Happy 8th Birthday Ryan!

Another birthday has passed and I can't believe my "baby" is 8 years old already!  Where has the time gone?

With our new shirts on May 12th, the morning of Ryan's birthday!

Mahopac Middle School

Take notice of Ryan's hand.  He was very possessive of his cake this year.  He didn't want Julia anywhere near it when it was time to blow out the candle.  By the way, the cake on our left is a GF chocolate chip cookie cake made by Carol, and the cake with the Darth Vader candle is a GF cake from The Pastry Garden.  Both were extremely tasty! 

717 pieces!

Before bed Ryan studied the box of his new Lego set.  He eagerly asked if he could head to bed to start his drawings now that he has lots of details in his mind.

This is where I found Ryan at 5:30 a.m. this morning. Determined to build his new Lego set without our help.  

He spent about 4 hours on it today (2 hours before school and 2 hours after school) and he is a little over half way done.
It is coming out great!

Some old pictures to look at.  No, this isn't Jack, it is Ryan!  He was 18 months in this picture.

And he was three and a half years old in this picture:

And how about this video of Ryan receiving one of his B12 injections.  It feels like a lifetime ago that we needed to do this.  It brought me to tears watching this video and reliving flashbacks of the months and months of struggling we went through to get Ryan to this point getting his injection. Ryan has come so far!

Since I didn't post for Mother's Day I want to share one of the gifts Ryan made me.  It is a letter that I will treasure forever!

My four beauties!  How did I get so lucky???

Last, but not least, thank you to everyone who reached out to Ryan for his birthday.  I passed along all of the messages and showed him the pictures of people wearing their Ryan Express shirt.  The Autism Speaks walk is coming up on June 1st.  We hope you can join us!  If you would like to join our team or make a donation, please follow the link below.
The Ryan Express team page

DC

Week 163- Autism Speaks Walk

Today we braved the 90 degree sweltering weather to walk for Autism.  We had some of our "regulars" with us and even some "newbies" and despite the heat it was a nice day.  Thank you to everyone who came out to support Ryan, our family, and all those with Autism!

Ryan was very excited to participate but he did something this year that he hasn't done in the past.  He walked in front of the sign the entire way and argued with anyone on our team (especially Julia) who wanted to walk next to him.  He wanted everyone to walk behind him.

I did not set up a link for our team online this year like I have done in the past.  I just never got around to it.  I took the donations I had received to the walk which totaled over $800.  Thank you to everyone who donated!  I know there are a few more people who contacted us about making a donation.  You can mail us or give us a check made out to Autism Speaks and next week we will send it all in together for our team to be combined with the donations handed in today from our team.

Here are some pictures from today's walk...

Our 2013 walk team

Ryan and Julia getting ready for the walk.

Ryan poses with the Forgione ladies.

cousins

Unfortunately we were missing a key component to our team today.  Phil could not make it to the walk. Jack has been sick all week with high temperatures.  When his fever broke he developed the Roseola rash.  The heat and sun irritate the rash, so Jack needed to stay indoors this weekend and Phil stayed with him.  Jack has had a very uncomfortable week from whatever virus was in his body and was irritable most of the time, but we did manage to get a few smiles out of him.  

Jack put on his hat to pose for the camera!

Quick update on Ryan's appointments: he met with the psychiatrist this week and there has been another adjustment with his medication.  We are taking him off of the Fluoxetine (Prozac) in the evenings, and doing a trial of a double dose of the Focalin each day.  He will take one dose before we bring him to daycare and a second dose at school around lunch time.  The nurse will have to administer it.  The hope is that the second dose will kick in when the first dose has worn out and he will have better afternoons at school and at home.  The second dose should wear off in time for him to relax and go to bed on time. We'll see how this new regimen works out this week.  

DC

Week 162- Happy Birthday Phil!

Happy Birthday to Phil!  I feel super lucky to have met such a wonderful man who supports me and the kids with everything we do.  We didn't have any spectacular plans for his special day (I'm not sure anything could have topped his surprise 40th bash last year) but we spent the weekend together upstate at my parents' house and it was somewhat relaxing.

An early birthday celebration for Phil.

Papa taught the kids how to play Poker.  They caught on quick, especially Ryan.  Julia lost interest after a little while, but Ryan became obsessed and loved the betting part the most.  There were times where he became agitated when he lost a hand, but for the most part, he had a lot of fun playing during the rainy weekend.

Out to dinner for daddy's birthday!

