I am a big girl, officially!  I went to my first day of preschool on Tuesday and I LOVED it!!!!  It was so awesome.  Heather had to go to the emergency room so I went to school by myself and I did great!  I had a couple of moments where I was confused by other kid's intentions, but I recouped and had a great time.  I was excited to go back on Thursday and when mom came to pick me up I didn't want to go because I was having so much fun.  My class is really small.  There's three of us total, but at recess we get to play with the other class and I like that just fine.  I'm super proud of myself and mom and dad are over the moon.  I ruled the school and can't wait to go back next week!

Safi had another great week at school.  She even went through a fire drill with no worries.  She went and got her headphones with no prompting and got right back in line.  She had a bit of a rough day on Friday because she had an ear ache.  She ended up getting frustrated during writing because she couldn't get her "b" just the way she wanted it.  Ironically, Mrs. Paggi said it was actually one of the best in class.  Poor Safi and her perfectionism.  She was really upset though so when her speech teacher came she said she didn't want to go to speech group.  She regrouped at recess and had a great rest of the day.  Unfortunately, missing speech group threw her off for the rest of the evening and part of Saturday because she was bummed she didn't go and bummed that her routine was broken.  She was able to pull it together to do some fun stuff over the weekend and she's super pumped to get back to school on Monday.

On a social note, we had a super amazing week.  Mom and I still go to the park on days when I don't have school and one day we got an awesome surprise..the Shook family!  They know we got ot the park so they surprised us and it was super fun.  Penelope and I played on the play structure and Sebastian greeted everyone who entered the park!  Gideon found a super cool yellow kind of funnel and we put blocks in it.  It was such a great surprise and when we left I cried and told mom that I missed them.  On Saturday we went to Riverway Sports Park with our friends Arlo, Flyn, and Greer and had a great time.   After the park we went to McDonald's and a lady told mom and Katie (mom's best friend and Arlo, Flyn, and Greer's mom) how amazed she was at how well behaved we all were!  Sunday we met up with Logan, Zoey, and their step-brother Josh at Del Lago park and had a blast!  We played at the park and then at the fountains.  We collected broken water balloons and cleaned up the place!  We just had the best time.  We've really missed them since summer school ended so we were ready for some serious play time and we got it.  The best weekend ever!

The rats are slowly getting used to us and we're having a ton of fun hand feeding them kale, bell peppers, and cheerios.  Mom made a pouch that we can use to hold them safely and take them around the house.  They're really cute and soft and we love them!

So, it was a great week and we're looking forward to another great week to come!

Peace.
Nixi

Wow!  What a great week.  Heather was sick on Monday so I went to school by myself and I stayed the WHOLE DAY!!!  Yep, from 8:20am to 2:30PM!!!!  I did amazing!  I got to eat lunch in the cafeteria and it was just the greatest day ever!  Since I did so great by myself mom said I would go by myself from then on and I stayed the whole day, every day, for the rest of the week!!!  Each day I had some struggles but I worked through them and my teacher Mrs. Paggi was really proud of me.  I was pretty proud of me, too!  I love school and I really love the alphabet videos we watch each day, that's my favorite part.

When mom and Nix came to pick me up on Monday they had quite the surprise for me...we got two new pet rats!  Their names are Phineas and Ferb, cartoon character brothers that we love, and I thought that was hysterical.  I danced all the way from my classroom to the car, I was so happy.  When I got to hold them we figured out quickly that I am....the rat whisperer!  See, the rats are only 4 weeks old so they are really skittish and not used to people very much.  I told mom that they thought we were "giants".  So, mom let them run around on her bed and when they came on to my lap I petted them really gently and talked to them really quietly and they fell asleep!!!  Nixi tried her best to do the same but she's little too so its hard for her to stay calm.  We both are having a great time watching them and petting them and we love them a lot.  They have a bit of a cold so we took them to the vet's on Friday and got them some medicine.  I hope they get all better really soon.

