A Little Update

Well, I almost hated to put a new post on here and move Matthew's little slide show down, but I have to sometime :) Here's what's been going on with us the last few days...

On Monday evening, which was Matthew's actual birthday, we took him to...you guessed it, Cracker Barrel!! It was a treat for us all :) Matthew enjoyed his entire helping of mac and cheese, and was not satisfied until he scarfed down every last bite of Jacob's as well! He also polished off all of his fried apples...who needs birthday cake?!

During the early morning of Tuesday, Jacob woke up sick to his stomach and I had a nice little mess to clean up. Nothing like donning the rubber gloves and inhaling bleach and Lysol in the wee hours of the morning! I kept him home on Tuesday and thankfully he had no more bouts of the yuckies (I don't even like to type the real word!) and seemed fine all day. He really enjoyed being home with Mommy all day, but was not quite as excited to have all of his make up homework yesterday afternoon :-/

Some cool news for Matthew...
*Only 5 more days with the stinky cast....I know Matthew is looking forward to flopping around in the tub again....(I'm looking forward to him getting to flop around in the tub too!) (Well, he has been having baths...it's just I have to wrap his cast in a towel and hold it out of the tub while Jason washes him, and there's only so much space in the bathroom!)
*He made all A's and B's on his report card for the third term. His PE grade (which I never understood in the first place) went up from an 80 to 97!! Humanities - 99!!!! Other grades for classroom averages were 87 and 85 - both up from last term!!
*He went with his aide to get breakfast this morning and walked up to the counter in the lunchroom and said "pop tart" just like he was placing an order! How cute is that?
*Tonight for supper (we ate at Grandma's...thank you Grandma!) Matthew ate macaroni and tomato, corn and green beans like they were going out of style!! For those that know how picky Matthew is, this is a wonderful accomplishment. He has been eating different things more often, so I am hopeful that his tastes are broadening!
*He is saying lots of words as of late! His teacher showed me some food pictures they are using at school, and he says the name of all the pictures...of course we know how Matthew does when food is involved! Today at speech at WKU his clinician told me he said, "I love marshmallows." Since I told them he uses the sentence, "I want...", they have been making him use that to make his requests, and he has been complying! He goes around home saying, "I want, I want" all the time! At KAP, they reported he used words such as ball and sit down, which are common for him, but he also said, yes and white room, which I think is remarkable!!
*One really exciting bit of info is that the director of KAP talked to me as I was leaving, and they are wanting to do some research with Matthew!!!! I don't have lots of details seeing as Matthew was pulling me out the door as Dr. Boman was speaking, but it has something to do with the impact of swinging on communication. I will be signing some forms so they can do the research with him, and I think it is a wonderful opportunity!! This is one of the many reasons why I love Matthew being involved at KAP! All the new ideas they can try are great! I can't see how swinging (which Matthew loves) could hurt anything! I'll do a little update when I find out more.
*I am also going to apply to the Camp for Courageous Kids in Allen County for one of their family weekend retreats. The weekend of April 3-5 is their Autism weekend and since it is free of cost to the families, I figure it can't hurt to at least apply. If we do get accepted, Jason, Matthew, Jacob and myself will all be able to go and enjoy whatever experiences they have to offer. Now we're keeping our fingers crossed :o)