Not another support group

"There's not a word yet for old friends who've just met."

-Gonzo (The Muppet Movie)

I'll admit, I was dreading this evening: the monthly meeting of the Boxing Autism Club. Not that I had anything against the group, but I had decided a while back that I'm sort of "over" the whole support group thing. Nevertheless, I had a reason to be there. And I'm on "school break" this week, so I was out of excuses. Reluctantly, I attended tonight's meeting.

I haven't always had this attitude toward support groups. My first experience with a support group was one which I enjoyed very much, our local twins/ multiples club (I was even a founding member). After giving birth to triplets, I quickly learned that I would now be known as "the triplet mom" (I almost didn't even need a first name any more), and here was a place where I wasn't alone in dealing with all of the joys and daily adventures of being a mother of multiples. Through this group, I have formed wonderful, lasting friendships with an amazing group of moms.

Old familiar conversations

Erika stayed home from school today. She has a cold. She's been having some rough days at school, and it's a lot to expect of her to deal with her anxiety plus cold symptoms. I believe that we saw an improvement initially with her new meds, but I think we need to increase the dosage. She has a doctor's appointment scheduled for next week to review her meds situation. With that said, it is difficult to know just how much is enough. She has not been willing to do her work at school. How much of this is oppositional defiance, and how much is boredom? I feel that Erika seems completely bored with life in general right now. It's winter in Michigan. She needs more exercise, more outlets and more outings. I'm doing my best to help her in these areas, but I need to do better. 

I needed to be focused on projects for school today. I'm way behind, and Erika's IEP is scheduled for Thursday morning, so there will be less time at the end of the week to catch up. I was not the mom I wanted to be today, to say the least. I left Erika alone to rest, and to find things to do. Eventually, she made her way to our basement. A few minutes passed, and when she came back upstairs, she presented me with our old VCR, cables still attached, and an old VHS tape (a recorded episode of Sesame Street) that she hasn't seen in a few years, ever since the VCR finally broke and we decided not to replace it.

Happy Birthday, Elmo!

Today is our favorite furry red monster's birthday. I can hear the Elmo's World music in the background and his signature laugh as I am typing this. Anybody who knows Erika knows that she is addicted (yes, addicted!) to Elmo's World. (For more information about Erika, and her life with Autism, visit Erika's World.)

I thought this would be a great opportunity to share some fond memories from Christmas, 2007. Erika was six years old. Erika has always taken Christmas morning in stride. While her same-age siblings are consumed with excitement well over over a month in advance of the big day, Erika typically shows little emotion about the whole ordeal. But Christmas of 2007 was different. Erika woke up that morning and, instead of being directed to check her stocking, she noticed that Santa had somehow managed to deliver a goldfish to our house. The first words out of her mouth that morning: "DOROTHY!"

And, of course, Santa would never have sent Dorothy to our house without her favorite furry red monster to keep her company. I can honestly say that it was Erika's best Christmas ever.

Happy Birthday, Elmo.
Erika loves you.

-Erika's Mom

Pancakes and Syrup

This weekend, I made pancakes. At our house, since we want to eat them while they're hot, we find ourselves eating them in shifts. One of the kids put placemats on the table, and a new bottle of syrup. Erika was the first kid I served. She sat down, and I noticed that she was struggling to get some syrup out of the container, which was still sealed from the grocery store.

I said, "Oh, sweetie, there's another syrup in here that's already open."

Erika immediately got up and returned the new bottle of syrup to the pantry near where I was flipping the next batch of pancakes. She looked around, but didn't find what she was looking for. I came over, and found the opened syrup bottle behind a few boxes of cereal. I handed it to her, and she poured her own syrup.

As I continued with my pancake-making prowess, I considered the very remarkable thing that just happened.

Social Stories: From Clunky to Slick and Accessible

I was playing around with the Erika's World website from my iPad, and I decided to check out the pdf documents containing the lyrics to some of Erika's favorite songs (strategies that work). When I opened the document on the iPad, I noticed an option that appeared on the top-right of the screen: "Open in iBooks." What happened next literally made my day. The pdf document appeared on a bookshelf, in a library separate from the iBooks that I had purchased. This is my very own library of pdf documents!

In Erika's mom's world, the significance of this cannot be overstated. I realize that at Erika's school, there is no wifi access, so this concept of accessing these pdf documents from the classroom at a moment's notice from Erika's iPad is truly a novel idea. I immediately opened all of the lyrics, and they are now in a library on my iPad. When Erika arrives at school today, I hope the teachers take a look at her iBooks app (per my note), where they will find the lyrics to "I'll Show You The World." Erika and I sang this together this morning, as we viewed the lyrics in iBooks.

Painful Morning

We've had quite a morning. There's no warning as to when it's going to happen, it just does. All was going well with the morning routine, getting three nine-year-olds ready for school. Erika's bus comes earliest, about 7:45, so I start the final stage of "getting her ready" at around 7:25. Step 1: Give mom the iPad. (Mom packs the iPad for transport to school) Step 2: "Go potty." (as Erika still calls it, despite years of adults, including me, trying to get her to say "Go to the bathroom.") Step 3: Socks on. Steps 4 through 9 include the option of snowpants on or in the backpack, then putting on boots, coat, hat, gloves, and the bus harness that makes her look like she's about to jump out of a plane, once she puts her backpack on. But today, the thought of "Step 3: Socks on." sent Erika into a tailspin.

Welcome to Erika's World - Mom's Blog

Welcome to my first blog post. Whether you are in contact with Erika every day at school, or you are a friend or family member, I hope you will find this blog to be a valuable way to stay in touch with the most up-to-date news in Erika's world. Please check back frequently. You can access this page directly from the Erika's World home page. This is my first commitment to blogging, and I feel that it's the best way to keep everybody informed for Erika's benefit.

As I promised Erika's teacher, I would like to share a link to an Elmo's World segment (forward to 4:20) which Erika has been watching quite a bit lately. If you have spent any time with Erika over the last few weeks, you will undoubtedly recognize some of the phrases from this short clip, as Erika has been incorporating them into her repertoire of echolalia.