Ryan had a lot of ups and downs with his behavior this week.  He continues to have difficulty with his sudden change of emotions and outbursts, but during the hours he is on the Focalin there is certainly an improvement.  There is still a lot of tattling going on at school, and during the week his special education teacher wrote us an update that he cried during P.E. class after each relay race that he lost.  We meet again at the end of the week with the psychiatrist to discuss the medication, and Ryan also goes for his annual check up this week with the pediatrician.

This is the busy time of the year with school and Phil is out several nights this month and next for events at work.  I was fortunate enough to have some help last week from a friend who came to spend time with the kids and help me with the afternoon and evening routine.  All three kids enjoyed her company and Ryan was on his best behavior, except for some resistance with reading a book for his homework.  After she left I was thinking how helpful her presence was and it reminded me that we are still waiting to hear back from OPWDD to see if Ryan is eligible for respite services.

This Sunday, June 2nd, is the Autism Speaks Walk in White Plains.  We are walking as The Ryan Express team.  Registration begins at 9 am, Opening Ceremonies is at 10, and the walk begins at 11.  Please let us know if you are able to meet up and join us!

DC

Week 161

We ended last week with uncertainty about the new medicine, Focalin, that Ryan began.  But I guess it just took a couple of days for his body to adjust.  He had a great week at school and when Dr. Hahn returned our call he suggested we keep him on it and see how he finished out the week with it.  It really is like clockwork.  Approximately an hour after taking the medicine it kicks in, and about 7-8 hours later it wears off and Ryan is as wild and unpredictable as ever.  We're happy to hear about the progress Ryan is making during those 7-8 hours. 

Here are some excerpts we received in Ryan's communication notebook this week from his special education teacher:

"Ryan got right to work this morning on his morning work.  He was one of the first ones done.  His writing about whales was very well done.  He applied something I taught and reviewed with the class yesterday.  New medicine must be working!"

"Good focusing again today, but a lot of tattling."

"Good day.  Got right to work this morning again."

"Got right to work.  Does not talk with peers at the table, but does talk to me a lot.  Today's morning work was a bit challenging, but the great news is he didn't complain once.  He had a worksheet to add three numbers.  Second, he had to write about a new sea animal we have learned about.  He only could write two sentences.  I had another student give him a book to help him and he sat right down and started to read without complaining.  In the past, he would refuse to read and write more. So happy to see this change."

While it is great to hear these positive comments, it is difficult to come to terms with the fact that we have Ryan on two different medications.  For years we have tried just about every alternative from the GFCF diet, to special doctors, to supplements, to different therapies, all to avoid medication.  We always saw that as a last resort.  This medicine ordeal is certainly more of an art than a science and it may take a long time to find the perfect mix.  

This year's Autism Walk in Westchester is on Sunday, June 2nd, with registration beginning at 9 a.m. and the walk beginning about 11 a.m., at the NY-Presbyterian Hospital in White Plains.  If you can join us please let us know and we will give you more information.  

Here are some pictures from this week:

Ryan showing off his art work at the Art Festival.

Caught them watching TV together.  What a pleasant surprise!

Happy 10 months Jack!

DC

Week 101

Some reminders about upcoming events: April is Autism Awareness month.  And April 2nd is World Autism Awareness Day.  In honor of this event, many buildings around the globe will light their buildings up blue on the evening of April 1st.  We'll certainly be lighting up our house blue!  Don't forget to do the same (they actually sell "Autism Speaks" blue light bulbs!) and on Monday, April 2nd, wear blue!  Also, we will again be participating in this year's Autism Speaks walk in White Plains on Sunday, June 3rd.  We're in the process of setting up our page to sign up to join our team or make a donation.  More information to follow about that.  But in the meantime, if you are interested in walking, please let me know so that I can keep you updated.  And we are also in the process of ordering additional Ryan Express shirts since last year's supply is just about depleted.  So if you would like to order one, please let us know. 

Happy Anniversary (a week early) Nonna and Papa!

 With all of this recent warm weather, Ryan and Julia have been enjoying themselves outside whether playing with each other, or with friends.  Unfortunately one evening we found a tick embedded in Ryan's scalp and he was extremely upset as Phil removed it.  He said he wasn't going to go outside anymore but thankfully that wasn't the case the rest of the week.

