Average days...

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, have been pretty “average” days around the house. What average means to us is far different from what average is at most homes. Average means getting the kids off to school and our every day chores. Average means putting up with Liam’s whining, fits, and tantrums, over and over. On top of dealing with Liam’s issues we also have Seamus (6), Aidan (3), and Brendan (3), who also behave like their ages and can be just as difficult. Liam’s fits and tantrums just make it a lot harder. Each night while Jill and I are still eating dinner Liam is repeatedly whining and having fits to go outside. This is just a factor from his impulsivity and how when he wants to do something, it has to be done at that time. Liam will stand next to me as I’m eating and keep telling me he wants to go outside, he want to go see Kelly, he wants to do this, he wants to do that. This is an everyday occurrence. We tell Liam when he can go out and he just whines, have fits, and every now and then have a complete tantrum.

Wednesday evening Liam would burst into tears and have a fit on 3 occasions. The first was when Liam was playing with Kelly and she went in her house. She went in for some reason and did not let Liam in. He immediately burst into tears and came out of the garage screaming. Kelly came right back out and all was well. The next time Aidan and Brendan followed Brenna over her house. Liam went trailing behind in the garage and suddenly I hear Liam again screaming and crying. This time again because they went into the house for whatever reason. Brenna’s parents made her come out as there was no reason to be in the house. This time I had to work to calm Liam down. I did this by starting some silly play with him . The third time was when Kelly came out of her garage with a juice box. Again, Liam burst into tears and was screaming he wanted a juice box. Liam only settled down after Kelly finished her juice box and threw it away. None of the other kids around acted in that way. When it came time for bed Liam was ready. He went to bed on his own without any fuss. Thursday Liam has his Adaptive Aquatics class and I know he is looking forward to it. We will see how that goes as Liam may be helping Addy in her swim lessons.

IEP time!

Last week was much the same each day with Liam. He had good days at school, but at home his fits and tantrums would repeat themselves over and over. Thursday Liam had swimming and again had another excellent class. It was so good in fact, that Miss Karen asked if Liam would be able to stick around one day in the next week to show Addy (girl who has Adaptive Aquatics after Liam) how to do swim and float. Miss Karen is hoping that the relationship Liam has made with her in passing will help her progress in swimming. To us that was a very flattering thing to hear. Jill and I both think it speaks volumes of his progress. We will find out Thursday the 29^th when Liam will be a helper to Miss Karen. Since Liam had his progress report 2 weeks ago he has started on the next phase of swimming. Miss Karen was working to teach Liam how to do the breast stroke. She noticed that Liam’s right arm was having a hard time breaking the water. She began to wonder if he was left handed. We weren’t too sure so we started to pay closer attention at home. Liam has been all over with his hand usage, so it is hard to say. It is definitely something to watch for his next swim lesson.

Friday was a busy day for Liam, Jill, and myself. Friday morning I took Liam to his therapeutic horse back riding class. Liam was all excited to start until the instructor said she was switching Liam’s horse to a smaller one that would better fit him. Liam was upset that Opie wasn’t going to be there. I had to talk him into riding “Lucy”. I ended up walking with Liam to provide guidance so he did not fall off. One thing the instructor had noticed was that Liam had a great sense of balance. He was not leaning and sliding off the saddle like most kids do. I kept telling Liam to push his feet into the stirrups. That would force his body to straighten up in the saddle. We did numerous activities that involved commands to the horse and coordination with the hands on the reins. The hardest thing I saw with Liam was when he had to use the reins to turn the horse right or left. Proper hand position on the reins is a thumb’s up position. I had to manipulate Liam’s hands to correct them. He kept going back to a thumbs down position so it was a bit of a challenge trying to guide him and the horse at the same time. Towards the end of the lesson Liam was saying “done” and “I wanna go home”. He seemed to be tired the lesson. I attributed it to that for an hour he was on a horse and he had to pay attention or he would fall off. Overall, I think this class is great for him. He was definitely tired on the way home as he was quite whiny.

