I have a coupon for printing photos, which will be expiring soon. I was going through tons of photos I have online, chuckling, smiling and giggling to myself. Aditya came to see what I was up to and got interested in the pictures I was viewing - those of our trip to India more than 3 years ago.
Interestingly, when I had first downloaded these same pictures immediately after we got back from our vacation, he was unable to recognize my mom or brother, with whom we had spent almost 2 months! I remember being terrified and almost in tears.
Fast forward to this afternoon ... he blushed when he saw a picture of himself enjoying a mango. He actually took over the computer from me and quickly browsed through quite a few pictures of us attending a wedding, going to a couple busy places, the park, etc. Then he came to a section where there were pictures of us at my parents' farm. He took his time to study them. He remembered the name of the person who roasted cashews for him and his sister and said, "I was patient and waited for him to roast and then shell them. Look how he is using a hammer to crack them!" Then came a picture of the siblings with the dog on the farm. He instantaneously yelled out,"Shreya! Shreya, come see a doggie!" (She is currently fascinated by dogs and begging us to get one.) "Shreya, look .. a picture of you, me and a doggie!" This was priceless! He called on her when he saw something that would interest her! So much for the theory of mind!
Then he came to a picture I would describe as follows: Aditya and his sister each sitting on the lap of a woman in her fifties... a very simple person with a huge friendly smile on her face. That day was the only time Aditya had seen her ever. Today, he asked me who this person was. She is a close family friend and I was trying to figure out how to explain it to him and said,"Well .. she is .." when he pitched in .. "kaku?!" which means "aunty". I was stunned! I indeed call her "Kaku" but I find it impossible to believe that he remembers it. Well, if he recognized her face and remembered her, AWESOME! if not, he generalized, looking at the age and dressing style, that it looked like someone I would call kaku! SUPER AWESOME! As the cursor hovered close to her face, he asked to type in her name and tag her! How sweet!
He went through the pictures pointing to my mom and in-laws. He also recognized my mom's brother and his wife (they were here a couple years ago.)
After going through all pictures a couple times, he looked me in the eye and asked,"And why isn't your dad in any pictures?" I then showed him a few pictures with grandpa and myself wondered why I did not have as many pictures of him!
As I shut down the computer, I was in tears once again....
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Hyper-Aware!
This morning we made smoothies in Aditya's imaginary smoothie restaurant.
1. We took turns making up the "Build your own Smoothie" menu with sections for base, protein, fat, fruit, vegetables. He made all "sensible" suggestions like coconut for fat, soy milk for base, spinach for the vegetable etc. (As opposed to cabbage or olive oil which are vegetable and fat for sure but who puts them in a smoothie?)
2. We had forgotten to include our favorite cocoa. As the owner and chef he offered it for free!
3. To the next customer he asked to wait because he had to wash his blender jar before making another smoothie!
4. In one case, I celebrated him for "building the menu together with me", then celebrated for some other things, and then again for "building the menu together" which I had already said a few minutes ago. Our son whose love is to say and ask things repetitively... said to me, "Yeah you already said that".
THIS IS A BRAND NEW DAY, and we are loving the hyper-aware brand-new Aditya!
1. We took turns making up the "Build your own Smoothie" menu with sections for base, protein, fat, fruit, vegetables. He made all "sensible" suggestions like coconut for fat, soy milk for base, spinach for the vegetable etc. (As opposed to cabbage or olive oil which are vegetable and fat for sure but who puts them in a smoothie?)
2. We had forgotten to include our favorite cocoa. As the owner and chef he offered it for free!
3. To the next customer he asked to wait because he had to wash his blender jar before making another smoothie!
4. In one case, I celebrated him for "building the menu together with me", then celebrated for some other things, and then again for "building the menu together" which I had already said a few minutes ago. Our son whose love is to say and ask things repetitively... said to me, "Yeah you already said that".
THIS IS A BRAND NEW DAY, and we are loving the hyper-aware brand-new Aditya!
Monday, June 4, 2012
Art Show at School
Last month, we attended the Art Show at our kids' school and saw some wonderful pieces made by our resident artists :)
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| Aditya's rendition of Georgia O'Keefe flowers |
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| Kinder O'Keefe flowers |
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| Cherry blossoms |
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| Eric Carle collage |
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| Aditya's Creation at the Project Look Field Trip, Palo Alto CA |
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| Aditya's drawing of his favorite stuffie, Shamu .. he seems to have a new name here! |
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| Me! |
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| Kinder friends |
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| Aditya's rendition of Jackson Pollock |
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| Jackson Pollock paintings by the kinders |
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| Ceramic Tile by Aditya |
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| van Gogh Starry night ? (Mom's limited knowledge of art is showing here:) |
Saturday, June 2, 2012
A quick overview of the past three months
Over the past three months we have noticed the following changes in Aditya:
a. A huge difference in the quality and usage of language.
