Week 141

Christmas!  It finally arrived and Ryan could not have been happier.  He was so excited for the day that we had to tell him to not come out of his room until 6:00 AM and he had to come get us first.  Santa does not wrap his big gift and we wanted to catch the look of surprise on their faces when they came down the stairs. The big gift this year was a Nintendo DS.  They have been asking for a DS since the summer and Santa brought them one.  They were both thrilled.

However, with the holidays came lots of non-gluten free food.  It is tough to keep Ryan on a schedule and his diet with the long break.  He cheated a lot on his diet and we paid for it.  His behavior was extremely wild.  As a result of his wildness, his play became very rough.  He almost sent Dawn to the emergency room when he crashed into her knee.  He did not mean to hurt Dawn he was just so wild and rough he hyper- extended her knee.  Dawn ended up spending the majority of the morning on the couch icing her knee.  We also had to be on alert every time Ryan was near Jack.  Ryan just wanted to play with him but his play was so rough we had to be watchful and constantly remind Ryan to calm down.

We took the kids to the dentist this week and Ryan has four cavities.  We were shocked.  Ryan is so diligent at brushing his teeth and his diet is normally very good.  What we came to realize is that a great deal of the GF/CF food is high in sugar.  This is added to make the foods taste better and is something that we were not careful of watching with him.  So now we are being mindful of the sugar intake and also flossing is now recommended to help make sure he does not have any further cavities.

We also had an appointment with Dr. Cowan.  Ryan has not been to him in over a year and the doctor was surprised to see how far Ryan has come in that time.  He made good eye contact with the doctor when he shook his hand to say hello.  When the doctor called him over to the table we were at and it required Ryan to walk away from the train table, he did it without complaint.  Ryan even read for Dr. Cowan.  When the doctor stopped him half way through Ryan asked if he could finish reading the book to us.  Ryan sat down at the table with us and read the rest of the story.  Dr. Cowan was very impressed and was happy with his progress.

One area that Dr. Cowan wants us to focus on is labeling Ryan's emotions when he is having that emotion.  For example, when he is bored, he wants us to tell Ryan that this is what bored feels like and move on.  He feels that we need to help Ryan recognize his own emotions before he will be able to recognize those emotions in others. The other area is to start Ryan on a Phonics reading program.  Ryan is too literal in his letters and does not know the sounds that the letters make, especially when they are put together.  For example, sh.  Ryan reads the s sound and then the h sound.  He does not see them as one sound together.  He is doing much better with his reading but he is a little behind and we are afraid that the gap is only going to get bigger as the years progress.   Overall, it was a very good appointment.

We sometimes forget how far Ryan has come and it is nice to see others recognize that progress.  Through all the struggles that we have had with Ryan over the past three years, we sometimes forget to stop and take a look at how far he has come. One of the biggest reasons for Ryan's success is Dawn.  She has put so much time and effort into helping him that I do not know how she has the energy to keep going.  I know of many people that would have accepted the first neurologist's suggestion and brought their 3 year old to a pediatric psychiatrist to have them put them on medication.  I hope someday Ryan will realize just how much his mom has done for him and how much Dawn loves him.    

Pajama Day

Baking cookies for Santa

Christmas Eve with cousins

Christmas Eve with Nonna and Papa

Up at the crack of Dawn on Christmas morning.  So excited to play with his new DS from Santa!

A visit from Santa on Christmas Day.  He brought gifts for all of the kids, and Jack got his two bottom teeth!

Nonna replaced the ornament that Ryan broke a few weeks back.  He was so happy.

A basketball hoop from Uncle T!

Lots of outdoor play in the snow this week!

Wishing all of you a Happy and Healthy New Year.

PC

Week 140- Trying to Process the Sandy Hook Tragedy

My heart continues to ache for the lives lost in Newtown, CT.  To send your children off to school and not have them return home is beyond my comprehension.  I can't imagine what those parents are going through, and what those kids must have felt.  Being a teacher, having a 6 year old child, and having a child with Autism has this tragedy hitting me on all sorts of levels.  Regarding the Autism, some jumped to conclusions about the shooter and blamed an Autism Spectrum Disorder as the cause for his actions.  This is terrible.  It will send all sorts of wrong messages to others out there that being on the spectrum is related to violent behaviors and careless tendencies.  This isn't the case with my Ryan.  He gets very upset when someone is hurt either physically or emotionally.  And as far as his desire to play "rough", he sometimes does, but no more so than what I see from other kids his age.  And as a teacher I have seen violent tendencies with some children on the spectrum, but also with typical adolescents as well. 

