We continue to focus on healing Aditya's "dry skin followed by itch followed by scratching" also commonly known as eczema. Oh, you didn't know? We have actually been trying to help him with this for over a year now.
In fact, healing eczema has now taken the center stage, and autism recovery continues to happen at an amazing pace without we even doing anything directly for that reason!
Agreed, we still have our only amazing volunteer Arjun play with Aditya twice a week in and out of the playroom. However Baba has not played for a while. Aai is doing the program the "life style program" way. This also means Aai-Baba-Aditya dual sessions have stopped.
On the other hand, Aditya went on his first 1:1 playdate at someone else's house! This seemed like an impossibility until last year. He also used to check out very early last year, suggesting his social stamina was relatively low.
In his last play date with "A", however, he (per A's mom) had a blast. He carried his own snack to the play date and had no hesitation eating it while A sipped tea. When he heard A was going to drink tea, he also expressed concern to A's mom that kids should not be drinking tea as it has caffeine. He must have been relieved to know it was a non-caffeinated tea!
Speaking of snacks, socialization and food are closely associated in pretty much every culture. He got an invite to another friend E's birthday party. E's mom, knowing Aditya's special diet, told him about the things he could eat. (We need to speak to the parents and request them not do this, as the stuff did have something we would rather Aditya did not eat.) Aditya's facial expression at this time was pricessless. He also seemed to open up like a social butterfly for a while right after this!
Healing eczema naturally (i.e. without conventional anti-histamines or cortisone creams) means sticking to a specific eating plan that most definitely excludes processed foods, but also has a constant need for rotation. Who thinks about this at a birthday party? We do. And I have to say, I think Aditya does too, thereby not being fully "available" to his friends in the making.
So when he got to eat SOMETHING at the party that was offered to him by the host (vs his own special box of snacks) he probably felt on top of the world.
We are at a strange place where we have never been. His dietary restrictions are no longer designed with autism recovery in mind. We actually think it will have a positive effect on his socialization if we removed the restrictions. However, dietary modifications is the safest way to treat eczema. (Other than option-provess-dialoguing to help Aditya get in touch with his beliefs. If he is like Baba, his eczema has nothing to do with the stimulus (the food) and everything to do with what he believes about himself and his present and his future.
The third friend we must talk about is S, also from his class like E and A. S loves teaching gymnastics and is super-patient and enthusiastic with her satudents. (I wish all my teachers were like this 7 year old.) Her student is none other than Aditya, who is equally patient and responsive. The two have been practicing various things gymnastics during recess. Aditya seems to be really enjoying this, class and like we said, S is one patient and enthusiastic teacher:)
Another very important update is about the Dad-And-Son group Y guides that Aditya and Baba joined in October. We have so far gone overnight beach-camping, bowling, and finally, a special all-family ice-skating event along with Shreya and Aai. The camping was fun, and Aditya seemed to really start connecting with the other sons during bowling. But it was ice-skating that had me completely "bowled over". Aditya not only showed enthusiasm to learn ice skating, he did extremely well, and IN THE END chose to finish multiple rounds of the skating rink on his own, without supervision from parents! Shreya did too, but the two kids were doing it all separately, and sometimes each with one of their own personal friends!
That last bit about we not supervising him requires another mention. It was our own recovery in one way. It was a "let go" experience. Especially when we watched him fall on his bottom, then look for help, and then get back up on his own!
Aditya has also finished one more round of basketball lessons, and earned his coaches' appreciation for being one of the most sincere students!
Last but not the least, Aditya also took a 3 day badminton camp over the thanksgiving break!
We recognize that we did not write a special thanksgiving post this year. But then we have never stopped feeling thankful to our kids!
Monday, December 23, 2013
Friday, November 1, 2013
Halloween 2013!
Aditya "chose" to make up his own costume for Halloween this year. (In the previous two years he was a police officer and a fireman, and both were costumes bought from the store.) He dressed up to be a chef.... complete with an apron, a spatula, and a tall paper hat he created with some help from Aai!
He went out trick-or-treating with Shreya and one of Shreya's friends. He enjoyed it, of course, but the truth is, with 3 kids this soon became a situation with "rules" about who should take the lead in knocking on the door. I saw a much less spontaneous and bubbly Aditya as compared to last year. Lesson learnt!
