Where a Kid can be a Kid, and mom's hide from ex-cons...

Ashton, Kimberly, Emma and I ventured to the long-forgotten Chuck E Cheese on a cold day hoping for some indoor fun with the kids.

We were enthusiastically greeted at the front door by the man who stamps hands and lets people in and out to make sure children are leaving with the adults they came with. We were even more enthusiastically greeted by the cashier girl who told me she hated me because she loved my teeth and that I looked like little Barbie. Shortly after we had roamed around some, and enjoyed the kids having so much fun together on the rides, the male workers started to randomly approach my sister and I to sneak us stacks of tickets and tokens...as well as slipping tokens in the rides Emma and Ashton were in to let them keep riding. This went on for hours. The front door man was in love with the kids...almost a little too much, which worried us a tiny, and one of the older "creeper" guys secretly followed my sister and I around while sneaking us more and more tickets.

We decided this would never stop until we cashed in our tickets, picked out toys and left...which is what we started to do. We ended up picking out toys for the kids on 4 different occasions before we actually got out of there because as we were picking out toys the men were still coming up to us giving us more and more stacks of tickets! What there in Chuck E Cheese's would we ever want or use that many tickets on? At one point the "creeper" was assisting us at the toy counter and pulled out a few "extras" that he'd just "throw in"....including some fizzing tabs for the tub that he told us we could take a "warm bath" with one night... not kidding. He also helped me wondering what the kids would want, and after me telling him there wasn't much else to get, (since we had one or three of everything), he said to me, "Well, what do YOU want???" with a sneaky grin. We busted our A's out of there ASAP and promised we wouldn't visit there again anytime soon and when we do we will donate all the free hand outs to the other mom's.







We were appreciative of the freebies....but not so much of the uncomfortable kindness. Nonetheless, Emma and Ashton were clueless to all this and had a fan-tabulous time which was our end goal! Good job moms!

"Big Poppy"

We were so excited we got to go to Aunt LuAnn's for dessert after our Thanksgiving dinner this year! Ashton LOVES everyone he knows, but his relatives more so. "Big Poppy" Lodder was his special friend this day. They played catch with a mangled stuffed animal dog toy, and both guys had a blast! We are so lucky to have "Big Poppy" here in our lives! We love him so! I am thrilled that I was able to catch a photo of them together on my cell phone...

Potty

After the influence of other little boys throughout Ashton's life so far, he's finally started trying to "go" in the potty, but only at times when he is naked. He also uses the potty vocabulary to announce his trying, but has them a bit mixed up. "Pee-pee" is referring to other actions, and needs to be taken into account while assisting him at the potty...Ashton's dad learned this first hand and I'm not sure his shoes lived to tell the tale ;)

A Cousin's Halloween!

Ashton LOVES Buzz. Ashton was super excited to be Buzz for Halloween... especially once he had the inflatable wings to display. Ashton LOVES airplanes. Ashton's holiday was complete because he not only was Buzz, but felt like he could fly with those wings. He still wears the wings daily.


Halloween wouldn't have been as great if we didn't have our cousin's to trick-or-treat with! Yes, Ashton is the only boy, but he also LOVES pink princesses and mermaids...especially when their names are Emma and Paige!

Why so Sick?

Ever since Ashton recovered from his trauma at 4 months old, he has had a rough time with respiratory illnesses. It seems that with each sniffle and cold there is asthma, pending pneumonia, RSV, Bronchitis, or something else involved! Who contracts upper respiratory illnesses in the summer???? Ashton. We are so blessed to have medicines like Albuterol and antibiotics.

Aside from respiratory issues, this October Ashton contracted hand-foot-mouth disease. It sucks. I learned that this disease can be mild to severe, but if you know my son he always seems to get everything full force! After 2 days of no food or water, with extreme pain and irritability, a trip to Primary Children's for some IV fluids and pain medication seemed to do the trick. My advice to mom's in similar circumstances... Ashton did not seem dehydrated, and was even still urinating, but his labs came back that he was. Do not wait if your mommy-instinct tells you to take action. Sometimes administered fluids make all the difference in the world!

Vegas

This September I decided I needed to use my airline credit and get myself down to Vegas! I hadn't been for a year or so and I missed my sisters (cousins). There weren't any big plans made, just me going down at the last minute to relax, and spend some quality time with my family. The down side was that half of my family was gone that particular week. We were bummed about that, but still managed to have a great time!

Mindie and I were invited by her mom and Jim to tag along to dinner at Cafe Rio and a movie. I really enjoyed spending time, laughing and crying at the movie, with them! We really had a great time despite our inability to focus at the beginning of the movie because of certain "scents"...

Dinner at the Barlow's is always a special treat because Jared really knows his stuff and therefore a mean chef! The chicken marsala was delicious!