We went for our check up with the specialist and we will have to return in 4 weeks again.  Although the spots on the baby's heart increase the risk of a down syndrome baby, overall the risk was still on the low side and we didn't feel it was necessary to accept their offer to perform an amnio.  The doctor also discovered some bright spots on the bowels that they will continue to monitor.  Here is an updated ultrasound photo:

One of Ryan's homework assignments this week was to write two sentences, then draw a picture related to those sentences.  He fought me a bit to do the assignment but once he did, Ryan did a great job.

His sentences say: I was in bed.  I was dreaming about my tooth.

Ryan drew himself in bed, with a thought cloud above his head.  He is dreaming about the tooth fairy (in pink) handing him many different denominations of money.  Underneath himself and the money (it is difficult to read in the picture) he wrote "momy love".  I asked him what that said and he said, "mommy loves me".

He can be so creative and it is so amazing to sit there and watch him write and draw.  Once he gets into concentration mode he stays focused on the task at hand.  I am so proud of him!

DC

Week 57

Last Sunday we brought the kids to Guy and Elaine's wedding.  This was the first wedding that the kids have been to and we decided that we were not going to bring the kids to the church.  The kids spent the time at Dawn's cousin, Donna's house with her two boys.  They were at Ryan's birthday party the day before and they all had a great time.  Ryan is going to be in a wedding in October so we thought we should give this wedding a try as a practice.  We called the place ahead of time to find out the food options and there were a few things that he could eat but most of the items he could not.  We did let him cheat a little but we tried keeping an eye of what he ate and we did bring his cupcakes for dessert.  The place was very accommodating and we only had one issue.  When dinner finally came out they put a plate of fried chicken nuggets and french fries on his plate.  This was not what we had worked out with the chef and our waiter.  However, the young kid that was helping out did not realize this and just put a regular kids meal in front of Ryan.  It was already so late at night and we told Ryan that his dinner was coming.  But then we had to take it away.  He just threw himself on the floor and it took a few minutes for him to get out of it.  We had to joke with Ryan by telling him that we were going to eat his new meal and that got him up and into his seat.  

He had a great time at the wedding with all of the dancing and loud music.  They had a mini-smoke machine, laser-lights, and several flat screen televisions.  We thought that it was going to be too much for him but we were wrong.  He loved it!  He was dancing with his sister and cousins and with another little boy that has autism as well.  The kids kept dancing all night and they were usually the last ones on the dance floor each time they cleared it to serve food.  They all had a good time but it was a very late night.  We did not get home until almost midnight and Ryan fell asleep almost immediately in the car.  Below are some pictures and videos of the event.

Alyssa, Ryan, Amelia, and Julia with Nonna

Having fun at the cocktail hour.

Looking sharp with Uncle T!

Pictures of Amelia and Ryan

Trying the salad!

Dancing with Amelia

Having fun on the dance floor

Instead of a wedding favor the bride and groom make a donation to Autism Speaks.

A few videos of the kids dancing! 

We also decided that we needed to finally bring the kids to the dentist. We took them on Tuesday and they did a really good job.  We took them to my dentist and the hygienist did a great job with Ryan.  She let him look and touch everything first before she tried to clean his teeth.  He was a little hesitant at first but he watched Julia go first.  He was not too crazy about the chair going all the way back but the hygienist was able to get most of the cleaning done.  The place was not a pediatric dentist office but they really made the kids feel very comfortable.  They were calm and patient with Ryan and let him stand up so they could finish cleaning his teeth. I have heard of places asking the parents to hold their children down so they could clean their teeth but not here.  They scheduled 30 minute appointments for the both of them and we were done in about 40 minutes total.  We did not feel rushed or pressured to hold him down.  Even the dentist let the kids stand up as he examined their teeth.  They allowed the kids to select a prize out of the treasure chest and they gave the kids balloons.  A great first experience with the dentist for Ryan and Julia. 

We were not sure if the birthday party/wedding weekend took too much out of Ryan but his behavior was very off this week.  He had difficulty at school and we got several bad reports from his teachers.  Ms. Sue also had to call Dawn after Ryan was having a 30 minute meltdown.  We had stopped the red medicine injections a few weeks ago but we decided this week to start them back up again to see if it helps.

He also got another gift in the mail, this one from Aunt Anne, and here is a video of him trying it out. 

