Happy 1st Birthday Adrian!

Happy Birthday to my younger son, Adrian !!
Today he turns one and will get cake to celebrate. Diego has been forced to adjust with the new addition to the family but has slowly started to interact with his baby brother. He likes when the baby chases him by either crawling or walking (he's still learning to walk). Plus, since it is the baby's birthday Diego will get to have one of his favorites, cake!
We're relieved that Diego is feeling better, he went back to school after only missing two days this week with what seems to have been a stomach virus.
We love you Adrian!

Another doctor visit-we're staying positive

Diego woke up Tuesday 5/04 and he was not feeling well. With a slight fever and 'stomach issues'we were concerned because he has been battling health problems on and off for the last 4-5 months. Since he was unable to hold food down all day we went last night to his pediatrician. These visits are always stressful since he does not like to be examined and cries when the doctor or nurses enter the room. We had to restrain him to have his ears and throat examined and were given an antibiotic for a throat infection. My wife and I are on edge because of Diego's recent health issues. We've gone twice so far this year to have tubes put in his ears. The first set did not help as he quickly got another double-ear infection that caused fluid to leak out of his ears. After 4-5 trips to the ENT we decided (along with the specialist, who thankfully displayed enormous patience as he was forced to drain fluid from a patient who thrashed in Dad's arms) to replace the tubes in order for the problem to subside. So its easy to see why, less than a month later, we are worried to find Diego has a fever. His fevers get really high with the ear infections and my wife took him to the emergency room earlier this year when the fever would not go below 104...
Fevers are scary, but I'm thinking this time he'll be ok soon enough.

We go to the park and Diego runs

This past weekend we had such nice weather and I was able to spend most of my time outside. Sunday we went with both kids to the park and decided to drive out to a pretty large place to let Diego have more room to play and explore. He certainly took advantage. I had to chase him around the park until finally managing to 're-direct' him over to the playground where his mom and little brother were trying out the swings. Adrian (who will turn a year old this week) was in a swing but did not seem to pleased with all the movement. We did manage to get a few good pictures of him and Diego playing. Diego tends to get over-stimulated when he goes to the park and can't seem prevent getting lost in the moment. He runs around the whole place in a dizzying display of energy and yesterday was no exception. Part of this was our fault for going to such a big park with so many kids but we try to expose him to all the same activities in an effort to boost his social and play skills. The problem is usually the swings, and even though he likes them and I push him for awhile he eventually almost gets himself injured by other kids. This is what happened again yesterday. While running around the park he ran behind the kids swinging and made a quick turn to his right and another father had to catch his son before he flew back and knocked Diego down. The look I got from the other guy was not very nice but I didn't have time to explain as Diego got down (I grabbed Diego as well to protect him) and ran off in the other direction. I felt bad because I don't want to be seen as a bad parent with an out of control little boy but I know people sometimes look at me or my wife that way. It can sometimes take the fun out of the event when you feel helpless to control your son. He also decided to chase a remote control car around the playground while some other kid stood there and drove it around. The other boy eventually left and I had to stop Diego from chasing him and the little car out of the playground and around the park.
For all of his outbursts, Diego still had fun and even though things like this are stressful I like to think he learns with each social interaction. The trip ended with a scoop of ice cream for Diego to help cool him down and a relaxing ride home for Mom and Dad.

Life with D, what an adventure

Here it goes...
My wife and I are proud parents of two beautiful boys. My older son, Diego, just turned 4 in March and our second son, Adrian, will be one year old in May. I started this blog because I would like to reach out to others who are in a similar situation as us and because I would like to be able to use this as an update for those who are inclined to follow.
Diego is on the autistic spectrum. He was specifically diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD-NOS). Life with him has been adventerous since he was born in March of 2006. To be honest I did not know much about autism when we received the diagnosis and remember feeling surprised more than anything else. I saw him as a boy who just required more attention than other kids and figured his speech delay was something that was temporary. I remember thinking, "he'll talk when he's ready" and "the tantrums and crying will subside as he gets older". Well that was not the case.
We quickly realized that he needed help and started speech, ABA, and occupational therapy in the home through the Early Intervention Program. We live in one of NYC's 5 boroughs and the appointments, interviews, and "observations" started immediately. The program was great. We noticed how good his memory was and how quickly he would learn when he would work with his therapists. The only problem was a lot of the time he resisted the therapists and all of their efforts to establish a connection with him. When he says "no", it is by far the most aggressive stance I have ever seen in another individual. We weren't really sure how to proceed even though we knew how nice it was to be able to have our son in this program. He really fought the hardest with his speech therapists. That was tough to see and be a part of because we knew how important it was for him to receive that particular therapy. We decided to try a different therapist but then could not find anyone to fit our schedule (at this time both my wife and I were working full time). Diego introduced a whole new level of resistance on his second speech therapist and our frustration mounted. We made it through sessions but with a lot of crying and tantrums. As I said before, the Early Intervention program is great, we just did not have a lot of success with speech therapy. After only a few months of Early Intervention, we made sure to have all of our meetings and paperwork ready for him to attend preschool. That process included meetings with a representative from the school board and updated evaluations of Diego from his therapists. Spots in these schools fill up fast and after touring a few options we decided on a school and program that we really were excited about. However, we were extremely nervous and stressed in the months leading up to the start of the school year. The preschool we chose is for 3-5 year olds and is Monday through Friday from 8:30 am to 1:30 pm
We weren't ready to let him start but at the same time everyone was telling us how important it is to expose him to other children so he could become more social, and how the routine of school is beneficial to children on the spectrum. That was easy for someone to say but not as easy for us to follow through with...
In future posts I will discuss his transition to school and more information on his early years as well... see you soon...