The Biggest Loser & Rudolph

Tuesday Liam was excited that I was home from work again. I was home because I was sick. He was insistent that I walk him down to the bus again. As we were waiting for the bus Liam was quite happy I was with him. When he got on the bus he was waving and saying “bye daddy”. It was nice to see him go off to school that way.

When it was near time for Jill to pick the boys up, I was feeling better and thought it would be nice to surprise them by picking them up. I had Aidan with me as he stayed home sick as well. Liam and Seamus were quite excited to see me when I got out of the van to pick them up. It is really sweet to see them happy to see me. We then went and got Brendan. He too was surprised and hugged me when he got in the van. The boys all talked the whole way home.

The boys just played all afternoon and were pretty good. In the middle of the afternoon Liam started with talking about the show The Biggest Loser. He kept on repeating what time the Biggest Loser came on. I find it interesting that for the second day in a row he was focused on what time a show came on. He would repeatedly ask if it was time yet, how much longer, and what channel the Biggest Loser was on. When I would tell him he would be in bed when it was on, he would get quite upset. This routine of questions about the show would continue. When it was his bed time though, he was out quickly by 8pm.

Wednesday Liam must have had a good day at school. He got a Reese cup from his speech therapist today. Don’t know why, but he put it in his pocket. Jill had no idea he had it either. Jill found out when she took the boys on the grocery store and while in line to pay, Liam pulls out a messy Reese cup from his pocket. So Jill had a nice mess to clean up. It would be nice if we heard from the speech therapist what Liam did to earn a Reese cup.

Jill said throughout the afternoon Liam was fixated on Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer being on tv. When I got home from work, that was the first thing Liam said to me, :Rudolph is on tonight! While he was running around playing with his brothers, Liam would stop every now and then ask me if it was time for Rudolph yet. I would remind him what time it was on and he would tell me it was on now and to change the channel on the tv. I finally tried to how Liam where the hands on the clock must be when Rudolph comes on. I even showed him the time on the tv has to say 8:00. I even repeated to him the events that must take place before Rudolph comes on. This didn’t really help much, he would still repeat over and over about Rudolph being on.

When it was finally time to give Liam his bath he seemed to understand better when Rudolph was coming on. Once he got his pajamas on, he was ready to sit in the chair with me. The boys all had their popcorn and juice to watch Rudolph. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is one of my all time favorites as well. It was really neat watching it with the boys. Liam made it through the first 15 minutes of Rudolph before he fell asleep. He was definitely exhausted since he had not had a nap all day.

Wife Swap

Today Liam’s day started off on a good note as I was home to see him off to school. He was really happy and excited about going to school. He was insistent that I walk him down the bus. When he was getting on he was really excited I was there as he was telling his bus driver who I was. It was cute. He was smiling and waving to me as the bus pulled away.

This afternoon I was unable to find out from Jill how Liam’s day at school was. When I came home from work, she had to leave for work. One thing I did notice right away was Liam was insistent that the ABC show Wife Swap was on and I had to watch it. I don’t quite know what the fixation was on this, but it kept on until he went to bed. Liam would keep talking about it so fast and stammering each time, I could hardly understand what he was saying. When he talked it seemed like his mind was going a thousand miles an hour and the words were coming out just as fast. I had to repeatedly talk to him slowly and get him to slow down. I kept telling him when Wife Swap was on he was so insistent it was on when he said it was on he would put the remote in my hand to put on ABC. Just before bath time I told him he would be asleep when Wife Swap came and he couldn’t watch it. This led to him screaming, crying, and laying on the floor kicking his feet for about 5 minutes. I ignored him and I think that helped him stop.
When it was bedtime Liam wanted to sit with me as usual He again asked a few times when Wife Swap was coming on. He would continue to whine about it. I finally told him it was coming on in a few minutes. After I settled him down, Liam was asleep quite quickly. I have a feeling he was tired for the most part. I still don’t understand where or how Wife Swap got into tonight’s picture. The only thing I can think is Jill likes the show and may have said how she will miss it tonight. Then again, Liam has one heck of a memory.

