Jan & Feb 2012

Brrrrrr!

2012 is super cold so far but we are lucky enough to have a safe, warm house, so we have been happy as usual!

Max begun playgroup 5 mornings a week in the new year and is coping beautifully with it. He does really enjoy playgroup and according to his lovely teachers he is doing very well; improving all the time. They tell me he is now often choosing to play with toys/activities where other children are playing, as opposed to finding places he could play alone. He is also joining in much happier with music and story time, and other activities not on his agenda, which shows a flexibility and enthusiasm I knew he had, but am very glad to see proven. Generally speaking, chidlren with autism are assumed to be inflexible and unhappy with changes, but Callum and I have known for a long time that our little son does not have that problem. (It's a VERY wide spectrum you know...)

Anyway! More good news is; Maximus is also improving in his speech and communication! His eye contact is superb now, with everyone it has improved, even strangers and children, which is amazing.

He will try to copy many more words (providing the motivation is there) and uses them correctly. He's still lingering around the 15-20 word mark, but the important thing is that he is learning new words. He has also started making 't', 'th' and 'v' sounds again, and he copies words from his favourite movies instead of just gasps, shouts and actions.

We are continuing on with our PECs, though he uses these really only when prompted and for the words he can have a go at saying now, he doesn't want to use the PEC, so we are still going, but less so now. Obviously if he'd rather talk we want to encourage that! :)

So here are a selection of photos of the beautiful creature himself taken in January and February so far. Enjoy!

Our contortionist son at Sally & Alec's on New Year's Day

I asked Max to say hello, and he gave me this little wave :)

I'm just a little bit proud of him...

I love this one, here Max has got to the end of one of his favourite films and is trying to find the button to send it back to the beginning! He can work the portable DVD player himself you see, so he's trying to work out how to do it on the main DVD player too! Cheeky! :)

Here I had told him 'no' for something, and right after asked him to look at me for a photo, and was (unsurprisingly really) given a gentle but definate, 'smeg off mummy' swat.

This is one of his latest favourite activities: being swung about in the laundry bucket! It's a good old workout I can assure you! I'm always relieved when Daddy comes home as I can have a break from it!

It makes him SUPER happy though, so we bear the pain :)

This is asking for more