So whom, or what, do we blame for this tragedy?  We have to blame something, correct?  Because if we can blame it on something we then have answers to why this happened, and then we can have closure.  Placing blame absolves any feelings of guilt we may have that we could have prevented this.  It makes us feel better because we can work on fixing what the problem is so that it doesn't happen again.  Placing blame allows us to move forward.  Right?  Wrong!  Especially when society can't agree.  We're quick to blame the shooter's parents.  Political folks, the same ones who spent months before the Presidential election arguing back and forth with their friends on Facebook, are having a field day arguing over gun control issues. There are some who blame ASD (and I don't believe it has been confirmed that the shooter was ever diagnosed with Autism), and others who blame mental illness and have jumped on the healthcare bandwagon.  Others blame the sensationalism of the media.  And others blame lack of school security and training of teachers (some even suggest that teachers be allowed to carry firearms!).  The day that happens will be my last day as a teacher to the public and my first day as a teacher to my own children as I home school them.

While families of the victims struggle to move forward, we as a society do not have answers.  School shootings and violence, including bullying and child suicide, are on the rise.  We didn't have these sort of problems fifty years ago, not to the extent we do today.  Ironic thing is, many of us weren't around fifty years ago, or were just young children at the time.  So where is all of this coming from?  What's the problem?  WE are.  WE are the ones who have created the present day society we live in.  So WE better do something about it, and fast.  Needed are leaders who are serious about making changes.  But that alone is not going to do it.  WE need to do this.  WE need to make this a better world.  WE need to care!  WE need to teach our children that violence is not the answer.  WE need to teach compassion and humanity.  I have been reading about people completing 26 random acts of kindness to honor those lives lost in Sandy Hook Elementary.  That is a wonderful place to start, but I ask myself, "Why does it take a tragedy like this to occur to do a random act of kindness?  Why stop at 26?  And why do you need to announce everything you are doing for recognition?"

I've had a lot of thoughts about all of this building up inside, in spite of the crying I do everyday when I think about what happened and the suffering that continues to happen in this world.  Thank you for "listening" and allowing me an avenue to release.

In the midst of all of this sadness, we captured on video part of a dinner conversation we had on boyfriends/girlfriends, kissing, and getting married.  It gave us a good laugh at the time and continues to do so.  If you could use a good chuckle or need to smile, like I know I have needed, check out this video:  Talking about marriage...

And some happy photos...

Loving his new robe!

Jack is getting so big!

Ryan made a craft in religion class.

Ryan having fun with his new game.

Ryan checking to see if Jack has a tooth yet.  He is certainly drooling a lot!

We are ready for a wonderful holiday season.  Merry Christmas!

DC

Week 139 - RIP little angels

26 candles for the 26 new angels in Heaven... may you rest in peace

Our hearts go out to the families of those who lost their lives in the Sandy Hook Elementary Massacre. As the stories unfold, never have I been more afraid and more proud to be a teacher.

DC

Week 138

Another bus incident.  This time no kids involved, or at least I don't think anyone else was involved.  As is our usual routine, the kids brought me their backpacks and we went through them when they arrived home from school.  Here is what I found in Ryan's bag:

Yes, that is a seat belt buckle from the bus.  Ryan said he found it on the bus.  The next morning I made him return it to the driver.  I don't know any more about how he got the buckle, but he returned it and we left it at that. We need to choose our battles with Ryan, and this seemed so minute compared to other conversations we had to have with him this week about being bossy with other kids at school.  He gets very upset when kids do not do things that he wants them to do.

