Team Cruise!

Yesterday was the Walk Now for Autism Speaks walk in Sandy at Rio Tinto Stadium. It was pretty cold, but at least not raining. Dave had to leave for work in the morning to attend a meeting, so I got the boys ready and drove up there to meet everyone else.

We all put on our team shirts, which turned out so awesome thanks to my dad. The shirts featured a Superman logo, but instead of the "S" it was changed to a "C" for Cruise. Under the logo says "Team Cruise". Cruise got a kick out of them and was flying off of furniture all morning before we left. He also thought it was awesome that we all had on the same shirt as well.

I tried to prepare him as much as I could, but because I had never gone to a walk before, I myself didn't even know what to expect. But I kept reiterating that there were going to be "a lot of people" and "a lot of noise". He seemed to be excited. But as I drove past the stadium packed with vendors and people, he started to melt down. He cried to go back home, but I wasn't going home, we were going to do this.

We parked and I got Jett and Cruise out of the car and into a double stroller, where I placed Cruise's noise canceling headphones on and covered him with a blanket so he couldn't see all the people. The second that blanket went on, he calmed right down.

We first headed straight for the Kids On the Move booth, where we got to say hi to Brittany, Laurie and Ari. They had saved Cruise a ball and me, a bag, which was so nice of them because they would've all been gone by then. The resource fair had started at 8:30am and I definitely wasn't going to go with the boys that early and stay that long. They wouldn't have gone for that.

My parents and then Dave showed up and we waited at the start line. The best thing about the walk was that it was about half a mile. Lol! Once around the stadium. About half way through, Cruise decided to get out and walk a little, but then decided being pushed is a lot easier. But I was happy he had finally come out of the blanket and joined in.

We could've walked longer, but we wanted to visit the other booths. So we spent some time looking, and then we got in line to get a balloon for Cruise. He had a rocket ship made. Jett spent most of his time climbing on the Police 4-wheelers and covering the service dogs with loves. We didn't get to participate in a lot of the other activities, but that was fine, just as long as the boys were happy.

We really appreciate the donations from my parents, my sister Ruth and her family, and our good friend Bronson Dameron. And we were so grateful to have my parents walk with us. Hopefully next year we can get a bigger team and more donations to Autism Speaks. But for our first year, I think we did pretty good. I think this will be a fun and meaningful tradition to continue.

Friday Outing: The Fire Station

I am always trying to find something new and fun for our family to do each Friday. However, with the boys' sensory sensitivities and needs, and Cruise's autism, I have to work within certain parameters, otherwise things can go downhill very quickly.

A few weeks ago I called up the fire station and asked if they do family tours. The secretary said they did, but that they will be having a big safety fair in October that we could attend. I thought that sounded pretty good until she told me what kinds of things they set up and how many people show. It sounded so much fun, but it could be a terrible disaster if attempted. So I decided to just make an appointment for a private tour.

We went this Friday and it was just perfect for the boys, especially for Cruise. The fire house itself was very visually stimulating, so it was a little hard for him to focus on what the fireman (who turned out to be Brother Williams from our last ward) was saying, but luckily it was very low key.

First, Cruise got to put on the fireman's uniform

then the boys got to sit in the firetruck

Cruise got to hold the fire hose

and after spending some time walking around, I convinced Cruise to try listening to the siren. They had us stand a couple yards from the firetruck and Dave and I covered the boys' ears as they let the siren sound. They both did really well and Cruise even let me take my hands off his ears for the last few seconds.

The fireman talked to us about how to teach the kids how to get out of the house when the fire alarm goes off (which I never thought about) and how to practice on a regular basis. I thought this was so good especially because having boys with sensitive hearing, it would be such a stressful thing for them to wake up to a regular fire alarm without being familiar with it. So we have some work to do on that.

After the tour, the boys each got a little fire hat, a pencil and a sticker badge. They really had a blast and once again, we had a successful family outing.

Playin' Catch Up

I've been so bad at blogging lately. Here are a few things that made it to the "Blog Worthy" list.

JETT:
He's just cute...and always BlogWorthy:

*Jett's favorite word is still 'No!' 

*I love how Jett says 'car' because he sounds like he's from Boston.

*He's also been working on his two word sentences which usually are "More _____" or "No ______". 

*He loves to read more and more. In fact, when we go shopping, both the boys act like they're in a candy store when we come across the book isle. It's so hard for me to say 'no' when it's books they want; whereas toys it's the easiest thing. I mean really, "NO! No books! They might give you ideas and make you smart!" See what I'm saying? 

*Jett is so much fun to watch when he plays. He loves big trucks and just like Cruise, enjoys little character toys. However, unlike Cruise, he would be totally fine if I didn't play with him...just as long as I'm near him, paying attention to every little thing he does. He just likes our undivided attention.