The beautiful part is, Aditya articulated to me that he was getting bored. Wow! Expressing the emotional side when he feels like it (and not when it is appropriate to do so)!
Last year, Aditya and Shreya had collected about 50 pieces of candy. This year, they scored in the 80's! With a growth rate of 60% all you folks must want to invest your money in this young enterprise!
Since he does not eat the candy, he asked to exchange it with "cents". We offered to round up his 81 cents to a whole dollar. He was flexible with this idea and said "okay":-)
Okay, we are letting out one more secret. He and Shreya both got to eat a piece of 85% organic dark chocolate.
He went out trick-or-treating with Shreya and one of Shreya's friends. He enjoyed it, of course, but the truth is, with 3 kids this soon became a situation with "rules" about who should take the lead in knocking on the door. I saw a much less spontaneous and bubbly Aditya as compared to last year. Lesson learnt!
The beautiful part is, Aditya articulated to me that he was getting bored. Wow! Expressing the emotional side when he feels like it (and not when it is appropriate to do so)!
Last year, Aditya and Shreya had collected about 50 pieces of candy. This year, they scored in the 80's! With a growth rate of 60% all you folks must want to invest your money in this young enterprise!
Since he does not eat the candy, he asked to exchange it with "cents". We offered to round up his 81 cents to a whole dollar. He was flexible with this idea and said "okay":-)
Okay, we are letting out one more secret. He and Shreya both got to eat a piece of 85% organic dark chocolate.
Monday, October 7, 2013
Reading, Basketball, Color Me Mine!
1. Showing a love for reading (although mostly non fiction)
2. Asked for a massage on his legs, on his own!
3. Noticed changed bed sheets, and thanked Aai! Said, "This is so organized... it looks like a restaurant. Silly me, it looks like a hotel."
4. Doing well at Basketball class (got 8 out of the 23 points earned by his team in the game played at the end)
5. Learning badminton with Son Rise volunteer friend Arjun. At the end of the last session they had a back and forth rally of 23! (Six months ago, could not hit the shuttle cock even once.)
6. Went to "Color me mine" with friends + their parents at school while Aai Baba were attending parent-teacher conferences
7. Showing more interest in playing with one child in his class that he seems to like
8. On invitation by his class mates, showing an interest in joining "Y Guides" a dad and son activity club
2. Asked for a massage on his legs, on his own!
3. Noticed changed bed sheets, and thanked Aai! Said, "This is so organized... it looks like a restaurant. Silly me, it looks like a hotel."
4. Doing well at Basketball class (got 8 out of the 23 points earned by his team in the game played at the end)
5. Learning badminton with Son Rise volunteer friend Arjun. At the end of the last session they had a back and forth rally of 23! (Six months ago, could not hit the shuttle cock even once.)
6. Went to "Color me mine" with friends + their parents at school while Aai Baba were attending parent-teacher conferences
7. Showing more interest in playing with one child in his class that he seems to like
8. On invitation by his class mates, showing an interest in joining "Y Guides" a dad and son activity club
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Kingdom 38!
There is no place on the planet
That is as beautiful and as great
It's Kingdom 38, it's Kingdom 38
It's Kingdom 38, it's Kingdom 38!
In our kingdom there is no theft
Whether you look right or you look left
In our kingdom there are no cops
In our kingdom there are no locks on shops!
Those are lyrics of the first-ever song composed (but not yet recorded) by Aditya.
This happened over the last weekend when we sat in Aditya's room with him on the guitar and me with a pen and paper.
Oh, what is Kingdom 38? It is the first ever movie he is thinking of making when he grows up. It has the king and the prince of Kingdom 38 waging a war against the king and the prince of Kingdom 43, and eventually winning it.
The war is over "who should the princess of Kingdom 38 marry?"
The prince of kingdom 43 wants to marry her. But Kingdom 38 folks (including the princess) want her to marry some poor prince from a kingdom with a number smaller than 10!
Bollywood, hold your breath! Aditya is coming!!!
That is as beautiful and as great
It's Kingdom 38, it's Kingdom 38
It's Kingdom 38, it's Kingdom 38!
In our kingdom there is no theft
Whether you look right or you look left
In our kingdom there are no cops
In our kingdom there are no locks on shops!