A few examples that quickly come to mind:
One morning I celebrated him for dressing himself up the previous night and also gently reminded him to wear pajamas instead of his T-shirt and shorts when going to bed. He looked me in the eye and said,"I am sorry that I wore this (pointing to his T-shirt) overnight. I will remember to wear pajamas from now on."
Using words like "overnight " and "from now on" casually in a conversation is definitely something he was not doing so far.
Just this morning, while we were talking, Aditya farted. He smiled and instantly started counting out "Skunk in the garden PU somebody farted, that's you" consciously ending the song so he was IT :) Extreme spontaneity and no judgements about farting at all!
b. Extreme flexibility inside and outside of the playroom too!
We have been playing a wide variety of games in the playroom, having lots of conversations on his topics and then expanding left, right and center :) A lot of times, as I go into the playroom, he says, "Today let us talk of something you want to, before we talk about my topic!"
Outside the playroom too, I have changed plans on the fly after picking up sister from school (with his permission, of course!) The last time I remember, we were running low on gas and I asked if we could go fill the gas tank at Costco. Sister reminded how we were running out of kitchen paper towels and Aditya was totally excited to go into the store to get them. On the way back, we had to take a detour because of road construction and we passed the Indian store. Realizing we hardly ever go there any more but that we could get Okra, which the kids love, if we go in now I just put it out to them. Both kids jumped at the idea. We ended up getting a couple other vegetables which are not available at the local farmers market where I usually shop. This is big because Aditya is really a stickler when it comes to buying conventional produce (vs organic, which we usually buy.)
c. An increase in physical strength and abilities. He loves doing pullups and swinging and as a result has stronger muscles. After some encouragement, he tried and has now mastered the monkey bars at school.
d. A drop in Eye contact, especially outside the playroom.
e. Difficulty making a deeper connection with people and his surroundings, kids in particular. This is in contrast to what we were seeing earlier this year. He was connected and showing a lot of interest in peers. Currently he seems to be Ok being around them but not enjoying their company or initiating conversations with them.
I also observed a few things we had never seen before: He ran away from us while we were at the library. I was with sister and the librarian trying to find a book for her science project (which he was clearly not interested in, but he was there because we had a deal.) Suddenly I noticed that he was not around and called out his name. After asking sister to stay with the librarian, I walked to the main entrance, where I found him starting a sprint back to the kids area. He was surprised to find me there. But noticing my body language, he asked me what had happened. I then told him that I was concerned about his safety and made it clear that I needed him to stay by our side in his own body space. Once I said that, he was the most compliant kid anybody had ever seen!
I have also noticed him having a hard time staying in his own body space when he is around me (mom). He has the urge to touch, hug and kiss me, even in inappropriate situations and times , like the grocery store, school and library.
This post is a reminder to us as to where he currently is. He seems to be working really hard on certain aspects of his development, so is currently not focussing on the rest.
We love him and admire him for taking care of himself in his own special ways. It is also a reason for us as parents to look into what has been going on and realign our program to help his needs better. He is now on a reduced schedule at school, attending 4 hours a week. We have amped up our playroom hours, added new team members. We have a lovely new team of 4 people! Training them and seeing how he enjoys their company has been a joy!
a. A huge difference in the quality and usage of language.
A few examples that quickly come to mind:
One morning I celebrated him for dressing himself up the previous night and also gently reminded him to wear pajamas instead of his T-shirt and shorts when going to bed. He looked me in the eye and said,"I am sorry that I wore this (pointing to his T-shirt) overnight. I will remember to wear pajamas from now on."
Using words like "overnight " and "from now on" casually in a conversation is definitely something he was not doing so far.
Just this morning, while we were talking, Aditya farted. He smiled and instantly started counting out "Skunk in the garden PU somebody farted, that's you" consciously ending the song so he was IT :) Extreme spontaneity and no judgements about farting at all!
b. Extreme flexibility inside and outside of the playroom too!
We have been playing a wide variety of games in the playroom, having lots of conversations on his topics and then expanding left, right and center :) A lot of times, as I go into the playroom, he says, "Today let us talk of something you want to, before we talk about my topic!"
