Week 80

Goal!!!  Ryan scores his first goal in soccer.  He was so excited that after scoring he ran to the middle of the field and jumped into his coach's arms.

The goal happened just before halftime and although I didn't get him scoring on video, I did get this at halftime...

 

Due to the storm this past weekend Ryan had quite the treat having a sleepover at his cousin Amelia's house, spending one night sleeping in our room, and having his first snow day of the season off from school.  We were out of power and once we got our power back we still didn't have heat, but now everything is back and hopefully we'll get back on track and schedule.  

The kids spending time with nonna for her birthday.

DC

Week 79

The long awaited wedding is here!  Ryan has officially participated in his first bridal party. He did fantastic.  Everyone commented on how well Ryan did at the wedding.  It was a very long day and all the kids did well. Ryan loved hanging with the rest of the groomsmen and they all enjoyed Ryan's enthusiasm.  He only had one meltdown when he realized that he was not going to be able to take the limo to the reception.  While he finally got over it, it was difficult for him at the time.  He really wanted to take the limo and was very disappointed that he was not able to hang out with the adults in the limo.  Other than this one instance, he listened to the photographer's directions, followed the others lead, and really seemed to enjoy the experience.  We brought some of his bread for the reception and he was so excited that he ate the whole thing in one sitting.  Below are some pictures of the weekend.

Waiting for the limo to arrive.

The Bridal Party

The Campbells at the reception.

Ryan and Amelia walking into the wedding.

Ryan and Amelia leaving the wedding.

Eating at the cocktail hour but trying to stay clean!

Having fun with Nonna!

Pictures with Great Grandma Millie

Ryan dancing the night away!!!

Celebrating Great Grandma Ann's Birthday!

Ryan meeting his new cousin, Johnny!

Welcome to the family baby Johnny!

DC and PC

Week 78

This week we were finally able to play a scheduled soccer game.  This was Ryan's first game and he did well.  He kept talking to the other players and was not that aggressive trying to get the ball.  At the end of the game he was very upset.  He hit himself in the head numerous times, and started crying into his coaches's arms.  I had to run onto the field to get him and bring him back to the sidelines.  He was disappointed that he did not score a goal.  He told us that he had "a little bit of fun" at the game.  However, he did stay in the entire game and did not walk off when he got frustrated like he does at practice.  Hopefully with time he will get better and he will score a goal so that he can be proud of himself! In the meantime we will keep telling him how proud we are of him that he has been sticking with this! 

I was videotaping parts of the game and did record him hitting himself and having a breakdown in the middle of the field.  It was very upsetting to me so I will not share that video here, but I will share this clip instead.  While Ryan is certainly not as aggressive as some of the other kids, he does seem into the game.

Next Sunday Ryan will be in his first wedding.  He is walking down the isle with his cousin, Amelia.  We had the rehearsal on Saturday and he did fantastic.  He followed directions and he listened extremely well. The wedding planner and the Priest even made a mistake and had Ryan do something that was incorrect. The old Ryan would have had a difficult time understanding the mistake but he simply walked back to where they wanted him without missing a beat.  Hopefully next week he will do well with a church full of people.

Frakie, Alyssa, Ryan, Amelia, and Julia... all in the bridal party!

Walkig down the aisle.  A little zombie-ish but we'll work on getting him to smile this week.

One of our biggest fears with Ryan was that he was not going to make friends.  A child with Autism has difficulty reading people and understanding social interactions.  So far Ryan seems to be making the transition into the world of play dates just fine.  We had a play date today with a young boy from his old school, PARC.  His mom called us a few weeks ago to set something up because their son was constantly asking for Ryan to come over.  We went today and they had a blast playing together.  This Tuesday James from his Kindergarten class is coming over to our house for a play date.  This is the boy that had the birthday party a couple of weeks ago.  James actually left a message on our answering machine asking if he could come over one day and play with Ryan.  I guess we all worry that our children will have difficultly making friends on their own, but so far Ryan seems to be doing okay.

When we were visiting Pittsburgh, Aunt Anne took us to a Pick-your-own orchard that has a gluten free specialty shop.  We were able to find French bread that he really likes and that tastes really good.  He liked it so much that we made it a point to try to find it this week at Nature's Pantry.  Lucky for us they have this and we are going to pack it with us when we go to the wedding next week.  This has been one of the biggest stumbling blocks when we go out to eat.  Most restaurants bring bread to the table and Ryan has a difficult time understanding that this is not for him, especially when he is hungry.  Now that we have this bread, we can plan better and bring our own supply.  Below is a picture of the bread.   The brand is Schar and we highly recommend you try it if you are on a GF diet.

Speaking of Pittsburgh, as we pulled out of the driveway waving back to Aunt Anne, Megan, and Kate, Ryan says, "I will miss them."  Awww!!! 

Conversation as I put him to bed the other night.
Me: Good night, sweetheart.
Ryan: Good night, my beautiful love!
Double awwww!!!!

Phil and I want to thank everyone who read the blog, especially those who converse with us about it.  Your insight into what you ejoy reading and the changes you notice in Ryan are refreshing and it's what keeps us going each week.  After last Sunday's blog we received our more than usual "fan mail" this week, with lots of people encouraging us to keep it going, but also understanding and appreciating the time we put into writing it each week.  I want to share one of the messages we received this week.  It comes from my former high school math teacher, Ms. Pfleger:

I do want to let you know that I read your blog about Ryan's journey each week. I need to say that it has been a privilege to follow his progress. I really see a difference in Ryan through pictures even though I am not personally acquainted with him. If I compare this week's picture with his Aunt Anne to some of the first pictures that you posted, I see a much happier boy with a real smile on his face not a forced smile because someone is expecting him to smile for a picture. I have to believe that the course that you and Phil have chosen to help Ryan is the right one. Take care and God bless.

