Sickies, sickies...a house of sickies. The week was all about being sick! Safi was sick, as you'll recall...then I got it. Boy howdy, did I get it. Safi didn't get a runny nose but I was an ooey mess.

We got to go to the doctor, and dad got to go with us. It was a really big deal because he hasn't been to the doctor with us since we've been doing so amazing there. Last time dad went we both had nuclears and had to be restrained, carried out, etc. He was so proud to see us walk in with a smile, hop on the scale, get measured, and do everything our doctor needed us to do...no screaming, a few tears from me, but pretty great. Safi got some antibiotics for a possible ear infection and we both got stickers and lollipops again! We LOVE the doctor.

I missed school on both days and Safi missed two days, too. She was super bummed because she loves school so much, but she handled the disappointment pretty well and was able to get some much needed rest.

Nana Cummings came up mid week and got stuck with two crabby grandkids. She didn't seem to mind, even though we were pretty rough on her. Heather came the second day she was here and facilitated some play with us all and that was cool. Each day got a hair better than the one before and by the time we were feeling better about the whole thing, she had to go. We just have a really hard time with changes and company in our house, no matter how much we love the company, is a huge change. So, we get a little more withdrawn, a little more rigid, a little more controlling, and little more anxious. Safi did get to have a great time showing Nana what she can do on mom's iphone and I got to play hide and seek behind the slide on our swing set with her...that was really fun. We also got to take her to Burger King! She brought us some neat goodies...Safi is in love with a Toy Story 2 book Nana brought, so much so she's been sleeping with it! So, in general an ok visit...I'm just in a funky place right now, have been for some weeks now and we all know that puts Safi in a funky space too...so, the visit went as well as it was gonna..sick or not.

Nana also got to go with us to Safi's school Halloween carnival on Friday. Oy vey! What a mess! Great idea in theory, but without any degree of structure it just wasn't very fun at all. I had the most fun in the beginning when all the kids left the classroom to hit the carnival and I stayed inside by myself (with Nana close by) and got to play with all of the stuff I've always wanted to play with! I also liked getting funky with the musical chairs! It was just too loud, too chaotic, too much. Safi seemed to enjoy the beginning. Remember how mom asked last week if the kids could have a little structure? Well, it did happen. Mom had to just yell, "Line up"...and the aid, teacher Joanne, helped get everyone semi organized. Teacher Mel didn't coordinate with any of the other teachers so when the costume parade started she just began plugging her kids into the the line as it went by...so they weren't all together. Mom saw Safi and a couple of other kids panic and asked Joanne to hold their hands...which she was delighted to do. It was just nuts and it ended with us both in tears. I will say this much, we LOVED showing off our costumes and we got lollipops...and you know how we feel about lollipops. So, chalking that up to another life experience.

Mom went to my transition planning meeting and went fine. Her and dad will be touring Maple Special Services Preschool for me next year, because I'm just not gonna do with at Lincoln with the lack of structure. Other than that, nothing too exciting. I'll get to go to a speech group one day a week before I go to actual class...that's kind of cool.

We're super pumped for Halloween. Can't wait to wear our costumes all day and mom has some funthings planned for us. Should be spooktacular! :)

So, that was the week in a disjointed nutshell!

Peace
Nixi

Halloween carnival.......note me feeling the groove with the musical chairs!


Nothing like a quiet Sunday morning...playing with pots!

Two peas in deep pressure pods!

Its been a week of sickies! Mom got sick...then I got sick...then dad got sick...now it seems Nixi's got it.

Luckily, I didn't get sick until Friday so I didn't have to miss any school...which was awesome! I had a blast hanging with my friends and dancing to cool blues during circle time. I'm quite the hep cat, you know! Mom and Nixi even got in on the action a few times when they came to pick me up! Super fun. Mom also got to talk to teacher Mel about the field trips and she agreed that they need to be more structured...but something tells me its gonna be mom and Kameron's mom who bring the structure. Either way, it doesn't matter, as long as its there and we are all able to relax more! Wanna know something super cool? I'm someone's best friend!! Kameron, one of my friends from school, told his sister on the way home from school that I am his best friend. It was totally unsolicited...out the blue he just told her "Safi's my best friend." Makes me feel pretty special! All in all, a really great week at school.

