It was an exciting day today - Morgan answered his first question! I had had a box of cookies on my lap and had given him one. After eating one myself (ok, 3), I put the box out of my sight so that I wouldn't eat any more. Morgan came wandering back from the other room and looked all around me. I said, “What do you want?” He started to whine but stopped. “Cookie,” he says. How can you say no to that? He got the cookie.
Later he was bringing me a book and trying to get me to take it. “What do you want?” I said. “Book,” he says. Of course, he got the book, and a great big hug. The book is currently his favorite book. It’s called We Have a Baby and he likes to find the baby on each page.
Saturday I took Timothy to the library. He has a cute way of getting other kids to play with him. There was a little boy (maybe 6, but about the same height as Timothy) with his older brother (maybe 8 or 9) sitting at the table (being obnoxious, but that's beside the point). Timothy went over and sat near them for a few minutes, then started doing a puzzle. He pretended he didn't know where a piece went and announced this to the boys. The younger one came over to help him and they started playing. After the puzzle they started running around and I told Timothy no running, so then the other boys were running and Timothy was taking big steps and following them around.
The younger boy told him to stop following him. I called Timothy over and told him I didn't think the other boy wanted to play right now, but Timothy didn't quite see it my way, and headed back over. The boy's dad told him he could go play with his friend if he wanted. The boy said, "that boy is NOT my friend".
Timothy was about halfway there and heard it just fine. He stopped dead in his tracks and turned back to me, a broken heart clear from the look on his face. He ran back to me and jumped in my lap, burying his head in my neck and just sobbing. It was the saddest thing ever. The dad was pretty oblivious, which was fine, they seemed to be on their way out anyway.
Timothy sat with me for some time. Then we read a book and did some puzzles. Every once in a while he'd start to cry again and crawl in my lap all over again. After he’d calmed down, some other kids came in that looked very nice, but when they joined Timothy at the table, Timothy said he wanted to go home. He said hi and bye to the kids though, who said hi and bye to him as well. He also greeted more kids as we were on our way out, who also returned the greeting. He agreed we should go back next Saturday, so I guess no permanent harm done. I don't think I’ll forget it any time soon though, that look on his face, it's engrained in my mind.
Tonight was kids night on jeopardy but Timothy wasn’t interested. I was though, because I finally knew all the answers! I was rooting for the girl in the middle who almost pulled ahead after a ballsy true daily double, but she missed the final question. Every time they showed the various parents in the audience I almost cried - how can they sit in the audience?? I'd be a wreck!
I got a book on autism spectrum at the library and am now convinced that obviously Morgan's therapists are crazy if they think he's autistic. Perhaps they should also seek therapy! Anyway, I mentioned that to Josh and he said Jill had told him they were starting to doubt that diagnosis as well, not that he's been diagnosed yet.
Anyway, he's making great progress, so that's what matters. He used play dough with Jill, and has not rejected the various new textures I’ve given him to play with. I cut letters out of cardboard and glued different items to them like cotton balls and rice and cloth and tin foil, etc., and he seems to enjoy them. The kid won't eat ice cream, but he'll eat frozen french fries straight from the bag. Go figure. Other than that and a little language delay, he seems pretty normal to me.
I think he starts his new playgroup tomorrow, so I’ll be interested in how that goes. He seems to touch other kids like they are pets. He touches them gently and then looks for praise - just like he does with Abbey or the cats.
He's finally started responding to his name, and often comes when called from the other room. He uses single words often but isn't putting them together yet (except for phrases like “I did it” and “I’II get it”). He used the word “no” appropriately the other day. He hasn't spun plates since I can remember (a little sad actually) and generally appears to be paying attention to the world on a regular basis. All this progress in 3 or 4 weeks time! I figure by summer he'll be reading – haha. He also started walking backwards across the whole room, just for fun, and we've started walking him up the stairs, instead of letting him crawl, which he enjoys because he gets to count to 13. He sits in my lap and repeats pretty much any word I ask him to (his best are auntie and Mandy, though he can't put them together, and grandma and grandpa aren't bad - the 'ma’ and 'pa' are quite distinguishable).
Josh says Timothy has a nice little circle of friends at school. When he walks in they all greet him and come running over and they all giggle and fall to the ground. I guess Brian is the comedian because Timothy calls him silly Brian (says it like it's the biggest compliment one could bestow). He's started asking me how many days I come here, so that must be from school. He's also started saying 'do your best daddy' when he and Josh are playing a game and it's Josh's turn. I hope that's from here.
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