Well...I'm not sure that I can articulate just HOW proud I was of Cuyler yesterday.
We had an apointment for his RDA (assessment) at 10am yesterday. It was to take place in our consultants basement.
We took him over there the night day before with Cam to familiarize him with the environment.
When we arrived on Saturday he had a bit of a meltdown - there were no kids there and the toys he played with were no longer available. I was anxious about this because he had 2 hours of assessment ahead of him. Luckily Sean calmed him (as always) and his job was to spend the first 10minutes of the assessment with Cuy. I would then go in for the remainder of the 2 hours.

(Prior to us going, I said to Sean "I'm not confident that he'll stay in that room for 2 hrs." Oddly enough, Sean agreed with me. The room was stark. Bare walls - finished and painted beige, cement floor and unfinished ceiling with a video camera propped up in the corner.)

Once the 10 minutes was up, I went in with the consultant and switched with Sean.
What happened was every 10 minutes she would come in and take away the activities that Cuyler and I were doing and give us new materials/toys and basic instructions ("Share these materials and modify when you need to")
I must admit that it was a bit daunting having every single interaction with my child videotaped and watched for 2 hrs (Sean and the consultant were watching via video-feed in another room). It was also incredibly exhausting. I rarely spend 2 FULL hours "on" with him. He'll fly in and out of activities with me throughout the day. But I to had to interact and engage him for that length of time. And I did. Or rather - he did. And he did it happily. When she came in and said that we had completed all 12 activites, I just looked at him and said "Oh! Cuy! I'm so proud of you!!"

It brought back memories of the ADOS. That's the assessment they do for diagnosis. And it's awful. Completely unfair to the child and parent. Basically it's a stranger trying to get your child to do different activities in a small, unfamiliar environment.
As we were leaving the appointment on yesterday, I was thinking about that day in May of last year when he was diagnosed using the ADOS and how differently he could have or would have scored had it been set up more like the RDI assessment.
Anyways...I try not to live with would haves and should haves.
We are where we are, and it's not a bad place at all.

On another note, Cuyler sure has taken to artwork. He even drew his first face! A sad face actually.
Unfortunately it was on his bedsheets. Apparently an orange marker was left in his room Friday night. And we awoke to this on Saturday morning. If you look close enough you can see this.

Here is the newest member of our family.
Name unknown.
Gender unknown. But pretty darm cute, no?
I was going to post last Tuesday when I had the ultrasound but it didn't go as I had hoped. The baby was being a little bugger and would NOT sit still (my fault - large coffee the morning of...bad idea). The tech was unable to get the heart, the bladder or the cord insertion. Not to mention that the printer was out of paper - so I didn't get a picture.
I went back this morning and after a breakfast of dry toast and water the little one co-operated and stayed in place - albeit the wrong way (spine up as opposed to spine down...they get a much more accurate view with the baby's spine down).
I got a good look and the bun that I'm cooking and it was clever enough to let us know that everything was good with a thumbs up!

Can ya see it?! Can ya see it!?


On the RDI front - we're meeting with our consultant Wednesday night and I think we will be starting the RDA (assessment) on Saturday. Once we're done the assessment, we'll have a starting point and then we're well on our way into the world of RDI. Sean and I are anxious and excited to get started and think that only good things will come to Cuyler through it.
I'm going to have to start providing more detail about what RDI actually is as opposed to how we feel about it. It's a pretty fascinating remediation. Stay tuned.

This impressed me to no end. For most people, looking at this wouldn't mean very much. Some sidewalk chalk faces and a bird. And 2 stars.

Cuyler wanted to "Do ABC's!" so we went outside, pulled out the chalk and started to redecorate the driveway. He asked me to draw a happy face. I did.
Sad face.
Another happy face.
Surprised faced.
Another sad face.
Angry face.
And the face at the very top - that guy is sleeping. Cuy was looking at them labelling each of them "He's soo happeeeee!" "He's soo saaaad!"
As he labelled them, I drew the upside down bird. Then the 2 stars that he asked for. Blue stars! Blue stars! Then all of a sudden I heard him say "Feet! Sad feet. Sup-wize feet. Sad feet. Mommy angry feet. Sandals on!"
I looked at the faces and realized that he had actually drew the "feet" on them. And he was asking me to draw feet on the angry guy at the bottom. Sandals actually, so I did - but they look so ridiculous that I didn't get them in the picture.
This is the first thing that he has ever drawn that has represented anything. And the fact that he thought about it, and had the dexterity and eye hand co-ordination to put the "feet" where they belong. I was floored! And thrilled. He usually just makes meaningless marks. And when they're not meaningless, they're like this:
Just colours that represent his most favourite people in the whole wide world!

