Labour Day Weekend

Wow, where has summer gone? Well weather wise it hasn't felt a lot like summer here so it doesn't really sink in except that all the kids are home. On Tuesday Lil Man is back to school!! He will have to catch the bus and go to a separate school than his sister. Hopefully by Thanksgiving weekend the new school will be ready to accept all students. Ginja will start on the 8th with a staggered start. We also agreed with the principals that slow integration will be best for Ginja. She will start with one period per day and eventually we hope by Christmas that she will be full time. Then Coco will be the only one home and it will really set in that my babies are growing up. I think that's every parents fear is to realize how fast it goes and that their wee ones are growing up. So some of the school supplies were ruined by Ginja so need to replace those items, and we just realized that it's 6 weeks until we are married! So much to finish and it's such a short time, starting to freak out a little that it might not all be done in time, so finish my weekend housework and then to creating. Have all the flowers to make and some new additions that I hadn't planned on having but some ribbon roses, saw an amazing video tutorial and made one trial this morning. Also the bouquets, table settings, welcome bags, favours, kids activity book and the kids special utensils and a final dress fitting, and the grooms ring, since we bought him one made him try on that it fit and he got a reaction from the metals :( so I hope I have time to post  the tutorials, some new games and sensory items we have purchased so stay tuned....

Busy summer

We have been super busy this summer, kids playing in the water, lots of park time, family visits and lots of appointments. We are also prepping Ginja for school, something I had planned to be easy. I can't say she has been too hard to accept the idea of school but changes again with the school board put a loop hole in the plan. The new big school isn't going to be ready for first day of school and we are looking towards thanksgiving before it's ready. What does that mean to us? Lil man and Ginja were supposed to attend the same school but now will be attending two different schools. A change in our social story and hoping the adjustment isn't too hard for her. She was looking forward to going to school with her brother. I was prepared to drop them both off at school, now Lil man is being bussed and I am dropping Ginja off at school. The school she will be going to is now uncharted areas for her, we don't know if they will have a sensory room to help her, how the day will be different from the way it was supposed to be at the new school and then we will have another transition to face when the new school is finally ready. When I leave for work which is part time hours, Ginja is having a really difficult time with me leaving telling me "no leave me" which breaks my heart but I have to help contribute to our home and I have to help her accept she will be leaving mommy come September. 

A little bit of mischief when she was supposed to be going potty, while I was getting dressed. Ginja has taken a huge step in potty training now telling us when she has to pee, most of the time and actually peeing on the big toilet with a child insert. We are asking regularly if she has to go and I got her to poop just one time because I caught her sneaking away to go in her diaper. We have tried using knickers but she will pee through and not care, unlike other children she doesn't care if she is wet. Often she will jump in the sprinkler or into a kiddie pool fully clothed and not be affected. Her feeling of cold and hot are completely different from us. I can fill the sink with hot water for dishes and she is fascinated with bubbles, I use rubber gloves it's that hot and she can just stick her hands in and not notice it's hot. 

Her newest fascination is fishing, a girl after her daddies heart. She has a life jacket because she has no fear of water and will go right to the edge. We bought her a fishing rod just for her and then put an angry birds fish keychain on it so no hooks and she tosses it just like her daddy. She is also our child that is mechanically interested wanting to help her daddy change brakes, tires whatever job he is working on. Coco isn't far behind watching, observing and occasionally getting her hands dirty. Coco's speech is slowly coming along and we will be performing an ASQ in September with infant and child development, to figure if her actions are mimic of her sister or if we need to follow her for Autism as well. 

Daddy has been having some rough times, traumatic brain injuries don't heal like a broken leg or a strained muscle. It's been quite the adventure with drs trying different medications to no medication at all that was a horrible week, detox and pain to receiving physio and a follow up at the end if this month. 

Lil man is learning to cook, exciting and scary for me!!! He just brought out his first batch of pancakes a little crispy on some but not overly bad, so I'm going to enjoy them and will catch up with you soon.

