Amaya Family

Showtime!

2012-01-14T20:36:00.000-08:00

Lilly's Kindergarten class put on a Thanksgiving show and held a feast for all of the families to enjoy. They sang songs and recited poems. Lilly had a line in one of the poems that she performed beautifully and later announced that she was most thankful for her kitty.

November

2012-01-14T20:22:00.001-08:00

Once again, I have fallen very far behind on my blog posting. The pictures are plentiful, but it just seems impossible to get them from my camera/phone and onto my computer where they can be uploaded to my blog and shared with all of you.

So here we go....

November has long past, but it was such a fun month, that I would hate to skip over any of the great moments.

Playing at the lake.
One of my roommates went to Japan and brought Lilly back this beautiful Kimono.
Tea time!
Playground fun.
Thanksgiving morning began with pumpkin pancakes at IHOP.
And ended with a great meal at my cousin Josh's house.

Halloween 2011

2011-11-19T15:13:00.000-08:00

I'm taking a quick break from updating the blog with Summer activities, to try to keep things current as well. Okay, so I know that I am still a couple of weeks behind, but at least I'm getting a little bit better.

For Halloween this year the kids chose to be superheroes. Lilly has been planning her costumer since last October, so when I saw them putting out Wonder Woman costumes at Target I made sure to grab one right away. While we were there, Alexander picked out the Iron Man costume and we were set.

It was quite the eventful holiday...taking up the last 2 weeks of October. The kids both had Halloween parties at school, plus there was a party at the apartment complex. On Halloween night we took Alexander and Lilly to the Brea Block Party, which is a big carnival with games and rides in downtown Brea. Everything is free and they hand out a ton of candy. Here are some pictures from the festivities.

This is what happens when Hector helps Lilly with her homework.Ready to go!
Candy break.
The Amazon Queen.

Dental Surgery

2011-10-22T20:05:00.000-07:00

While Lilly was busy enjoying her Summer activities, Alexander had the unfortunate task of having dental surgery.

Let me back up and explain. When Hector began at his current job and we received dental insurance, one of the first things on the list was to get these two kids to a dentist. A friend had recommended a pediatric dentist that she liked because he had lots of experience dealing with Autistic children.

Lilly went first and had a great experience. She got her teeth cleaned and x-rayed and then came back for a second visit where they sealed her molars and used a laser to shave off a tiny cavity. No pain, no tears, just praise and treats from the treasure chest.

Alexander, on the other hand, is a bit of a different story. After meeting him and taking a quick look in his mouth the dentist asked the nurse to skip the cleaning and x-rays and to let Alexander play while he and I had a talk. From his quick glance, he had determined that Alexander had multiple cavities and would probably need to have a few teeth extracted and a few others may need to have crowns. He recommended surgery. Put the kid under anesthesia and get everything done all at once. Then Alexander would be all cleaned up and ready to have regular dental exams where they could work with him on having his teeth cleaned and eventually x-rayed.

After multiple calls to insurance departments we finally had the surgery done in July. Alexander was excited to wear the hospital gown and did great with his IV. The surgery took 3 hours. They sealed his molars, shaved away a couple of stains, did 2 root canals (the kiddy version at least) and extracted 1 tooth. The dentist showed us the hole in his tooth and said that it had been draining liquid and must have been causing Alexander extreme pain, it was so bad.

Ready to go.
Getting his IV.
The drugs are starting to take effect.

Hector and I were a nervous wreck through the entire process, but sure enough, Alexander recovered in a matter of minutes. Within 30 minutes of waking up from the anesthesia, he was asking to go out to eat. Within an hour, he was munching away on a burger.

Nothing in life is easy for this poor kid, but as always, he does his very best and exceeds our expectations in the end!

Summer - Part 1

2011-10-22T19:48:00.000-07:00

The kids were very busy this Summer. While Alexander continued with school, Lilly played soccer, took swimming lessons, and became a very tan little girl.

