New Sound Sensitivities

Over the last few weeks, Matthew has developed sound sensitivities (which he's never had before). He screams/cries and shakes uncontrollably when he hears certain noises such as a neighbor using a saw, his ABA therapist deflating a balloon, and today her cell phone going off on vibrate mode. Usually he doesn't give an explanation, but today he told her it was a bumble bee going to bite him. After it went off he was petrified of her bag so she took everything out and put the bag on her head to show him it was safe but when we tried calling her cell later he freaked out again. He even got upset when the phone played a song. So now Matthew is scared of her cell and says "bye sound" to make it go away. Anyone out there have experience with this? (P.S. She didn't want her face in the pic.)

Memorial Day Weekend

Matthew walked for the first time yesterday, six days after his fall. I sent him to preschool (with his stroller) today. It's one of the 3 "long" days (9:10-3:30) so it will be interesting to hear how he does.

Yesterday was Memorial Day, a day of remembrance for those who have died serving our country. Thank you to all our service members and their families! We spent a quiet day at home. We cooked on the grill and ate outside...the weather was perfect. We had intended to take Matthew to the pool but decided not to since he is still unstable on his foot and didn't want him to slip on a wet surface.


On Sunday, we took Matthew for a ride on the Metro (= his favorite thing to do). We were just going to ride the train and not get off but we needed to make a "pit stop" so we got off at the Smithsonian http://www.smithsonian.org/ and went to the Natural History museum. I have to laugh b/c some people travel from afar to visit these museums and we go simply to use the rest room! On the way out we saw thousands (not an exaggeration) of motorcycles. They were the Rolling Thunders..."an annual motorcycle rally that is held in DC to call for the govt's recognition and protection of POW's and MIA's. About 400,000 vets roar across the city as a tribute to American war heroes." Funny how when it comes to clowns and parades we always happen to be in the right place at the right time! The motorcycles were very loud and I was afraid Matthew might have another sensory overload attack, but he just sat quietly and watched them go by.

Matthew Fell & Injured Ankle

Tuesday night Matthew fell down the stairs off the kitchen onto the hard wood floor in the family room and cannot bear weight on his right foot now. When he tries to stand up he falls and cries "boo-boo". I took him to the ER. He had x-rays which showed no fractures but they think it's a bad sprain (they're not exactly sure b/c he can't tell us where it hurts). I have to give him 250 mg of Motrin every 6 hours and it if doesn't get better in 2-3 days we'll need to see our pediatrician or an orthopedist. Since he can't walk I carry him everywhere...the stairs are the hardest b/c he weighs 40 pounds and my wrists are shot from a previous injury. He definitely won't be in school for the next few days. I really hope he gets better soon and that we won't have to see a specialist. Please keep you fingers crossed!

Terrifying Train Tunnel

We took Matthew to Burke Lake Park, a local park that has a train that runs through it. Matthew went on this ride several times last summer and while he didn't love every minute of it, he surely didn't do what he did today. There is a dark tunnel that the train goes through twice and Matthew totally freaked out both times. He shook uncontrollably (like a scared dog during a terrible thunder storm) and held his breath while going under the first time. The train looped around and we warned him we were going through again...he shook/bobbed and had a horrible expression on his face. It was very scary for us b/c Matthew has a hole in his heart (VSD) and has had absence seizures so we were afraid he might have a seizure or a even heart attack. The weird thing is, he's been through tunnels on the Metro and they don't phase him at all. John says maybe it's b/c we were in the open air, it was very dark, and the horn/whistle were blowing loudly. Needless to say, we won't be going back there. This is the pic I took before we reached the tunnel.

Got TINGS??!

I went upstairs to get dressed (I had laid out my clothes ahead of time so all I had to do was throw them on) and left Matthew alone in the family room for 5 minutes and this is what I found: Matthew had opened the kitchen pantry door, climbed up to the 2nd to top shelf, grabbed the Tings bag, opened the zip lock bag they were in, removed the chip clip, dumped the contents onto his plate, and began eating. You cannot leave this child alone for one minute! I thought I was being "safe" by giving him juice, turning on PBS Kids (Clifford), and dead-bolting the doors. Matthew obviously has an addiction to Tings. They are similar to Cheetos but without the cheese (he's GFCF) and are "natural crunchy corn sticks" made by Robert's Gourmet. They are pretty good but I wouldn't eat them for breakfast!

Celebs with Kids on the Spectrum

I read an article today about celebrities who have children with autism. The most famous appear to be: Sylvester Stallone, Doug Flutie, Dan Marino, Ernie Els, Jenny McCarthy, Holly Robinson Peete, and Toni Braxton. These celebs work hard to raise awareness and research funds for ASD. John Travolta also allegedly has a son with autism but he and his wife Kelly Preston will not admit it and may be denying him treatment because of their beliefs in Scientology. The funny thing is that John's brother (Joey Travolta) produced a documentary on autism...I wonder if that was his way to get his brother's attention. Whatever Jett Travolta’s diagnosis, I hope he is getting the services and education he needs. Having a child with autism is NOT a shame, but doing nothing to help him is.
P.S. Notice Jett toe walking in the picture?...he is also non-verbal.

Happy Mother's Day!

John and Matthew took me to a special lunch at the Army-Navy Country Club in Arlington. It was a nice buffet and Matthew was on his best behavior and even wore a tie! Hope all the mommies had a wonderful day!

National Train Day @ Union Station

Today we took Matthew to Union Station in D.C. for National Train Day. Amtrak provided magic shows, arts & crafts, and live music for the kids. Matthew had fun watching the model trains and received a goody bag with lots of neat stuff including a commemorative wooden train whistle.

Matthew Rode a Horse!!! :)

Today we went to an open house at Simple Changes in Lorton, VA. (Here's a link to their website: http://www.simplechanges.org/index.htm) Matthew rode a horse named Kali and loved every minute of it. The riding center is 7 miles from our house and I learned about it via an email from our local ASA chapter. Matthew was not afraid to touch the horse on the nose and gladly let a stranger put a helmet on him and lift him up onto the horse...it was amazing! Here's a short video and some pics. The center offers therapeutic riding sessions for kids 4 and up and hippotherapy for kids 2 years & up. We're going to try to get him into the summer session but the website says they have a long waiting list. In any event, it was a great experience for him and on the way to the car we ran into some clowns...they seem to be everywhere these days! Then we drove a few miles down the road to the Mason Neck State Park where Matthew had fun at the playground and went down his tallest slide to date. It was an exciting afternoon!
ETA: we just got a call from the center, we entered a raffle and won a $85 massage!