Feb 12

We had a good week despite lower hours than some other weeks. We got 6 hrs and 40 min in a week that had an eye doctor's appointment that took 2 hours (plus 2 hrs driving - eyes are fine) and and a dentist appointment (teeth are fine). Sarah did remarkably well with both appointments, letting the doctors/dentists look at her eyes and teeth. She even dealt well with the long wait time at the eye doctor's.

When Sh. did her volunteering she noticed a language explosion compared to a week ago. Then after her time with Sh. when Sh. said goodbye, Sarah looked up at her for several moments, then said "ba ba sh." To my knowledge she has never before said bye with a name after it. And I didn't prompt her with any of that. I don't have hard data points but my impression is that her eye contact is improving with duration and frequency.

There was a moment last weekend when I was slightly mad at her for saying "la la" (very angrily) instead of using the words she has I said angrily "I don't know what la la means, tell me something!" there was a pause and then she said "ah vv" which means "I love you." She also now adds "eeoo" to her "ah vv" for I love you, but what was fabulous last weekend was how she totally read the situation and played into it just perfectly. How could I stay mad in the face of an I love you?

Her language in general feels like a cartoon snowball gathering momentum as it goes downhill. More and more often when I say something she then says back to me her attempt at part of what I said. When I tucked her in for a nap and said I was going to make phone calls she said "ff k." When I said her pants were on backwards she said "back wuh." Looking at her book in the car with a picture of a bowl on a kid's head she said "ba ba" and then modified without any help or prompting, just my waiting, to "boh"

I had great consult with W., one of the Son-Rise mentors and experts from the Autism Treatment Center of America (home of Son-Rise).  He has a wonderful way of asking questions so that I can see my emotions in a situation are a choice. There is no way my written word can convey the loving light non-judgmental voice W. has but something I continue to ponder is why when Sarah does something unconventional or takes a long time to learn something or tantrums or whatever, why is my response to feel mad, discouraged, sad, etc as opposed to calm, happy, etc? This is like unraveling a knotted necklace or yarn ball. I'm still working on unraveling but I love the questions and the way he can ask them so I just crack up laughing. In the consult I get to direct what we talk about so I picked talking about how sometimes I can feel despairing or uncomfortable about Sarah. I figure this is a big thing that could hold me back from being the best parent I can be.