July 8

I reevaluated Sarah according to the Son-Rise developmental model and the ATEC autism online test. Unsurprisingly, she had moved quite a bit. Both evaluations are subjective given that I am the one interpreting the questions. Still, it is pretty amazing that two years ago she was just edging into stage 4 for the SR developmental model (acquiring everything in stage 5 is as high as you can go) and now she is middling in stage 4 and more than edging into stage 5. A year ago her ATEC score was 36 and now it is 27. That is amazing. The lower the score the better. 

Last Sunday we had a lemonade stand. We squeezed lemons and mashed raspberries for pink lemonade. Amy made signs. I probably helped too much with the whole thing especially serving the three customers who weren’t us. Still, it was delicious. 

Amy taught Sarah to play go fish. It will probably take several more rounds before Sarah can do it without lots of coaching. They do it with their cards showing, just as Amy and I did when Amy was first learning. 

With the help of sitters, we went to the Children’s Museum and the History Center. Each field trip was followed by ice cream at Millie’s, a place that is new to us, amazingly delicious, and has vegan chocolate ice cream that Sarah can have. Sc took what is now my favorite picture of the girls together, laughing and holding hands after enjoying their ice cream. 

People sometimes ask me how I found volunteers for our SR program. I explain that I sent emails to friends and did various other networking. I asked friends who worked in the drama departments of CMU and Pitt to forward my email about Sarah-Rise to their students. I expect many emails went out. I got one reply. But that one reply made all the difference. That one person, A., was extremely involved and enthusiastic. He worked with Sarah multiple times a week and spent time with Amy so I could be with Sarah. He also told his friends about us and three of them volunteered too. One of those friends is Sc, who is still an incredibly important part of our lives and still does SR time. So you never know what can come from just one person. This week we had the amazing gift of a visit from A and his band, Bandits on the Run. I highly recommend their music. They gave us a private concert and it was absolutely amazing. Some moments are just the best. 

It was wonderful to see the girls greet our guests and want to show them all of their things and skills. When A was with us, Sarah had just been starting to talk so she has really come miles since then. She also showed everyone her Sad Brow book, of which A is a part. She named everyone as she went, including people she hasn’t seen in many years.

Another day, Amy made a car with poles and connectors, a chair, a ramp, a pool noodle seatbelt, and sketch book pedals. She also wore a helmet to insure safety. 

Carl took the girls on a short bus ride and just before getting off, Sarah stopped to tell the driver, “bye! Have a good summer!” 

Sarah still likes to play restaurant so I gave her a notepad and pen to take my order. I also brought up our fake food bin and Amy brought up playdough. Doing the SR developmental model is a good reminder to keep building new ideas upon any original idea.

Amy had her first sleep over that was away from home. It went well!

We are on vacation right now. While vacation often means a relaxing time, I will say that along with some wonderful times, vacations are also quite challenging for me and I have less space to handle the whining and impatience. But...some highlights include the girls going on a small rollercoaster with Carl. Amy even went a second time all by herself. They enjoyed the waterpark and Sarah even tried two water slides after watching others for a long time. Sarah loved the lazy river, until she tipped too far back on her float and fell in the water. She got back on her feet but was upset for a long long time after. We had a good time eating at Sara’s restaurant (a real one). And Sarah navigated to the downstairs hotel bathroom all by herself this morning just by following signs. We didn’t go with her and she did the whole thing and came back to us independently. 

I continue to marvel at how my girls can be so grown up and so small at the same time.  So capable and so clueless. So annoying and so adorable. The snuggles and love are still there is spades so that is the most important part. When Carl came back from a short run this morning, they greeted him as if he had been gone for a week, climbing on him with delighted joy. 

Lots of love and delighted joy to all of you, even if there are moments of extreme frustration.