Outside the playroom too, I have changed plans on the fly after picking up sister from school (with his permission, of course!) The last time I remember, we were running low on gas and I asked if we could go fill the gas tank at Costco. Sister reminded how we were running out of kitchen paper towels and Aditya was totally excited to go into the store to get them. On the way back, we had to take a detour because of road construction and we passed the Indian store. Realizing we hardly ever go there any more but that we could get Okra, which the kids love, if we go in now I just put it out to them. Both kids jumped at the idea. We ended up getting a couple other vegetables which are not available at the local farmers market where I usually shop. This is big because Aditya is really a stickler when it comes to buying conventional produce (vs organic, which we usually buy.)
c. An increase in physical strength and abilities. He loves doing pullups and swinging and as a result has stronger muscles. After some encouragement, he tried and has now mastered the monkey bars at school.
d. A drop in Eye contact, especially outside the playroom.
e. Difficulty making a deeper connection with people and his surroundings, kids in particular. This is in contrast to what we were seeing earlier this year. He was connected and showing a lot of interest in peers. Currently he seems to be Ok being around them but not enjoying their company or initiating conversations with them.
I also observed a few things we had never seen before: He ran away from us while we were at the library. I was with sister and the librarian trying to find a book for her science project (which he was clearly not interested in, but he was there because we had a deal.) Suddenly I noticed that he was not around and called out his name. After asking sister to stay with the librarian, I walked to the main entrance, where I found him starting a sprint back to the kids area. He was surprised to find me there. But noticing my body language, he asked me what had happened. I then told him that I was concerned about his safety and made it clear that I needed him to stay by our side in his own body space. Once I said that, he was the most compliant kid anybody had ever seen!
I have also noticed him having a hard time staying in his own body space when he is around me (mom). He has the urge to touch, hug and kiss me, even in inappropriate situations and times , like the grocery store, school and library.
This post is a reminder to us as to where he currently is. He seems to be working really hard on certain aspects of his development, so is currently not focussing on the rest.
We love him and admire him for taking care of himself in his own special ways. It is also a reason for us as parents to look into what has been going on and realign our program to help his needs better. He is now on a reduced schedule at school, attending 4 hours a week. We have amped up our playroom hours, added new team members. We have a lovely new team of 4 people! Training them and seeing how he enjoys their company has been a joy!
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Also in Lake Tahoe!
1. Aditya was almost 100% flexible with using restrooms on time as a way of taking care of himself. The only time he seemed rigid was at this restaurant when he insisted he would try only No.1 not No.2. This is food for thought for Baba as he knows he gets super-sensitive and demanding about cleanliness in that situation:-)
2. Aditya added 3 new take away menu's to his ever growing collection of "Take Away Menu's of the World"! In one case, sweet sister reminded he could ask for a take away menu at this restaurant, and later in the car they even discussed the menu. Aditya returned the favor by being really interested in talking about dogs. (How beautiful!) In every case, Aditya went up to the cashier and asked if that was the take out menu, and if so could he take it? Of course, they all happily agreed to this beautiful 7 year old customer taking away one copy of their take away menu!
2. Aditya added 3 new take away menu's to his ever growing collection of "Take Away Menu's of the World"! In one case, sweet sister reminded he could ask for a take away menu at this restaurant, and later in the car they even discussed the menu. Aditya returned the favor by being really interested in talking about dogs. (How beautiful!) In every case, Aditya went up to the cashier and asked if that was the take out menu, and if so could he take it? Of course, they all happily agreed to this beautiful 7 year old customer taking away one copy of their take away menu!
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Lake Tahoe!
The family visited Lake Tahoe over the long weekend.
Every time we visit this place, we see a new and improved Aditya. This time, was no exception!
For one, Aditya didn't even care to look at the microwave in the hotel room. (Two years ago, the microwave in the hotel room was why he wanted to go on vacation.)
Other than that, he had a great time in general, and in specific doing the following things:
1. Watch cars passing by and proudly tell their makes and models often times ahead of sister
2. Take photos using his very own digital camera and gladly share it with us if we asked to borrow it
3. Ask where we are every once in a while (but not as if to "ism" about it)
4. Join sister in her conversations about dogs (which is her own "ism")
5. Join all of us in the family in a discussion about what dog to have if we will ever have one
6. Become Baba's helper in getting breakfast for everybody from the hotel lobby
Some of his own isms were-
1. Reminding dad of how many more miles can we go without refilling the gas
2. Ask food related questions
3. Ask where will be the next meal
4. Ask if we were in California or Nevada (Lake Tahoe is on the border)
On one occasion when Aditya was asking food related questions while Baba was discussing the day's plans with Aai, Baba told him how as a stage 5 person he could actually check in using his eyes if Baba was interested and listening, and if so ask his questions, not otherwise. He could try it, and it would be okay if he could not wait. But he did! I noticed it a whole minute later when I accidentally looked at him. There he was, looking at me in the eye, with his eyes lit up! I smiled back, to which he said, "Now cheer me up in volume 26". We all happily obliged and cheered him up!