Speaking of "taking things", the seat belt buckle was not the only thing that made its way home with Ryan this week.  On Thursday I needed to bring Jack to the ENT.  Phil was in class during the appointment time so I had to bring all three kids with me.  Ryan and Julia were being good considering it was a long wait in the office because we were an emergency double booked appointment, and then they had to sit in the doctor's office and watch Jack scream as the doctor performed a nasal endoscopy on him (Ryan covering his ears the whole time, of course).  Ryan and Julia kept asking the doctor if he was going to hurt Jack.  They were very concerned about their brother and wanted to make sure he didn't get any needles.  The doctor was impressed with their maturity and patience, and said that the kids were being so well behaved that they could go in the hallway and choose a prize from the prize box. The nurse met them at the prize box and Ryan asked how many toys they could pick.  She told them one each, and they returned back to the room...Ryan with a toy car and Julia with a slinky.  Later on that night when the kids were putting on their pajamas, Ryan pulls out two more cars from his pants pocket.  He had taken three items and hid the other two from everyone. Phil and I were mortified and really laid it on thick about how that was stealing and wrong.  Had it not been past their bedtime and we didn't live 25 minutes from the doctor's office I would have had him bring all three cars back that night.  We took them away from him and told him that next time he will be bringing them all back and apologizing for what he did.  Ryan is such a rule follower.  I was so surprised that after the nurse told him one prize that he continued to take more than one.  This coming from the boy who just a little while before that scolded a patient sitting in the waiting room for eating snacks when there was a sign on the wall, clear as day, saying no food or drinks in the waiting room.  After we spoke with him it seemed like he was truly sorry for what he did.

On Friday night the kids' school held a Penny Social.  All week there must have been announcements at school because Ryan would come home every day talking about how we have to bring money with us to buy tickets to win prizes at the Penny Social.  And everyday I would tell Ryan that he has gymnastics Friday night and we would not be going to the Penny Social.  It was as if we were trapped in the movie Rain Man all week.  He kept harping on it over and over and over.  Remember in Rain Man when The People's Court was about to begin and Ray was trapped in a car and they had to pull over to a stranger's house to watch the episode?  Ryan came home from school on Friday and when we began to get ready for gymnastics and not the Penny Social, all hell broke loose.  Want to guess who went to the Penny Social after gymnastics??? 

Now on to the good stuff... Ryan and Phil went out and bought a tree today.  Ryan was so excited.  Phil and I didn't really want to go through the trouble of getting another tree (we already have an artificial one up in our family room).  I knew Ryan was looking forward to decorating it, so I posed a question to him and let him decide.  I asked him if he wanted to play video games or do the tree.  He chose the tree.  For him to pass up an opportunity to play a video game solidified to us how important the tree was to him.  And afterwards, we were glad we did it.  (I'm sure if you ask me when it is time to take it down, we may change our minds!)

Jack in front of his first real Christmas tree!

Ryan helping to hang the first ornament on the tree.

Ryan after hanging his Autism puzzle piece ornament.

Unfortunately that smile was short-lived.  Soon after he dropped one of the ornaments and it shattered into a thousand pieces.  It was an ornament that my mom had bought for Phil and I for our first Christmas.  On it was an Irish prayer and it went with one that had an Italian prayer on it.  Ryan grabbed both of them, in an attempt to keep them away from Julia and put both of them up himself, and while trying to hang one he dropped the other.  He immediately began to cry.  He said he was going to miss the ornament.  After some coaxing we got him to join us in hanging ornaments again, and of course he blamed Julia for him dropping the ornament.  But the rest of the decorating went smoothly and another memory was made.

DC

Week 137

Getting into the Christmas spirit...

I asked the kids what we should buy daddy for Christmas, and here are the responses I got:
Ryan: "How about some good children." (Pretty clever answer and funny!)
Julia: "Medicine in case he gets sick." (In case you forgot, Phil spent Christmas and several days in January in the hospital last year because of kidney stones, so this is also a clever answer!)

Even with Andy, our Elf on the Shelf, visiting us daily, the kids are having a difficult time behaving themselves.  They are in constant competition and get disappointed if they don't get to do something first, especially when it involves Jack.  They actually fight with each other about who Jack should be sitting closer to.  While it is sweet that they want to be near their brother, rather than get physical with each other if they stopped a minute to think about it, they can put Jack in the middle and both be happy.  And that would make Jack super happy.  There have also been some issues with Ryan at school.  After two "Outstanding" days at school last week, this past week we received a note home from Ryan's teacher about his behavior at lunch.  He is arguing with another boy about who gets to sit near a boy in their class.  Seriously such petty stuff.  Ryan gets upset when he doesn't get his way, and when he does, he tends to show off and hurt others' feelings. We had a long talk with him about this during the week after we received the note, and also over the weekend several times when he had mini meltdowns at the two birthday parties we went to.

