I really have no idea where the time has gone. There has just been so much going on that I completely avoided sitting down and blogging. Forgive me if I repeat anything from previous blogs, but lets be honest, I'm sure we've both forgotten what those mentioned.
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| A random picture of Ryan when he fell asleep while watching Shark Week with me. He seriously looks like he has a mustache in this picture. Hilarious! |
Ryan has visited the dentist and has had 5 cavities filled and 1 sealed. We have a bill almost $600 to prove it but I'm sure these pictures will suffice as evidence of our visits. Ryan has had a total of three visits and he has been amazing at all three! I am so proud of him! He had very few melt downs and we were able to get the cavities treated without sedation, which assumed we were going to definitely need... oh ye of little faith! In a nutshell, we are still working with Ryan on his personal hygiene because he hates brushing his teeth, washing his hair, potty training... We are making progress and we are determined to brush his teeth wither or not he likes it... Again I mention the $600...
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| I was tempted to ask if they could leave the lead vest on Ryan if he got too upset but we never needed it. The weighted vest is a good tool to help Ryan stay grounded. |
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| A sensory avoider moment... protecting himself from the tools the dentist is sure to use. |
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| Ryan getting his teeth cleaned. The cool shades are provided by the dentist's office because the lights are so bright. I wish my dentist provided those for me so I could nap while he cleaned my teeth. If that's even possible. |
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| Here Ryan and daddy sit awaiting the first appointment. |
Moving on, Ryan also has successfully attended a birthday party with little freak out sessions. Thankfully it was a small birthday party and I am close with the mom who threw the party so she was very understanding when Ryan insisted on shoving his hand in the cake. And a fellow attender was shocked that Ryan was special needs since he seemed to be doing so well. (Oddly enough that's a great compliment). Ryan, of course, was bored with the idea of playing WITH the other kids so he eventually wondered off to entertain himself. He at least acknowledged that there were other kids there. He even took a couple whacks at the pinata, although I was the one who fought the other kids for the candy.... on Ryan's behalf of course... I swear!
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| Here Ryan models one of the party favors from the birthday party. |
This isn't really too much of a milestone but it is a significant difference in behavior. Originally when we would play with Ryan he had little interest in washing hands or being clean. He avoided touch pretty much at all costs. He did not like his face wiped and he hated light touch. It was a nightmare trying to keep him clean. Here is a picture of Ryan finger painting. He now not only stands being cleaned up but he even asks to wash his hands. Before he would have jumped out of the chair, ran around avoiding me at all costs and touched everything in his path with his blue hands! Just a little note of how far we've come.
On another note, it's a miracle that Ryan is actually willing and enjoys taking pictures now! He has always been so difficult to photograph because he is always on the move. I probably have a million blurry pictures of him and few where you actually see his face. He still isn't the easiest kid to take pictures of but he is far from the hardest. So we end up with gems like this one that I could just look at all day long! Isn't my husband cute? Ryan certainly gets his good looks from him!
As much as Ryan has grown he is still the same little boy with the amazingly detailed imagination. Daddy caught an awesome picture of Ryan playing with some leaves outside. He was pretending they were airplanes and I'm assuming he eventually had a dog fight between the two airplanes, as he often does, and they eventually ended up being smashed into a million pieces. Quickly replaced by a set of new leaves and another dog fight proceeds.
On a random note, with all the sensory diet still being part of our daily routine, Ryan ends up sleeping in the most random spots and in the most uncomfortable looking positions. This one isn't too bad, but it was too cute not to share. We're still working on the potty training and in his effort to avoid it, he passed out.
And in very exciting news, Ryan got his first every haircut. A genuine, wash and cute in a salon! Although daddy ended up touching it up and fixing it to his liking later, it was a huge success. Ryan was awesome! He didn't flinch, didn't freak out! It was shocking!!! He didn't mind the little sheet they use to keep the hair off you and he didn't complain about the hair on his neck while it was being cute. This is a big deal people!
On an academic note, Ryan is drawing faces!!! On his own he did the below drawing. This is in part to the new school year that has started. I was amazed he successfully completed a circle let alone an entire face! My little boy is getting smarter by the day! Ryan is also actively trying to color in the lines! The effort is highly concentrated though it doesn't last long and ends in scribbles all over the page. I did actually get proof he tries though as you can see in the picture below! Ryan was also so excited to go back to school. Every time we drove by school during the summer he would yell for me to "tun rit" to go to the school despite needing to actually turn left to get there and the fact that it was summer and school was out. Silly boy.
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| A quick pause from the coloring session to make a funny face to the camera. |
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| Ryan's amazing teacher, Mrs. Christianne. |
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| Ryan's favorite little guy, Luke. |
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| First days of school were a whirlwind of excitement. He loved the new toys and the new room set up! |
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During the summer we went on a couple hikes. Ryan absolutely loves being outside. He loves to run and get dirty and explore. He makes toys out of anything he finds and he has no reservations about exploring, despite my warnings of stickers, bees, ants, spiders and the like! It's a beautiful thing to see my son happy after being so frustrated for so long. Running and hiking will probably be a good outlet for him!
And, since it's 1:45am, I better wrap this up and end on a sane note instead of trying to recapture the last several months in one post. I will be better at updating this, I know I always say that. I will continue to backtrack until I see fit along with updating on current events. Should be much easier if I just stay on top of it. Fingers crossed... but before I leave, I give you random pictures of Ryan sleeping because some are flat out funny and weird while others are too precious not to share.
Until next time.
