Today's Update

Today Galen did something really awesome. He was playing with a Mrs. Claus doll all by himself, clapping her hands together. It looked like he was pretend playing! And he's been playing patty cake and "Where's Galen?" with me again. It's been months since he's been interested in those things.
He's been snuggling with Flint more too.

Sibling love! Right after this picture, Galen grabbed Flint even tighter and she accidentally fell to the floor. Mazzu grabbed her and Galen got off of me (I picked him up) to check on Flint. I took some more pictures, but they're so blurry.

Updates

Wednesday: Galen did wonderful at therapy. And even more awesome, I took a bath with bubbles. Galen came and played with them some, then Flint got in and splashed with me, then Galen came back again. He put his hands in and even his foot twice. I told him he didn't have to get in, but could if he wanted and it sounded like he said 'maybe'. He didn't actually get in, but progress!

He's even been snuggling Flint more!

Last night he said (or I interpreted the sounds as) "I love baby and baby love me". :)

Today I did an hour walking at the store pushing grocery carts around with Mazzu and the kids. The kids actually did pretty well. Galen usually screams about being in a cart, so here's hoping he'll be better with them now. Flint didn't really care either way most of the time.

It's been extremely awesome that Galen loves bubbles now! Grammy (Mazzu's mom) gave us 2 bottles of bubbles. Galen's loved them so much, that I bought a couple of bubble guns since blowing them ourselves was wearing thin with my asthma. It arrived today and already one of them is almost out of bubbles. But I also bought stuff to make our own bubbles from a Pinterest recipe.

Yesterday Galen did wonderful at Occupational Therapy, but did really bad at Speech Therapy. There's good reason though. He had another fill-in speech therapist and this one was downstairs instead of in the same room as all the other therapists have been. This therapist said he screamed for 30 minutes, then fell asleep, so we left early. This therapist and I decided that Galen needs more consistency, so we've put it in his file, that for right now, he needs to see his specific therapists every time. Last week he did pretty well with the couple fill-in therapists, but I think the big clincher was being in a different room than the others have been.

First Birthday Party Experience Ever

Excluding Galen's own 2 birthday "parties" that is. Those were small since he was sick his 1st birthday and we were dealing with ceiling repairs for his 2nd birthday, and since he doesn't understand anyway, it was mostly for us, so just cake and a couple gifts.

We went to a friend's son's 2nd birthday party today. Galen and Flint threw fits about having to go anywhere today, but we went anyway. When we got there, Galen ran to the front door to try and leave immediately. I'd told him we could leave when he wanted to. I asked him to try it for a couple minutes but if he still wanted to leave, we would. Well, he discovered their backyard when we took the kids back there with the other guests. He sat on the swing with Mazzu while Flint and I explored the kiddie pools with another friend's daughter. For reference, we hadn't actually met these kids yet.

We went back in after awhile to get some snacks and because it's really hot out. Galen ran to the door to go back outside and another adult took him outside. I was shocked! Galen not only went out the door with the nice man, but was swung some on the swing by him, then walked around with him, and climbed in his lap. And then he got interested in the kiddie pools and even got in it! I took Flint back outside to check on Galen. But Galen was having a blast. Flint enjoyed being held by the nice man too.

We did come back in since it was still hot and they were getting ready for gifts and cake, etc. At which point, Galen started getting extremely grumpy and ready to go home again. He went to the door a few times and started crying like he does, so I gave him my phone with Bo on the Go playing on youtube and we started getting set up to leave.

We gave the friend and her daughter a lift home since her hubby had to go to work and they live about 10 minutes from us. Galen did pretty good with that too. Didn't even seem phased. Van's are good for extra people.

So, the moral of this post is this: Today was an awesome day!

Go Galen Go!

Today we had to do an OT make-up session since his Weds lady cancelled. So he saw the same lady as yesterday (not his normal one either) again. She said she was proud of him. He played ball some, put pegs in the game (about 1/2 of them), and even kept eye focus on her a few minutes while she sang to him. He didn't even cry when she made him walk back to the front. He did so great today!
Yesterday (or the day before yesterday, it's hard to keep track), we came home from his therapy and he played ball with me for 30 minutes straight. There was probably 10-15 minutes were he lost focus, but I could get him back to playing with me (and Mazzu sometimes too). I told this therapist that and she said that was "really good".

Since I haven't updated in a while, here's the updates.

Galen's hearing is fine. They actually managed to successfully test him without having to sedate him.
I started in with the calls today. Requested that the neurologist try to get the genetics testing done again, since we changed insurance and the other one wouldn't approve it. Got tired of waiting to hear about the MRI results, so now I have them. MRI results were mostly normal. I expected as much since they hadn't called for a follow-up one. Nothing to explain developmental delays. Nothing serious, but there was a few differences. Apparently they're common differences seen with developmental delays, and we'll find out more about them at our November appointment. He said Galen's brain looked really good for his age.
Yesterday makes 2 weeks at Cole Pediatric Therapy. With the storm, he only saw the speech therapist yesterday. But, he did do a puzzle with her for awhile, and at one point, she asked him if he wanted to do the puzzle more and he said "nope" to her. She was surprised by it. I haven't seen a huge difference, but I imagine with all therapies, it'll take awhile to see big differences. He has been trying to say "tea" more when he wants my tea though.
He's also been trying to play with Flint more from time to time. A couple days ago, he tried to pick her up even!
One big surprise was his reaction to Grammy and Grandpa. While he didn't really recognize them, he didn't freak out and scream horribly either. And even ate a slice of the pizza they brought. He got fed up of being around them (expected), but it was probably a good 20-30 minutes before he did so.
Oh, and during the storm, Mazzu went outside (trash day) and Galen kept standing at the door looking out. He voluntarily went outside while it was raining and even got a little wet. He was having fun anyway. Maybe the random scared of water and the bathroom stage is coming to an end. I can definitely hope anyway!

Update

Last Friday was Galen's rescheduled MRI. It was really scary having him sedated. One minute he was wide awake screaming, and the next, he was unconscious. It went really well though and now we're just waiting on the results.

We started with Cole Pediatric Therapy yesterday. The speech therapist yesterday was surprised at how affectionate Galen was to me. They had me come in to discuss what they want to work with him on. The first 30 mins was OT and all he did was scream. Then for ST, he climbed on me and fell asleep, so nothing actually happened in that hour, except they talked to me. She was surprised how much I knew and that I was already in the "acceptance" phase of his Autism diagnosis. And that I'm fully aware that Galen's the same kid he always was. She commented that a lot of parents don't believe the diagnosis and won't accept it. Today Mazzu took Galen alone and he apparently did much better. He actually participated and watched the OT therapist today. He did a shapes in holes puzzle. And participated some during ST alone with the lady. Responded to "no" once and said something like "opps" when he dropped something and said "mama" at least once, then started crying, so they let him leave early. They got home when his ST was supposed to be just ending, so only like 10-15 mins early, but he did much better today. And it was only day 2. So here's hoping it'll really help him!

He has an audiology testing on Monday, but we'll probably have to get him sedated for it, but they have to try without it first. The ST yesterday agreed with me that that's probably how it will be because that's how it usually happens with Autistic kids. But it's also hard to distinguish between Autism and hearing loss/deafness at 2 1/2 she said. I still think his hear's fine, but best to get him checked out to confirm it.