Regression

Backtracking a little here.

One of the major considerations with moving to another country was whether Jono would regress at all.

We decided that if we returned to Australia after 18 months, and he is the same as what he is now, that it was a risk we were willing to take, to give all the family the opportunity to live in another country.

For the first 4-5 months everyone settled in very nicely, and we established routines that worked, as well as having the chance to go exploring around a bit of the country.

We thought he was coping very well and we wouldn't have problems, he grew a little but no regression.

Then we hit a bumpy 2 weeks, reflecting now it wasn't an issue, but at the time we were fairly concerned.

He started to talk less, interact less, obey less, have less interest in us as a family and communicate a lot less overall. We spoke with the school if they noticed anything, but he was still too new for them to know him that well, and they had only noticed a few minor things.

Mind you, it took us around a week and a half to notice it ourselves, and once we started talking to the school and got some interaction going, he pretty much 'snapped' out of it. He started growing again, interacting again, and even talking more than before.

Perhaps it was 1 step back for 2 steps forward? Perhaps he just needed a break? Perhaps the impact of the life change had finally hit?

We really have no clue, but the fears of regression are now gone, even if (when) he does regress, he has shown us that he comes back stronger, and that a good thing for us to take note of for our own lives :)

Sentence Structure

Jono is coming into his own with language at the moment, we are getting less babble and more real words. He is even thinking about his words, and the way they fit together to make sure they sound right.

A few weeks back, Rob was with Jono in the car heading towards home. There is a large amount of roadworks near our place as they are building a new motorway. As they got the that stretch of road jono turned to Rob and said "They...... they fixing the road". Rob turned around and said "yes Jono, they are fixing the road"


When Rob was explaining it to me, he added "I was so excited, I wanted to talk with Jono about it for hours."

It's amazing what an impact simple things can have on those around us :)

We hate Planes

Or so we thought...

so here we go, the story about the planes. Before moving to NZ, we decided it would be a good idea for me to at least come to the country once and see the land, the housing, the schooling, check out the teachers, and the special needs system. I'd spent 2 months researching on line, but it was time for some eyes on the ground.

In order to make the special needs case more evident, I was to take Jono with me. Rob was already in the country on business, I had arranged babysitting for the other two, and Jono and I were packed and ready.

We arrived at the airport, parked the car and checked in. We went through customs, got something to eat and went to the gate our plane was at. Jono was comfortable, relaxed and happy. We had been talking for weeks at home and at school with social stories, videos and pictures about going on the plane - and every time he said "I don't want to" We thought that he would be fine once he got on the plane, but we didn't realise just how much he really didn't want to get on it.

We walked down the airbridge, and turned the corner to the final section to walk onto the plane - around 20m worth... and it was enclosed with glass. The moment he saw the plane through the glass it was over.

He started to stress and panic, and stopped walking saying 'I don't want to'. He lost it, I lost it, I attempted to forcibly carry him on board, and it was unbelieveably overwhelming. I had every member of staff from the plane bring out everything they could to attempt to coax him on board and it was just not going to happen. I even rang Rob who was in NZ in a meeting and asked him to help talk Jono onto the plane.

20 minutes later - defeated, bawling, screaming, saying it wasn't fair (and that was just me) they unboarded our luggage and we exited the walkway. I took some time to calm down and assess the situation. Then started the phone calls - Grandma to babysit Jono, new ticket to get to Auckland, refund on unused tickets, madly drive home, re-pack, get Jono settled and get back to the airport in 4 hours for my next flight.

I arrived at 11:30 at night to a husband with flowers and a balloon. the next four days were intensely busy and we decided we would move countries.

The next trip across was the actual move, and we decided to take no chances with Jono and actually gave him some drugs to knock him out before getting on the plane, and board him on a wheelchair so he would not notice as much. The moment of the deep snores from his mouth 5 minutes before taking off was pure bliss for Rob and I. We got him on board, and then he woke up, after only 20 minutes of sleep, but he coped, and we all made it together.

The next flight was back to Australia for Christmas - again he didn't want to go on a plane, but we realised it wasn't the plane so much, it was being all together as a family that mattered - which compounded the problems for the first flight. We got some very light herbal lollies to help him relax, and that was all he needed.

The next flight, was heading back to NZ after the holiday, and he was happy - no herbal lollies, no drugs, and none of the I don't want a plane, just I'm going home to New Zealand, and I'm with my family.

We get him the wheelchair for each trip - as it anchors him, and is familiar now, but amazingly, he wasn't worried about the plane, just where his family was, and where his home was.

Now... if only he could have told us that in the beginning ;)

We love Babies

We especially love to wake up babies, by singing to them... this does not please their parents.

I have no clue where this comes from, but Jono is currently FASCINATED by babies. The time it takes to go shopping is currently completely dependent on how many prams and babies we see along the way.