Those are lyrics of the first-ever song composed (but not yet recorded) by Aditya.
This happened over the last weekend when we sat in Aditya's room with him on the guitar and me with a pen and paper.
Oh, what is Kingdom 38? It is the first ever movie he is thinking of making when he grows up. It has the king and the prince of Kingdom 38 waging a war against the king and the prince of Kingdom 43, and eventually winning it.
The war is over "who should the princess of Kingdom 38 marry?"
The prince of kingdom 43 wants to marry her. But Kingdom 38 folks (including the princess) want her to marry some poor prince from a kingdom with a number smaller than 10!
Bollywood, hold your breath! Aditya is coming!!!
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
One day... he will go to "basketball classes"!
It’s Tuesday. I pick
up my daughter from school at 2pm. I bring
her home. She grabs a banana for a
snack. She asks me, “What else can I
eat?” I give her two blocks of cheese and some chiwda. She finishes it while I finish my perfectly
hot cup of tea. She prepares her water bottle while I use the restroom. Together, we leave for basketball class.
She is one of the first few kids to get there. She starts practicing the hoops. She proudly tells the coach she got 6
hoops. The coach celebrates her and asks
her to keep going.
Slowly the other kids start coming in. Realizing that they are shooting the same
hoop, she starts taking turns with them.
When it’s too crowded she runs to the other side of the court and shoots
the hoop at that end. After a while she goes
and tells the coach she has done 17 hoops.
The coach celebrates her and asks her to keep going.
In a few minutes the class begins. The coach gets this highly energetic group of
20 or so kids to do lots of different exercises! She does most of her exercises correctly, some not. But she
tries to do all. She is an average runner.
Soon, the group is divided into two teams. A friendly contest is setup-- -something like
a relay race. Our group wins! Our kid runs a little slower, but does not become a liability for the
group.
The only problem… there is no wifi here. So I cannot work while I am watching all
this.
Okay, I made that up.
I do not want to work while watching him… I mean… her… play!
Oops… I gave it away!
But if you stayed with me,
congratulations!
Now find and replace all of the occurrences of ”she” and “her”
with “he” and “him”.
It is in fact Aditya who is attending the second session of his first ever basketball
class! No need to pinch me. I am wide awake, and taking it in:)
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Summer Fun
Today I am publishing a draft saved from June 27, 2013....
I have been having a ton of summer fun with the kids since the end of the school year. This summer, Shreya will be taking a break from attending summer camps. Till last summer, she had no choice but to attend camp so I could play with Aditya and train/ feedback volunteers. I decided that this year would be different. With both kids home, we all wanted a little structure to our day. I came up with the idea of having my own summer camp with a different theme each week.
The first week, we started with the theme "India". We learnt to read and write Marathi, played games typically played in India, cooked Indian snacks, dressed up, played Bollywood music and danced! A fun four hours each day!
The theme this week was "Play to grow" We played, played and played! On Thursday, we went on a field trip to the Tech Museum. This trip was miles removed from the one we took about 6 months ago! I cannot contain my excitement and decided to share it with everybody here!
I started off asking the kids how long they wanted to be at the museum. Shreya wanted to spend three hours, Aditya one. We negotiated it to 2 hours. Aditya would have a turn to pick activities for the first 30 minutes, followed by Shreya and then keep going in 30 minute increments. We left around noon, after a heavy brunch. We also decided to have our late lunch (which I had packed) on our way back, to save on time. With all agreements in place, we headed out.
Walking to the museum after parking the car, I happened to mention that the building in front of us was the downtown library branch, the one which had Mickey Mouse books available when we had last checked online. Aditya jumped up with joy and wanted to change the plans for the day! But we stuck our original plans:)
Once inside the museum, Aditya chose to go to downstairs, I guess, because he loves the earthquakes exhibit. As we walked by, I encouraged them to read about the different hands-on activities going on. He saw a hands-on workshop designing doodling robots! He chose that as his activity for the first half hour. He was completely engaged, enthusiastic and raring to go, asking volunteers appropriate questions, not holding back if he didn't understand and clarifying if he had a doubt. I have never seen him as proud as today, when he built the robot!
