I have been dreaming about this moment. The moment that I can say Brendan is no longer non verbal! What I mean by that is to most people he is still non verbal but to me he is trying to talk and he is getting better everyday. At 3.5 years old he will say a couple spontaneous phrases. Maybe only 1 or 2 of them are completely clear but the others still need some work. I can understand him but other people have a hard time. Not only he is making HUGE progress verbally but he is giving eye contact so much more and engaging with others. He is starting to understand the world around him and for me as a mom watching this happen is one of the most incredible feelings. Like any toddler his favorite word is "no", but then I can say to him, "I love you Brendan" and he says back "love you momma". I can listen to him say that all day long! You can hand him something and he will always say, "thank you". Now when someone sneezes he says "bless you". He loves to tell everyone to "follow me" and "play with me". He now prefers to have someone play with him all the time which again was a huge goal. He is loving to play games! He is so good at Candy-land. He loves to play red light green light, duck duck goose and what time is it Mr. Fox.
Halloween was a huge success! He did so good walking to each house with his sister and his cousin. He would say, "trick or treat" to almost every house. I did realize that he doesn't have any fear of scary things. Anytime we would see a scary costume or haunted house he would start laughing while the other kids were terrified. Brendan dressed up as Bert from Mary Poppins. His sister was Mary Poppins and his two dogs dressed up as penguins. We made their costumes for them so it was extra special to watch them loving the costumes. Even though Brendan can't eat any of the candy it didn't seem to bother him at all. He still had a great time.
We got to do our second filming of the autism documentary that Brendan is a part of. It had been 5 months since they first came to film Brendan. He has made so much progress in the last 5 months so it was so fun to watch him interact and actually give directions. He is obsessed with the go pro. He wanted to take it and be the person filming everyone. He is in the stage of being a toddler where he wants to be in control of everything. He definitely showed off for the camera. This is going to be filmed over a couple year period and I am so thankful that Brendan is part of this. I can't wait to watch all the progress he has made over the next couple of years. He is going to be proof that Early Intervention works!
Anytime Brendan starts to make progress in one area we always have the issue with him losing a skill. So as exciting as it is for him to be making progress with his language he has taken a step back with his feeding. If any of you know Brendan you know that he is obsessed with his hot dogs. He can eat them all day long and be happy. But out of the blue one day last month he just decided he didn't like or want to eat them anymore. I thought ok so maybe just for a couple of days it would last but we went 3.5 weeks with him not wanting to eat them. I started to freak out because he only has 4 things of meals that he rotates so this now means he had only 3 things to eat. I am so thankful he has the genetics on his side because he is so big for his age. But yesterday he finally ate a hot dog so fingers crossed that he will continue to eat them. Feeding is such an emotional rollercoaster for me. I am at the point that I feel like I just want to leave the feeding issue alone and just let him eat his 4 things. Anytime we try to work in a new food during feeding it somehow back fires and he looses a current food. Then his sleeping has been horrible lately. He just keeps waking up so many times a night. He will wake up and fall back asleep pretty fast but its still exhausting for him and us. He just seems to go in phases with his sleep. I am hoping this pattern of waking up is almost over.
Brendan has been doing really good with outings. I took him to see the movie Charlie Brown and he sat with me and did amazing the entire movie. This was his first time going to a regular movie and not a sensory movie. He also came with me to get my nails done and he actually wanted to sit in the chair like me and get his nails done. I couldn't believe it, he was letting her file and buff his nails. When I try and trim his nails at home its world war for me. He has been doing great at the grocery store for me. He loves to help put the groceries on the checkout scanner. But we have had some run away moments as well on outings. He still doesn't understand the concept of danger. This is something we work on all the time.
I am so thankful for Brendan's team of therapist and doctors! He truly has the most amazing team! They are an extended part of our family and I couldn't be more grateful for all the hard work they do everyday.
I want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!