Uncharted waters ahead

Phew Diagnosis in hand, now what was the question I found myself asking. Luckily I have found other moms with children that have been diagnosed. Jess has been the biggest help in my journey, always answering my questions as crazy as some of them have been! I am so happy they got posted to Edmonton for the best autism services in Canada and thank goodness for facebook and unlimited long distance, because I surely am going to miss her and our momma bear coffee chats. 

We had another wandering event thankfully a woman noticed her walking in her diaper and called 911, and hubby had called from our end. We noticed trend was when I left to take or pickup her brother from school and when I couldn't lock all of our extra locks from the outside. So we have installed a lock on the second door, bringing locks up to 5 on the two entrances of the home and more options being considered. We currently have an alarm on the second door at the front of the house so to warn us of escape attempts and allow us response time. The day after the second escape I was in meetings with the Military Police and Fire Department along with Canadian Forces Housing Agency to set protocols and find what else we were able to do, to prevent escape. I noticed that a lot of people who do not know anything about flight risk children don't understand, and I have received a few comments about oh how does she keep getting out, maybe try moving! Well if it were that easy then I would be all over that! I think it's time to educate some of the extended friends in our lives about Autism, I know I am no expert and still am learning but people may be less likely to judge if they have some background information. Today's goal is patience and education. 

DIAGNOSIS

The day has come! We officially have a diagnosis of Autism for Ginja. I couldn't be more relieved knowing the doors this opens for her and the support for our family. I am thankful I followed my gut and pushed back against the drs saying she was an average toddler with behaviour issues. Now onto opening doors.

Updates

Today out oldest is going on his third school field trip and is beyond excited to be going to a water park. I think I have heard something about this trip about ten times a day for the last ten days. 

The last few months since I last wrote have been busy. I started a new job in the esthetic field and am thoroughly enjoying myself. I work part time around hubby's hours so we are not putting the kids in child care. Hubby has not gotten any better from his head and neck injury that occurred in January of this year and we just got to meet with a specialist last week. Hubby has what they call an acute brain injury with some post concussive syndrome symptoms. So the next few steps will be an epply procedure to attempt to rebalance his equilibrium through his ears. The Dr doesn't think this will help but everything must be ruled out. Next step will be to stop all medication! I am not looking forward to this portion as I know how much pain hubby is in. I will have to take the two weeks surrounding this appt off. If that doesn't help which dr doesn't think it will is to start injections into the neck in the injured areas. The good news is there is no internal bleed and there are no breaks.

Our dearest Ginja. I'm not sure if there is a full moon on our everyday but she has definitely kept us on our toes. The meltdowns have been more intense and more frequent with a lot of stimming. She went through a throwing stage in her room so now all hard toys have been removed, she has her double bed and stuffed animals. We finished speech this past week with our best appointment yet. There was excitement to see her speech and language pathologist, good waiting room play with stacking blocks and an easy transition into the room. She followed the schedule, with minimal distractions but those are expected. I felt our Friday the 13th was going well, then the day took a drastic turn. I left ten minutes earlier to grab lil man and a friends little girl that we carpool with and hubby was home early so I left the girls with him. I headed to the bank and still arrived at the school well before pickup time. I was talking to another mom when I got a phone call that every parent dreads. Ginja had escaped, which has happened before and the farthest she ever went in the past was the backyard. We had installed alarms and a device called the guardian that keeps the door shut and is a three step process to open. While dad was putting her sister for a nap she opened it all, and escaped! The police were called and the search began, I pulled my son and the little girl we carpool from class and sped like a madwoman home, I called one of my hubby's friends that Ginja adores to come help us, he said he would be right on the way. About 5 minutes later he called me back to tell me he had found Ginja, turns out she had walked over 3 kms in ten minutes through a thunder storm and ended up in the general area of his house. I was so relieved that she was found, and by someone she adores. Our friend and his wife brought her in changed her wet clothes gave her a juice box while I raced over there. We filled out the police report and then I took her home to her Daddy. It was the scariest moment as a parent and we know she is a flight risk and have put proper procedures into place to prevent her from getting out. So next step is more safety precautions, more locks and an emergency protocol. I am in the process of creating a protocol sheet with two pictures of her, all her pertinent information like height, weight etc and identifying marks along with information for when she is found. She is delayed in speech but more verbal than some cases of autism that we know. I am really looking forward to tomorrow's appointment with her specialist in Ottawa. 

