A Diagnosis

Jack had his appointment today and we came home with something we weren't really expecting or prepared for: an answer.

Being the day before Thanksgiving, we left over 2 hours before his appointment to allow for plenty of traffic and wouldn't you know it? There wasn't any. So for his 915 appointment we arrived promptly at 750. Luckily the GIANT fish tank kept him occupied until he went to triage at 830. Then back to the lobby until 915 when we met his Doctor.

She was very nice and Jack really seemed to like her. She asked us a lot of questions and a lot of questions that we'd been asked before. Born premature? Take medication while pregnant? Or smoke? Or drink? Breastfeed? C-Section? Why? Any health concerns? The basic things.

She then got down on the floor to play with Jack. A puzzle which he did with ease (even when she reversed it), all while drinking from his sippy cup. She asked him to point at some pictures on a card, they colored, stacked some blocks to make towers and trains, which he happily demolished afterwards. Sooner or later though, her schtick was up and he caught on that this was more of a test and less of playing and he stopped cooperating. He threw a few tantrums which she happily observed and saw how we handled them. Before she stepped out to grade her test, she gave us her diagnosis.

Autism. I felt like I had the wind had been knocked out of me. It wasn't like we weren't expecting it. Or at least I wasn't. I had prepared myself for PDD-NOS or Autism Lite. It's got some of the same symptoms, just not as many (that's how someone explained it to me). I was happy to accept that. It's like Autism but NOT. That's fine by me. As long as it's NOT Autism. But it is.

S They want us to increase his therapy. His doctor has high hopes that with a diagnosis at such an early age and with aggressive therapy that his Autism can be easily managed.

o that's where we are. We are thrilled and relieved to FINALLY have some answers but they weren't the ones I was hoping for.

Tomorrow

Jack goes to the Developmental Pediatrics department at KKI for the start of his Autism diagnosis. I'm so nervous, I could puke. Seriously. I haven't slept well since they called a few weeks ago.

I don't have much to say right now, I'll update tomorrow, just wanted to give you guys a head's up.

This One's Not About Jack...

BUT, I just had to share.

Daphne is officially a walker. I can't believe it! She took her first steps a few days shy of 9 months and has been flirting with the idea of walking for a few weeks now. Since last Wednesday she stopped flirting and started a full on relationship. She.is.everywhere. It's incredible. I'm so proud of her!

Okay! Brag post over!

Yeesh!

It's been awhile since I last updated! Sorry! I've been meaning to! In all honesty I've actually started a few entries and either got distracted and never came back or didn't like what I had written and made a decision to come back and start again later. Way later apparently.

Still Limbo Land for us. Although some news. Jack goes to Kennedy Krieger on the 23rd to see a Development Pediatrician for an evaluation. Developmental Pedi's are usually the ones that diagnose autism disorders. We have no idea whether or not this appointment will result in a diagnosis but you can imagine that we're pretty nervous anyway.

Jack's doing pretty well otherwise. He's had some food issues lately (what's new, right?) Added a whole new food (YAY!! Teddy Grahams!) and completely dropped baby food (Damn it.). We're going cold turkey on putting him to bed in his room tomorrow night so I'll update on how that goes. It gonna be a long few nights in our house but hopefully it'll end well.

Preschool is going well! He no longer has to sit in a special chair during circle time and sits on a mat on the floor just like all the other kids! He's really starting to understand structured activities and Leslie is really happy with his progress! We're all really proud of him.

If you can keep a secret...while at Costco today I saw his big Christmas present... my Dad is pitching in with Steve and I to get him a train table! He's going to be SO excited! He's in love with all things trains right now and got really excited to see it! I can't wait to see his face on Christmas!

Anyway, both kids are asleep so I should join them! Got lots to do to prepare for Daphne's upcoming birthday and Thanksgiving and all that good stuff! I'll keep you posted!