Yesterday we went to a pirate-themed water park. It has a 24-foot high play structure with a 300-gallon dumping bucket, water slides, and waterfalls. It's close to our home and a good introduction to water parks (geared towards kids 3-6). Matthew enjoyed it until he went down the slide and went under water. Due to his sensitivity issues, he has an aversion to getting his face & ears wet. After that he kept repeating "go home, got to go home" so we left. We will try again in a couple weeks.
Last Wednesday (June 4th) was the Green our Vaccines Rally in Washington, DC. Speakers included: Jenny McCarthy, Jim Carrey, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Dr. Jay Gordon, Dr. Jerry Kartzinel, and Dr. Boyd Hayley. More than 40 autism and environmental organizations supported their efforts and an estimated 8,500 participated. Every state was represented including supporters from Mexico, Canada, and the Philippines.
For the record, I am not anti-vaccine, just anti-the poisons they have in them and -the schedule that is pushed on unknowing parents (children receive 36 shots by the time they are 3 years old). Before Matthew was diagnosed with autism, I had no idea these toxins were in his shots. IF I had known, I would have used an alternate (delayed) vax schedule with one shot at a time. I also would NOT have given him Tylenol before and after each vaccination (as our peds advised) b/c acetaminophen reduces glutathione which the body needs to detox.
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.)
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. 
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!
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.
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!
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. 
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.
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!
I was asked by GFCF Mommy to play a game and come up with 10 great things about Matthew. Here's the link to her blog http://gfcfmommy.blogspot.com/ and here are my 10 things (which I did # but Blogger made them bullets!):
I went to TJ Maxx in search of new puzzles for Matthew and clothes for me. While there, I noticed a teenage girl sitting on the floor in the shoe department playing with the laces and mumbling to herself. She was wearing a badge on a string around her neck so I thought she was an employee and that her behavior was a bit unusual but I moved on to the toy section. There I saw 2 other "odd" individuals - one was staring at the baby toys and the other was touching the board books...again, both had badges and I thought, "wow, TJ Maxx has several special employees working here...good for them, but I think there might be some productivity issues". Then, while I was looking at the shirts, a woman came up to me and asked if the shirt I found was on clearance...yada yada. She was very friendly and I stood behind her at check-out. I noticed she was wearing a badge which said Fairfax County Public Schools. On my way out of the store, I saw the 3 teenagers plus 3 others boarding a school bus with that lady. Then it all made sense...she was the guide and they were the special needs students out on a field trip. Maybe it had something to do with a "life skills" class but why was there only 1 adult and why was she shopping for herself while the rest of the kids (they looked like they were about 16 years old) were sitting on the floor or staring at the baby toys? What if one of the kids ran out the door into the street or broke something in the housewares department and hurt themselves? What exactly did they learn during this exercise...that you go to the store to play with shoe laces?
I love BOTH "Autism: The Musical" and "Beautiful Son"!!! 