In the midst of difficult behavior, we had some great moments too.  Here are some pictures of the kids in front of the Barbie ornament tree in our family room.  We spent an hour hanging out together, listening to music, dancing, and playing.  And we did a lot of laughing. It was really nice to put everything else aside and spend some quality time together. 

Three smiles!

This is what I got when I asked them what face they would make if they got coal in their stocking.  I posted this on Facebook and it was a big hit.  Lots of people are saying we should use this as our Christmas card picture, but we've had ours printed a few weeks ago.

Wrestling with daddy.

Ryan posing with Mickey Mouse at a birthday party over the weekend.

Ryan received an early Christmas present from my aunt in Virginia.  It is a bank that registers the amount of money when coins are dropped in it.  Ryan loved it and carried it around with him at the birthday party.  Guests kept giving him coins to put in it.  He came home with about $9 in change.

Ryan still holding the coin jar!  He walked around with it most of the night.

There was a clown at the birthday party we went to on Saturday and he had volunteers go up and try to do the hula hoop.  Ryan was eager to try, which surprised us.  There were over 50 people there and he wasn't hesitant at all to get up and try.  We were so proud of him and everyone clapped for him for trying.  Here's the video of his attempt; you can tell he was having so much fun:  Ryan Hula Hoop


Ryan did a good job at both parties sticking to his diet.  He wasn't perfect, but he was having so much fun playing that it didn't seem to bother him.  One of the things he cheated with was tasting eggplant parmigiana.  When going through the buffet line he insisted that he liked it.  It is not something he is supposed to have but Phil figured he would let him try it.  He got back to the table and tried it.  Needless to say it was the only thing left on his plate at the end of the night.  But kudos for trying something new!  

A friend of mine posted this article on Facebook and I found it interesting.  It's called "7 Things You Don't Know About A Special Needs Parent".  Here's the link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maria-lin/special-needs-parenting_b_1314348.html?utm_hp_ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false
 
The kids, especially Julia, love to dance.  And when they start, Jack wants to join in.  Here's a video of them dancing to one of their favorite songs:  Dancing to Gangnam Style

I forgot to mention this last week so I will share now.  One morning when the bus pulled up Ryan said that the number was different.  And indeed it was.  The bus looked exactly the same but the number was one digit off.  He got on the bus and said something to the bus driver and he replied that they had given him a new bus that morning.  Each morning since then Ryan comments about how the bus number is different.  I sometimes forget how observant Ryan is and what a good memory he has.

DC

Week 136

Thanksgiving.

This was another good week for Ryan.  Actually, it was an Outstanding Week for Ryan.  He only had school on Monday and Tuesday and for both days he came home with Outstanding certificates.  We could not have been happier with Ryan at school and I am glad to see that his teachers recognize his effort.

On Wednesday we had Aunt Anne, Uncle Chris, Megan, and Kate come in from Pittsburgh, PA as well as Grandma.  We are not going to see the Pittsburgh crew for Christmas so we exchanged presents on this trip.  One of the presents Ryan received was a small Cars Lego set.  He sat down and put the entire set together with very little help.  He sat down at the kitchen table and followed the directions.  He did a great job putting the set together.

On Thanksgiving day, we packed up and went to Nonna and Papa's house.  All the cousins had a great time playing together.  Ryan even participated in a small performance for all the adults in his Thanksgiving hat.

On Saturday, we had a baby shower to attend at Aunt Marg and Uncle Jim's house.  Phil's cousin is pregnant and instead of a traditional baby shower they decided to make it an after Thanksgiving family gathering.   Our only reservation about going to the party was the dogs.  They have two dogs.  Aunt Marg texted Dawn pictures of the dogs and we had been preparing Ryan for them.  For those that have forgotten, Ryan is afraid of dogs and wants to know when we go to a new house if they have a dog.  Aunt Marg and Uncle Jim kept the dogs outside and Ryan even ventured outside to throw the dog toys to the dogs.  Granted, he stayed behind the invisible fence so the dogs could not get to him but he did have fun throwing the toys to the dogs.  They also had a room set aside for all the kids to play in and both Ryan and Julia spent most of the time in this room playing.  During this party we learned that Ryan has a new skill.  He learned how to open a soda can and when he was finished he crushed it with one hand!  He told me that when you finish a can you had to crush it!  When I asked him where he learned that from he told me TV.  Not to be left out, Ryan shared his new found knowledge with his sister who was very happy to learn how to open a soda can.