Nix and mom were able to get a routine going once I started staying at school the whole day so they had a much better week, too.  Nix gets to go to the park every day and play in the toddler area with kids more her own age.  Mom brings different toys like balls, bubbles, cars, etc because Nix has an easier time socializing with the other kids when they have something to do.  It's less one on one and less pressure, but its still very much playing and Nix really blossomed this week without me to cling on to.  Each day she played with different kids, playing chase and stuff and had a great time.  She still gets confused really easily by social cues she misses and gets upset, but mom's helping her move past those and keep playing.  A lot of times she thinks kids don't want to play with her anymore if they mix up the pattern of the game they're playing with her, and that makes her sad.  It makes her scared when kids want to take a turn chasing her.  Stuff like that.  The fact that she's able to get it back together and stay a while longer is HUGE.  Its even more huge that she's initiating some play and almost always engaging back when a kid is engaging her.  She still leans towards starting games with the adults that are present but she does play with the kids and that is a 100% from before summer.  Way to go little sis!

Also, not a moment too soon...as Nix starts preschool on Tues!  She'll be going on Tues and Thurs and she's rally excited.  Mom made her a school slide show to get ready and she's pumped!  I hope she loves school as much as I do!

So, there our week.  Its just been amazing!  Check back next week to see how Nixi's first days went and to see if I can keep this momentum going!

xoxo.
Safi

Rattin' around...



Dancing with myself...oh, oh, oh, ohhh!

Phew!  What a week!!!  We went fruit picking at Farley Farms and it was awesome!  We picked grapes, peaches, and plums.  We also got to pet lots a piglet, goats, sheep, a donkey, a mini horse, and a tortoise!  We had the best time and we also got to play with the Farley kids on their swing set and in their sandbox.  I was great!

Then....Safi started school.  In spite of being really anxious, Safi was geared up for the first day.  She picked out her own outfit at the store and was up bright and early and ready to roll.  Heather, our BIA, went with her and it went really well for 2 and half hours.  Mom and dad kind of expected as much seeing as though that's about the amount of time Safi went to school last year so her endurance has to be built up.  She made 2 new friends, used the big girl potty, and answered questions from the teacher!  The classroom was crowded, the kids were loud, and recess was chaos..so we were super proud that she lasted as long as she did.  She was a rock star!  Mom made a deal with the school that when Safi is done, she can come home.  Safi isn't the kind of kid to take advantage of that, she'd much prefer to be able to do a full day of school.  That night she told mom that she wanted to eat lunch at school the next day, so mom knew she really wanted to stay all day.  Unfortunately, Safi woke up Friday morning with a cramp in her neck.  This is stress related and due to an overload in stress hormones.  These hormones are released in to the muscles to give you the burst of strength to fight for you life or flee...fight or flight.  Your muscles metabolize those hormones through working out to the point of exhaustion....think cave man fleeing from a saber tooth tiger!  If the muscles aren't worked out to that point they cant metabolize properly and they cramp.  So, a crampy neck made for one seriously crabby Safi.  Her brain wants to conquer school and enjoy it but her physiology is not on board.

When Safi is in pain she has a tendency to scream or yelp, and Friday was no exception.  So the day started rocky from the get go.  Safi and Heather headed to school and by 10:20 mom and I were on the way to pick them back up.  Unfortunately, Safi just couldn't power through the pain enough to stop yelping, the whole week crept up on her, and she dissolved.  She was really disappointed that she missed lunch, and that was sad.  We'll just keep plugging along at Safi's pace because this is not a race of speed but rather of endurance...and, while it may not always seem like it, we've got endurance for days, baby!

Its going to be rough.  Since we toured the classroom and met Safi's teacher on Monday she's been what mom calls "regressing".  Now, mom and dad expected that so it was no surprise, but there's always the hope that it wont happen and if it does that it doesn't happen to bad.  Well, its pretty bad.  Basically, Safi's back to using old coping skills from way back when she was 2...lining things up, hitting herself in the head, hitting and kicking mom, super rigid.  Basically, everything but banging her head and we're hoping that stays far away.  So, mom and dad are going to start looking for a psychiatrist to see if they can't get Safi on an anti depressant for anxiety.  Their only hold out has been her age.  The hope has been that they could put enough supports in place to get her through the next few years and then start meds but its becoming evident that that's just not fair to Safi.  Safi deserves to live a full life doing the things that she loves and she's just not able to do that right now.  If either of us had diabetes, they'd give us insulin so its time to give Safi's brain a little help so it can do a better job of controlling her physiology.  So, that's where we're at.