May God bless all of YOU who are the backbone behind what we do!
Have a great week!
 
DC & PC

Week 77

So it is Sunday evening and we're in Pittsburgh.  We had an extremely busy weekend and the last thing I wanted to do was sit here and type this blog.  In fact, I just finished telling Phil that we really need to stop writing the blog because most weeks it tends to send a lot of stress my way... worrying if I have taken enough videos and pictures and straining to remember what actually happened that we want to share with everyone.  At 9pm I begrudgingly sat down to download pictures off of my camera and write week 77's entry.  Editing the pictures took about 15 minutes, and stalling to actually do the writing I checked my email.  And wouldn't you know I received an email from a former student and she mentions how she still reads the blog and is happy to hear about how Ryan is doing.  Gosh, what timing for that email to come when just an hour ago I wanted to give this up altogether.  I guess we can't do that just yet (but be prepared because it will happen in the foreseeable future!)  But not tonight, so here it goes...

Let's start with Pittsburgh since I already mentioned we are here.  We visited Phil's sister and her family for the weekend.  We feel very lucky that the kids are for the most part patient in the car since it is an 8-hour trip to get here.  We've had a busy couple of days.  Here are some of the pictures highlighting our visit. 

The kids playing together.

Shucking corn with Uncle Chris

Ryan, Kate, Julia, and Megan... they love spending time together!



Ryan with Aunt Anne, his godmother.



At the park.

Even before our trip to Pittsburgh, this week was a busy one.  Ryan has been getting more homework and it can sometimes be a struggle getting him to sit long enough to do it.  It sometimes takes a lot of bribing.  And on top of the homework, when he doesn't cooperate and finish his work in school, that gets sent home as well for him to finish as homework.  One of his assignments this week was on the "fun" side.  It wasn't writing letters so Ryan was a little more cooperative.  We needed to decorate a pumpkin to put up on their classroom's pumpkin patch bulletin board.  So out came the box of craft materials and I was able to get Ryan to work on his pumpkin for about 15 minutes.  He was very independent and wanted to do all of the cutting and coloring himself.  He was patient and he did a good job.  I was impressed!  But I could also understand why he may not finish activities at school.  If he doesn't stay completely on task he won't finish because he is on the slow side cutting, writing, coloring, etc.  I'm sure with time the speed will come but for now he's trying his best to be neat and accurate, and he's come along way in the past month. 

And there were more crafts to be completed when our neighbor Carol brought the kids a bucket full of Halloween gifts.  Here Ryan is making a haunted house.  He looked at the picture on the cover of the package and carefully replicated it.  Again, he was a very independent worker and he sat for about 15 minutes to complete this task. 



My friend, Bridget (one of our avid blog readers!) alerted us about the Theatre Development Fund piloting the "Autism Theatre Initiative", the first ever autism-friendly performance in Broadway history.  That evening we heard all about it on a Nightly News segment.  My explanation would not do it justice, so I'm just going to give you the link to the segment:  Autism Theatre Initiative


Recently I received a link from my mom and friend Marni, two more of our avid blog readers, about a heartwarming story of a set of parents preparing their adult autistic son to be out in the world on his own.  Here's that link: Seeking a Place in the Adult World

Well, that is all for now.  And don't worry, when we are ready to end our journey of blog writing we will give advanced warning!

DC

Week 76

Ryan is appreciative...



Ryan has always disliked brushing his teeth. Like most kids, he doesn't do a good job unless we are standing right there helping him and showing him what to do. He doesn't like this process and begrudgingly allows us to take over and rebrush his teeth. To my surprise this week, Ryan turned to me and said, "Thank you mommy for teaching me." Wow!


Ryan has a good memory...

Last week during soccer practice Ryan participated off and on.  He gave Phil a hard time and when he came home from practice he said he wanted to quit.  We spoke about it at bedtime and the next morning Ryan announced, "Ryan doesn't quit because you're not supposed to quit."  Fast forward to this week's practice and Ryan participated the entire time.  He came home and proudly announced, "I didn't quit mommy!"

About two weeks ago Ryan received a birthday invitation for a little boy in his Kindergarten class, named James.  After reading the address we realized that James lives on the road next to ours and we can see his house from our house.  We pointed it out to Ryan and each time we drive by his road, Ryan reminds us that is where James lives.  He looks at James's house from our front windows and reminds us every day that we have to go to James's birthday party.  Well, finally the day of the birthday party arrived.  Ryan was so excited and Phil said he had a blast!  It is nice that Ryan made a friend that lives so close. 

Ryan is caring and generous...

Ryan's school had to tear down the lower level playground that was used for the Kindergarten kids during recess.  So now the school is fundraising for a new playground.  The students are doing a walkathon in which they will walk laps during their PE class time.   Ryan's teacher Mrs. Allen explained this fundraiser to the kids and sent home the envelope and information to collect pledges.  Ryan heard me reading the information to Phil and started looking for his wallet.  I had a feeling where this was going and knowing it was an opportunity I could not miss, I immediately grabbed my camera.  Here's what I captured on video:

DC