This Tuesday we have Ryan's Annual Review with Wappingers CSD and they are already starting to give us problems.  They called us this Friday afternoon and they dropped a few bomb shells on us. We were under the impression that they had a full day integrated program like he is in now at our elementary school.  However, they told us that this program is only half day and at a different elementary school in another part of the district.  We hope that this will all work out but they are trying to tell us that they will be able to service all of Ryan's needs in a 12:1:1 half day program and they will be taking away his speech services.  We don't know yet about O/T and the counseling portions; I guess we'll have to wait to hear what they say on Tuesday.  He is in a 6:1:1 full day program now receiving speech, O/T, and group counseling.  We will tell you more next week.  I can now understand why my special education parents are crazed by the time they get to the high school level.  We have only been dealing with the system for a short time and we are already crazed!   


Do not forget that The Autism Speaks walk is Sunday, June 5th in White Plains.  Click this link to join our team or make a donation.   
The Ryan Express Team Page

PC

Week 53

Spring Break Week!  Lots to share, so here it goes...

Let's start off with a video of Ryan and Julia dancing on a rainy spring break day.  While Ryan provides a good chuckle as he barks to "Who Let the Dogs Out?", it is difficult to ignore Julia's dance moves!

Phil's mom came over for lunch this week and we showed her the videos of the kids dancing.  They then felt the need to get back into their "dancing costumes" to show grandma.  Here's a picture of the kids being silly with grandma.

For over a month the boxes from Geneva Diagnostics Labs have been sitting in our dining room.  It is time for Ryan to get more blood work done before his next appointment with Dr. Bock in May.  We waited until this week because we're all home from school and it is the best opportunity to get him to St. Francis Hospital first thing in the morning to get the blood drawn.  He has to fast for 12 hours beforehand so Phil got him up early on Wednesday morning and drove him over to the hospital.  And of course insurance doesn't cover any of these tests.

 I get a knot in my stomach every time I look at those boxes.  I am so thankful that Phil took him because I was a wreck thinking about it and I know it would have been difficult for me to take him and put him through that.  And if he needed to be restrained he has become too strong for me to do it.  The doctor ordered level checks for certain things but not everything like last time but they still needed to draw about 15 vials of blood.  It was overwhelming to go through the boxes to complete the paperwork and prep the ice packs and vials, but the worst part was thinking of Ryan going through it.  Ryan and Phil were gone for over 2 hours.  Ryan needed to be restrained a bit and they were just able to get through the last vial before they needed to stop because Ryan was starting to turn pale.  That is a lot of blood for a little kid in one sitting!  Thank goodness he doesn't need to go back and they got it all done.  I made him a special pancake and bacon breakfast for him upon his return.  I was so proud of him!

Ryan showing me his boo boo.

Here is a video of Ryan eating his special breakfast:

We've established our team, The Ryan Express, for the Autism Speaks Walk in June. We hope to get a great turn out of walkers like last year.  The walk takes place on Sunday, June 5th at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital in White Plains.  Registration begins at 9am and the walk begins at 11am.   Please click this link to join our team.  The Ryan Express Team Page.  And don't forget to let me know if you need a t-shirt!

After our recent posted picture of Ryan's skin I heard from a colleague at work about a product called almond oil.  She suggested we try it and we purchased it at Nature's Pantry that week.  We've been rubbing it on Ryan's legs every other night after his bath.  His skin is noticeably smoother.  The rash still remains but it seems more contained and it is a different kind of rash.  It is not so puffy; it's more like red scabs and pimples. He still scratches which is causing the scabs, but I'm going to increase the frequency of applying the oil and see if that helps.  We're hoping to post a new and improved picture within a couple of weeks!

Ryan's B-12 injections, aka "red medicine", is going fairly well.  He still stalls a bit, but we no longer need to put the cream on first, which saves a lot of time.  In order to get it done without too much stalling we play a game with him.  If I'm giving him the injection I secretly tell him that we have to go in the other room and do it quickly so we can surprise daddy.  He likes to surprise us and show us the used syringe, and we in turn get all excited and give him hugs.  He becomes very proud of his accomplishment.  I'll have to get it on video one day because it really is so cute!  But I did get a video one night of him talking about his red medicine and cream.

A note about Ryan's diet... he ate tuna fish and liked it!  With all of the negativity going around about the mercury in fish this isn't something we would feed him all of the time, but it was nice to be able to give him something different.  And I happened to have a GFCF and egg free condiment similar to mayonnaise, called Vegenaise, that I mixed with the tuna. 