Shreya then got to choose her activities. Aditya was fully engaged and enthusiastic about her activities too. When he saw that the next activity she was moving to was crowded, he decided to stay where he was and later joined us, when the crowd had receded. Just like Shreya, he was fascinated by the Google Earth app where he could go places like Mount Everest, Taj Mahal and his own home :) He even explored the various land forms on Mars and wondered how they took pictures in valleys on Mars!
By the time he chose his next activity, we were at the museum for almost an hour and a half. He voted to stay longer. Since we had left our lunch in the car, I surprised the kids with a visit to the cafe. We haven't had random outside food for a really loooooong time and both were amazed that I got an order of French fries for everyone to share. (To be honest, this was the second time ever we ate french fries!) Then I gave them some organic mint I pulled out of the purse :) I decided to keep my beliefs about food away and see how he did. And guess what, he was teary eyed and said that he felt like any other family!
We then moved to the energy exhibit. He approached it like a science experiment and was so absorbed in changing different parameters and analyzing the results that it amazed me. He also was able to clearly explain what his hypothesis was, how it was wrong (or at times correct), why he thought it was wrong and how he changed the next steps based on the results he now saw. I had never seen him give so much thought to the whys and relating them to the results before!
We ended the day experiencing earthquake simulations based on actual earthquake data, including magnitude, movement, and duration of the earthquake.
As we walked out, sister asked to visit the gift shop. Aditya wandered around till he found a "Motors and generators" kit on sale. He wanted to use his money to buy it. I suggested that we look up the price online. We entered a deal that he could get it here if it was cheaper than Amazon. He then called up Baba to find out how much it cost on Amazon. Beaming with joy as he hung up, he announced that he could get it!
We got back home really exhausted but sooooo happy! As soon as we entered, he was so charged up to start his experiments that he walked into the kitchen, looked around and came to me saying, "Thankfully you cooked dinner before we left, now you can supervise me while I work on my experiments :)"
As of now, he is through with 20 of the 25 projects! He is reading instructions, UNDERSTANDING what he reads and following directions .. simply AMAZING!!!
I have been having a ton of summer fun with the kids since the end of the school year. This summer, Shreya will be taking a break from attending summer camps. Till last summer, she had no choice but to attend camp so I could play with Aditya and train/ feedback volunteers. I decided that this year would be different. With both kids home, we all wanted a little structure to our day. I came up with the idea of having my own summer camp with a different theme each week.
The first week, we started with the theme "India". We learnt to read and write Marathi, played games typically played in India, cooked Indian snacks, dressed up, played Bollywood music and danced! A fun four hours each day!
The theme this week was "Play to grow" We played, played and played! On Thursday, we went on a field trip to the Tech Museum. This trip was miles removed from the one we took about 6 months ago! I cannot contain my excitement and decided to share it with everybody here!
I started off asking the kids how long they wanted to be at the museum. Shreya wanted to spend three hours, Aditya one. We negotiated it to 2 hours. Aditya would have a turn to pick activities for the first 30 minutes, followed by Shreya and then keep going in 30 minute increments. We left around noon, after a heavy brunch. We also decided to have our late lunch (which I had packed) on our way back, to save on time. With all agreements in place, we headed out.
Walking to the museum after parking the car, I happened to mention that the building in front of us was the downtown library branch, the one which had Mickey Mouse books available when we had last checked online. Aditya jumped up with joy and wanted to change the plans for the day! But we stuck our original plans:)
Once inside the museum, Aditya chose to go to downstairs, I guess, because he loves the earthquakes exhibit. As we walked by, I encouraged them to read about the different hands-on activities going on. He saw a hands-on workshop designing doodling robots! He chose that as his activity for the first half hour. He was completely engaged, enthusiastic and raring to go, asking volunteers appropriate questions, not holding back if he didn't understand and clarifying if he had a doubt. I have never seen him as proud as today, when he built the robot!
Shreya then got to choose her activities. Aditya was fully engaged and enthusiastic about her activities too. When he saw that the next activity she was moving to was crowded, he decided to stay where he was and later joined us, when the crowd had receded. Just like Shreya, he was fascinated by the Google Earth app where he could go places like Mount Everest, Taj Mahal and his own home :) He even explored the various land forms on Mars and wondered how they took pictures in valleys on Mars!