*Jett lately has been letting us know when he needs to be changed. Totally awesome and something we've never experienced before. Maybe potty training is in the near future?

LOCKS NOT TO KEEP PEOPLE OUT, BUT TO KEEP CHILDREN IN
I think I've written about Cruise running off before. It is always a horrific and terrifying feeling when Cruise runs off because my first thought is that something terrible happened to him and second, even if someone were to find him, he can't tell anyone what his name is, where he lives, his parents' names, or his phone number. 


Unfortunately it is very common among children with autism to wander off, or "elope". A couple weeks ago, my alarm went off at 7:00am so I could get Cruise up and ready for school. I got out of bed and noticed Cruise wasn't in bed with me (he usually ends up in our bed at around 2 or 3am every morning). So I figured he probably went downstairs or in the living room to play. I walked through the house and was headed for the stairs when I saw that the back door was wide open. 


I ran outside and ran around the yard yelling, no, screaming his name. I know he doesn't respond to his name very often, but it was all I could do. I had no idea how long he had been gone, and I could only imagine where he had gone and what could've happened to him. When I couldn't find him in the yard, I opened the gate to go look for him. Seconds later I found him in his pajamas, wandering around in the neighbor's yard.

That afternoon, we installed these:

When Cruise is inside, we deadbolt and then padlock both the doors. When he wants to go outside, one of us is always out there with him. I know, it looks really ghetto, but at this point it is something that had to be done. I sleep much better these days. 

AUTISM CARNIVAL AT WHEELER FARM

I suppose every year Sahara Cares throws a big autism carnival for kids with autism and their families. I decided to take the kids this year. It was last Saturday, which means Dave had to work. I asked my dad to come with to help me with the boys, which was so nice of him.

The night before, neither of the boys slept much, which means I was already exhausted, but that never really stops them. So we went ahead and drove up to Salt Lake to Wheeler Farm. On one side of the farm, there was a...farm. On the other, they had the carnival all set up. Lots of games, food, music, characters to get pictures taken with, blow up bounce-ons (the one thing Cruise is TRULY afraid of), and a lot of fun activities and resource tables. We never made it to the carnival. It was too noisy and overly visually stimulating for the poor kiddo to handle. So we spent our time seeing all the animals and going on tractor rides. The boys had a blast though.

When we first got there, Cruise already had a list in his mind of all the animals he wanted to see: horse, cow, pig, sheep! So, we saw them all.

On the tractor ride. 

CRUISE:

Another Blog Worthy Favorite, Cruise has been making incredible amounts of progress. I know how it goes, though, and I am prepared. Usually when they start making a ton of progress, it gets really good, plateaus for awhile, most likely regresses, and then it comes back around to more progress. But right now, he's just doing so well and I am just so amazed and proud of him.

Every day he says a whole new phrase, makes a new joke, has something new to say with new vocabulary, and every day I am blown away. 

Here are a few phrases and words that have suddenly popped up in the past couple weeks:

*"Can I pway wit you?" He walked up to Jett one day and just randomly asked. I was in complete shock.

*Jett had gotten mad at me for taking my cell phone away from him. So he walked up to me and started hitting me with a play sword. I was making dinner and didn't have hands, so I said, "Jett, stop, that hurts." Cruise noticed and said, "Jett, stop! Somebody get hurt! Not nice!" Jett then stole my phone out of my back pocket and took off running. Cruise chased him down, and returned my phone to me: "Here you go, Mommy." 

*Cruise got off the bus and started to tell me about the Grandpa. I was a little confused and asked him, "Did you see Grandpa?" He responded, "Grandpa driver...what's his name?" (HE'S NEVER ASKED THAT...EVER!) And I said, "Bob. Bob is the bus driver." "Yeah! Bob!"

*Jett was crying in the kitchen one day and Cruise walked up and asked, "What's wrong Jett? You scared?" My heart melted. One thing that has been hard to teach Cruise is empathy. That was just so sweet to hear. 

I could probably go on and on because each day is something more miraculous. I just feel so blessed to witness miracles every day.

FAMILY BIKE RIDE:

This last Friday, which is always our family outing day, we decided to take the bikes and the boys up to Provo Canyon and enjoy the beautiful weather. Since Cruise has been getting better at riding his bike with training wheels, we decided to bring his bike too.

We didn't want it to be exhausting and frustrating, so we took two cars. We left one at the mouth of the canyon, and then drove the Jeep (carrying the bikes) to Canyon Glen where we began our bike ride. This way we could bike downhill the whole time and not have to go back. Once we got to the bottom, we locked up the bikes, got in the other car, drove up to the Jeep, drove back to the bikes and loaded them up. It was a bit of a process, but the boys had a lot of fun and we all enjoyed the ride.

