well everyone, the end of 2010 is fast approaching us. what a year it has been starting with moving into our new house to this evening. i am watching sir dantes while i type on one of our three video monitors rigged up in our home.

i recommend the video monitors if you can afford to get them. we have one in our sunroom, our bedroom, and the living room. all of ours are fashioned from older television, cables, and small cameras. my husband happens to be an audio/ video tech so he has been able to rig them out of old equipment. but, they are so valuable when you need more than four or six pairs of eyes to watch your child.

Follow up:

right now sir dantes is playing with some of his trains even though he is suppose to be in the bed. he still has all of his bed jammies on which is nice. the other morning i woke up to find him completely naked, including a missing diaper which i found stuck in his drawer, but luckily he did not potty in the bed. he is still very active for not having had a nap today. but, everyday he still amazes me.

the year started rough with the move and him not falling asleep until three or four in the morning. once he got use to our new home things evened out a bit. but, then the screaming started. i wrote a few blogs on this and how it was driving me insane. that too has ceased. he is communicating more with sign and we have seen an outburst of progress in this area. he is also becoming much more playful.

he will run into ms. maxie’s room, grab a toy of hers, and then run real fast into his room and shut the gate. she chases him and gets upset because he has the toy. it seems like such typical brother/ sister behavior. at times he still seems more intrigued by how things work instead of “playing” with them, but he is playing more and more. ms. maxie loves the game of “roaring” with him and it makes him giggle.

he is much more cuddly. in the beginning he would not let us hold him. he fought like crazy…head-butting, kicking, and hitting. this morning, he sat with me for nearly thirty minutes while we watched cartoons on t.v. he will also now come and greet me with hugs and kisses when i come home from work. there are still times when he completely blocks us out, but what do you want? the times of affection that he shows all of us is so much worth the few times that he ignores us.

buying the ipod for him really showed us how much he knows and just how smart he is. since this purchase we have learned that he knows how to spell and do simple math. all in all, we have experienced a lot of growth and knowledge this last year. ms. maxie, as well, seems to have more of an understanding of what autism is and continues to look out for her brother.

what does this next year hold? who knows. hopefully more growth but i am sure we will still experience frustrations and let downs. it comes in stages it seems with stagnant periods in between the stages of progress. right now sir dantes in obsessed with brushing his teeth. now if we could get him obsessed with wanting to go to the potty!

i wish all of you a happy new year. hopefully we will all continue to share the joys and disappointments associated with autism. by sharing we all learn and grow and accept.