It was a pretty dicey weekend, culminating in a full scale Safi meltdown complete with her hurting mom and having to stay home.  I went to the park with dad and that was fun, but I just really hope my sister gets back on track soon.

Anyhow, I'm kinda done thinking about it so with that I say....
Peace
Nixi

What a crazy week.  We missed going to summer school so we asked mom to play our summer school songs during our stroller bike rides and it was a blast.

Mom wasn't feeling better until Thursday so we had to postpone Storyland/Playland until Thursday.  We had a couple of cool park days.  Nixi tried to play tag with some big kids but they kept climbing up a rock wall so she could never tag them.  What goobers!  We went to Petco and got supplies for the guinea pigs.  Nixi had a nuclear meltdown at the store, screaming and hitting mom.  It was pretty upsetting but we managed to power through the day.  The change in routine with no summer school was a little rough for her.  She struggled all week but ended on a high note without any meltdown's on Sunday!

On Thursday mom was feeling good enough to go to Storyland/Playland and we were excited!  It was pretty fun.  Nixi was hesitant to go down the slides in the Storyland houses so we kind of figured the rides would be out for her at Playland.  We both quickly began replaying our last visit to the parks, demanding that we see the houses in the same sequence and Nixi even replaying dialogue from last time verbatim.  It was pretty clear to mom and dad that while we may have been really excited, we were also feeling anxious.  When we're anxious we need everything to be exactly the same so that its predictable and safe.  When we were ready to take the train to Playland we were told the train wasn't running and wouldn't be for at least a week.  The train was the only thing Nixi really wanted to do, we both really needed to do it because that's what we did last time.  Needless to say, it threw us for a loop.  So, we walked over to Playland and it was obvious once we got in the park that it was going be a very different visit than last time.  Nixi immediately started going down the list of all of the rides that she wasn't going to go on.  I was disoriented because the walk-in entrance is on the opposite side of the train entrance so I struggled to find my bearings.  We tried going on the ladybug ride together and Nixi lost it...so she was out for the rest of the day.  She played in the water fountains and hung with dad and mom took me on the rides.  I went out of order from last time and that upset me, I was too afraid to go on the roller coaster and the tilt a whirl, I didn't get to ride on the horse that I wanted to on the merry-go-round.  There were tears, a little bit of yelling, but overall I kept it together enough to eek out a decent time and a few fun rides.  Mom cut the visit short and we were off to McDonald's and home.  McDonald's ended up being more fun than anything else because it had the coolest play structure ever and Nixi loved the pop music they were playing, dancing her tail off.  All in all, it was ok and we had as much fun as we could have for the way the day unfolded.  So, another success.

Friday dad came home early and mom went to meet with Teacher Jenn and the school district special services lady to talk about where I'll be going to school this Thursday.  The meeting went pretty much as mom expected...not a lot accomplished, tears shed, a little anger, and some more tears.  I heard her telling dad something about it feeling degrading, as usual, to cry in a room with people she has no desire to be vulnerable around and who ultimately don't have the resources to help.  So, her and dad decided to just bite the bullet and start getting me prepared to go to a new school.  Mission Valley it is.  Mom has been talking about my new teacher and my new school and she's acting super jazzed about it...at this point I'm being cautiously reserved.  Mom could tell I was a little upset about a new teacher so she told me her name then we played the name game we play whenever Nix and I are nervous about seeing someone.  Her name is Mrs. Pagee (Paa-gee).  So, mom talked to me about the new school and then quizzed me on my teacher's name.  I couldn't remember so she started with "Mrs...", which I repeated and then she said "Obbeewoobee doobee?!"  I thought that was hysterical!!!  So for then next few minutes we made up different silly names and I thought that was great.  When we were done being silly mom helped me with her name and I went to bed with a smile on my face.  I think this year is going to be scary, different, and above all, ok.  Mom says we're just going to make this school what we need it to be, and I think we will.  Heather will go with me on my first two days to make sure all of the supports are put in place and being used correctly then I'm just going to have be brave and figure it out.  Mom says I'm going to spread my wings and fly...I think she may just be right.

So that's the big excitement around here.  Make sure to check back next week to see how my first days in kindergarten went and to see how Nix copes with the change of me not being here for 6 hours a day.

xoxo
Safi

The one, and only, slide Nix enjoyed at Storyland...