Lilly's Big Adventure On A Unicorn

2011-06-29T10:30:00.000-07:00

The other morning, Lilly woke me up because she needed tape. When I asked what she needed it for, she informed me that she needed to put her book together. Apparently she had spent her morning illustrating a book to give to Hector for Father's day. So, before I had a chance to even brush my teeth, I transcribed Lilly's story and helped her to bind Hector's present. The following is Lilly's story book, which she created all on her very own. The only editing that I did, was to take out the phrase, "and then."

Lilly's big adventure on a unicorn
Once upon a time there were 3 little girls who got a unicorn for Lilly's birthday.
The little girls got a skinny unicorn, but it wasn't right for Lilly.
So they got a flying unicorn, but it wasn't right for Lilly.
Alexander stared at Lilly. Then the 3 little girls found the perfect unicorn and it was right for Lilly.
The unicorn painted the whole town red and the 3 little girls were surprised.
They lived happily ever after with the unicorn.
The End.

Later that day, Lilly informed me that she finally knows what she wants to be when she grows up...a person who writes and draws books for the library. Hopefully she will let me have my morning coffee before I have to open the Amaya Publishing House.

The Newest Graduate

2011-06-15T16:15:00.000-07:00

It has been quite an exciting year for Little Miss Lilly, and this morning she officially graduated from preschool. Her class held a special "promotion ceremony" in honor of the event. The kids sang a couple of songs and each of the teachers spoke about how much the students have grown over the past year. Then they received their diplomas and celebrated with cookies and lemonade.

The new graduate with her pretty new dress (which her mama had to sew for her at the last minute...you have no idea how hard it is to find a Hawaiian print dress in Southern California.)
Receiving her diploma.
With her teacher, Ms. Clark.
With her friend, Luke. He is her "sleeping beauty playmate" if you recall from a previous post. A cute young man, who Hector is keeping his eye on very closely!
In honor of the event, Lilly and I mad candy leis for all of her friends.
Luke, Lilly, Carlton, and Aiden, aka: The Play Date Crew.

Busy Weekend - Part 3

2011-05-02T20:11:00.000-07:00

After the skate board clinic, we had just enough time to stop at home for a quick nap, before heading out to our final weekend destination...Nicholas' birthday party. Nicholas is a classmate and friend of Lilly's and he was having a birthday blowout that she just couldn't miss. So we loaded up in the car, once again, and headed to his house (fortunately he only lives about 3 miles away).

The kids had a great time at the party, jumping in the bouncy castle...
and visiting the balloon man.
Lilly couldn't ask for something simple, like a sword, but had to have a white horse, of course.
Hector's favorite part of the event was the Taco Man (who catered the event and made an amazing carne asada taco).
We finished off the afternoon, with not one, but two pinatas.
By this time, Alexander had retreated to the inside of the house because of all of the popping balloons, so we chose to leave before the cake and desserts began.

Needless, to say, we all slept very well for the following week!

Busy Weekend - Part 2

2011-04-27T16:27:00.000-07:00

We had to leave Fresno early on Sunday morning to make it back down to Torrence, CA by 11am. You see, a week prior to our trip, another mom had told me about a skateboard clinic for kids with Autism that was going to be in Orange County on the Saturday that we were planning on being in Fresno. We knew that we would not be able to change our plans, but looked up the information online and found out about A.skate. A non-profit organization that travels around the country offering free skateboard clinics for children on the spectrum. We asked to be added to their e-mail list and left it at that.

A couple of days later, we received an e-mail saying that they had added a clinic on Sunday in Los Angeles and that anyone interested needed to register immediately, since space was limited. We registered right away and a day before leaving for Fresno, found out that Alexander had been assigned a time slot.

Fortunately, there isn't much traffic at 6 am on a Sunday morning, so we made it back to Southern California in a little over 3 hours. Alexander had such a great time and it was well worth the early rise for him to have this opportunity.