Even that impresses us. He will just sit for ages singing Wiggles songs and putting a bit of colour on each Wiggle (always the correct colour!). We'll sit with him and he'll hand us a crayon and tell us which one to colour.
But the feet on the faces...that's big.

Again - not much to most. Major for us.

Thoughts from Cam

Cam: "I put a t-shirt on and some new underwear to wear to bed."
Me: "Oh. Ok. Why new underwear?"
Cam: "Because I farted in the other ones."
Me: "Was it a wet fart? Did you get poop in your underwear?"
Cam: "Nope. It was a dry fart. I just didn't want to wear farted-in underwear to bed."
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Today, at lunch. At the mall. In the middle of a busy foodcourt. With people all around us:
Cam: "Mommy? Why does cheese give you diarrhea?"
Sean: Snickering, trying not to choke on his sub.
Me: "Well most things that are made with milk give me an upset tummy."
Cam: "Is it because of the baby in there, making it all upset?"
Me: "Nope. Just the milk."
Cam: "Just milk turning into diarrhea?"
Me: "Yes. Eat your sub."
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Cam: "Mommy! I have a great idea!"
Me: "Cool. What is it?"
Cam: "When the baby comes and you milk it, you can do it in patterns."
Me: "Whaddaya mean?"
Cam: "Well. You can do breakfast (touching his left nipple), lunch (touching his right nipple), dinner (touching his left nipple)."
Me: "Oh...like left boob, right boob, left boob, right boob?"
Cam: "Ya. That could teach the baby patterns. Or you could do breakfast, lunch and dinner on the left one, and all the snacks on the right one."
Me: "Yep. I could do that too."
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Cam: "When will I get furry under arms like Daddy?"
Me: "When you're in high school."
Cam: "And I can wear the under arm stuff?"
Me: "Deodorant? Yes, you'll have to or you'll stink."
Cam: "Yaaa! Cool!"
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Cam: "I am getting so sick and tired of you 2 giving me dumb stick pretzels for my snack. I want a banana!"
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Cam: "I am getting so sick and tired of you being lazy and opening my door for me!"
Sean: "That doesn't even make sense, Cam."
Cam: "You opened the door SO LAZY! I wanted to."
Sean: "Ok."
Cam: "I WANTED TO!"
Sean: "Ok."
Cam: "Arrrrggghhghghhg!"



As much as he drives me nuts, he never fails to make me laugh at least once a day.

A rare moment of peace between these two. They seem to be driving each other crazy for the past few weeks. One antagonizes the other and then they'll reverse roles. I can't wait til we throw a third one in the mix!
As I always say - better busy than bored. That's what I try to remember with the kids. Trouble brews when they aren't doing anything - so we've always got to be doing something.
Which is working out well now that I am back to being a full time Mom. Yes..that's right. The perfect job turned out to be not so perfect. Too many women. Too much gossip. I've been there. Done that. My entire adult working life has been spent working in a female dominated workforce and it's not much fun. Gossipy women, talking behind each others backs. It was SOOO much easier working on the Chrysler assembly line with all men, making crude tits and asses jokes.
That's what happened last week. It was like my worst grade 8 nightmare coming true. I quickly gave my 2 week notice - shocking most of the girls who work there. But I felt so good when I did. I still have a membership and continue to go there to work out. And when I go I get hugs and "Oh Irish, I can't believe what happened!" I know that I left there with my dignity intact and did nothing other than a good job. And everybody else knows it now too.

We have another week off before we head back into RDI. Our consultant is on holiday and will return next week.
And Cuyler will be moving up into the junior kindergarten room on September 18. I got the call yesterday. He wasn't going to move up until November 6, so I was a bit unprepared. I have as much trouble with change as Cuyler does. I could cry thinking about him leaving his beloved Jenn, Kelly and Julie. They truly love my boy. They made his transition into preschool so smooth and have been 100% supportive of everything Sean and I do. And vice versa.
But I do know that by his second week into it, he'll be fine. And so will I.

I am now 18 weeks 3 days pregnant. It seems to be going by reallllllly fast. Sean and I are starting to look forward to becomg a family of 5. Having three children. Needing 4 bedrooms. OY! Saying it all that way kinda freaks me out. But I have another saying - better to have my hands full than my hands empty.
Ever since we did the Mission Preview we've realized that there is more to another baby than the hellish first 6 months to 1 year that I endure after I have a baby. That it will only add to our family. And not take away from it as we initially assumed it would.
We go for our ultrasound next Tuesday. And no - I'm so sorry...we're not finding out what we're having. I am so surprised at the reactions I get when we tell people we're not finding out. I guess some people figure because you can - you should. But I figure just because I can, doesn't mean I should.
I will post pics of the little kicker next Tuesday.