Once Liam’s lesson was done, I had to rush home, change, and go with Jill up to Liam’s school to meet with his teacher, school psychologist, and speech and OT therapist. Jill and I had spent Wednesday night writing up what our goals for Liam are this school year. It was not easy. While we both working on it together we got into arguments and it was quite stressful for both of us. We ended up separating and writing our own thoughts down, then compared and combined them. It turns out we were both on the same page for 90% of the things. There were a couple things that Jill noted that I did not, she is home all day with him after all. We went in Friday expecting a battle with the school OT and speech therapist. Our experience with them last year was not the best. The same can be said from other parents in Liam’s class. For anyone reading this that has not done an IEP for their child yet, it is one of the most important things you do for your child. Jill and I went in with a plan and were just eager to see what his teacher and school therapists would say. To our amazement we were all in agreement on what needs to be done with Liam. Liam is 2 years away from kindergarten. We want to take an aggressive approach with Liam now that he is 4, and for the fact that he met and exceeded some expectations from last year. Jill and I do not want to be doing Liam’s IEP next year and be worrying that Liam has way too far to advance and be able to attend kindergarten. This is when we really take a look at his progress and see that the hard work is paying off. Liam has come a long way, and yet still has a long way to go. We are both happy with the IEP for this year. We will look at it around Christmas time and see if we should back off, or even step it up. We were quite happy to hear the OT and speech therapist agree with our assessment’s on what Liam needs work on. Written progress reports will be sent home every twelve weeks. I pushed to have monthly reports and we agreed upon meeting with the teacher monthly and talk about his progress. Twelve weeks just seemed too in frequent to accurately check Liam’s progress. Overall we left the meeting satisfied with the IEP. I again can’t stress enough how important a well written IEP is.

Friday ended up on a fun note. We took all the boys down to our friends Matt and Dani’s place in the country to hang out for the evening. Our friends Brain and Deidre also showed up. All the kids played together peacefully and had a great time. During the winter months we try to get together with all our friends to hang out, have some beers, eat, and let the kids play. Each time it turns out to be a great time.

Saturday Liam and Seamus had their soccer games. Liam’s was first and he became quite difficult and I couldn’t get him to stay on the field. He kept crying about something on the field, I could not tell what, but after Jill talked with him, it came out he wanted to use his ball. When it came his turn to play he was insistent that he hold the candy sucker Jill bought for him. We let him go and he ran around the field while holding his sucker. He ended up doing very well. He had one big kick from mid-field that just missed the goal. The rest of the time Liam was right there with the rest of the kids mixing it up. I could not stick around for the second half of Liam’s game as I had to coach Seamus’ team. Apparently Liam noticed he could pull his shirt over his face and look through the mesh holes. It looked quite comical as Liam was standing in the middle of the field and walking around with the shirt over his face! It was ok though, Liam is not the first 4 year old out there doing silly things! Seamus’ team had a horrible game. None of the kids were in the game as they gave up 3 easy goals right away. They ended up fighting back, but lost it on some more easy goals on an inexperienced goalie. Oh well, it happens. It gives us something to work on at practice.

Saturday afternoon the boys all took long naps. After all, they did have a late night Friday and were up early for soccer on Saturday. Saturday evening was pretty quiet. Some of the kids and parents in the neighborhood came over and played in our yard. The boys all were asleep by 9pm.

Sunday was pretty quiet. After the boys had a nap, Seamus and Liam went outside to play. I told Liam he had to stay in the yard and not go over Kelly’s or Brenna’s party. I watched him from the living room window and could see it really being a challenge for Liam to stay in the yard. I went upstairs to put some clothes away and when I came down Seamus told me Liam went over Brenna’s. I walked over and talked to Steve and Donna. They said Liam was fine there and to just get the rest of the kids. I was mad Liam left the yard, but glad he was well behaved at our neighbor’s house. Liam’s impulsivity is what gets him all the time. It’s going to take a lot of work to teach him how to control this as he gets older. Liam and his brothers had a great time at the party as they know most of the kids that were there. It is almost like our neighbors have become an extended family.

School day for everyone!

Today was a big day at our house. All 4 boys were off to school this morning by 8am. Aidan and Brendan started at Play n Learn. They both went to school a lot easier than we expected. We thought they would put up a fight going, but they went quite eagerly. When Jill picked them up she said both of them were quite excited to see her. Once they got in the van she said they were both talking so much about what they did, they kept telling each other to be quiet so they could talk! Jill said it was quite funny listening to them.