Nixi had a decent time at her school on Monday. Heather is still fading and going to fade even more by kinda hiding in an attached room where she can close the door. Nixi did a pretty good job of hanging without looking for her too much. She got pretty anxious when the teacher moved a pumpkin and she wanted it to be moved back to where it was...ok, she NEEDED it to be moved back. So, after a little yelling at some hernia inducing attempts to live the huge thing...they helped her put it back in its place. She did pretty well after class...but started falling apart the next day. She's been a little crazed ever since...but I don't think its because of school...I think its because she's just struggling a lot lately.

You know, I feel bad for the kid. I know what its like to scared, mad, confused, overstimulated, understimulated, the whole ball of wax. Even though I can empathize, its still rough to be around her when she's not doing well. Lately she wants to take things from me...all the time. If she can't, 'cuz I don't let her or mom steps in, she has a meltdown. Sunday morning was like the movie Midnight Express in our house. I was finished with my diaper change and it was her turn so I went to sit in the chair we sit in while we wait. She leaned down, grabbed my head and bit my cheek. She didn't let go until mom startled her by yelling out of shock. When she let go I was in so much pain, she bit me so hard it left marks and it just hurt so bad. She had to go into the bedroom and proceeded to go wild, hitting and kicking the door. When mom went to let her out after her 4 minutes were up she was on a rampage, clawing at mom and kicking her. She ended up getting so out of control that mom had to restrain her...and in the process, she bit onto mom's thumb and wouldn't let go. Mom yelled and tried to pull her hand away but she wouldn't let go. Mom finally shook her off and it was horrifying. Eventually dad went into the room with her monitored her from a distance. Start to finish it was an hour of madness. Mom played with me in the living room and we both nursed our wounds. Once Nixi came out of the room she just collapsed on mom's chest and fell asleep. Eventually we were able to all get out of the house and go to the arcade and have a great time! We're all hoping this biting thing doesn't become a routine happening. Just another new thing that makes it tough on us all, Nixi included. I sure hope she catches a break soon here and starts an upswing.

So, this week is a busy one. Tues mom goes to Nixi's transition planning meeting...'cuz she's 2.5 now and everyone gets together to talk about what will happen for her, service wise, when she turns 3. Nana Cummings is coming up for a visit on Wednesday and we all get to go to my school Halloween carnival on Friday. I'm not used to going to school on Friday, so hopeful its just a really great time and not too stressful. Should be a fun, stressful, exciting week!

Make sure to check back in next week and see how it all goes...and if Nixi is still biting!

xoxo
Safi

Our deep pressure pea pods arrived! Of course, we quickly figured out how to make then a vestibular extravaganza...but we also realized how groovy and chill they were as time went on!


When you're feeling the music...why hide it?! Monopoly jams RULE! You should've seen me before mom was able to start filming....I was on fire!

Ok, so it was an interesting week. As you can tell by our swimsuit shots, its still HOT...and its the middle of October! We had some fun, a lot of drama, and a lot of tears this week.

Heather, my BIA, progressed the "fading" this week in my school...so she was still there, but she asked the staff to be my direct supports. That went, well, weird. I went through the motions and by snack time I checked out and stayed out. At the very end when they do bubbles, mom was watching through some goofy 2-way mirror and noticed by spatial awareness was gone. I ran up, and into, the lady blowing the bubbles and was very "hands on"...a sign that I'm overstimulated and disorganized. Got home and mom was actually surprised that I seemed to be ok. As the day went on I went downhill. It seemed like every half an hour I was feeling a million times worse. I just wanted to be squeezed constantly and I was really disoriented and confused. After we took Safi to school and were driving back home, I started screaming for her and didn't seem to remember that we'd just dropped her off. When mom finally got me down for my nap...sort of, a lot of screaming going on, she went on line and rush ordered a deep pressure pea pod because she was so horrified by how badly I fell apart (http://store.schoolspecialty.com/OA_HTML/ibeCCtpItmDspRte.jsp?item=93671&minisite=10206). Unfortunately, this is just the way its got to be 'cuz I need to start getting ready to go to big kid school next year. See, I can't hide from the world...even if its not "my" world. Much as I'd like to, mom and dad wont let me because if they did I'd never get to really live. So, we work on building up my tolerance and simultaneously try to find things that I can do that will negate the negative parts that are sure to be there...to one extent or another. The hope is that eventually the negative aspects of the world will lessen and my coping bag of tricks will expand. Tough work, but I think I can do it...trick is not to shut down completely. If that were to begin to occur, mom and dad would just say I'm not ready YET and we stop and try again later. I don't know if I'm ready for all of this yet. We shall see.