Jack turned four months this week!

On Sunday, we decided to get a jump on decorating for the Christmas season.  The kids were very excited to help decorate the Barbie tree.  Dawn has been collecting Barbie ornaments for years and now has enough to fill a whole tree.  We also welcomed back our Elf on the Shelf, Andy (named after Andy from Toy Story).  We have caught Ryan going up and talking to Andy quietly about what he wants for Christmas.  It is very cute.  They are all very excited for the Christmas season!

PC

Week 135- Our Little Volunteer

This was another busy week for Ryan.  On Thursday we had his teacher conference to go over his first report card.  His teachers had really great things to say about him and his love of learning.  They said that he is always excited to learn and always ready to speak in class.  What they did not mention was the comment that they placed on his report card...he has difficulty handling conflict.  This is something that we worry about him at home.  He has a difficult time understanding that not everyone is going to listen to him and follow his instructions.  This was demonstrated this week with yet another bus incident.  Another boy was talking about guns on the bus.  Ryan told him to stop talking about it and the other boy refused.  They got into an argument and Ryan slapped the other boy across the face.  The bus driver did not see the incident but another boy and Julia saw what happened and they told us.  We made him apologize the next day and we never heard anything about the incident again.  But this is something that we have to be mindful as he gets older.  The only other area of concern that they pointed out was his reading. His reading level is below grade level.  However, they showed us that it is just below where he needs to be so we are not worried.  He went from a non-reader last year to someone that loves to read.  At the end of the conference they gave us his first unit test in Social Studies and he got a 100%.  Overall we are pleased and he has made great progress with the full day of first grade.  His teachers are great and really seem to understand Ryan.

On Friday I was able to witness how far Ryan has come in his gymnastics.  The owner of the gym was working with a small group from his class on the high balance beam.  Ryan was able to climb up, balance himself on the bar and attempt to catch a ball and throw it back to owner.  It took him a few tries to keep his balance but he did not give up.  After three tries, he was able to complete the task several times until the owner told him to get down and let someone else give it a try.  The old Ryan would have had a difficult time getting up on the beam, balancing, and would have given up after the first fall.  He did a great job and really seems to enjoy the experience.

This past Saturday was a very busy day.  After his religion class he had his last soccer game of the fall.  While he did not score any goals this season he did a nice job playing the game.  He is still a little afraid of the ball when it is kicked hard at him but he is getting better.  I am not sure if he is going to stick with the sport.  The level of competition is getting more competitive and they are just passing him by on the field.  He loves being part of the team and he has a lot of fun with the other kids on the team.  We will have to wait and see what happens during the spring season.

We also kept busy this week with the collecting and sorting of the back packs. Below are some pictures of the event. Dawn and her friend Donna, with the help and support of family, friends, and Mahopac students, collected 140 backpacks for the victims of Hurricane Sandy.  Ryan had a lot of fun helping with the week's events.  They even started to call the front room the "donation room".   And when Ryan saw Dawn and Donna counting money donations to purchase supplies he took out his wallet and handed them $7 and some coins.  Such a generous, caring boy!

Helping to sort the back packs

The finished product

The cousins enjoying time together on one of the half days of school this week!  

Helping unload the back packs at the Belle Harbor Yacht Club

Having fun with his cousin Frankie

It was a good week and we count our blessings with Ryan.  He was so excited to help with the donations and was a big hit with some of the ladies at the Belle Harbor Yacht Club.  He has come such a long way and we are all extremely proud of his progress.

PC

Week 134

With this being Veteran's Day and schools closed tomorrow, today didn't feel like a Sunday.  Here it is after 10 pm and I realized I didn't post a blog entry today.

Here is my sweet boy proudly displaying his first religious education test.  He scored a 95.  He explained to us that he only got one "x" and it was for question #17.  He didn't answer the question.  It was a unit test covering 7 chapters in his textbook.  We studied a half an hour the night before and another half an hour the morning of the test.  He was patient and willing to put in the time.  And his hard work paid off!  We made a big deal about the test and praised him for his hard work.