This week we watched an HBO Documentary called A Mother's Courage: Talking back to Autism.  I had missed it the last time it was on in the fall but once I heard the date it was airing this spring we set our DVR to record it.  It was an amazing story and if you ever see it scheduled on HBO you should view it.  Or we saved it on our DVR, so come on over!  This documentary was touching, enlightening, and educational.  There are so many things I can share about it, but I won't and hope that you see it yourself one day!  I'll simply say that we feel so blessed that Ryan is able to communicate with us.  I highly recommend families with Autistic children watch this documentary.  Here's a sneak peak:  View the Trailer
Ironically, Phil came across a video this week about an Autistic girl named Carly and it reminds me of the above mentioned documentary.  This is a 9 minute video, but well worth watching the entire thing.  It is so inspiring for families with nonverbal children!  Carly's Voice

One night Ryan started talking to me about bringing in pennies in to school because Ms. Rose (one of his teachers at PARC) said they needed to fill the whole jar with pennies.  I vaguely remember reading about a collection for Japan in one of the newsletters and forgot to send Ryan in with some coins.  Here is Ryan talking about the collection.  The next day Ryan brought in a bag of coins to add to the jar at school.

We're off to search for some hidden plastic eggs.  We'll post some egg hunt pictures next week!  Happy Easter!
DC

Week 51

This weekend Ryan attended my school's musical production of Beauty and the Beast.  He remained attentive during the show and enjoyed it.  He said that his favorite part was when the beast was fighting with the prince (Gaston) and when Belle and the Beast danced.  He seemed overwhelmed before and after the show while in the auditorium with so many people.  I tried introducing him to a few people but he wouldn't speak with anyone and would barely make eye contact.

Ryan's behavior at school this week was fairly good after a rough start on Monday.  His teacher called Phil in the afternoon to tell them about an incident at school.  Ryan was having a tough time listening and following directions for a good part of the day.  And then during afternoon snack Ryan was shoving several pretzels at a time into his mouth.  When his teacher asked him to stop he told her that she can't tell him how to eat and he was going to call the police on her and they would bring her to jail.  Needless to say we had a lengthy conversation with Ryan that evening.  I warned Ryan that he wouldn't be getting the Sodor Suspension Bridge for his birthday if he doesn't get good reports at school.  Ryan has been talking about this particular bridge for many months now and he would love to add it to his Thomas the Train collection.  My brother agreed to purchase it for him for his birthday and Ryan promised him that he would get good reports at school.  Ryan and I spoke about what he will need to do to make sure he gets a good report each day.  I was pleasantly surprised to hear Ryan come up with the following rules: Speak nicely to teachers.  Play nicely with friends.  Eat one pretzel at a time.  No cheating during games.  I asked Ryan to add "Help clean up" to the list.  While impressed that Ryan was able to recognize and communicate with us about appropriate behavior, displaying that appropriate behavior on a consistent basis is another story. 


Ryan can also display a funny side.  I want to share this exchange I recently had with him...


Ryan takes fake money out of his wallet, shows it to me, and starts the following conversation...
Ryan: I have $50.
Me: Where did you get $50 from?
Ryan: The $50 store!

On another note, Ryan's skin has settled down a bit.  It isn't as red and rashy as it has been recently, but it is still rough rather than smooth.  We were given a suggestion to try something on his skin called Almond Oil.  Phil purchased it this weekend at Nature's Pantry and we are going to try it on a small part of his body after this evening's bath.  

It's been nice dealing with Ryan's hair all week now that he has had a haircut.  It is more manageable and he liked the attention he received all week about his new haircut and his visit to the barber shop.

Save the date... Sunday, June 5th is the Autism Speaks walk.  We will be officially signing up our team online this week and we will share the link so that people can join the team or make a donation.  


Have a good week everyone!


DC

Week 50

On Friday, April 1st we changed our white lightbulbs at our front door to blue. 

Phil was able to purchase blue light bulbs that actually came in an Autism Speaks Light it Up Blue package. I had never seen these before.

As the night of the Light It Up Blue campaign approached, I saw a commercial sponsored by Autism Speaks.  It's a public service announcement about Autism hitting closer and closer to home.  Here's the link:
Public Service Announcement

While prominent building across the world participated in this campaign, I am sad to report that the White House was not one of them.  Please read this letter below written by a mom of an autistic child.  It is well written and it triggered people from all over to gather on Pennsylvania Avenue with signs, but to no avail. 
Letter to the President

Ryan received good reports most of the week.  He was excited for us to read his report in his notebook on the good days and that would be the first thing he mentioned to us when we picked him up from Noah's Ark.  On the bad days, he ignored the subject altogether.  We experienced some of his rough behavior towards the end of the week and the weekend.  He became stubborn several times and did a lot of arguing with us and Julia.  But he also had some good moments and was loving with Julia and his cousin, Amelia. 