Meds losing effectiveness?

Today I was home with the boys again while Jill did some Christmas shopping. Liam was again screeching and whining throughout the day. This morning about a ½ hour after I gave him his risperdal and prozac, he didn’t seem any different than before he was given the medication. He has been on risperdal for around 6 months now and I just wonder if his body has adjusted to it. It does not seem to have any effect on him now. When we started Liam on prozac we noticed it seemed to calm him down some. Now I don’t notice it having any effect. These are things I am noticing and documenting for records sake. Liam’s stammering was also prevalent today. On a few occasions Jill and I had no idea what he was trying to say. Only after repeating it several times slowly was he able to get it out. We will continue to monitor this closely.

The day was quite uneventful for Liam. He played quite nicely with his Aidan and Brendan during the day. They all took a nap after I made them popcorn to eat while they watched The Polar Express movie. After Liam’s nap he was in a good mood and just wanted to sit with me in the chair for a while. I welcomed this expecting to only last for a short time, and it did. Liam was out of my lap in about 15 minutes and was waking his brother up to play. That was ok, it was time for them to get up anyway. Liam went to bed without any problem. He was excited because Shrek was on. A movie he has had to have seen at least a thousand times. It was ok though, he sat in my lap and fell asleep rather quickly. Good night Liam….

Anxiety and stammering

The past 2 days Liam has not been too bad. His anxiety still has its moments when it is real bad. This results in him screeching, whining, and crying. One thing has he has done for me though is tell me what is bothering him a few times. The repeated screeching and whining is very tiring after listening to it all day. Liam’s stammering has also been horrible at times. I have found when I talk softly to him and tell him to slow down that he seems to relax and then speak clearly. Sometimes it takes several attempts with him to understand what he is saying. We will be meeting with his teachers soon to discuss this.

Friday Liam was home with me all day since Jill had to work. Liam was very anxious at breakfast. He was repeatedly screeching and whining about who was having what for breakfast, who was too close to him, to who what cartoon had to be on. I gave Liam his risperdal and prozac hoping that would calm him down. I honestly didn’t notice any difference after he took it. I tried as best I could each time to try and see what exactly was bothering him. Liam also had a few fits that were caused while playing with his brothers. Each time it was usually because what was happening was not the way he wanted it. I tried to talk with him using reason, but when I talked to him, he looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language. It is very frustrating at times.

After lunch Liam, Aidan, and Brendan, were all playing quite nicely together. They all looked tired so I asked them to take a nap, and they did. They slept for a good 2.5 hours. Jill called and was bringing pizza home for dinner, the boys were thrilled. Jill ended up getting home a little later than she expected. The boys were hungry and wanting to eat anything. Once Jill got home and they ate, I was surprised that they were all ready for bed by 7:30. So the night ended for them all by 8:30 when they were sound asleep.

Saturday after Seamus’ soccer game we took the boys to Home Depot to look at an artificial Christmas tree we liked. What an experience that was. It has been my experience over the years that Home Depot hires inept people. Jill and I each tried to find someone for assistance. We each did and no surprise, we got 2 different answers. We ended up having to run to another Home Depot to get the tree we wanted. Go to Lowe’s if at all possible, I have had nothing but positive experiences at that store.

In order to convince the boys to behave well, we bribed them with dinner at McDonald’s. Liam then must have repeated a hundred times that they have Power Ranger toys and that he wanted the red one. Liam was pretty well behaved in the stores. We got the McDonald’s and Liam was trying as hard as he could to reach the food bags for the toys. He threw a fit on the way home because he wanted his toy right away. Once we got home and he had his toy and happy meal, he settled down. The rest of the evening he played very well with Aidan and Brendan. Their play was a lot of large motor activity. This was evident by the fact that they had toys all over the living room. After I corrected them all they all helped me clean up which was a big help. Liam needed to be constantly reminded to help clean up. He is one to make a mess, but cleaning up is always a challenge for him. This is one thing we will continue to work on with him. Liam, Aidan, and Brendan all went to bed by 8pm since they did not have a nap all day.