When she picked up Seamus and Liam she had to go in the school to get them. Jill said it was quite comical as all the boys were excited to see each other. Jill did not get a chance to talk to Liam’s teacher to see how his day went, so she will try and see her tomorrow. Liam was in good spirits the whole way home. I called just after they got home and each of them talked to me on the phone about their day at school. It was really neat to listen to them.

Liam had soccer practice and was quite eager to go again. As we were still eating he was ready to go outside and practice with Seamus. We decided to let Liam go out and play. We gave him specific directions to stay in the yard. It was nice to see Liam actually obey. We would check on him every now and then and we would see him looking for Kelly. Once we finished dinner we went out with the boys and got them ready for soccer practice. While we were getting ready Liam was too anxious and kept screeching and whining while he had to wait for us to get to him. The screeching he does just gets to you. Liam seemed to have a good practice from what I could see. I was helping coach Seamus’ team play a makeup game from Saturday. When his practice was over he joined his Grandparents watching Seamus’ game. Liam was pretty tired after soccer. When we got home he got right in the tub and wanted me to sit with him in the chair. He quickly went to sleep.

Seamus had a makeup soccer game that was cancelled Saturday because of rain. Seamus had another excellent game scoring 5 goals. His entire team had a great game as goals were scored 6 of the 10 kids on the team. I think Seamus’ best effort tonight came when he was playing goalie. The other team barley crossed mid-field the entire game until Seamus was in goal. He ended up making 4 saves at goalie. He even had an assist on a goal when he threw the ball down field to one of his teammates who took the ball and scored a goal. Way to go Seamus!

Swimming, football, soccer, and fits

Liam has continued to do quite well at school. Thursday his class was supposed to go to the school bus garage, but for some reason did not. We couldn’t get too much else out of him about school that day. Thursday afternoon he had his Adaptive Aquatics class. He continues to do very well in it. We received a “report card” on Liam’s progress. There were 3 goals he had set earlier in the year. At this time he had met and exceeded them! This was great to see. When you looked at the comments earlier in the year it made you wonder if he would ever learn to swim. He has really come a long way. The only thing Liam still was a bit weak on was back floating for an extended period, but that will come. Reports like this helps reinforce what Jill and I are doing. Jill is the one who found out about this class and wondered how he would do. We took a “we’ll see” approach and it has really paid off. We are very fortunate to have had such a wonderful therapist teach Liam. She really has connected with Liam and his progress shows. Thank you Miss Karen!

Friday morning Liam had his horse back riding class. He was all excited about going and seeing his horse Opie. Jill said this class went much better than the first time. Liam was all into his riding this time. He really had a great time and told me all about it when I got home from work.

Liam’s Friday stayed busy as Jill’s dad and I took Seamus and Liam to see the Olmsted Falls vs. Berea football game. I wasn’t sure how Liam would do given the crowd and noise level at this game. Liam was great! He luckily had room to move between a couple rows of seats we sat in. Liam was moving all over from one place to another to sit. About 6 minutes into the first quarter Liam said he was done and wanted to go home. I gave him his orange juice to drink and that distracted him for a little bit. Midway through the 2nd quarter Liam had to use the bathroom, so away we went. We came back just before half time. Once half time started Seamus and his friend Eli wanted to get some candy. So, away we go again from the top of the stands down through the crowd. They all got some candy. Before we went back to our seats I decided to make them all use the bathroom. Good thinking. We watched the Bulldogs beat up Berea. All the boys had a great time. Liam’s teacher was there and he kept asking where she was. To distract him I kept telling him to keep looking. While he was quite active in the seats he was really very good. We left midway through the 4th quarter as it was already well past their bedtime. I will gladly take Liam to another football game.