To get an idea of how big Ryan actually is, Amelia, in the center, is almost 2 years older than Ryan.

My brother made Ryan a deal that if he continues to get good reports he will buy him the Sodor Suspension Bridge for his Thomas the Train set for his birthday.  Ryan has been talking about this particular bridge for months.  They shook on it.  Of course just minutes later Ryan had a meltdown, followed by several other meltdowns throughout the night.  But several times throughout the weekend Ryan talked to us about getting good reports so that Uncle T buys him the Sodor "extension" bridge.  One time we caught him on video:

Ryan and Julia were in an advertisement in the Mahopac News newspaper, March 24th edition.  If you have the paper, the ad for Noah's Ark is on page 29.  Here is a link to the ad:  Ryan and Julia are in the newspaper!
Ryan's skin has been having a severe rough spot ever since we returned from California.  We stopped all powder supplements to see if we can get his smooth skin back.  Most of the redness and puffiness has subsided, but the skin is still rough like sandpaper.  Here's a picture of his legs back in the beginning of the week:

We are at a loss and feel so bad that we can't fix this for him.  It is especially upsetting when we have to use an alcohol wipe to clean an area for his injection every other night.  It burns him and he begs us to blow on his skin while we wipe it.  There are sections of this "rash" on the front of his legs, back, stomach, and arms, but those sections are not as severe as the back of his legs and bum-bum.  Ryan has been experiencing skin issues like this for years now and while the changes in his diet and medicines reverse the rash for a little while, it never lasts for more than a few weeks.  I'm beginning to think that this is his chemical make up and it will be something we (and he) will always have to deal with. 
On the food front, I made Ryan a GFCF egg free lasagna.  The noodles are made by Orgran and were quite tasty.  Ryan was off and on about eating it.  I don't think it was the noodles as much as the Soy Mozzarella Cheese that I used that turned him off a bit.  I think he is not used to eating cheese that he dislikes the texture.  Here are some pictures of the tray after I put it together, once it came out of the oven, and Ryan trying it.

As for the new pizza place we tried out, there was no mistaking that Ryan enjoyed their Gluten Free pizza!  I did not put the soy cheese on it, but instead asked the pizzeria to make it with pepperoni on top, one of Ryan's favorites!  We tried out a new place in Fishkill called J&J's Pizza Town.  It is located near Nature's Pantry on Route 52, which we go to often, so it is convenient.  They made a personal size pizza and Ryan ate most of it in one sitting!  Looks yummy, doesn't it?

We heard back from a few people about joining us for the Autism Speaks walk on June 5th.  Please let us know if you are interested.  And I need to get on the ball about ordering some more shirts so that I have them in time for Ryan's birthday.  For the 100 or so people who bought shirts last year, please mark your calendar to wear it on May 12th, Ryan's birthday.  If you are in need of a new shirt or want to order one for the first time, please let us know.  They are $10 and proceeds go towards supporting children with Autism.  I can order a variety of adult and children sizes.  Here's a picture of the Ryan Express team shirt:

On a positive note, Ryan has been great about his B12 injections.  In fact, about 2 weeks ago I gave it to him without first putting the numbing cream on, and he handled it exactly as if the cream had been there.  Not using the cream makes the process much easier since we don't have to put on the cream and wait an hour to give him the injection.  Cutting out that step has cut out the stress involved with timing everything.  So we are happy to report that we have been skipping that step and Ryan is doing a great job. 

And to end on a super positive note, Ryan received his first haircut at a salon today!  For four years he has only let me or my mom cut his hair, and even then it had to be under certain conditions and only when he agreed to it.  And until recently he wouldn't let us use a buzzer near his head.  So going to the salon and letting them use not just the big buzzer, but also the little noisy buzzer, is quite the accomplishment!  Here are some pictures of his experience. 

Before

Manages to squeeze out a smile; he was being so brave!

Not smiling!  He did not like when she sprayed him with the water bottle.  But he remained calm and didn't say a word.



Tolerating the small noisy buzzer to go around the edges.

After

First words out of his mouth when we got in the car:  "I want to go home and show Helen." (Helen is our cat.)
DC