Seamus ended up getting quite lucky today. I got a call from our neighbor’s Joe and Lynette asking if Seamus would want to go on the Polar Express in the Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area. This is something Jill and I have wanted to do with the boys, but getting tickets for it is done on a lottery. Seamus ended up going and had a great time. He was quite excited telling us about it when he got home. Hopefully we will be able to see pictures from it soon.

Typical ups and downs

This week has continued to be the typical week of ups and downs with Liam. One minute he is doing fine, the next he is screaming and having a tantrum. Tuesday at school was an interesting day for Liam. Jill went to Liam’s class since they were having a “Thanksgiving celebration”. There is a new child in Liam’s class that is apparently quite a handful. Liam has stated the new child has at times pinched his face, twist his arm, or hit him. Jill has also heard similar stories from other parents in the class. Jill noticed right away this child is quite a handful for even one teacher. The child is extremely impulsive and often physical with other kids in the class. The problem oter parents are having with this situation is that this child us disrupting a classroom environment was very conducive to learning. Jill said she can see the frustration on Liam’s teacher’s face. The kids went to a function in the school auditorium. Upon returning, this new child ran into the room, knocked over a little girl who wears braces to walk, and caused her to bump her head on a desk. Instead of the parent talking to the child about was done they sat him down for a snack instead. This was like rewarding him for what he did. The other parents in the room were angry right away. Following class Jill and few of the other parents got together and were each going to call to complain about this child being added to their class. The problem the parents have is that this classroom is the smallest in size, and has more kids than the other special ed class has. This other child should have been added to this other classroom with an additional teacher to meet his needs. The only reason we can see this child was added to Liam’s class was because of the job his teacher does. She is phenomenal with all the kids. The other teacher is not well liked by other parents. Instead of the school addressing the problem with the other teacher, they just stick the child in Liam’s class without additional supervision. Jill and the other parents that were concerned have left messages with the superintendent. We will see how this goes. We have compassion for what this other family is going through. The parents concerned here do not have anything against the child, but how the school board has handled the situation.

Wednesday I was home with the boys as Jill attended our friend Renee’s memorial mass. When Jill returned home in the evening she looked emotionally drained. After we talked about the memorial, everyone that was there, and how the mass ended, I can see why it was draining. The mass ended with the priest asking everyone to sing Renee’s favorite Christmas song, Silent Night. There was not a dry eye to be had in the church. The last 2 lines of the song will always remind us of Renee now: “Sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace”. Renee is now in heavenly peace after her courageous battle with leukemia.

Liam’s day wasn’t too bad Wednesday. He was quite playful in the morning with his brothers, Eli, and Kelly who came over for quite a few hours. They all played together so well, it was nice to not have to listen to Liam screech and whine. One thing Liam kept doing was while in the middle of playing, he would run up to me and ask me about grandma and grandpa coming over for turkey tomorrow, and if the parades will be on. Liam was merely having these thoughts go through his head as we told him what was going to happen Thursday.

As always seems to happen, after a good day Wednesday, it is followed up with a bad one. Thursday Liam’s anxiety seemed to extremely high. We couldn’t exactly figure out if it was any one thing. He would screech, cry, and whine over anything. It was quite exasperating as Jill was trying to get cooking done. I tried to help as much as I could with my knee still tender after surgery Monday. When the Macy’s parade came on Liam seemed to settle down a bit. He and his brothers watched the parade and got excited when their favorite character balloons would go by. They would all lose interest when the parade paused for some lip-synced performance by different plays or singers. I even lost interest. I would holler for them when the parade would resume. Throughout the rest of the day Liam was quite anxious. When everyone left you could see Liam was exhausted from the day. He may have been over tired as he was quite difficult to get to sleep. Liam finally went to sleep around 9:30. We will see how the next few days go.

A long overdue update!

