This blog of mine

Travis’s cold made everyone in this household sick! It started with him, then Joseph, then Nathan, and then me. It sucks because it’s going to be a nice week with spring like temperatures and we won’t be enjoying it.

Anyway, I haven’t been in the best of moods lately. I’ve gone through a combo of being angry, sad, and at times un-hopeful. While I’ve accepted the fact that Travis has autism, I do feel overwhelmed with the ABA therapy that Travis attends 5 days a week. I keep thinking, “what if Travis doesn’t improve,” or “God forbid he gets worse?” Today I made myself stressed by trying to figure out when/if Travis will “talk,” I put that in quotations because he does, “talk,” but it’s just random and echolalic. Granted the stuff that he does repeat, he does say it in the correct context, but still. I cannot wait for the day where Travis will even call me “mommy,” 

He knows what “mommy,” and “daddy” is because when we give him a direction such as, “Go brush teeth with daddy/mommy,” he knows who to go to. He does have (for the most part) good receptive skills, which has gotten better the past few weeks. I just want to hear him talk. He talks a LOT, but in his own jibberish and language that we can only understand a few words of. 

It also doesn’t help that upon my Googling, I’ve read stories of some not even talking. That made me panic a bit because I would be devastated if my son never talked. Hopefully his therapist(s) are correct in that he will talk one of these days since he “talks” right now.

Other than that everyone is doing okay asides from the cold that we’re all afflicted with. Travis is getting less anxious with attending ABA, but he still cries when we drop him off. It never fails to break my heart! Improvement wise, he seems to be pointing more, a bit better at following directions, and (in contrast to what I’ve written above) MORE verbal. Nowadays he likes to count (he can count 1-10, but seems to skip 5), showing interest in ABCs, and even sings along to songs now (though we can only understand parts of it since the rest is in his jibber jabber). Though most of his language is his jibberish, we have noticed that he TRIES to talk more, so that in a sense is good.

Nathan is doing well. He is getting better at crawling/scooting and is getting around our living room, which keeps him content. He’s also been having some major separation anxiety whenever I or Joseph leave the room. He still sleeps in our room and he is an awful sleeper (well to me anyway). Last night he didn’t go to bed till 11 PM and then woke up around 1 AM just bawling his eyes out! He still wakes up once at night to eat, which honestly surprises me considering Travis slept through the night at 4 months old. No worries though, every child is different.

He’s learned to say mama, dada, bubba, and sometimes it seems like he’s saying bubbles! He hears me and Travis saying bubbles a lot since I’m always blowing bubbles for them. He loves cuddling just like his older brother at this age. He loves kisses and will give you slobbery kisses all over you face! 

We got through the first week of ABA for Travis, which consisted of getting both kids up at 7 AM, getting them changed, fed breakfast, and out of the house by 8:10 (at the latest) to drop off Travis at the therapy center (he starts at 8:30).  Both boys have been extremely cooperative. The only hard part for us is when Travis cries when we drop him off. Breaks my heart every single time. 

However, Travis has been improving in terms of being separated from us. I think he’s done extremely well considering that he’s never been in a daycare/preschool type of setting before. The most he has cried according to his therapist has been about five minutes. He usually starts whimpering and having little cries when we pull into the parking lot (especially during the first few days), but his cries have decreased in length by the end of the week. On Friday, he only cried for about 10 seconds when him and his therapist got to the classroom! I am so proud of my little boy. 

So while Travis is at therapy (which by the way we tell him he is going to school), Nathan and I spend some much needed quality time together snuggling and playing! We also do errands that I usually do when Joseph comes home from work. 

Oh and guess what? Nathan is CRAWLING now! It’s not a real crawl yet, it’s more like an Army crawl, but it gets him around and that’s all that matters to him! The other day he made me panic for a few seconds because I couldn’t see him while fixing lunch for Travis, it turns out he was under the train table, which is kind of low on one side so it was hiding him. 

So glad that the week went well. The only downside is that Travis caught a pesky cold! My boo boo hasn’t had an appetite, has had a runny nose and cough. No fevers though, so that is good. I hope he feels better by Monday. 

I feel like I haven’t written a proper update about my babies in a while. My posts have consistently been me ranting about something or short, meaningless text posts via cellphone. I just haven’t had much time to jot down all the wonderful things my babies have been doing because I’ve been lacking time. 

PCS and caring for my two boys have obviously taken up a chunk of my life (so far). We’re moving in this coming Tuesday and I know it’ll just be one stressful week with all the unpacking that’s going to commence. See here I go again with the ranting. 

Back on track, my babies are wonderful. They make me smile, laugh, and fill my heart with an overwhelming amount of joy everyday. Travis is turning 2 next month and he’s grown so much physically, mentally, and emotionally this past year. He’s talking more and more, but I still feel like he’s lagging a bit (a concern that I’ll take up with his pediatrician next month). He’s definitely saying much more words compared to when he was at 18 months so I’m happy. He’s really getting into copying us. He sees me typing on the laptop and he’ll take Joseph’s laptop, open it, and start typing away. He’s getting really well at going up and down the stairs to the point where sometimes he doesn’t even feel the need to hold onto anything. Travis loves Nathan so much. He calls him “baby.” He loves to get on his tummy to keep Nathan company. He even gives Nathan kisses and hugs. He also loves to kiss and cuddle with me especially when I’m done putting him in time out or scolding at him.

Nathan has gotten so big. His 4 month appointment is next month and I’m excited to find out his weight and height. I can’t believe he is already 3 months old. He’s a very talkative baby, he loves babbling away. He smiles at everyone. He’s such a social butterfly. He’s rolled over already, but I think it terrified him and he hasn’t done it since (he’s done it twice so far). He loves it when Travis is talking to him and giving him hugs and kisses. He sleeps through the night sometimes, but when he doesn’t, he wakes up once and goes right back to sleep. Nathan is such a happy, content, and patient baby. He has no complaints whatsoever (for now). Compared to Travis, Nathan is so patient. Nathan doesn’t even cry after he has a dirty diaper, so we always have to check and check. He’ll happily sit there with a dirty diaper as long as he’s babbling to someone or a toy. Travis (at that age) would throw a fit if he was dirty (like most). 

Nathan definitely has Joseph’s personality and Travis has mines. Travis looks like Joseph and Nathan looks more like me. Go figure!