Nixi being super supportive of me on my solo ladybug ride.  Thanks, little sis!  Make sure you have your volume up!

We had a pretty good week, if a not a little bittersweet.  Summer school has come to an end.  We had a super fun week making foot print butterflies, taking turns being the "teacher" during singing, and ending with a big graduation celebration.  We got gold medals, super sweet sunglasses, ate cupcakes, played with balloons, bowled, golfed, and made awesome music on our huge piano mat.  It was the best day ever.  Safi had a bit of a rough time when it came to the cupcakes.  Last year the last day coincided with Kameron's birthday and we did a pirate treasure hunt for the cupcakes.  So, when mom said it was time for cupcakes Safi kept saying "We have to find the cupcakes."  Mom thought she lost her marbles because the cupcakes were right in front of her.  Luckily Logan and Zoey's mom, Emily, came in with the save reminding mom that we had hid the cupcakes last year.  Mom and Emily talked Safi through it and, while still bothering her ("I don't like this..this a little scary"), she came around and we had enjoyed her cupcake.  It was a great summer and we're bummed to see it end but we're getting geared up for the new school year.

Safi still doesn't know where she's going but I keep asking her if I can visit her school.  I know that I get to see Teacher Mari when I go back to big girl school so I'm pretty excited...and nervous.  Mom HAS to have the meeting with Safi's school program supervisor this week because the first day of school is August 9th and Safi has to start getting appropriately prepared.  Heather has been really sick so mom is nervous that she may not be able to help Safi get acclimated to her new class and mom doesn't really have a back up.  Mom doesn't want to go with her and cramp her style so, needless to say, mom is stressed to the max right now.

Unfortunately, with stress come illness and mom is sick.  She's trying to rest but we're not the easiest kids to rest around so its a challenge.  We still managed to have an ok weekend.  Saturday was a little rough.  Safi and I both had meltdown's at the park so we weren't allowed to go to Burger King which sent Safi over the edge.  She recovered with time and Sunday we went to the purple slide park and got to feed the ducks and geese.  We did a super awesome job so we got to go to Burger King..and it was great!  Just wished mom was feeling better and now it looks like dad be might be coming down with it.

We got our new upgraded tablets this week and the Nabi 2 ROCKS!  Its faster than the old one and has a ton of new features..Skype, anyone?!  Even more exciting is Nabi's new Inspire program focusing on Autism in particular and special needs in general.  The company is going to develop a whole app store just for kids with special needs, provide Nabi's to families of kids with special needs at a discounted price, and will focus on supporting education, treatments, and research related to autism through charitable donations.  To help them develop this program, Fuhu announced that they were looking for 20 Inspire Families.  Mom wrote them an email about us and our family and she was chosen!!!  So, we are proud to announce that we are a Nabi Inspire Family!  Mom will help them with the creation of the special needs app store and WE will be official app testers!!  Mom will also offer support to families of kids with special needs with regards to incorporating the Nabi and technology into their home's and their kid's daily routines.  So rad!  We're super proud of mom and super excited to start helping lots of kids with our feed back on the apps.  Changing the world, one step at a time, we are!!  

No time for people being sick, we have a busy week ahead!  We're supposed to go to Storyland/Playland on Wednesday and we were invited to our friend Gideon's birthday party on Saturday.  Fun time ahead so buck up mom and dad. we plan to squeeze every last bit of summer fun possible into the next week and a half!

So, let the good times roll and may we not catch whatever the heck mom has!

Peace
Nixi

Safi getting flappy because she's happy with her new tablet!


Safi and the hill...I prefer to run it rather than ride it!

So, the weather cooled off nicely and we had a few great days where it felt like it was fall!  As of this writing, however, we're back in the heat and its miserable!  None the less, a great week was had by all!

Nixi was reeling a little post grandpa, Weishi, and Cate visit but we all expected that so at least we weren't taken off guard!  She still did a great job at summer school and I'm proud of her for trying so hard to pull it together.  I had a blast in summer school and I'm starting to get a little bummed that its almost over.  This next week is our last week.  We have graduation on Thursday, which I can only imagine means cupcakes.  Takes a little of the sting out of "the end", if you know what I mean!