Mom says, "Jett, smile!" So he closes his eyes.

My amazing boys.

the end.

Interview with Temple Grandin

I'm a HUGE fan of Temple Grandin. I just wanted to post this video because she really addresses some great and useful things. Check it out:

For Those Of You Who Still Haven't Read This...

WELCOME TO HOLLAND

by
Emily Perl Kingsley.

c1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

Preschool Update

I thought I'd do a little update about how Cruise's preschool is going thus far. Honestly, I can't believe how well things have been going and I feel so blessed to have Cruise in such a great public school, with a great teacher, and with an incredibly small class size where each kid gets an aide. It really is something remarkable and I just couldn't be more grateful for the school situation this year.

Even after the first week of public school, Cruise was obviously making amazing progress. Every day he'd come home having learned something new and shared it with us for the rest of the day. Last week he came home and while he was playing with his toys began to say, "Black bird, black bird, what do you see? I see a...(looks at his toy penguin) PENGUIN looking at me." My mouth dropped and I couldn't believe what I had just witnessed. He now will sit down with a picture book and do the same rhyme with the pictures that he sees. It's just incredible to me.

When the first day of his private school, Bridges, began, I went to pick Cruise up from public school after lunch to take him. Immediately I got this big knot in my stomach and it made me uncomfortable. I took him to Bridges where I said goodbye and left for home. When I got home, I talked to Dave about the whole situation and told him what my gut feeling was, which was to not do Bridges and just keep him at public school all day. It frustrated me a little because I absolutely LOVE Bridges. After all, Cruise has been going there for an entire year and I am such a fan of their program. But deep down I felt like it just wasn't right this year.

I assessed why I love Bridges so much and what I feel like it helps Cruise with. It came down to two very important things: learning to socialize and the sensory aspect. So we decided that instead, to have him start a Social Group program at Bridges which starts in October. This program is once a week in the evening and addresses those two components. He will bring a "neurotypical" friend and there they will help him socially interact appropriately and also throw in sensory activities.

After making and finalizing our decision, the knot came undone and I felt so much better. It's so funny how many times we end up having to make a decision between two very wonderful things. Things that are in no way bad. I think that's what makes the decision particularly hard. But the great thing is having a continual dialogue with Heavenly Father and being able to feel and respond to the promptings of the Spirit. My life may be one hectic crises after another, but I always feel like I can manage them because I have Heavenly Father on my team. He sees things from a whole different perspective and so what may seem like a crisis to me, probably looks like a regular growing experience to Him. I am so grateful for that.

1st Day of School: 2011

Today was Cruise's first day of Autism Preschool at the public school. Last year he was in just the special ed preschool since he didn't have an official diagnosis, but this year he gets to go to the autism preschool which is AWESOME! The best part is he gets the same teacher and same room as last year, so that really eased my preparation. Technically the class runs Monday-Friday, 8am-2:15pm, but since he has his private school on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, he goes MWF all day and TTh until noon, which then I pick him up and take him to Bridges at Kids On the Move.

I was a little frustrated that it was going to be all day everyday, but after his first day, I am feeling a lot better. That, and I found out that including Cruise, there are only 3 kids in his class. 3 aides and 3 kids...talk about one-on-one!

I read him his social story last night about going to school and getting on the bus, which made him pretty excited. When the alarm went off at 7:15 this morning, I woke him up and said, "You get to go to school today!" He once again was excited.

I got out of bed and heated up a waffle and made him some scrambled eggs with a side of grape juice, but the poor kid was just too excited to eat. He had a few bites, but definitely not as much as he usually consumes in the morning. I read him his social story again, and then got him dressed and gelled.

Gotta take "first day" pictures!

Cruise overcome by excitement as the bus pulls up.

He got onto the bus without any problem and with a big smile! I missed him all day. I kept looking at the clock counting down the hours and had my phone glued to me just in case something happened at school.

When he got off the bus, there he was with a great big smile! I asked how his day was, and as usual I got non-sensical speech with a few words thrown in. So all I knew about his day was..."fun...potty...playdough...bus". So there you have it: Cruise's day. 

After a little snack, Cruise asked for a banana. I handed him a peeled banana and called him monkey, with which he went to the other room, removed his shirt and shoes & socks, and ran outside to climb the tree. Just so you know, Cruise is part monkey and likes to return to his natural habitat after having to conform at school for six hours.

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I later called his teacher and asked her how things went and she responded with a surprising tone of, "He did...great actually." 

He's really excited to go again tomorrow. : )