Aiden has been out sick at school. First with allergy/asthma/sinus stuff. Then with pink eye. He finally got to go back to school yesterday and boy was it exciting.

All the kindergarten and pre-k classes got a bunch of eggs from a local farm and have been incubating them and waiting for them to hatch. Well a few hatched overnight but yesterday as Aiden was getting ready to leave with the other car riders, a baby chick started to hatch. He got to see the whole thing. Boy was he EXCITED!

He learned all about their egg tooth and how they break out and told me about all the colors the chicks were and how they looked when they came out and how one chick would do the splits, and the noises they made. It was GREAT! I was soooo glad he didn’t miss it.

Of course then came the inevitable question… Mom can we hatch baby chicks at home sometime and have a pet chick?

By age 4 kids are usually full of questions and parents are usually tired of answering endless amounts of questions all day.

Chase has never asked questions. Never ever. Well today at the library we were leaving and he stopped getting in the car and looked up at me and said “Where we going?” I don’t know if it was his own language or if he was repeating Alex’s many questions as that is one of Alex’s regulars but even if he was repeating he was interested in the answer and used words to get the information he wanted which is progress. I was very excited!! Small steps in the right direction!

Well we got our first appointment with a DAN! doctor. We will see him the first week in June. I am very very excited. This is a huge new step.

DAN! stands for DEFEAT AUTISM NOW. DAN! doctors help treat the body in hopes of healing the things that affect and cause the autism and thereby reversing the effects of autism and recovering a child.

I have a lot of reading to do between now and then and a lot of questions to write down so I don’t forget to ask them.

So most of you know that our son Chase has autism. Autism is a really complex spectrum of issues. Very few people experience autism the same way. However there are similar traits. One of the main defining traits that is very common is the inability to socialize with others in a typical way. Most have some sort of communication issue.

Chase had ear problems early on which have really hindered his communication even farther. He’s gradually opening up more and more and talking lots. He still doesn’t typically give sentences or give really spontaneous thoughts or opinions the way an almost 4 year old child would. He may not for a long time. He’s getting pretty good at communicating his needs and wants with short phrases or words strung together. This is a HUUUUUGE accomplishment for Chase and probably why when he asks for chocolate syrup to be squirted in his mouth directly from the nestle quix bunny bottle I give in. I was just so excited that he asked me to get up and took me to the fridge and pointed at the bunny bottle and said “chocolate syrup” and opened his mouth. It was a blatant attempt to seek me out to get what he wanted and direct communication for what he wanted. Usually he’s content with his life and surroundings and won’t ask for much if anything. So yes I feed my child chocolate syrup from the bottle. Haha!

Another aspect you don’t think about when you have a typically developing child is what you miss out on hearing. It took Chasey soooooo long to say Mommy or Daddy spontaneously to get our attention not just parrot what someone said. The day he just came up to me and said “mommy” to get my attention was HUUUUGE for me. He was well into his 3rd year. Most kids do this by 12 months and drive their parents nuts saying “mommy” all day long…. The other thing we have really missed is hearing “I love you” we tell our boys all the time we love them and our other two tell us the same spontaneously. It’s wonderful to hear from your kids. Chase would parrot it back to us – meaning we would say it to he would repeat what we said back to us. About a month ago Chase came up to me and got on my lap grabbed my face with his two little hands and said “Mommy me love you” I cried. I tear up thinking about it still. Later in the day he was watching me make lunch and told me “Me love you Mommy, you pretty” it was music. He continues to tell me randomly. Not frequently, but randomly without warning he will want a hug and want to tell you he loves you. Last night was Neil’s turn. Neil has never commented that Chase has only said it to me, we all know everything take him time. Well last night Neil was putting Chasey to bed and Chase gave him a huuuge hug around his neck and told him “I love you” before Neil said anything. He just looked him in the eye and told him. It made Neil’s month I think!!! Chasey loves his daddy!!! We of course knew he did but having him be able to verbalize it when he feels it is just a massive step! It’s a very very hard feeling to explain but it’s one of the best feelings you can get as a parent I think to know your child had to fight for those words and it was important enough for them to say them that they did fight to get them out.

Yesterday was the first ever “World Autism Awereness Day” CNN ran coverage related to autism all day yesterday. A large chunk in on their website in the form of videos. We caught very little of it and I forgot to DVR it. I was so mad at myself.

We did watch Larry King last night. He had Jenny McCarthy co-hosting. The topic was weather vaccines play a role in causing autism. For those of you who don’t know. Jenny McCarthy (yes from mtv) has a son a little older than Chase who at the age of two was typically developing then received a vaccine and his life spiraled out of control and she lost him to autism. She actually watched her son die on a ER table one night after being plagued by seizures. Through various treatments and changes her son has recovered from autism and again is pretty much typically developing child. On the show her sons physician was on, along with a doctor who said there was no connection and one that was on the fence. It was very interesting.

During the debate Larry asked Jenny if she thought one can be “cured” of autism as others say there is no cure but her son no longer suffers from it. She made a very good point and used a very good analogy. (sp?) She said having autism is like being hit by a bus. It’s not something you can be cured of, but you can recover to what you were before you were hit by the bus and regain lost skills etc… So basically our kids are sick and can recover but there is no CURE. There never will be. Very good analogy.

Anyway, we are hopeful for the future while Chase continues to make big steps forward. :0)