Soccer Mom

I am a soccer mom, but deep down I think at heart I am a football mom!! Lil Man is signed up for soccer and I'm currently sitting at the pre season assessment. We found out this week that our small town (which has never had youth football) has a league now. Dad and I agree playing both is too much as I have gone back to work part time. I will see every practice but will miss every game due to my schedule. Dad has already offered to video tape games for me. Ginja has started seeing her speech and language pathologist, boy was that first appointment a nightmare. She refused to sit down and do her work, was very distracted and had a meltdown during her session. I feel bad that I was relieved that other people witness her behaviour. It also didn't help she was up most of the night and I had to wake her for her appointment. Coco is running around and we have been noticing her covering her ears and we are thinking it's mimic behaviour but time will tell. 

So the season starts :) that means beautiful weather is upon us!

Mother Nature

At the beginning of the week we were outside with the kids in t-shirts and shorts cleaning up the garden and post snow melt. Last night it cooked right down and I was out in capris and flats. I had gone out to visit friends and to give my friend a accupressure point massage to attempt to induce labour. She is 40+4 and nothing! So I got home and remembered to turn the heat back on, thankfully because we woke up to Snow! Not the fall on the ground and melt right away snow either. I think Mother Nature is going through menopause!! 

The first picture is yesterday on my way out, I stopped at Tim Horton's and then the second picture is from my bedroom window this morning around 9 am. It snowed all day since I took this picture. I am so ready for Spring. 

Over the weekend we went to friends that live in the country, the kids ran around and played for hours. They came home and slept so good. We have put a double futon mattress in Ginja's room and what a huge difference. She is allowed to have her iPad until she falls asleep so she isn't crawling in with us all night. We have decided we need to pick our battles, I lay awake until I hear that last show fade and  her room go quite. Last night she was up until 3:30 am, but was in her room. 

We have been put in the wait list for services through Ottawa Children's Treatment Centre and also received a referral to a pediatrician in Ottawa to attempt to obtain a provisional diagnosis. I have to pick up our referral letter for a private diagnosis referral from the family dr this week. We have received some push back from them about insurance coverage. For a private diagnosis we are looking at about $2500 out of pocket. Insurance will cover 80% up to a maximum of $1000. Now a portion of the time is strictly with the parents and is billed at about $225 per hour, they want to see us on the first visit for minimum 90 minutes. Our family dr believes it is fraudulent to have my insurance cover that portion and to also have Ginja's portion cover her time with the psychologist. I don't quite understand that personally so I am hoping the paperwork is handled by the paediatricians office. We have been working with our infant and child development worker and also have a home based speech and language program in effect. Ginja has started stringing longer sentences together and has started using 5 word sentences. Ginja will start attending weekly speech and language session with her pathologist in May until about mid to end of June. 

Lil Man received an award at school last week for perseverance and determination. It is good to see he is pushing along as we had some issues with him giving up before. I have to implement our home reading program because the teacher rarely sends homework home, even after being asked for more. I have been looking at homeschooling websites and I want to start challenging him at home. He is very intelligent, just gets bored easily and frustrated when answers don't just come to him. I am extremely pleased with his reading, when he is done his chores he will play with his sisters or read. When we are travelling to visit family he will read in the van. You wouldn't know starting grade 2 that he couldn't read, and now he is reading well past his level. I give all the credit to his second grade teacher Mrs Robillard. She is by far the favorite teacher he has had. She put so much effort into her students, something that is rarely seen now a days. 

Our Coco! She is so full of energy always so happy, and progressing so well. It wasn't until I had her and have been watching her grow and develop, that I realized raising a baby could be so easy! She and Ginja both starting walking around their first birthdays, but I notice Coco talks so much more, is so independant and loving. She adores her big sister and brother. If I could have been guaranteed a pregnancy with no vomiting and a baby exactly like her, I would have a football team! My kids are my entire world and they are each individual and unique. I couldn't imagine our lives without them.