The only part of my short trip that was actually caught on camera was when we went out on the strip. This is something that isn't done often when visiting, because for one reason or another we keep ourselves busy and do things mostly outside the strip. My uncle Jamie, and cousin's Jill, Kirk, Mindie and her family, met up at the Bellagio. There is always a themed area there that is decorated differently every month out of the year. There were talking trees with faces, and trees with bodies... I was a bit slow picking up on it all. It smelled like a spiced harvest through out the entire area and was fun for the kids. It was worth checking out...

Then, down around the corner was a chocolate "factory" that Jill took us to called Jean Philippe Patisserie. Oh my goodness! Check out the chocolate fountain! I was IMPRESSED!...and not because I'm a girl with dark chocolate running through my veins!

Uncle Jamie loves to get us special treats...so Jill and I each picked out one of their desserts to share. I obviously picked out a chocolate cake/truffle piece which was exquisite to even look at let alone taste. While Jill decided on a strawberry-kiwi concoction, that was equally, if not better than, the chocolate fantasy I picked out! Definitely visit there when touring the strip!

I decided I wanted to bring home souvenirs for the kiddos, and thought that the Coca-Cola and M&M factory were the just the place to find some. While at Coca-Cola, everyone got something to drink...root beer floats, coke...but Jill and I decided to try their 7 dollar special...multi-drinks from around the world! We were all over it! We took turns being the first to taste each one, and were pleasantly surprised by some! There were others that I'd rather not remember...including one that tasted like hair spray and another like fingernail polish remover! Those never entered my belly because they were IMMEDIATELY, but with class of course, spat back into the cup. Too much fun!

Thanks Barlow, Bryan, Batt, and Mohler families for always taking care of me and being available for me to come visit! Can't wait to do it again soon! Love you guys!

Nothing Short of a Miracle

Ashton is 2 years and 8 months old today.

It has been over a year since he was diagnosed with Autism.

This past year has been full of developmental progress in Ashton's world! All those who come in contact with him can see this plain as day. Our previous post was an update on his last appointment we had at the CDC, and also informed of the upcoming appointment with the developmental psychologist, Dr. Natalie Roth, for today...August 27, 2008.

Autism is a spectrum disorder, meaning that it is based on a numeral scale. We all fall on the spectrum, however Autism is highest on the scale. Like other children being monitored for disabilities, Ashton, has been tested by this psychologist twice now using the ADOS exam, Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule. This process determines where individuals lay on the spectrum. Starting with zero, 0-6 is where we are considered "normal", we all have quirks and differences from one another...and even if we don't feel "normal" at times..., speaking in spectrum terms, we are. Then, there are the numbers 7-11. This is where people are diagnosed as having a "spectrum disorder". Lastly, anything above a 12 on the scale is Autism, the closer to twelve the milder the case. Last year when Ashton was tested, as you may remember, he scored a 13...as having mild Autism. At that time Dr. Roth explained that with Early Intervention and different therapies, progress on the spectrum could be reduced 4 to even 6 numbers on the scale, which would put Ashton as being in the "spectrum disorder" range. Today I report with tear-filled eyes that Ashton has recovered from Autism scoring a 3 today! A three, not 4, 5, or 6 in the normal range, but a 3!

Everything that my son has stood for since even before his time on this earth has been nothing short of a miracle! Who is this kid and what important things is he here to teach us? Hooray! We have worked so hard and Ashton has responded to every resource available with progress! The best thing I heard today was Dr. Roth say that she has only seen maybe 1 other case where there has been this much progress and recovery! I understand that this may not be possible for all Autism cases, but the potential and resources available for working towards recovery is endless!


For the rest of the appointment we discussed how there is a issue with speech. She said that by now there should be more improvement with his speech and language to have it still be considered a "delay", so with how things stand now he would fall into the category of having a disorder. Actually, we met earlier this month with a speech therapist who diagnosed him with a mild to moderate receptive and expressive language disorder, which we are now already in weekly therapy for. Thoughts from both the therapist and psychologist are that he will catch back up in this area as well and will continue a "normal" life in regular school. For now he still qualifies with his speech to continue in his Early Intervention Program. He remains there until he turns three, then will move into an integrated preschool where there are children like him along with other peer models. Once there he will continue to work on speech and prepare for main-streamed kindergarten.

As far as further resources go, Dr. Roth is changing his diagnoses to "possible PDD", Pervasive Developmental Disorder, showing that he is still being monitored because of his history with Autism. However, she also told us that she hesitates even putting the "possible PDD" label in his chart because she believe he doesn't have it, but this way resources will still be available to him throughout the following year and he can keep benefiting from them. We are to meet with Dr. Roth again in a year for a final analysis just to make sure no new issues have appeared.

I am so happy for my boy! Thank you friends, family, teachers, doctors, therapists and strangers for your efforts in Ashton's behalf! It definitely takes a village to raise a child...and a informed world to reverse Autism!

Autism Speaks. It's time to Listen.