Skateborder magazine and Vans TV were there video taping the event as well. Here is the first video. Alexander is only in it for a second, but Paul Shire was his coach and in his interview he talks about his experience with Alexander ("the first kid".)

Skateboarder Magazine & A.Skate Foundation Autism Clinic from Skateboarder Magazine on Vimeo.

Alexander is featured a little bit more in this second video. Be warned, it makes us cry so you might need a tissue.

Busy Weekend - Part 1

2011-04-26T13:20:00.000-07:00

Since moving to California we have been trying to connect with all of our family that live on the West Coast. Hector and the kids have been out and about to see his extended family, and the last time that my mom was in town, we visited with her cousins who live in San Diego. So we thought that Spring Break would be the perfect time to take a road trip up to Fresno to visit my cousins.

My father grew up in Fresno and his sister, along with 2 of her 3 sons, and their children still reside there. We haven't seen each other in a decade, so the reunion was long over due.

Hector was able to get off of work early and things fell perfectly into place for us to make the drive on Friday afternoon, putting us in Fresno, just in time for Kearsyn and Korbyn's (my cousin's kids) birthday party at Pump It Up. Due to L.A. traffic, it took us over 5 hours to get there, but the kids were so excited to see that our destination included bouncy castles, balloons and cupcakes!

On Saturday we all got together for a picnic lunch at the park and the kids (and adults) had a blast. It was so great to spend time with my cousins and to watch our children play together. "Uncle Brandon" taught Alexander to hit a baseball, and Lilly got to be his ball girl. Alexander rode around on razor scooters with the Hayden and Gavyn, and Lilly fit right in with the girls.

As a bonus, my Aunty Linda's house is set up perfectly for all of the kids. Weeks later, Alexander is still saying, "Go Linda's house another day." We can't wait to visit again soon (hopefully in July) and look forward to watching the kids all grow up together.

The newest member of our family...

2011-04-19T13:21:00.000-07:00

Meet Molly. Lilly's new American Girl Doll (also a birthday present).
Lilly, Molly, Kanani, and Sophie having a tea party.

Lilly's World

2011-04-12T21:07:00.001-07:00

On March 30th, Lilly turned 5. So I thought that now would be as good as time as any to catch you up with what has been going on in Lilly's World.

For starters, she is an official preschooler. Here is a picture of her on her first day of school, back in September.
We had always intended on home schooling Lilly, but when we registered Alexander for school in California we were asked if we would be interested in sending Lilly to school as well. The school district was willing to scholarship her into preschool because they feel that it is very important for siblings of "special needs" children to have the opportunity to socialize with "typically developing" children. Once we found out that the preschool program was only 2 days/week, for 3 hours/day, we agreed.

Within a month of starting school, Lilly's teacher asked if we would be interested in sending her to school 4 days/week. Apparently she had become the model student and was helping other children in the class come out of their shells and be more social. We were told that she has a special gift, where she is able to bring all of the students together (even those who don't normally play with one another) and that she had become the classroom leader.

This was working out great for us. I was able to home school Lilly in the mornings and then send her off to school, enjoying a couple of hours of free time. Plus she was starting to make friends and I was able to meet other mothers who live in the area.

Then Kindergarten registration came up. Hector and I were at a loss. Do we send her to school, which she loves, like all of her friends, or do we pull her out at the end of the year and go back to homeschooling? We decided to way all of our options before making a final decision.

First we attended a Kindergarten Readiness workshop for parents. Here, we learned that Lilly was more than ready to enter into Kindergarten, both socially and academically. Next we had a conference with her teacher. Lilly had mastered 24 out of the 25 areas that needed to be mastered by the end of Kindergarten. When we discussed sending Lilly to Kindergarten, her teacher mentioned that the academics would be much too easy and recommended placing her in either a private school or loading her up with a lot of extra curricular activities to keep her stimulated. When we mentioned the idea of homeschooling, her teacher lit up. She thought that it would be the perfect option for a child like Lilly.

