Vacation Day 1

Our annual trip to Kansas City to see Matt's brother Seth and family (TWO Sets of twins!) has arrived. We headed to Kansas City on Thursday July 2nd at 11am. It is just over 1000 miles (15 hours one way). We drove through some of the CRAZIEST & SCARIEST weather ever that first day! We had to pull over on the side of the road 3 times because the visibility was ZERO!! It rained and hailed so hard!!! We stayed in Sioux Falls, SD Thursday night arriving there @ 11:00 pm CDT. We stayed at a hotel and went to visit Matt's Grandma who lives 5 minutes from the hotel. The boys were very excited to see her, as she was to see them. We visited for 2 hours and then hit the road towards Kansas City...5 hours left of the 15 hour drive!

Conked out in the hotel.

Visiting with Great Grandma Mary.

Ryder looking at Grandma's Pool. Too bad it was raining...or we could have jumped in!



Ryder LOVED riding on Grandma's chair lift.

Three of the four generations... Ryder, Grandma Mary & Matt...(Matt's mom Carol is the 4th gen. missing) Kannin was there too...he just was not interested in posing for any pictures. I can always rely on Ryder to take a good picture...just like daddy!

Chosen One!!!

On June 3rd, 2009 we received a phone call informing us that Kannin was chosen for the Children's Autism Waiver. We had initially signed up for this program last August, just days after Kannin's official diagnosis. We were unaware, at the time, what exactly the Autism Waiver was. It was a new program and they were unsure of how it would work...but they started drawing families. The State of Montana would pick 40 families over the next 9 months at RANDOM! So this opportunity is basically like winning the lottery!

(The official notification letter!!!)

Kannin will be receiving extensive therapies for Speech, Occupational Therapy and ABA. All therapies will be first billed to our Insurance and the State Waiver will cover the rest. All medical for Kannin will be covered...well checks, immunizations, therapies, EVERYTHING for the next THREE YEARS!!! Diapers as well, are covered! We will have an aide in our home up to 20 hours a week as well working one-on-one with Kannin. We were really in a state of shock for days; we may even still be shocked! We have a long road ahead and I am sure stressful days that we can not even comprehend right now... but who are we to complain! We are blessed to be given this opportunity as only 40 children in the state were chosen! We are so thankful, excited, terrified, blessed and relieved!

Our little guy Kannin (4yrs old)

One day he will understand how this program

will change his life!

Father's Day

Matt wanted to stay home and relax for his Father's Day this year. The boys gave him all Patriotic things this year. They gave him Patriotic Flip-Flops & T-Shirt (and the boys got matching shirts too). We also gave Matt a flag. We have never had one and it was about time we get one.Ryder was so excited to put our flag out. Ryder learned the Pledge of Allegience this summer in T-Ball.
Daddy & Ryder show off the new flag.

P.L.A.Y. Project - Visit 1

Our first official visit with Kelly Melius, our P.L.A.Y. Coordinator was Friday June 19th.

(P.L. A.Y. stands for Play & Language for Autistic Youth) We will have 10 visits will Kelly throughout the next year. Each visit will be 3-4 hours long, in our home or at a location we determine (park, pool, etc.) We talked of Kelly's visit all day and he was very excited for her to come. When she arrived, Kannin met her at the door and called her KelKel. We video taped portions of our play, following Kannin all over the house. We were upstairs in his room, living room and kitchen and bounced on the moon bounce and played in the Toy Room in the basement. It will be interesting to view the video clips from our session as we will be receiving a DVD of our session with evaluation after every visit.

Kelly tries to join Kannin in his solo playing. We constantly asked Kannin..."What do you want? What does Kannin want to do?" We have always had to guess in the past because of his lack of communication. He opened up more and more to Kelly throughout the session.

"Where is Kan Kan?" He loved hiding from daddy and surprising him.

