Glimpses into a world.

Jake's been very verbal lately, and very interactive. He wants lots of tickles and will specify the body part: "Tickle my feet, please!" Although he sometimes gets our names mixed up, he has been correcting himself. "Daddy, Mommy, Katie, tickle my neck, please!"

Along with this comes increased stims, or seeking out of new ways to regulate himself. For example, poking holes in all the K-cup coffees and pouring the grounds over his hand (over the garbage pail, at least). Last week it was getting into the large sack of King Arthur flour and spreading it everywhere. And pouring salt from the shaker all over the counter and floor and running his fingers through it. Oh, and tapping on everything - an empty stainless steel container is a new favorite, and it's loud! My budding percussionist.

On our snow day he asked for a new Dora video - "Mommy Wizzles," is what I got. Praise the Internet, I hopped onto the iTunes store and looked through all the Dora episodes by season and found it. "Wizzle Wishes?" "Wizzle Wishes?" When he repeats something I know he is affirming it. Sadly, our connection is so slow that it took about four hours to download, but he was very happy when it was finished.

A quick Burke update. We had a training session with another dog (our second, and our third follows next week) and a training session in the supermarket as well as a home visit. All were incredibly helpful in moving us forward. With it being winter, Burke's suffering from a lack of socialization and exercise, but as soon as spring hits we'll be doing some city visits with socializing with other dogs on the street (ie learning to ignore them) as well as more outings with Jake. I can't wait! We're also hoping to take him on the plane with us in April. I already have tickets and need to contact the airline and drive there (which is really freakin' far - 2+ hours each way!) to do a runthrough before we attempt it "for real." I think he'll do fine though. It's more a matter of convincing my husband that it will be okay, and just doing some research on whether we'll fly him as "in training" and therefore as an emotional support animal (ESA) or whether he's ready to fly as a full service dog, and what paperwork is needed for ESA status. I need to make an appointment with the pediatrician to discuss this and the letter/paperwork we'll need. I don't relish any of this since it all takes away from my work time. But, there it is. This is also important work!

I bought The Affect-Based Language Curriculum (ABLC), Second Edition in December, because our team autism consultant felt it would be the best way to teach Jake language. I feel like I'm falling down on the job not staying on the team about all this stuff. They also have an iPad that belongs to the school, but it's taken three to four months just for the special educator to get hold of it, and now I'm waiting for them to put apps on it. They sent it home a couple of weekends ago with nothing on it and Jake was just frustrated. Anyway, the ABLC looks great, but I have to find the time to go through it and start implementing it at home.

My daughter is pushing to homeschool, and I'm tempted. I'm tempted to pull both of them from school. The bigger issue is, how would I work and teach Jake at the same time? Even Katie will require some investment of time, but Jake would require a lot of time and energy. I just feel, sometimes, like I could move him forward more quickly than they do at school. At the same time, he loves school and I think the social pressure of wanting to relate to other kids pushes him to come out of his world a little. At home, there would not be that motivation.