Saturday morning was raining so Seamus’ soccer game got rescheduled to Monday night. Liam’s game was still on at noon. By then the rain had stopped and it was just an occasional drizzle. It worked out that I got to see how Liam would do. Overall he did ok considering his autism. I’ve used the analogy of what it is like for Liam when people talk to him. The analogy is put yourself on the 50 yard line of a pro football stadium with 80,000 people cheering at the same time. This is how it sounds to Liam all the time. Now here he is on a soccer field with an additional crowd cheering and yelling different things. I could see Liam easily distracted by all the crowd noise as he was playing. Liam would be running around with the rest of the kids, but as he was doing this, he would look in the direction of whatever got his attention. The result was he wasn’t playing the game so much, just running around with the rest of the kids. Liam would occasionally kick the ball, but his legs were quite limp when he would kick the ball. Based on what Jill and her parents saw last week, they said Liam did much better. I really believe by season’s end Liam will do much better. I see his playing soccer as a way to teach Liam how to focus on the task at hand. I think if we can get Liam to pay attention to what he is doing on the field, it will help him to pay attention to whatever other task he may do.

Saturday afternoon Liam was tired from soccer so he took a long nap. This worked well as I got to watch college football while he and his brother napped! Jill worked Saturday night so it was me and he boys! Seamus had a couple friends come over so all the boys played outside for a while and were running all over the place. Liam and his brothers went to bed at their now normal time of 8:30-9pm.

Sunday we went to a going away party for my Aunt Marge and Uncle Tom. The boys were all excited because they got to see their cousins and play. Liam was pretty good except for the fact that he was all over their dvd collection. Liam repeatedly wanted to watch a movie but couldn’t as everyone was watching the Browns game. Liam had little fits about it to Jill and I. Liam was easily be distracted by the other kids around. The boys all went to bed after we got home.

Now each of these days don’t sound too bad. Each of these days Liam would have his repeated fits. He has been screeching / screaming a lot more lately. The screeching he does is one of those sounds you hear that just gets on your nerves right away. Kind of like nails going down a chalkboard. Liam did not have any serious meltdowns these days, but it just the repeated fits that get to you. Thanks to a reader of this blog we have gotten a lot of information about a gluten free diet. Based on her testimonial and others we have read, Jill and I are going to try implementing this. We will see how it goes. Hopefully we too will have the same success.

Great progress in school

This week has been much the same with Liam each night. There are repeated fits he has that go on and on until he gets his way. He wasn’t too bad on Monday, but Tuesday after school he was terrible. Liam had a tantrum in which he got very violent with Jill. Once Liam and Seamus got home from school, Seamus’ friend down the street asked if Seamus could go to the mall with him. Jill said yes and Liam right away thought he was going when Jill told him no, he began crying and screaming he wanted to go with Seamus. The neighbor pulled up in her van to pick up her son and Seamus and Liam sneaked his way into the van. Jill had to go in and get him out. Liam kicked, screamed, and hit, Jill as she pulled him out. As they were trying to leave Liam settled down for a minute, Jill put him down, and he then went back in the van. Jill had to go in again, and the kicking, hitting, and screaming started again. This time she was just carrying him in the house and he kept screaming and crying. When the van pulled away, Liam got angrier grabbed 2 fists full of hair and was pulling it. Jill said the look on Liam’s face was pure anger. Once she got in the house he screamed for a minute or so, and suddenly it was like switch went off, and Liam said he was hungry and ready for lunch. Jill said it was like seeing Jekyl and Hyde before her very eyes. After lunch Liam played for a short time and then took a nap.

When I arrived home Liam was all happy and excited about open house and his and Seamus’ school at night. Liam could not wait to go. This was quite evident as he repeatedly asked if it was time to go from the time I got home until the time we left. (4:30-6:55) During this time when he kept asking the question of when we were leaving, we would answer him. He would at times have small fits about it. His repeated questions and little fits really become irritating. We have used the approach of ignoring his fits and that seems to work at times.

At school we saw Seamus’ classroom and he showed us around. He was quite proud to be in kindergarten as he showed us practically everything in the room and introduced us to the other kids he has made friends with. It was great to see the excitement on Seamus’ face. Seamus is going to do great in school.