Safi had some great days at school...and then the pumpkin patch field trip debacle. Oy ve! Totally unorganized, much like the fair, and we all felt it. Mom, dad, Heather and Safi's classmate Kameron's mom did their best to try and give us some structure so we could enjoy ourselves, but it was rough. We managed to have fun loading a wheel barrel full of pumpkins..that's about all the fun we had. Safi was anxious because of the loosey-goosey nature so she had to impose structure on the rest of us. I just started screaming, and Kameron just wanted to "walk" and "go". Mom's gonna talk to teacher Mel about it, but who knows. Its definitely giving mom pause when it comes to me going to Lincoln next year and having Mel as my teacher. Safi's doing her best to be flexible..and she's actually doing a great job, even if its causing her a ton of anxiety. Hopefully teacher Mel will understand and work on making the next field trip a little more thought out so we can all relax and enjoy it!

I had my 2 year check up at the doctor...a half a year late! Better late than never. I was scared and Safi cheered me on and comforted me through it all. I got a shot, a sticker and a sugar-free lollipop at the end...and a big sister who really loves me. Could have been worse.

With that, I'm gonna go because I'm still not feeling 100% groovy. Below is a video mom made to show you what a true "ritual" looks like. I don't think most people really get how specific and binding they are. Its a compilation of videos taking over several night of the first part of my 11 part bedtime ritual. Its the only part that doesn't directly involve mom, so its the only part she could tape. I have a number of rituals that I do throughout the day, and if they aren't done right I need to do them over and over until it feels ok...growing more and more anxious every moment until it is. Its scratching an itch...you don't stop until you got it.

So, check back next week to see how my school goes this week.

Peace
Nixi

Listen for "big hug" when I hug my doll and "look mommy, I swimming in the ocean..wheee"...also look for when I have to repeat something because I didn't say it the way I needed to or didn't touch something the way it needed to be touched.

Swinging times!

Phew! What a week...a total blur!

Nixi had school on Monday and Tuesday. Heather, our BIA, has been slowly "fading" so we can see how she does on her own. Its been met with mixed success. While Nixi has been doing a great job of not melting down during school, she seems to be getting increasingly anxious and "checking out" a lot more. When we gets home she's pretty tearful and just wants mom to hold her so she can space out. This next week Heather will still be in the room but will start fading her support completely and asking the early intervention staff to do all interventions and interaction with her. Should be interesting...and Heather will be there if Nixi needs her so it'll be ok. Still, seems like Nixi is enjoying doing the art projects and she LOVES the bubbles at the end!

I had some great days at school, and a few anxious ones. Seems for 2 days there just wasn't enough time in the day for our routine schedule to be followed in earnest so by day 3 I was done. Told mom I didn't want to go to school, cried, and got there 15 minutes late. 3 of my friends had the same reaction, so mom talked to my teacher and she made sure we had time for everything in our schedule and we were all good to go! We had school pictures and I looked super cool and did great! This week we have a field trip to the pumpkin patch! Should be awesome.

Over the past 2 weeks some new symptoms have been emerging from Nixi, and its got mom and dad pretty sad. Her course in this disorder seems to be following mine much more closely than mom and dad had originally expected. I think they were thinking she'd be less effected or something just because she can speak clearly and doesn't have the motor planning problems I have. WRONG! [Interesting note - this has prompted mom to do some research and what she found was really interesting. Seems recent research is showing that language delay, or lack there of, is not a good predictor of autism severity. This is one of the reasons why the new DSM in 2012 will be collapsing Asperger's Syndrome into Autism Spectrum Disorder and getting rid of it as a separate disorder. These studies have found that a disproportionate number of kids with speech delay are actually less effected than the kids who had none. Remember, Nixi has Classic Autism just like me...but her verbal ability has always thrown everybody off a bit. Interesting.] Her rituals have expanded to just about every area...and she's pulling mom into a lot of them like I used to when I was her age. She needs mom to say things a certain way...if she doesn't, Nixi keeps repeating the her part over and over again until mom does her part. If mom gets her part wrong Nixi gets really upset and can't move on until mom gets it right. She's also starting to do more and more of the motor imitation and repetition. For example, Nixi like it when mom pushes her as she's standing in the bed. Its a deep pressure treat that she only gets a few times a day. Lately, mom pushes her down and Nixi laughs then gets really angry and says "mu push down", stands up, and puts her own hand on her chest and "pushes" herself down. There's more stuff but its just too much of a bummer so we'll get into more at a later date. And, NO, she is not copying me. She's doing stuff that I haven't down since she was an infant and her rituals have no overlap with my own.