Lastly we met with the Home School Advisor for Brea Public Schools. Brea has just started a brand new home school program to serve the needs of local parents. They have a classroom for the students at one of the elementary schools where the kids can share their work, have computer lab, art, and give presentations to one another. The teacher is very enthusiastic and has set up a schedule where the parents meet with her once a week to go over the curriculum and progress of the child.

After all of this, we have decided to go the home school route. It will be a lot of work for me (and I will greatly miss those few hours of quiet time each week), but we are very excited for the opportunities that it will afford Lilly. Hector and I often joke that we have 2 very difficult children. One who needs help keeping up with the world, and another whom the world has to keep up with.

And now back to my baby girl who has just turned 5.
The morning of her birthday, we woke her up before Hector had to leave for work to present her with her baby book. Alexander often looks at his and Lilly has often asked for hers. Being the second child has meant that her baby book has been left untouched since she was 2 months old. A couple of weeks before her birthday, Hector had arranged for us to get together with a coworker of his who is addicted to scrap booking. I spent 1 hour organizing all of the things that I had collected for her baby book, 2 hours choosing photos, and 2 more hours writing down what had happened during each month of the first year of her life (with Hector's great help). Then we spent 5 hours on a Saturday morning with the scrap book king (Hector's coworker), to complete the book. Lilly was thrilled that her life as a baby was finally documented on paper.

Later that day I made brownie and strawberry kabobs for her to share with her friends at school. Then that evening we had the family over for dinner and cake.
Lilly was thrilled to wear her new birthday dress (which took me until 2am to finish) and receive a special birthday meal. She asked for Lasagna with red sauce, bread and a chocolate cake with strawberries.

But her favorite part of the night was opening presents.

And her favorite present was Kanani. Her very own American Girl Doll, just like she always wanted. (Or at least has wanted since seeing her in the catalog about 6 months ago.)
And of course Kanani wouldn't be complete unless she had a matching birthday dress and Barksie the dog....and Lilly always has to have the complete set!

Happy Birthday Alexander

2011-03-16T20:57:00.000-07:00

As I began preparing the post on Alexander's birthday party, I realized that an update on his life is long over due. So here is a quick summary of what has happened in Alexander's world over the past year.

While living in Cambridge, we hired a lawyer to help us navigate the school district. She advised us to have him reassessed so that we would have a starting point and some ground to stand on when disagreeing with his school.

The new assessment showed that he does still qualify as having Autism Spectrum Disorder and that his developmental average is that of a 3 year old. His speech and communication fell between 18 months and 2 years, his gross and fine motor skills were around the 3 year level, and his problem solving skills were in the 4 year range. Unfortunately, none of these results were surprising, but it was nice to see the improvement that he has made since his last assessment.

Due to our pending move, we settled with Cambridge Public Schools (after an 8 hour settlement mediation). We didn't receive all of the services that Alexander deserves and qualifies for, but we did end up with a very specific and much improved IEP (individualized education plan).

When we arrived in Brea, California, I registered him at the local elementary school, and handed them a copy of his IEP. The next morning, I received a phone call from the Special Education director for Brea Public Schools, explaining that the school district is much too small and would not be able to accommodate all of Alexander's needs. She was recommending a regional school for special needs children and promised to get back to me as soon as she had more information.

To our amazement, she called the very next day (in the past we have always had to call multiple times and leave very direct messages in order to receive a reply from previous school districts). She was very excited to let me know that she had found the perfect fit for our son. A small private school in Orange, that is run out of a woman's home. We visited the school and knew right away that this was the answer to our prayers. All of the hours spent fighting Cambridge Public Schools, was well worth it and was all for the purpose of getting him into this school.

Since mid-September, Alexander has been attending ECE. Ms. Irene (his teacher) is an amazing woman in her 60's who has been working with children with Autism for over 40 years. She bought a home and renovated it with the specific intent of opening a school for children with Autism. There are currently around 16 children (ages 5 - 18) who attend. The school day is from 8am to 4pm, she requires them to wear a uniform and runs a very tight ship.