We went to Liam’s class next. Liam was very excited to see his classmates and teacher there. The amount of enthusiasm and pride Liam showed was great to see. He too showed us everything in his room. While there we talked with other parents we have gotten to know. It is really nice talking with the different families as while our kids have different problems, we all are happy to listen and share any advice or information with each other. We talked with Liam’s teacher to see how he has been in school. She said she can not be any happier with him. She said he participates in class, does what is asked of him, and most of all, know his routine each day. Each day after starting class Liam puts on his nametag, gets 2 reams of paper in little cart, and takes it down to the school office. He then returns to class and participates with them. At times his teacher said they need to redirect him, but it not as bad as it was last school year. What we came to the conclusion of was that Liam’s routine is the same as it was last year, the same students for the most part, same teachers (1 new one), and same room. Had Liam been in a different classroom and total different environment we are fairly certain he would have a hard time to adjust. We explained to his teacher how his tantrums have been in the afternoon and evening. After hearing how well he is doing in school and how well behaved he is, it sounds like after school he is just letting out the energy from being restrained in school. It makes a lot of sense. We are very glad to hear he is doing so well in school, but we need to find a way to help him and ourselves at home. When we meet with his neurologist in October we will discuss how to best work with him. Until then, we will continue to cope with him. Each day we try and think of different ways to handle him, and it is a very frustrating and never ending battle.

Wednesday was another day of the same routine. After school today, Jill had to take Aidan and Brendan to the doctor. She also had to take Seamus and Liam as no one was available to watch them. It turns out Aidan and Brendan each have respiratory infections. Aidan also had an ear infection. They are both on medicine now at least. Liam while there was pretty good, but at times still a handful.

This evening Liam wasn’t too bad. He went and played with his friend Kelly. Liam and Kelly came over our house as it started raining, so Kelly just went back home. Liam was having fun just playing out in the rain. Liam came up to me quite early in the evening and wanted to take a bath. I tried to tell him to just play, but he insisted on the bath. We came in, he bathed, and was ready for bed. It was good that he got to bed early. He needs a good night sleep after his busy day. We will see how Thursday goes. Liam’s class is going to the bus garage. Last year Liam was a bit apprehensive there. Let’s hope for the best!

The horse ridin' soccer playin' Liam!

Liam’s therapeutic horse back riding went very well. Liam was all excited when he got there and when he saw his buddy Kennedy from school. When Jill put Liam on the horse he was a bit scared at first. He was high up, and within a few second he was said “done”. Jill coaxed him into staying on the horse. Once he was on there the instructor gave him direction on how to make the horse go and stop. Liam did surprisingly well with the instruction that was given. The lesson was a little comical as one of the assistants that would be there to walk along with the horse and guide Liam could not make it. The instructor gave Jill instruction on what she had to do. Jill had to walk with her left hand on the horse to be there in case Liam needed help. Well, 5 weeks ago Jill had carpal tunnel surgery on her left hand. To top it off, Jill was wearing her tiva sandals! Everything was going ok at first along the trail until the instructor said, “Ok Liam, we’re going trot a little!” So here is Jill with her bad hand on the horse jogging along in her sandals. Luckily she didn’t get stepped on her fall. Liam’s was instructed several times to make his horse go and stop. Liam really enjoyed that. He got to say “walk on” to make the horse go, and “whoa” to make it stop. His horses name was Opey. During the whole hour ride Liam would repeatedly say he was done and ask to get down. Jill had to coax and talk Liam into staying on. Overall, it was a great time for Liam. He was so excited to tell me about it when I got home from work.

Saturday morning Seamus and Liam had their first soccer games. Seamus was at 9am, and Liam started at 9:30. Since I was coaching Seamus’ game, I was going to have to run over 2 fields to see Liam play. Seamus ended up having another great game. He scored 4 goals and played some good defense.

When I went over to Liam’s game I could see Jill out there coaxing Liam to keep playing. It turns out Liam wanted a donut from the concession stand. When Seamus first started soccer, getting a donut with Grandpa McCourt was what he did there. As always with Autistic kids, there is a routine. Saturday was a new routine starting for Liam. When Liam was on the field he was ok out there and ran with the other kids while playing. They are all 4, so you can imagine what it is like when they play soccer. Our neighbor and friend Sean who Liam adores, was coaching and he was simply great with Liam. Each time there was a break in the action, Liam would run over to Jill and want water from his water bottle. He would then need a little coaxing to go back out. One thing we really noticed with Liam and his under-sensitivity his when he kicks the ball. As soon as his foot hits the ball, his foot goes instantly limp and the ball doesn’t go too far. This is fine though. Hopefully by the end of the season he will gain some strength from it all. When the game was over Seamus was right there to tell Liam how well he did, and even hug him. It was great to see. Now that Liam has gone through this once, next week he will remember the routine and hopefully be more into the game. Jill’s dad was thrilled how Liam did. While talking to him he pointed out something I had not thought of. He was so happy to see Liam playing soccer he recalled that last summer Liam could not even pedal a bike. Now a year later he is riding a bike and playing soccer with other kids his age. He’s right. This definitely shows all the hard work Liam has done is paying off. It truly is great to see progress being made.