Fun stuff....we had a fabulous playdate with Sebastian, Gideon, and Penelope on Friday. Check out the video below! They're such great friends and we're just really lucky to have them! We also got a SWING SET! Its our first swing set and we LOVE IT! Dad slaved away to put it together and it was worth every ounce of energy he put into it. Its just really cool. We have it out in the front yard so we can have lots of opportunities for play and interaction with our neurotypical neighborhood buddies, and they've been loving it as much as we have. The coolest news EVER...by watching the neighbor boys swing I finally figured out how to pump my legs and swing myself!!!! Mom and dad have been trying to me that forever, but I hated it when they "coached" me. Man, I can fly now...I'm free! Its the best feeling ever!!!

So, some rough patches and rough stuff....but what a great end to the week!! Check back next week to see how the pumpkin patch went and to see how little sister does on Tuesdays with Heather totally fading!

xoxo
Safi

"The New House: Scenes 17, 18, 19"...a movie directed by Sebastian Shook and produced by mom. Starring, all of us!


Swing set montage...make sure to pay special attention to the end...my leg pump debut!

Ok, so we went to the College of the Sequoias Farm and it was a bit of a bust...hence, no pictures. It was pretty disorganized and we weren't allowed to pet that many animals so not even close to being as cool as the fair or grape picking. Nonetheless, we went, we had a fair time, and we got to go home and play. All in all, an ok day.

Safi had a great week at school. She missed one day because she was feeling sick after the COS Farm outing, but she felt great the next day. They're wrapping up September's farm theme and this week they'll usher in October and Halloween! We LOVE Halloween so this month is going to be AWESOME!!! Safi has been having a blast walking into class with her friend Carson. His mommy asked us if we could walk him in every day because she has to attend to his twin brother and its been working out great. They hold hands and smile the whole way down the hall. I think he's pretty cool, I even cheered for him the other day when he opened the gate for us.

My OT was sick so didn't get to see teacher Jo...looking forward to seeing her this week. We got a visit from my case manager, teacher Susan, because she has to work on my levels for my upcoming transition planning meeting. Since I'll be 2 and a half this month everyone will get together and talk about what's going to happen when I'm 3 and age out of Early Intervention. It'll be interesting to see what everyone has to say!

Ok, now the best part of the week....the pumpkin patch with our friends Sebastian, Gideon, and Penelope on Friday. It was AWESOME!!! We had the best time ever! We played in huge boxes of corn, ran up and down the rows of pumpkins and even got to pick a few to take home. I loved it when Heather buried me in the corn...all that great soothing deep pressure made me want to go to sleep! Ahhhhh... We really had the best time ever. The Shooks are just the greatest friends to have...we can play with them, or do our own thing, or struggle, or just be and they get us and we get them. Just a really great time!!!

On Sunday we got to go to the 99 cent store and pick out decorations for our house to get ready for Halloween. We walked through the store, dumping all things cool and spooky in mom and dad's baskets...and it was fun! It was a really neat milestone for us, too, because its a novel place where we don't often go and we handled it well. Towards the end Safi started getting a little overwhelmed, but no major meltdowns. When we came home we dumped all the stuff out on the yard and got to decorating. Safi was a little out of sorts from all of the excitement, but we decorated our butts off and had a blast!

All in all, a really great week! With that, I'm off!

Peace
Nixi

We were really "digging" the corn..pun intended!


Corn bed....


Trike riding after decorating...here you can see why Safi is a little confused by me sometimes. I can be in the middle of really enjoying something and then I just kinda snap because something goes wrong or doesn't feel right. I really did appreciate her pushing me, I just wasnt wearing any compression stuff and so I wasn't feeling right.