By the time he chose his next activity, we were at the museum for almost an hour and a half. He voted to stay longer. Since we had left our lunch in the car, I surprised the kids with a visit to the cafe. We haven't had random outside food for a really loooooong time and both were amazed that I got an order of French fries for everyone to share. (To be honest, this was the second time ever we ate french fries!) Then I gave them some organic mint I pulled out of the purse :) I decided to keep my beliefs about food away and see how he did. And guess what, he was teary eyed and said that he felt like any other family!
We then moved to the energy exhibit. He approached it like a science experiment and was so absorbed in changing different parameters and analyzing the results that it amazed me. He also was able to clearly explain what his hypothesis was, how it was wrong (or at times correct), why he thought it was wrong and how he changed the next steps based on the results he now saw. I had never seen him give so much thought to the whys and relating them to the results before!
We ended the day experiencing earthquake simulations based on actual earthquake data, including magnitude, movement, and duration of the earthquake.
As we walked out, sister asked to visit the gift shop. Aditya wandered around till he found a "Motors and generators" kit on sale. He wanted to use his money to buy it. I suggested that we look up the price online. We entered a deal that he could get it here if it was cheaper than Amazon. He then called up Baba to find out how much it cost on Amazon. Beaming with joy as he hung up, he announced that he could get it!
We got back home really exhausted but sooooo happy! As soon as we entered, he was so charged up to start his experiments that he walked into the kitchen, looked around and came to me saying, "Thankfully you cooked dinner before we left, now you can supervise me while I work on my experiments :)"
As of now, he is through with 20 of the 25 projects! He is reading instructions, UNDERSTANDING what he reads and following directions .. simply AMAZING!!!
Saturday, June 22, 2013
Puzzles, Nerf battles, and Reading!
All three were huge challenges, just weeks ago.
He showed no interest in doing puzzles for the last 8.5 years. This week, he did three puzzles with Baba. Priceless!
He had shown major signs of anxiety around anything called a gun. He played nerf guns with Shreya, Baba, and even his volunteers all this week!
He never showed any interest in reading books although he used to love reading take out menus a year ago! But this week he is glued to his book about the "1001 whys" gifted by Aai.
After dinner tonight, he AND Shreya both read in pin drop silence for 15 minutes straight. I had to request them to go to bed at that point. Shreya LOVES to read so this is not new for her. But Aditya? You couldn't get him to read even a few lines, only a few weeks ago!
Thank you Aditya, for showing us that change is easy! Provided you want change really strongly, without needing it (i.e. making your happiness conditional on it)!
In other news, he is trying to crack jokes all the time. They are totally un-funny at times, but we are loving them anyways! We have no doubt that with his amazing sense of humor and his enthusiasm in learning anything new, he is going to "crack" this one too:-)
Shreya is showing increased enthusiasm in joining Aditya and inviting him to play too. She is showing amazing consistency in saying "Okay" if she invites him to play and he says no. She is showing even more consistency in trying again after a while:-) (And being okay if he says no again!)
We are blessed to have you Shreya!
He showed no interest in doing puzzles for the last 8.5 years. This week, he did three puzzles with Baba. Priceless!
He had shown major signs of anxiety around anything called a gun. He played nerf guns with Shreya, Baba, and even his volunteers all this week!
He never showed any interest in reading books although he used to love reading take out menus a year ago! But this week he is glued to his book about the "1001 whys" gifted by Aai.
After dinner tonight, he AND Shreya both read in pin drop silence for 15 minutes straight. I had to request them to go to bed at that point. Shreya LOVES to read so this is not new for her. But Aditya? You couldn't get him to read even a few lines, only a few weeks ago!
Thank you Aditya, for showing us that change is easy! Provided you want change really strongly, without needing it (i.e. making your happiness conditional on it)!
In other news, he is trying to crack jokes all the time. They are totally un-funny at times, but we are loving them anyways! We have no doubt that with his amazing sense of humor and his enthusiasm in learning anything new, he is going to "crack" this one too:-)
Shreya is showing increased enthusiasm in joining Aditya and inviting him to play too. She is showing amazing consistency in saying "Okay" if she invites him to play and he says no. She is showing even more consistency in trying again after a while:-) (And being okay if he says no again!)
We are blessed to have you Shreya!
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