IEP progress report and Show Week

This past week was Butter's last week of school and show week at the gym. Plus we also had Austism Speaks night with the Seattle Mariner's so to say the least it was a busy week.

I've been nervous for a few weeks about the IEP progress report. I guess I saw so many improvements that I was just hoping that he was doing the same things at school.When I first read the progress report I was suprised he wasn't doing better. Most all of the remarks he got were an emerging skill except for language which was more of a mastery. After I read and re-read the comments I was happy with it. He is making progress which is the key. If he had made no progress in the areas it would have been down right depressing. Once I had time to sit down and think about it his teachers were exactly right. So overall a very promising report and plenty to work on this summer.

Tuesday night we had the Autism Speaks night at Safeco Field with the Mariner's. To say we all had a good time is an understatement! Butters was in love! The staff was so nice and many times came up to give the kids baseball cards out of no where. The especially loved the play area. Staffed at the entrance  and inside there were plenty of extra eyes just incase he decided to bolt. Also they had a strict policy of no alcohol inside the area at all which I loved! Butters was in love with the area though and we came back a few times before the game started so he could get some energy out.

Yum, Garlic fries!

Loving the play area inside Safeco Field

Chilling out in our seats before the game

Fist bump with the Moose! I was so shocked that he even wanted to get close to him!!!

Of course we had to have a hotdog at the game.

Wednesday night was the big Show Week at the Gym. To say the least I was really nervous about this but it turns out it went much better than I had imagined. Below are his routines on the bar and balance beam. I tried to get his tumbling routine on the floor but after people started clapping half way through he got freaked out and bolted away so I had to run after and retrieve him to finish the routine.

Beam routine!!

Bar routine!

So the next topic I'm planning on tackling is helicopter parenting. Does having a diagnosis make you more aware and protective of what they do and when or have you adapted to it just not phasing you anymore?

How to fail at parenting

Step one: take your child with asperger's to Sports Authority to look for a bike even though he hasn't napped.

Step two: Don't put him in a cart and try to let him walk around the store.

Step three: Cue the inevitable meltdown.

Step four: loose grip of the boy and see him to flying into the goal post of a basketball goal!

Yeah when he first hit I just thought it was another knot on the head and that we would work on this yet again and explain to him that he can't go running off.

Well once I picked him up I saw the blood bubbling out of his head. Ok no big deal still. Sure he's screaming but I would expect it. He just took a header into the basketball goal!

I get him up to the front counter and with the help of the associates get some paper towels on it. During all of this the sweetest off duty EMT came over (that ironically reminded me a lot of my bother in law) and introduced himself and asked to look him over. After a quick look over and me explaining that he doesn't communicate things well said he looked fine and more than likely didn't need any stitches. I thanked him for his help and got him to the car.

The gash on the right side of the picture is the damage he did to his forehead

The funniest part of this was as I was carrying him out of the store he was more upset about not getting to look for a bike!

Then we headed down the road to Jack in the Box for a milkshake. Because with a scare like that I think it was warranted. Even with all the screaming he calmed down quickly.

Strawberry milkshake to the rescue!

After we got home and got him cleaned up he protested the bandaid, but after given the ds and the cooking game quickly forgot it was there.

Batman bandaid!

He acted normally all night so no need for concern.I changed his bandaid to a sponge bob one but soon saw he was bleeding through it since he was still up and moving and not letting it really clot.

By the end of the night I made him wear a bigger piece of gauze taped down to help with any bleeding over night.

The bad thing is after all of this all I could do was laugh at it.I was really embarrassed that it happened in the store, but after he was so upset by not getting to look at bikes and not about his head and both of us being covered in blood, how could part of me not just laugh!