The kids had off from school on Election Day, and we had a great time playing together.  Here is a video of the dance party we had.  Jack was thrilled to sit on my lap and watch his brother and sister dance around.  Sometimes it is the silliest things that bring the biggest smiles :)

Dance Party

I hope you had a good laugh watching them.  I watched this video over and over again; it is hysterical! I can't get over what a ham Ryan is and how sophisticated Julia is.

Update on Julia... She continues to dance and sing during any free moment she has.  Ballet, Irish Step Dancing, free style, tap, she does it all!

Here's a video of her practicing her Irish Step Dancing.  Irish Step Dancing

Also, Julia scored a hat trick in last weekend's soccer game and did the same in yesterday's soccer game.  Ryan seems totally fine hearing praises to Julia for her excellent work on the soccer field.  I think if it was last year, he would have been upset because he wasn't scoring goals.  But this year he is not jealous of his sister and he isn't upset that he isn't scoring goals.  He is a better defensive player and he seems to accept that there are some players on the field that are there to score the goals and some that are there to prevent the other team from scoring goals.  We're so proud of him!

And an update on Baby Jack... We think he is teething.  He had a rough few days this week but seemed to be handling things better this weekend.  Jack loves to watch Ryan and Julia and is intrigued with the world around him.  He is three and half months old and about 16 pounds already.  I'm really enjoying my time home with him and sad that it is going by so fast.  When I sit and play with him, his smiles and giggles melt my heart!

We've been involved this week with a collection for the children impacted by Hurricane Sandy.  I'm collecting backpacks with supplies for the children in some of the hard hit areas.  So many friends and family members have been donating brand new backpacks filled with school supplies and other items.  We're hoping to collect 100 backpacks and are close to our goal.  I will post a picture next week of all of the backpacks before we deliver them.  We turned one of the rooms in our house into the "backpack" room and Ryan and Julia have been helping me organize supplies.

Within only 2 days of spreading the word about the collection, we received a dozen backpacks! We now have over 30 and are expecting about 60 more, most of those coming from a collection done at Mahopac Middle School.

It is nice to know that there are so many generous and caring people in our lives!  I'm proud to have so much support and that we can do something nice for those kids.  And I'm so glad I can involve my own children in this learning experience called humanity.

DC

Week 133- Hurricane Sandy and Halloween

Week 133

This has been a trying week with Hurricane Sandy.  We lost power around 9:30 PM on Monday night and did not get it back until around 8:00 PM on Wednesday evening.  We were extremely lucky that we only lost power considering all the damage that the hurricane did to the tri-state area.  We are also lucky that Uncle T and Auntie B had power and were willing to take us in for the two days.  It would have been extremely difficult to have Jack in a house without any power and water.  Ryan handled the situation extremely well.  Both he and Julia were excited to have a sleep over on a school night.  They were also excited to take the school bus with their cousins.  He did a nice job with all the changes.  What was very cute was when we returned to our regular bus, Ryan hugged the bus driver.  The driver took it in stride, patted Ryan's shoulder, and had him take a seat.  But this is something that we will have to work on with him.  While it is cute now, in a few years this will not be socially acceptable  and he may not understand why this is not okay.

Halloween!
This was a very exciting Halloween for the kids.  They were able to go Trick-or-Treating with their cousins in their development.  We usually hit about 5 to 10 homes in our development and then call it a night.  In their cousins' development, we hit 10 homes in five minutes.  Ryan had a great time but wanted to talk to everyone.  This included people as they were trying to give out the candy, people walking through the development, and the people coming to the door.  He had to know what people were dressed as when they came to the door.  He was also obsessed with winning a contest at school.  A local dentist offers to throw a party for the classroom that turns in the most Halloween candy.  Ryan insisted that he turn in as many bags of candy as possible.  On Friday afternoon, he came off the bus all disappointed that his classroom did not win the contest.  He handled it well but he was still disappointed all weekend.

A Pirate and Merida, the Princess from Brave.

Jack's First Halloween!  

Jack loves laughing at Ryan and Julia.  Ryan also loves making Jack laugh.  Below are some pictures of the two of them laughing at each other.

Dawn found a found GF biscuit mix at Walmart and Ryan loves them.  She caught him stuffing a whole biscuit in his mouth!

A difficult week but Ryan made it through with few difficulties.  We just have to focus on teaching Ryan to read and understand social cues.  Like we have stated earlier, these are cute now but soon they are going to be socially unacceptable and we are not sure Ryan will understand why.

PC