He also had a gala time doing Bungee Jumping. He found it challenging at times and when he did, he told so to the guy who was running the show!
We also met here one of Baba's old school friends who happened to be in Lake Tahoe at the same time! Aditya did not seem particularly interested in this social situation, but was not bothered by it either. He asked what he could do (such as run around or go Bungee Jumping) while the grown ups did their thing (talking).
The icing on the cake was when we returned to our hometown and Aditya exclaimed, "We are near home". Only a year ago, he had asked me if we were in America when we returned home from some place!
Every time we visit this place, we see a new and improved Aditya. This time, was no exception!
For one, Aditya didn't even care to look at the microwave in the hotel room. (Two years ago, the microwave in the hotel room was why he wanted to go on vacation.)
Other than that, he had a great time in general, and in specific doing the following things:
1. Watch cars passing by and proudly tell their makes and models often times ahead of sister
2. Take photos using his very own digital camera and gladly share it with us if we asked to borrow it
3. Ask where we are every once in a while (but not as if to "ism" about it)
4. Join sister in her conversations about dogs (which is her own "ism")
5. Join all of us in the family in a discussion about what dog to have if we will ever have one
6. Become Baba's helper in getting breakfast for everybody from the hotel lobby
Some of his own isms were-
1. Reminding dad of how many more miles can we go without refilling the gas
2. Ask food related questions
3. Ask where will be the next meal
4. Ask if we were in California or Nevada (Lake Tahoe is on the border)
On one occasion when Aditya was asking food related questions while Baba was discussing the day's plans with Aai, Baba told him how as a stage 5 person he could actually check in using his eyes if Baba was interested and listening, and if so ask his questions, not otherwise. He could try it, and it would be okay if he could not wait. But he did! I noticed it a whole minute later when I accidentally looked at him. There he was, looking at me in the eye, with his eyes lit up! I smiled back, to which he said, "Now cheer me up in volume 26". We all happily obliged and cheered him up!
He also had a gala time doing Bungee Jumping. He found it challenging at times and when he did, he told so to the guy who was running the show!
We also met here one of Baba's old school friends who happened to be in Lake Tahoe at the same time! Aditya did not seem particularly interested in this social situation, but was not bothered by it either. He asked what he could do (such as run around or go Bungee Jumping) while the grown ups did their thing (talking).
The icing on the cake was when we returned to our hometown and Aditya exclaimed, "We are near home". Only a year ago, he had asked me if we were in America when we returned home from some place!
Friday, May 25, 2012
He is noticing our faces!
Scene 1. Aditya and Aai are in the car.
"But why are we picking up Alyssa (name changed, her brother is in Aditya's class) right now?" "Because.... " says Aai, and begins telling the reason.
"Hey do you like to eat blueberries or strawberries?" comes the next question before she is even done answering.
Roll of eyes from Aai.
Aditya must have watched that, because then he said, "You get to say", allowing her to complete telling what the reason was for picking up Alyssa.
Scene 2.
Aditya is asking Baba, "Do you think eating organic tofu is better than eating conventional eggs?"
(Our son loves talking about food, food ethics, organic foods, and everything else you can think of about food "and where food comes from.) Baba began answering passionately because it is a topic close to his heart too. "Hey do you think Honda Civic is a better car than Toyota Corolla?" came the next question before Baba was done. Something changed on Baba's face. (Must have been a exhausted expression.)
"You get to complete what you were saying" said Aditya!
"But why are we picking up Alyssa (name changed, her brother is in Aditya's class) right now?" "Because.... " says Aai, and begins telling the reason.
"Hey do you like to eat blueberries or strawberries?" comes the next question before she is even done answering.
Roll of eyes from Aai.
Aditya must have watched that, because then he said, "You get to say", allowing her to complete telling what the reason was for picking up Alyssa.
Scene 2.
Aditya is asking Baba, "Do you think eating organic tofu is better than eating conventional eggs?"
(Our son loves talking about food, food ethics, organic foods, and everything else you can think of about food "and where food comes from.) Baba began answering passionately because it is a topic close to his heart too. "Hey do you think Honda Civic is a better car than Toyota Corolla?" came the next question before Baba was done. Something changed on Baba's face. (Must have been a exhausted expression.)
"You get to complete what you were saying" said Aditya!
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