I'll give you a typical scenario.
- Jono sees a pram, with a cover over the top and 'must' see what is inside.
- He sprints off at a mad rate of knots and lifts the cover to see the baby
- If there is no baby, he looks around for the baby, or returns to us
- If there is a baby, he opens his mouth and starts going "La, la, la, la, la ,la, la" in a scale, loudly, and repeats it as many times as possible until he gets in trouble.
- Rob or I come up to the group and apologise, explain he loves babies and tell him it's not ok and we walk off.

Most times, the parents are ok, sometimes they are not. Once... so far, a parent has pushed Jono away with exasperation.

The one time where the mother pushed him, he was coming up to the baby for the second time, and she was overtired with her new born. She gave Jono a shove with a loud "Excuse Me" (which he now repeats when we are at the shops).

I didn't see her push him, as I was putting our groceries on the checkout and went to explain he is Autistic and just loves babies and I apologized. Around 5 minutes after that she was at the checkout with some lollies and apologizing herself, saying she had looked after an Autistic child in the past and should have realized.

The best outcome we have had so far though, we were at the local swimming pool and he went to a ladies baby 3 or 4 times. I managed to catch him each time but the mother looked a but distressed. Finally he got to see the baby and started singing, but this time it was a different song. "Mumble, mumble, mumble, mumble, mumble do, I looove You", and he repeated it 4 times, because that is how he has heard the song sung.

I've attached a youtube of the song, coz I cannot get across what he was trying to do in text, and it was pretty much this loud and sung with the same gusto :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHm_icqR4GY

Ahhh babies

So we moved country...

Six months ago, we moved to New Zealand from Australia, and have settled very well into life in Auckland. There is an long back story involving research, schooling, housing and much much more... this I will be touching on in later stages.

It's been an amazingly busy time, with many ups and downs... especially with plane travel. I started another blog with information about what we have been discovering here as a family in New Zealand at http://discoveringnz.blogspot.com.

I have reached a stage where I will be updating more here again, as there is a heck of a lot to share, and I honestly have been way to busy to put any of it here on this blog. I hope everyone is well and have had a great Christmas, and New year, post some more soon :)

We are still alive

Hello folks, I haven't updated in a long long while, we have been travelling well, and involved in many numerous activities, from jet-skiing to going camping overnight and toasting marshmellows on sticks, we've almost bought a house in another suburb, then changed our minds and decided we will move countries instead. We are madly renovating to get our house on the market, and have loved having a swimming pool for last summer. We are all well, and jono is going beautifully at school.
I'm not sure when I will next write some, but wanted to let people know we haven't dropped off the face of the earth completely... just been very busy and loving life.
<3

Where's Tv Mum?

Yet another TV Episode, it's part of the furniture, it's 'meant' to be on the cabinet, when you get home form school, you turn it on... then go outside and play... but it's still meant to be there, and if anyone tries to turn it off... well.. then you complain, loudly!

Actually, there's two recent TV tales to tell.

Firstly, with the recent renovations, we have had quite a few power tools and such around the house. We've been laying pavers with much much help from some friends, and one particular weekend was at the stage of cutting the pavers to fit in the little odd sections. The tool we were using was a wet-saw, which had a hose attached at one side and then power one the other side. We had attached a plastic bag over the power cable to protect it form water getting in, but... it wasn't completely water-tight.

After around an hour or so, the power to the entire living area of the house failed.

Jono knew what needed doing, so he grabbed my hand, lead me out to the power box outside and told me to fix the switch (yes, he has seen this before... but only the once or twice) I flicked the switch, and the TV started back up... he was fairly distressed at this stage, but once the power kicked back in he started to settle. Unfortunately... the TV didn't stay on (neither did anything else).

More tears, and grabbing my hand telling me to fix it... I went back to the swicth, tried again... and the same problem. Ok... so I start pulling devices out of the power to try and stabilise the circuit, unplugged the microwave, the kettle, the computer, the amplifier... none of which was helping at all. Then we realized.. the wet-saw! We went out and unplugged that, and a whole heap of water came out of the cable - luckily we had the safety switch built in.

So we turned it all back on and plugged it all back in, and showed Jono that it was now working, in response to which he held on to the top of the TV, gave it a hug and collapsed in a pile of tears - oh the drama and terror was over!

The second tale... again a problem with the TV. Daddy had taken the TV for a work conference, to use for displaying computer software on a large screen. He left the house before Jono was awake, so Jono didn't see it leave, however, when he got up he noticed. After he woke he came downstairs to get ready for school and saw it was missing. He said 'where's TV mum?' and I couldn't explain that it was gone for one day and coming back.. so I said it was missing. His solution? 'RT Edwards Mum!'... Yes honey, we can go get a new TV from RT Edwards.. but we have to wait until Daddy gets home tonight. This was acceptable and we got ready for school.

When we got home in the afternoon, he went to turn the TV on before he headed outside to play, forgetting what we sorted out in the morning, and no matter what I said, he just got upset, more and more upset. So we rang Daddy, we told Daddy 'TV Gone, RT Edwards', and Daddy talked with Jono until he calmed down. After that he was all happy, and when Daddy got home that night with the TV, life was all good again.

Habits, Routine, things have a place to be, and when they aren't there it just doesn't always make sense.