We still don't know where I'm going for kindergarten this school year...and school starts Aug. 9th!  We've started talking about school, because no matter what we need to get mentally prepared for it, but its hard because mom doesn't know who my teacher is,etc.  Nixi knows that she's going to get to see Teacher Mari, the speech therapist that she adores, so she's feeling pretty pumped for school.  I'm excited, but nervous.  Mom took us to pick out our back to school backpacks, and that was super rad.  I picked a T-Rex back pack and Nixi picked a Disney Fairies one.  They are so cool!!  Mom is working on setting up a meeting with the powers that be this next week when they're back from vacation.  More to report later...hopefully.

We had  the greatest playdate on Friday with the Olsen's at Riverway Sports Park.  Since its kind of far and we don't go there often its always a treat and to get to hang out with Arlo, Flyn, and Greer made it that much more amazing.  We played in water fountains, in the big kid playground, and topped it off with lunch and McDonald's.  Katie, the mom, is our mom's best friend...and I spent my first couple of years hanging out with Arlo and Flyn until Autism got in the way.  Nixi was in the Bright Start school with Greer and they got to be good buds.  So, it was kind of like a homecoming....the way things should have always been.  We all played, Nixi and Greer holding hands and sitting together at lunch, me giving Arlo a hug because he was always the big brother I wished I had, and Flyn monitoring it all!  It was just the most perfect day.  The next day I asked mom if we could hang out with them again.  Later that evening Katie sent mom a text saying that she overheard Flyn (my age, 5) trying to coax Greer (3) into asking her "Don't you want to see Sarah tomorrow/"..because she wanted to hang out again with us, too!  Mom and Katie are going to take us all to a matinee of Ice Age Continental Drift before school starts so that will be awesome.

We rounded out the week with some great dress up play Saturday morning and found a worm at the park on Sunday!

So there you have it, a great week with the promise of another great one to come.  Hope you're all wrapping up your summer with as much fun as us!  Check back in next week!

xoxo
Safi

Riverway fun.....


Hope has a visit with Dr. Safi....

Wow, one HOT and humid week here.  We still managed to pack in some outdoor fun despite the scorching temps!

Summer school was awesome!  We had a blast playing dress up, and went on a few amazing bug hunts...our buddy Logan found a mystery fly with red eyes and a long black body, Safi found a beetle, and I found a teeny butterfly.  It was super fun and we did the fountains all three days.  Safi had a bit of a rough time at the fountains on the last day.  She really wanted wanted to play with some girls about her age so she followed them and mirrored what they were doing.  As far as she was concerned, they were all playing together.  One of those "Theory of mind" (read about it here: http://people.howstuffworks.com/theory-of-mind.htm) problems....assuming that because she wanted to play with them, they wanted to and were playing with her.  So, they started loudly saying "why is she following us?" and the like and eventually they told her in a pretty mean tone "Stop following us."  The worst part...Safi still tried to follow them because she wasn't hearing them.  Rather, she was so consumed with making sure she did what they were doing just right, and so in her mind, that she didn't even seem to notice the girl had said anything.  Mom told the girl that she wasn't speaking very nicely and called Safi over.  Safi never knew the girls didn't want to play with her so she was fine.  Mom was bummed.  Tip of the iceberg for things to come in school.  By the way, Teacher Jenn, if you re reading this...CALL MOM!  Pretty please!  


On Friday we got to go to the pet store and buy some ghost shrimp!  Shrimpy, Impy, Dimpy, and pregnant Blimpy are so far doing really well.  We don't think that Rocky can fit them in his mouth.  Because they're transparent it can be a challenge to find them...and that's really kinda fun!  We've been getting a kick out of seeing if they're still there every morning and every time we don't see one Safi yells, "Oh, I think Rocky ate him!"  Terribly exciting stuff!


On Sunday we got a visit from grandpa Cummings, Weishi, and Cate!  It was awesome.  We played in the clubhouse, made Winny sing with flutes, ate at McDondals, and even watched some TV with them!  Safi was super gracious and let Cate wear her pink shoes and use her hammock while watching TV.  Cate was super gracious and, no matter what Safi's reply (or sometimes lack there of) she persisted and played with her for ever!  Up until the last minute her and Safi were giggling and squealing in the bedroom!  It was a super great visit and we're hoping we can hang out with them again really soon!


So, in a nutshell, that was our week.  Hot, exciting, fun, and fabulous!


Peace
Nixi


Ghost shrimp...BOO!