Later Saturday evening while down at a neighbor’s house, Liam had a meltdown. I was at our neighbor’s Sean and Kim’s when Liam came down with Seamus. They started playing with a bunch of the neighbor kids when they ran down to someone’s house where they had an inflatable castle for kids to jump in. Apparently Seamus was allowed in, but not Liam. One neighbor lady we don’t care too much for said it was because there were older boys in there playing rough. That started Liam’s meltdown. All he wanted was to go with Seamus. Jill had just come down there as I was carrying Liam back screaming and his body rigid. We tried to settle him down, but that wasn’t working too well. I was supposed to stay to watch the OSU game, but Liam while crying started saying he wanted take a bath. Jill said she would go, but Liam wanted me. We came home, he took a bath, then we sat in the chair together where he quickly fell asleep. For comparison sake, Aidan and Brendan started running to the castle when I said no and to go back the house. They both turned around went with me.

Sunday wasn’t too bad of a day for Liam. I went outside to cut the grass and he insisted he come with me. I told him he would have to stay in the yard and not to leave. That lasted for about 10 minutes when he saw Eli and Ruthie playing next door with the neighbor’s dog. Before I knew it he was down playing with Ruthie and Kelly at Kelly’s house. I talked to Jill about it and she said to just leave him there. She called and spoke to the father who said Liam was there playing and he was fine. When I got done with the yard work Liam had been down there 3.5 hours. Jill came home with Liam for a nap. She was told that Liam was very well behaved and that he had lunch while he was there. Jill said Liam had an air about him walking home that sensed he was proud that he got to play alone with his own friends. I sat down with Liam and we talked about what they did. It was really nice to see him playing someone else other than his brothers. As he gets older Jill and I wonder how he is going to do socially. Will he make friends? Will he get invited to birthday parties? Will he go to a friend’s house for a play date? It is still far down a way down the road, but knowing the social issues Autistic children have makes you wonder. Thinking about all this can drive you nuts. That’s why I prefer to just keep taking things one day at a time with Liam. One day we will hopefully be able to look back see that all hard work has paid off. After this weekend, despite the small fits and meltdown he had, I feel very good about his progress.

So far so good in school

Liam’s teacher called Wednesday night to talk about how his progress in school. She said Liam has definitely shown progress this year. Each day Liam starts out by putting his name tag on, loading up 2 reams of paper and deliver it to the office in a wagon. Liam says good morning to everyone along the way. Once he gets back to class he sits down with the rest of the class for table time or whatever activity they are doing. His teacher said that Liam has been more actively participating in the group exercises. It is a definite improvement over last year. She did say she has noticed Liam getting tired by the end of class each day. When he gets that way he gets quiet and does not want to participate. The school year is just getting started so this may just be an adjustment period. We’ll see how this goes.

When Liam has been getting home from school he has been taking naps at his own will. That is good to see. After a busy morning at school he needs the rest. He has still been having his tantrums. The past few days they have just been small ones, nothing to the point of a meltdown at least. Still, the repeated tantrums wear on you.

Liam had another good day swimming. He was definitely exhausted Thursday night. Liam had school in the morning, came home, had lunch, played a little, and then had to go to swimming. When he got home he continued to play. I got home from work and took Seamus and Liam to see their cousin Ryan’s football game. Liam was good at the game until the second half. I could tell he was getting tired as he was saying he wanted to go home. This kept up the entire second half until the game was over. On the way home it was around 6:30 and Liam fell asleep in the van. We got home around 7, and by 7:30 Liam was ready to take his bath and go to bed. I went in with him and by 8:15 Liam was sound asleep and in bed.