The past 2 weeks have quite busy for myself at work. Last week I was out in Portland for work. Then this week I had to work Monday – Wednesday until after 10pm due to meetings. I am glad it is over now, time to get back in the normal routine! The past 2 weeks have also been long for Jill, as she has had to be home with the boys every day and practically every hour. I tell you what though, despite how crazy this place can be with the 4 boys, and Liam’s tantrums, I really miss them all when I am away. I find myself constantly wondering how Liam is doing, does he need to be held, is he doing ok in school, was anyone mean to him. The thoughts go on and on when I call home those thoughts are put to ease as I ask Jill all about Liam’s day.

Last week Liam was much the same as he has been. Still having the fits, an occasional meltdown, and the repeated pajama changing. The pajama thing seems to have stopped, for now. While I was in Portland Liam kept asking Jill if I was Oregon. He would often repeatedly ask everyday if I was in Oregon. Liam took my picture on his activity chart on the utility room door and put my picture on the airplane, meaning I was out of town. Jill showed Liam the state of Oregon from a puzzle of the United States. She showed him with a toy airplane how the plane flew to Oregon. On the Oregon piece of the puzzle was a fish, so Liam thought I was fishing. When I got home from Portland Liam tried explaining this all to me and I could only put bits and pieces of it together. Jill filled in the blanks for me.

This past week I had to work late Monday – Wednesday. I would get home after the boys went to bed, so I never to got see them. Wednesday it was my birthday so I made an extra effort to get home to see the boys. Jill said they wanted to make a cake and sing happy birthday to me. That day, Liam repeatedly asked when I was coming home so he could sing to me. When she told me that over a phone call I really wanted to get home earlier than I planned. As it turned out I was able to get home by 7:30. The boys had no idea I had come in the house. Seamus came down the stairs just after I walked in and I surprised him. As soon as he shouted Daddy! Liam, Aidan, and Brendan, came running down stairs. They all just wanted to sing happy birthday to me. They sang and we all had a piece of cake before heading up to bed. It was really special. Liam sat in my lap while he fell asleep. I couldn’t sit down fast enough for him.

This weekend Jill and I have noticed Liam being more rigid in the way he holds his hands. To help give you an idea of what we are talking about, picture a child standing idle, their arms and hands will hang at their sides or they will fold them, or put them in their pockets. Liam’s hands have been up around his face or at his hips, each finger is bent in a different position. This is how he has been holding his hands a few times a day. The other thing we have both noticed is his stammering has been terrible. The stammering has gone on throughout the day. Saturday night while he was taking a bath his stammering was so bad I had to talk to him slowly and softly to get him to slow down and talk. Sunday the stammering continued. We aren’t sure what is causing this now, but it is something we have noted. We will bring this up to his teachers in school and his neurologist.

So the challenge goes on. We can only continue to keep up the fight and continue to work with Liam to help him progress. Right now we are in one of those phases where if there is any progress, we aren’t seeing it. It’s rough, but we will be ok.

Party day!

Saturday was a busy day. Seamus had his first indoor soccer game at 8am. He did excellent as always scoring 3 goals. Coaching him is a lot of fun. The one thing I really to work with him on is saving his energy out there. Indoor soccer is played in 2, 20 minute halves. Seamus was all over place with the ball. He was exhausted by the mid-point of the second half. If he can learn to just play his position and be patient, he will have more energy and be able to have the bursts of speed indoor soccer requires. It will be a fun and exciting season for sure!

Saturday afternoon we had a party way out in Medina (45 minutes away) at our friend’s Matt & Dani’s new log cabin home. There were going to be a lot of kids there so it was definitely going to be fun. The day couldn’t have been a more beautiful November day. It was 71 degrees, a bit cloudy, and no wind to speak of. There were so many kids there that we have to keep checking on the boys just to make sure we knew where they were. All the kids played so well together it gave us parents some time to hang out, relax, and enjoy some cocktails. One observation Jill and I made was with Liam. Despite the number of kids that were there, Liam just went about his own thing. He would occasionally play with Seamus and a few other boys, but for the most part he would just wander around and play by himself. A few times he would wander in the living room and ask to put a movie on. He was easily denied and some of the men were watching the Ohio State game, and Notre Dame’s football games. He took it all well and just did something else. The boys all had a great time on a hayride. They all had even more fun when a huge bonfire was started. The night was so pleasant out it was a shame we had to come home early so Jill and I could attend another party. The boys were clearly exhausted on the way home. The ride home gave them a nap. They were all awake, but sleepy, for Jill’s parents when we left.

