Random Updates...

I took Julianna to the eye dr. on Monday and found out that her vision is still 20/1000 (20/20 being perfect). We found out her vision was 20/1000 when she was about 6 months old and we have been hoping that it has improved...it hasn't and won't ever improve until she is old enough to have corrective surgery (at age 21) so...we ordered her a new pair of glasses. We are really hoping she wears them this time. She got her first pair at 6 months and we could never get her to successfully wear them. She is older now and is very active so we are hoping that once she gets her new glasses she will realize how much better she can see and WANT to wear them! I asked the eye dr. if 20/1000 was "horrible" vision and he said "Well I see blind patients so I wouldn't say horrible...I'd say really bad!" It is what it is. There is nothing at this point we can do but try our hardest to get her to wear the glasses. Personally I don't know how she functions when vision that bad. Her eye dr. explained that she doesn't know what's it's like to see well so she's adjusted her life to fit her vision. He says that once she starts wearing her glasses regularly she will NOT be able to function without them. Plus she as an astigmatism so that's something else working against her.

Joey started Sports Development at the Little Gym. He did really well. Once of the traits of Asperger's Patients is "poor or clumsy" athletic ability. I signed him up for this class just to get an early introduction to the idea of sports. I am a firm believer in extra ciricular activities and I am prepaired for that fact that Joey's "thing" will not be sports but I think it's important for him to be involved in activities with other children. That's another weakness in Asperger's kids is poor communication skills with peers so this class will also help with that. He is to young for cub scouts (which I think he will really enjoy) so... this was more or less our only option for him. When he first entered the class he sat on the mat by himself in the corner. He slowly got the courage to join the other classmates and by the end of class seemed to be having fun. He wasn't as advanced as the other kids, I knew that was going to be the case. But our goals for him are different then the goals of the other kids and that's okay. I've excepted the idea that he's not going to be the standout athlet and won't always be the best in his class. It's painful to see him struggle, almost everything he does is going to be harder for him than most kids. He did manage to do a forward roll by the end of class and he was very excited about that! With Joe that idea is to celebrate the little things, successes that most parents would overlook are a really big deal to us. We "play up" everything he does. I am really worried about him lacking self confidence so I also try to make him feel extra special about his accomplishments.

Allie is sitting up on her own!!! It's neat to see her and Julianna and Joey all sitting together and playing. Joey and Julie are sooo great with her! I'm looking forward to really seeing them interact with each other now! And trust me Allie want to be right in the middle of everything!!!

Some pics. from this week...

Julianna at her dance class this week

Joey sleeping with his skeleton and notice his halloween P.J.'s Halloween is Joe's favortie holiday and yes we start getting in the "spirit" early!

Our little ham! Sitting up all by herself and mighty proud!