Friday will be another exciting day for Liam. Friday morning he starts a therapeutic horse back riding class. It will be exciting to see how he does. Stay tuned for an update…

First soccer practice

Liam’s day got off to a rough start. He decided while waiting for the bus that he didn’t want to go to school. He went in the house and Jill had to work to persuade to come back out and get on the bus. As she was doing this the bus pulled up and Liam finally decided to get on. Once he got in his seat he was all smiles and was waving goodbye to Jill.

When he got home from school he was quite hungry. Jill made him lunch and he quickly ate. Once done Liam played a little and then laid down for a couple hour nap. When he woke up he was all excited and ready for soccer practice. He on wearing his Ireland soccer jersey he got from Grandma and Grandpa McCourt. I got home from work and Liam repeatedly asked me if he had soccer practice and if Mr. Carr was going to be his coach.

I had to help coach Seamus’ soccer practice so Jill watched Liam’s. When it was done Jill said Liam did pretty good. At times during some drills they were doing Liam said he was done and would walk to her. She would coax him into getting back into practice, or Mr. Carr would. Jill said she actually felt sad watching Liam out there with the other kids. She said you could just see a difference between Liam and his peers. She said the other kids that were the same age just seemed so much more alert to what was going on. She also noticed the difference in Liam’s leg strength. When he kicks the ball his leg is very limp. This is attributed to his low muscle tone and the fact the he is under sensitive. Hopefully soccer will help him with his leg strength. Liam’s first game is Saturday and we’ll see how he does. We are cautiously optimistic. All the chaos of people yelling, kids on the field, and the speed of the game, all make for a bad mix for Liam. We won’t know how he will do, but we hope for the best. He just may surprise us like he has before.

Busy busy week!

It has certainly been a busy week. I have not had much time to update this each day as I’d like, so I’ll have a quick summary and go over what has gone on.

The week was pretty much the same each night. Liam would have his fits several times a day and just be a handful each day. This is probably the worst part of it all. The same routine happens day in and day out. The only time it is peaceful and stress free is when Liam is at school or the kids are out playing after dinner. Even with summer coming to a close, we both fear the winter months when Liam and his brothers are in the house each night. Ugh. Each day Liam would have repeated fits in which he would scream, cry, grunt, bang things, and even be aggressive towards his brothers when they got near. Liam’s aggressiveness has gotten worse. It may just be an age thing, but he has really shown more aggression lately with his brothers, and Jill and me. When Liam starts to have a fit we do our best to keep his brother away so Liam can work it out. Ignoring him continues to be the best way for him to work it out. Again, the worst part of it all is that this repeats itself over and over each day.

Liam seems to have been doing very well at school. Each day he has gotten off the bus he has been happy. Jill and I miss the conversations she would have with Liam’s teachers at the end of each day. It was always good finding out how each day went for him. Jill is going to call his teacher Monday to see how he has been doing. One thing Liam has talked about is his job each day. Last year to help Liam get into rhythm each day he would take a few reams down to the school office in a wagon. One of the staff there made him a nametag to wear each day. Liam really enjoys his little job.

We managed to work out financing for Liam to continue his swimming for the remainder of 2005. We are very fortunate to have this worked out. Liam continues to strive and excel at swimming. His classes lately have continued to be excellent. His teacher Miss Karen has him do a little more each week. You can see the progress each week. This past Sunday we attended a family picnic at Jill’s cousins house. They have a pool with a diving board and Liam couldn’t wait to jump from it. I was a bit hesitant at first, but Liam jumped with no fear. He ended up swimming like he was taught the entire length of the pool! I was in the water with him just to stay with him. He was amazing. Jill’s family was quite impressed as well. Liam dove and swam the pool 3 times. On the 3rd time he was getting tired. He got tired and rolled on his back to float, something he learned at swimming. I was getting tired in the pool with him! The swimming is one thing that has definitely been quite successful for him.

On another good note, I will officially go ahead and declare Liam potty trained!! He has continued to use the bathroom all the time. He has gone like he should at school, and anywhere else we have been. Jill and I are quite thankful that this worked out like it has. We know several other families that this continues to be a challenge for.