Sunday the boys were up bright and early of course. It was way too early for Jill and I who got home late. I got up and got the day started for the boys, thank god for Starbucks coffee! Liam seemed unusually hyper and active this morning. He was racing all around, was loud, and quite physical in his play with his brothers. I quickly gave him his medication after breakfast and that seemed to have little affect. He ran around all morning with all kinds of large motor play. We tried figure out if it was something he ate, but we couldn’t think of anything. He may have just been over tired. Around 1230 Liam wanted to sit with me in the recliner. In less than 15 minutes he was sound asleep. He ended up taking a 2.5 hour nap. Aidan and Brendan also took a nap during that time. They were all clearly still tired from Saturday’s fun. Liam was much calmer after his nap. I was home with Liam, Aidan, and Brendan, while Jill and Seamus were out at the store. A friend of mine from work brought over some toys his son no longer play with. Liam and the twins had a field day with all the new trucks. Jill brought pizza home and the boys chowed that down. It was shortly after that Liam told me he was ready for his bath and bed. We will see what this week holds in store. I am going to be out of town this coming week so we’ll see how Liam does.

Typical days lately, and a reply to “Sullenbunny”

The past couple days have been much the same with Liam. He has continued with the pajamas going on and off. He has continued to have his tantrums when his mind is set on doing something and we don’t allow it. Now his tantrum is not because he is acting like a spoiled brat, but because is mind gets set on what he wants to do, and any variation off that raises his anxiety. The increase in anxiety is shown in the form a tantrum. We have been doing our best to ignore his tantrums lately and it seems to be helping. They end much quicker and Liam will settle down more quickly. Sometimes he will follow us around and keep bugging us to let him out, usually to go to Kelly’s or our neighbor’s the Stasko’s. Ignoring him isn’t as easy, so we try and find ways to distract him. Sooner or later the tantrum is over. We will keep dealing with this each like we have. I can’t say if it will ever end, who knows. Hopefully with time, age, and continued therapy Liam’s tantrums will end.

Wednesday Jill and I attended our second meeting of the Autism Society of Greater Cleveland. I have started work with ASGC to try and help make this organization a bigger asset to the Cleveland area. Each meeting we’ve gone to has been excellent. We have met a lot of people that share the same concerns and questions as we do. Each meeting the ASGC tries to have a speaker. This meeting we were fortunate to hear Dr. Derrick Lonsdale speak. He truly offered a lot of insight into the biological aspect of Autism. I would highly recommend him to anyone. While at the meeting Jill and I ran into Jared. We got to know Jared through the More Than Words class we took through the county. Jared is the father of twin boys with Autism. His hands are definitely full. We exchanged information in hopes of getting together soon.

Thursday Liam had his Adaptive Aquatics class again. Liam had another excellent class. This week Miss Karen worked with Liam on his diving. As I’ve stated in the past, when Liam dives, it is more of a belly flop. It is kind of funny to see actually. Liam is making slow progress diving. There is quite a bit of technique that goes into diving. You can see with Liam that all the mechanics most people take for granted is really a struggle for Liam. We are in a new phase of swimming with Liam and he has a lot of work to do. We’ll see in a few months how progresses. Hopefully it will be as much as he has since early this year.

Friday Liam had his therapeutic horse back riding. He again had a great time riding the horse and doing the different exercises He had a new exercise to do today and it was called a 2 point stance. He had to stand on his feet while in the stirrups and balance himself. Jill said it was quite a challenge. Liam still has trouble holding the reins in his hands. He should be holding them in each hand like an ice cream cone, thumbs up. Liam has struggled with this since I went to one of his early lessons. It is almost like there is a mental block for him. So, we will continue to work with him on this. One thing Jill has noticed with the instructor is that she doesn’t really seem to understand why Liam and his riding buddy Kennedy are the way they are. Sometimes she just thinks the kids should just respond. Jill thinks it is a little more hectic in the morning because there are very few aids to help the instructor. Jill also said that outside today there is so many other things to distract Liam. She had to keep reminding him to pay attention to what he was doing. Jill thinks Liam has actually responded better riding while someone other than her is his aid. Hopefully some more aids can show up on a regular basis.

