Ooops!

Been a bit neglectful haven't I? I really do try and get back here but seriously, any spare time I have is just eaten away these days. Plus, this blog will soon be moving. I'm finding it too distracting having two blogs going. Given I don't have time to look after one, having two means they're both neglected. So, watch this space for the new address TBA!

Anyhoo, what's been happening here?

Lots!

Since my last post we have had another of our darling boys diagnosed on the Autism spectrum. It was only after Jonah's diagnosis that I started to wonder whether some of the quirky things that Sam was doing might actually be autism. We fronted up to the developmental paediatrician and got the go ahead to have him formally assessed. What we saw surprised us.

Sam has a very high general knowlege IQ. He was tested at 4yrs 8m, the test hits the ceiling at 7yrs 3m...he got to the end of the test and there was nowhere else to go so we really don't know how high his IQ actually is. However when the speech assessment was done he failed in the areas of pragmatic language skills. This bought his IQ down to 108, still very good but if not for the language deficits and the fact he takes everything literally, his score (apparently) would have been 120+. They want to test him again in two years, after he has had some speech therapy to see how he goes.

So, our gorgeous Sam has been given the official diagnosis of high functioning autism (HFA) and now all of those quirks and crazy things he did make sense! Followers of my old blog will remember posts titled 'Cranky little genius', all dedicated to Sam. He showed amazing brightness from an early age but he just never had any common sense lol. Yep, typical HFA!

He's doing well though. He's seeing a great psych and a speech pathologist and he's going great. He will be starting prep next year and is loving the transition to his new school. We didn't apply for an aid because his IQ was too high to get funding.

Now to Jonah. What a little superstar. He's going great at the learning centre and they have done some amazing work with him. He now has a total of 13 words. This is up from none back in March. He doesn't say them all the time and he won't say them on command but we do hear them and that's enough for us.

He is also showing some fantastic play skills, points all the time (he never used to point at all), plays with his toys appropriately, loves his 'dolly' and pushes her in the pram all day, brings me my shoes, loves to sing (although every word is 'Ga ga ga') and he has a great singing voice! He actually keeps in tune really well so although he can't say the words we know the song because we can hear the tune lol.

He's still little but is growing. He's 2yrs 4m and is still wearing size one in pants but has snuck into some size 2 tops even though they're still a little big. His heath has settled a lot and his digestive issues seem to be correcting themselves. We still see a gastroenterologist but he seems to be going well.

His main area of concern is his severe language delay. Some of his words are just sounds but we know what he is trying to say. For example 'Ahya' means 'I want food or water'. It's a spin off from 'nana' which he leaned to say when he was going thgough his 'I will eat nothing but bananas' phase lol. So now when he says 'Ahya' we know it's food or water he wants.

He had his first full time week at the learning centre last week and he coped really well. For those who don't know, the learning centre is using the Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) with Jonah and it's just amazing how well he is doing and in such a short space of time. I notice so many changes in the other kids there too.

Luke is just fantastic. He is nearing the end of his first year of prep and is already reading, spelling and doing maths at grade 2 level. It's not just a Mummy brag but he is at the top of his class. He and a little girl have surprised us all with how well they are doing. He's such a gorgeous kid, very sensitive but he loves his footy! LOL.

Me? Well, I am still a gym junkie. I actually have two gym memberships now, how sad is that?! LOL and I am very very proud to say I have recently completed my first ever 10k run! I did it in a great time (for me lol) and am now training for another 10ker in 5 weeks time, a 15k in April and the bog half marathon next year. Maybe, just maybe....a marathon after that!

I will hit send on this now before Jonah wakes and destroys it. Then I will put up some pics!