agency team and Sam isn't on it, so looks more like it will be towards the end of the year that we may get his diagnosis. Grrr, it's taking so long!

We booked a holiday to Cornwall for the summer holidays which I'm very excited about. The last time we went to Cornwall Sam was 8 months old, so this time we'll be on the lookout for more toddler activities (any suggestions please let me know!) Hopefully we'll get some nice weather so we can hit the beach!

This morning I went to a support meeting for my local branch of the National Autistic Society. The organiser was so welcoming and everyone seemed very nice. I had pictured it as being more of a moral support group (and I'm sure if I needed it, it would have been) but I got so much practical advice and suggestions too. The group were all mums who have diagnosed children. They have been there and done that and I'm sure will help point me in the direction I need to go to get help for Sam. I'm really looking forward to the next meeting and joining in with other activities too.

William is growing bigger everyday (his feet now touch the floor when he is in his baby walker!), is still smiley and now squeals and chuckles too! Everytime we sit him up on the sofa with his back leaning against the sofa he manages to get himself into a sitting position, at least for a few seconds before falling again. I can't believe he is 3 and a half months already!

Second Nursery Session and an Afternoon Off!

Sam went to his nursery again today for the afternoon. This time it was just myself who took him. I wasn't sure what to expect today as he had been awake since about 6am and would have usually taken a nap. But he seemed ok when we went in so I (gulp) left him! I returned 2 hours later and he was a little upset, mainly from being so tired, but he did really well, hopefully next time he will have had more sleep! I found it really hard to leave him there, but I guess it had to happen sometime. :)

So with Sam at nursery and our friend Kate watching William I had 2 whole hours to myself!! So I went and did some shopping, filled the car up with petrol and generally clock watched whilst checking my mobile phone for missed calls from the nursery (which never called by the way!). I stopped in loads of shops to browse which I could never do with either of the boys with me as they get bored easily. It was the strangest feeling but really nice too.

Buggy Board!

So we went into Barrow yesterday and bought a buggy board for the back of William's buggy for Sam to stand on. I had put off buying one as Sam is not one to keep still - if he's not strapped in he's off on the run. But shifting the huge double buggy around is a bit difficult, so we thought we'd give the buggy board a go. So we went on an experimental trip into our town to the supermarket and back. Sam loved it! We still had him in his reins, but he loved the view and movement and stayed on the entire way there and back. He had a huge grin on his face, the kind he gets when we let him stand in the shopping trolley at Tesco! The only time he got off was in the store and Andy managed to keep him busy while I shopped. I still wouldn't use the board for taking the boys to the store by myself, but I can at least take a walk around the block and to the park! :) If I remember I'll try and take a photo and post it here sometime.

I'm full of a cold at the moment as is Andy and I think Sam might have picked it up too as the random tantrums have started up again today. :( If he does have a cold hopefully it won't be as bad as last time!

Kate, our friend came round today and cuddled William whilst I cleaned the work surfaces in the kitchen and did some other chores. I would normally not particularly like cleaning as I'm not very domestic, but it felt soooo good to be able to get to it. (William can be a very clingy baby and I usually only have my left hand free to do anything with!)

New Playgroup

Well, Sam started his new playgroup today. At the moment he'll just be going on a Wednesday afternoon which will prepare him when he starts proper nursery there in April. Both Andy and I went as we had to leave playgroup early for Sam's eye test at the hospital. We got to stay there with him as it was his first time, but he seemed to be just fine. I'm still going to be horribly nervous leaving him there without me or Andy but it has to be done!! The staff are aware of Sam's issues and I feel confident they will understand him. He has a keyworker, Karen and each keyworker cares for about 2 children so he'll definitely be looked after!

He only started to have one tantrum when we were there when a little girl jumped onto the bean bag he was playing with. He just didn't know what to do, bless him. As he was lying on the floor, the little girl went and lay down next to him I think to try and help but he was so confused it set him off again! Overall though he had fun. They have lots there to keep him busy!

After playgroup we had a hospital appointment for Sam with the eye doctor. We got there expecting to have to get drops in Sam's eyes, then a long wait to be seen by the doctor. But it turned out we had received the wrong appointment letter and only needed a quick 2 minute checkup. Everything was fine and he'll be seen again in 6 months.

And now to William! The chunky monkey has filled out his moses basket so is in a proper cot now. He's so smiley it's unreal!

Great Day

We've had a really great day today. Gotten some jobs done and still managed to feel a bit relaxed. My mood was greatly helped by Andy doing the 'night shift' with William!

Sam has had a great day too, he's generally been a very happy boy. He was having such a good day in fact that we decided to start him off using PECS (picture exchange communication system). The idea is that he learns to communicate using little picture cards to tell us what he wants. We started off with Andy 'helping' him to pick up the card with the bubbles on and hand it to me. I take it saying the word bubbles and blow bubbles for him. This got repeated about 4 or 5 times and then Sam handed me the card by himself! He loves his bubbles so this went on for some time. Andy moved the card to different spots and even most of the way across the room and Sam would still look for it, fetch it and give it to me in order to get me to blow the bubbles. We'll be doing this again regularly and I'm hoping tomorrow to contact his speech and language therapist (SaLT) to get some more input or help. It's only a start but this has given me such a high today that I wanted to share it with you!