Kannin is very responsive to deep pressure sensory activities. He loves squeezes, rolling on the floor, us sitting on him ( I know it sounds like torture but it is one of his favorite pressure activities) and he loves being thrown up in the air and wrestling with dad. We incorporate counting with the picture you see above. Matt will lift Kannin up in the air while Kannin lays on Matt's hands and we make Kannin count "1-2-3...GO." Matt will then throw him up in the air and then catch him. It makes him use numbers and words. We will incorporate "Throw" instead of "GO" to get a new word out of him next.

I turned on one of Kannin's favorite songs..."I Kissed A Girl"...I know...CRAZY choice for a 4 year old...but he loves the beat! He danced and danced and even let Kelly join in.

He danced and spun to the music. We would pause the song and make him tell us to turn it back on. We asked him..."What do you want Kannin"...he would then tell us "Moosi" (music) and point to the CD player. Music was a new word for him that day.

More P.L.A.Y. with Kelly

Kelly hides from Kannin and looks for his initiation of wanting to play or for a comand for her to "Come Out."

"Where is Kelly?"...This was a game where Kannin would hide and Kelly would as well. It was the one game that seemed to hold his attention for the longest. He loves the element of SURPRISE I think.

Kannin has been obsessed with "Disney Car's" for years. We have EVERY "Car's" Car ever made. Lining up of his cars in perfect lines is one of the odd characteristics that Kannin has done for years that first flagged us for Autim. Above you see Kelly & Matt playing with Kannin and his cars. We really were trying to get actual "Car" play out of him...like driving...honking...crashing. He picked out his favorite 2 blue cars and was off running. It is difficult to keep his attention with functional play...but we will get there someday!

The last hour Kelly was here we went outside and showed her how he plays in the outdoors. We brought out his little activity pool and got a few words out of him. We also went in the backyard and had Kannin swing...which is his FAVORITE outdoor activity.

We have a large landscaping rock out in our front yard. It has become our little babysitter. This large rock is the object of Kannin's obsession! He will sit on it for hours and bang his little shovels & rakes. (Which is called a STIM...a Self Stimulatory action common in Autistic children) It is HIS rock and he is not very likely to share it with ANYONE. As you can see above...Kannin became VERY comfortable with Kelly and allowed her to share his rock...even allowing her to hold one of his little rakes. This will be fun to see how Kelly's PLAY techniques will allow us to be present more in Kannin's world...or more so...bring him into ours!

"All Drains Lead To The Ocean"

On Wednesday we bought the boys a fish. Ryder has been begging for a fish for 2 years. When I lived in SD, Tysen & I had a BIG tank with lotsa fish but I was not wanting such a big responsibility that a large tank would create. I finally caved and got a small fish bowl. We bought a kit that had it all (bowl, rocks, plant, & food). Ryder picked out one fish and we brought it home. He thought for several hours about the perfect name. He came up with Marley. I think he was intending on Marlin...because that was Nemo's dad...but he got stuck on Marley. The first night we had Marley, Ryder informed me every 20-30 minutes..."My fish is still alive"... to which my response was always..."Of course he is. He will live a long time if you take good care of him." The next afternoon I was on the phone with a friend and Ryder says, very calmly, "Mom...The fish is dead." I went to check it out. YEP! BELLY UP!!

Ok...now I had to explain death and loss of loved ones to my 5 year old because this was his first experience with death! I said..."Oh Ryder, I am so sorry." He interrupts me by saying... "That's ok...We will just go buy another Marley!"

Ryder decided to flush him down the toilet because all drains lead to the ocean...according to NEMO! So we had a prayer then a flush!!!

Ryder showing off his new fish "Lil Marley"

Ryder fishes Marley out of the bowl...

...puts him in the toilet...

...says a prayer and Flushes him out to sea!

This is immediately followed by..."Ok...Let's go to Walmart and get another Marley!"

His grieving process is OVER! And so the game to keep fish alive in our house STARTS!!!

He Can Do It!!!

We have been working very hard with Ryder in his quest to ride his bike..."Sans" the training wheels. Tonight he did amazing...he FINALLY got it!!!