...Well, a year ago this month (July) my Elijah was basically non verbal save a few phrases he had memorized from some movies ( "All Aboard"..from the polar express and "To infinity and Beyond"..from Toy Story) we had been 2 months into intensive ABA therapy and just starting to see some fruit from it. Looking back in this year, i have to be honest..i would not want to relive it. I know that sounds bad but it. was. so. hard. I had to hand my boy over to a team of 5 therapists and trust them. I had to learn to shut off every mommy instinct i had and while my baby screamed and cried for me over in therapy i had to ignore him..sometimes i just sat out side the therapy room door where he couldnt see me, and I cried. And there were days i would get emailed his schedule's for the next week , and i would cry in guilt because he would have 7 to 8 hour therapy days, and at that time he was only 3. Even today, after 2 weeks off of therapy..i received the email of his schedule for next week..and i am so sad. I am gonna miss him.
...But this is the best thing for him. It doesn't matter what i want. Elijah has come leaps and bounds. I am truly amazed..he is probably around a 3 year olds speech level right now. Because he learns to speak differently than a typical child it is hard to place him in a scale of where he is. He is doing amazingly. When he was diagnosed i thought once he learned the purpose of speech he would "catch right on" but that wasn't the case..speech truly doesn't come natural to him. A concept that is hard for me to understand compleatly. But he has to learn every thing. From, every person has a name, to gender, to the fact that he has a name and age (he still mixes them up) each one of those things i listed, has taken him weeks to learn..and he learns them one at a time (just his name and age took over 5 weeks) Right now he is learning where to put the word "its" properly in a sentence. But he is doing so stinking awesome! Many would have given up by now, he is constantly being corrected and always repeats and tries to do it the right way. If something was that hard for me, i would like to think i would raise up and be a tenacious as he. But i dont know...He is an amazing little boy.
Where is Elijah at? Well Elijah is very social..he loves to play with other kids. He some times does not understand whats appropriate socially (ex: if he is wrestling with another little boy in fun, he wouldn't understand when that boy is done, or had enough) He loves to laugh! I love his laugh! He is starting to love to be read to ..his favorite book right now? How do Dinosaurs say goodnight. He loves it. His behaviors have come way down. Like allot allot. No he is not perfect. And we still have melt downs, but they have been reduced by so much, that they are bearable to some extent. He is becoming well behaved. I mean, don't get me wrong, he is Autistic..but there has been so much improvement! He apologizes when he has done wrong, and even some times when he hasnt..but just sees some one hurting. He gives me hugs and kisses with out me asking, he picks flowers for my hair (how cute is that?) He is forming independent sentences, he is talking about his feeling (big deal) just tonight he says to me "i am scared", now even though he has never spoken a whole lot or answers much of my questions..i still act like i expect him to, so i asked him "what are you scared of?" and he answered me! "I am scared of falling down" (he was on the top bunk) Kris and I both got whip lash looking back at him in shock! He is starting to love to sing, and "Jesus loves me" and "I got the joy joy joy joy down in my heart" are sung daily by him. He recognizes the letter "E" as in "E for Whyjah" as he says. He loves being a big brother and makes sure Titus is obeying and coming when he is called. He loves to Hold Asher and hates when he cries. He loves to play with Julia, she is his best friend. The Lord continues to answer our prayers for Elijah. He is growing, forming relationships (last week he hugged his very awesome Sunday school teacher, so sweet!) uses his imagination and makes us smile. Elijah is amazing..and i cant wait to see what next year brings us!
