October 1st-6th Brendan turns 17 months and say's his first words

   

    I have been so excited to share our week with everyone. Brendan is now 17 months old and getting bigger. This week has been so emotional but for so many good reasons. I first want to start by saying the biggest thank you to everybody who has donated and joined Team Brendan. I am starting to get chocked up as I am typing right now. The emails that I have received this week from my Family and Friends telling me how they are supporting Brendan has exceed anything I could have ever imagined anyone doing for my son. I have friends and family in other states that can't travel to Arizona for the walk so they will be walking at the same time as we are walking with their Team Brendan shirts on! I have friends sharing Brendan's story with all of their face book friends to spread awareness about autism. I have friends trying to raise money for Team Brendan's walk on their own. People buying Team Brendan's shirts from all the United States. The list goes on! I want every single one of you to know that everything you are doing means more than you know to my family. It makes me so emotional to know that we have so much support behind us. I will never give up the fight to cure Autism for my son!
       Last week I shared that Brendan started to try and say the words,"a again." Well he is officially now saying, "a again," and using it in the proper way. Also last weekend he started to say," a snack," which sounds more like, "a tack," but he is consistent and I know exactly what he is trying to say. That all happened within 2 days. I also shared the video of him going in and out of the dog door well lets just say all he wants to do is climb out the dog door to go in the backyard. Every time I pull him back in he throws a full tantrum. His aba therapist was over Tuesday for therapy and I was explaining to her his newest tantrum so I decided just to show her. We took him outside to play for a bit and then made him come in and as he has been doing he flipped out. So while her and I were discussing how to handle these situations he decided to calm down and walk to the back door and say,"outside." The therapist and I looked at each other and in the biggest state of shock both said, "omg he just said outside." That moment brought me to tears. He isn't saying the typical normal easy first words like momma, dadda, dog, up, yes, no but he has decided that he is going to put two words together and then say harder words. From that moment on Tuesday he is now also saying,"all done, I did, I catch, banana, I sit, Einstein's." He has also learned to give me a high five. I have been dreaming of these moments. You just never know if your child with Autism will ever be verbal. The last month of the intense aba therapy we are doing is showing us actual proof that it is working. We have been working so hard with him and he is starting to really respond to this method. Ok sorry I have posted lots of videos of him talking this week. Also don't mind that his face looks like he went to war. He is all boy and climbs and runs on everything so he took some good falls this week.