Now I have a response to an email I receive from “Sullenbunny”. I did not have a mail address to reply to, so here it is. Sullen, you had a question about Risperdal (click on the word for info)and its side effects. Risperdal was prescribed by a pediatric neurologist to help calm him down. We tried other medications in the past and the one common side effect was Liam would be drowsy, sleepy, and anxious to where he seemed worried all the time. We both hate drugging Liam as it is merely only a way to cover the symptoms, not treat them. The one thing it has provided is that it calms him down enough to a point that he is able to learn. We believe this has really helped. We have not found any documentation on side effects in children. Luckily, we have not seen any side effects in Liam. We hope for the same success with your son. The Risperdal has not stopped the tantrums for us, so Liam is also on Prozac now. That seems to have helped a little, but it is still a little early to tell if it has been effective enough to keep him on it. We really hope to eliminate the drugs one day. Let us know if you have anymore questions, and please leave an email address next time!

Tricks and all sorts of treats!

Monday was an exciting day for Liam. He was up well before everyone else and ready to go. He was talking about Halloween and trick or treating from the moment I got up. I had the day off for a couple doctor appointments so I was there to see the boys off to school. Liam got ready for school and insisted he take his pajamas to school again. We tried to talk him out of it but he started to have a fit. We decided to let him take his pajamas, but we told him he could not change into them at school. Liam got on the school bus and was quite excited about going to school.

During the afternoon I tried to get Liam to take a nap so he would be rested for Halloween. He started to sleep as I went outside to start getting the garage and pumpkins ready for the night. While I was doing my tasks Kelly came over to play with Liam. I told her he was sleeping and he would be out later. Kelly started to talk to me about her Halloween costume when Liam’s bionic hearing kicked in and he came to the door. So, no nap, and they played.

When it got close to dinner time Liam could hardly control himself. We got his costume on and he just wanted to go trick or treating right away. We had to keep reminding him to stay in the yard and wait. Well, Houdini took off and ended up at our neighbor’s house eating pizza. Liam came back after a few minutes and was just all over. He could not stand still. Finally after repeatedly working to control Liam it was time to go trick or treating. We went with a bunch of our neighbor’s and their kids. We had a group of about 16 kids going house to house. We parents just followed along and socialized with our neighbor’s. Our neighborhood is an awesome time at Halloween for both kids and parents. While the kids got their candy, the parents got some treats of their own at some neighbor houses. Liam went right along with the rest of the kids and was having a great time. When we were done so was Liam and his brothers. They were getting into their candy and munching away while looking like zombies. They all went reluctantly to bed. However, they did fall asleep right away.

Tuesday Liam again insisted on taking his pajamas to school. Today Liam wanted to put his pajamas on at class and had a small fit when he was not allowed. We are hoping this pajama phase ends soon. Each day he still puts his pajamas on and off again. Liam is not taking 3ml of Prozac with his Risperdal. He seems to have settled down a little bit with the Prozac, but I can’t say I see too much more. We still deal with his fits, anxiety, and tantrums still. We will still give it more time.

Tuesday evening when I got home from work, Eli was over playing with Seamus. Eli went when we had to eat dinner. Liam was quite difficult to get to eat. He reluctantly ate 2 chicken nuggets. When he was done he wanted to go over our neighbor’s to play. Jill and I had to repeatedly tell him no and that just caused him to have a fit. He would lay on the floor screaming he wanted to go out and yell at us in an angry tone to let him out. This went on for a half hour. Seamus ended up going to play with Eli so Jill asked his mom if it was ok that Liam came over. Being the kind person our neighbor is, she said yes. Liam came home an hour later and was ready for bed. His overall day wasn’t too bad. He still had his moments in which he was quite difficult to work with. That’s the norm though. We will just continue to do our best each day!