Burrito at large

Easter Sunday, we went to brunch with Uncle Bryant and Aunt Amy. We went to a Mexican place in Arlington. John was well behaved, which continued a minor miracle he had performed earlier that day in church, when he made it through the entire ceremony without causing a scene.

Midway through the meal, a family sat down at the table next to us and started talking about what they were going to order. The kids starting saying they wanted burritos, and John turned to them and said, "No, I'm a burrito."

Priceless.

***

John: Mommy, what do you want to be when you grow up?
Mommy: Well, I don't know. I think I want to be a mommy.
John: I want to be a choo-choo train. A big one.

***

Recently, John has been spicing up the conversation we have on the ride home from school. In the past, he's been content to offer helpful advice on the topic of what he did at school that day, with "Let's not talk about it" being among his favorites.

Lately, though, materialism seems to have taken hold. Now, he gets in the car and says, "We need to go get a new engine at the toy store."

When I find whoever planted this bug, I will kill him.

***

Refreshingly, Burrito still thinks his parents know everything. The only problem is that he wants access to this knowledge, and not in the typical way. Most kids drive their parents nuts with the Why? questions. Yes, John is doing this, but he also seems to think we are clairvoyant. Driving home, after the toy store routine, he will then ask "Is Dodson home?". When we tell him we don't know, he pauses, then asks "Is he home NOW?" Once he exhausts this topic, he moves on to other neighbors, like Avery and Alden.

***

John is having a birthday party this weekend, and is very excited. He's mostly excited about counting the days to his birthday, and the presents sitting on the table, waiting to be opened. Somewhat confusingly, Joyce's birthday is 8 days before, and so there were presents that weren't for him, but he managed. If you didn't get John anything for his birthday, THANK YOU. He has plenty.

***

At church on Sunday, the highlight for John was the Easter egg hunt. We prepped John ahead of time, explaining that he was to pick up any eggs he could find once the race was on. We told him that if he got 5 eggs, he should stop, because we didn't want him to be the kid that pushed everyone out of the way and took all the eggs.

No worries on that front.

John started out fine, and set off toward a pile of eggs. He grabbed 3 and put them in his bucket. At that point, curiosity got the better of him, and he sat down in the grass and began opening up his eggs to see what was inside. After some parental intervention, he got back up and continued his search, but by then the rest of the eggs were gone. He then told us "I only have 3 eggs. I need 2 more."

So the boy can add!

Children's Hospital report

The short version is that he's doing great.

Some of the highlights:

* They recommend that he be placed in a regular preschool program next year. We spoke with his current preschool teacher, and after a little brainstorming we hit upon the idea of John going to 2 preschools - a regular one in the morning and a special one in the afternoon. See, at his day care, there is a regular preschool in the mornings now, but Burrito misses it because he goes to his special program. Next year, the idea is that he can have both the regular program where he can interact with "normal" kids, and the special one where he can continue to get speech and occupational therapy. Children's thought this was a great idea, and endorsed it. So, anyone out there who thinks school is bad, my kid's going to school TWICE next year! Just wait until he's grown up. HIS kids will LOOOOOOVE that one!

* John's verbal comprehension and recall of numbers is just above the 5-year-old level. For a kid that's approaching 4, this is, well, advanced. His abilities in vocabulary, picture/object similarities and pattern construction were all appropriate for his age.

* "Language skills are progressing nicely and are now close to age appropriate."

* "Social foundations are much improved, and John's social communication and relatedness is much stronger now."

Sounds great, right? Well, it is. However, there are still areas for improvement:

* John scored between 2.5 and 3 years in fine motor skills. (His physical age at the time of the test was 3.8 years). This is something his occupational therapists address constantly. On a positive note, John tends to demonstrate capabilities in bursts. What this means is that he will refuse and refuse and refuse to try something, then all of a sudden he will try it - and get it right. He seems to have a low tolerance for trying and failing, and when he is unsure that he can do something he prefers to not do it. Subsequent to the testing, we are seeing some signs that we might be on the cusp of a fine motor skill breakthrough (he's become much more interested in coloring, for instance). However, breakthrough or not, there is plenty of work that remains to be done.

* "He tends to get 'stuck' at times on certain details or one perspective in understanding information in his environment. He has a hard time shifting his way of thinking about problems or stimuli, and tends to become overwhelmed easily when a task requires such cognitive flexibility." This is a hallmark trait of autism. The report adds that, "he also is fairly quick to sense that a problem may be challenging for him, and his anxiety around possible confusion or failure increases quickly."

* The report repeats this theme in the Temperament section: He "continues to struggle with anxiety and frustration around challenging and less predictable situations."

* Adaptive and self-help behavior, though is labeled "Immature but improving". In the month since the evaluation, he has made some solid progress in terms of dressing himself (which he can now do completely, including socks and shoes which have velcro straps). He has trouble with the fine motor aspects of dressing, though, like buttons and snaps. Zippers, though, are not a problem.


All in all, John's progress is steady and accelerated. In most areas, he is catching up with what is considered "age appropriate." Social/temperament and fine motor are the two obvious exceptions, as we all knew previously. The recommendation to place him in a typical preschool program is based on the fact that he notices and mimics other children. Simply put: let him mimic "typical" kids. Also, a normal preschool will be less tolerant of his unwillingness to do something that he doesn't want to do (like drawing or other fine motor tasks) and this will help him to understand that he cannot avoid those activities. Once he realizes he HAS to do something, he usually manages to do it.

We are very pleased with the report, and hope that you are too.

Conversations with Burrito

Sometimes, John writes his own material.

***

Driving down the street, John sees some snow.
John: What's that snow doing?
Dad: It's just sitting there.
John: No, it's resting.

***

Jumping on the bed, John falls off.
John: I'm crying!
Dad: Why?
John: Because I'm sad.
Dad: Why are you sad?
John: Because I fell and got an owee.
Dad: Want a kiss? Kisses make it better.
John: No, I just want to keep crying.
Dad: Huh?
John: I want to cry until I feel better.
Dad: Okay.

John: Can you go away until I feel better?

***

Riding his bike around the cul-de-sac at the end of our street, John changes direction.

Dad: You're going the other way now?
John: Yes.
Dad: You don't want to go that way? When you go that way (downhill over a big bump in the sidewalk), you can go super-fast (this is one of John's new words).
John: I want to go a little slower.

***

Wanting to play outside, Mom tries to persuade John to play on the deck instead.

Mom: Why don't you play on the deck?
John: There's ice. It's not safe.
Dad: He's right, the deck is pretty iced over.
Mom: So is the front yard.
John: That ice is safe.

***