She also provides them with breakfast, snacks, and a hot lunch (that she prepares from scratch) every day. Whenever we visit, the house smells so good with whatever she has on the stove for the day's meal. She requires all of the kids to eat what she serves (and doesn't allow for "picky eaters").

It all sounds very strict, but Alexander loves it, and it's amazing what she has been able to accomplish with him. First of all, they play outside every day that the weather allows for it. Alexander has learned to ride a Razor Scooter and has become a pro with his Roller Blades. They celebrate every holiday and have large parties (today they are having an all green lunch and doing crafts for St. Patrick's Day).

Ms. Irene came and did a home visit with us the other day and shared with us all of the progress that Alexander is making. She commented on how smart and athletic he is. He is also a stubborn and sneaky little boy, who tries to get away with things when no one is looking. She firmly believes that after a couple of years with her, he will be able to transition back to a normal classroom in a public school. She also asked us about our long term hopes for Alexander, which are for him to live independently, hold a job, and have friends. With all of her experience and years of working with people with Autism, she agreed that these goals are very realistic for him as long as we all continue to work together to keep him from getting lost in his own brain.

Now, back to the birthday story....on March 13th, our little boy turned 7 (oh Alexander, couldn't you just stay 6 years old for a few more years!)

A few days before his birthday we took him to the mall, where he picked out a green baseball cap at the Vans store. As Alexander is allowing his true personality to show, we have discovered that he prefers bright, bold colors. After we paid for it, the cashier cut the tags off and gave it to Alexander. Unprompted, Alexander told him, "thank you" threw the hat on and began to run around the mall with excitement. He also picked out a Hello Kitty stuffed animal as his birthday present.

On his birthday, we took him to the playground for the afternoon and then had family over for dinner. We thought that it would be fun to have an entirely Alexander friendly meal. By the way, Alexander is currently on a grain and sweetener free diet. In case you are wondering what a grain and sweetener free meal looks like, here is the menu:

-sugar snap peas, green beans, and carrot sticks (Alexander's favorite veggies) with hummus

-grilled hamburgers and toppings

-homemade french fries

-mini cupcake bites with strawberry sorbet. These were all homemade using almond flour, sweetener free chocolate, and frozen fruit.

Everyone had a great time and Alexander really enjoyed the low key event. The hardest part of it all is trying to convince him that he is 7. Whenever you ask him how old he is, he still wants to say, "6!"

Cousin Penelope.Present time!
Alexander's new skateboard (which he loves).

There's an app for that

2011-02-24T20:09:00.000-08:00

Yesterday morning, Lilly was drawing different shapes. After coloring a square, triangle, oval, rectangle and circle she asked what other shapes she should draw. Seeing this as a teaching opportunity, I asked her what other shapes she could think of. After thinking for a few seconds, she grabbed the ipod and opened up a shape game, then proceeded to tell me a number of other shapes that she could draw.

Visiting with friends

2011-02-07T13:40:00.001-08:00

When we lived in Minnesota, not a single friend came to visit. Heck, our family didn't even visit very often until the kid's were born. Then we moved to Boston. Where a couple of friends came out to visit during the Summer months, but only family dared to brave it during the Winter. But alas, now we live in sunny Southern California and we are the people to see during those cold Winter months.

This Winter we were lucky enough to visit with 2 different friends from Boston. Our first encounter was with the Morales family. They are originally from California, but have been living in Cambridge where we attended the same church. With kids of similar age, and only living a mile apart from one another we became fast friends and have missed them dearly since moving.

You may remember from previous posts that Canon (the son) and Lilly had declared that they were to be husband and wife and had even planned their wedding while picking blueberries. So when Ramona (the mom) called to tell me that they were in California for Christmas I was elated. One small problem, they were staying about 350 miles north of us and had a packed schedule of family and friends to see. After a series of voice mails to one another, our schedules lined up and we chose a day to get together, but I was still unsure about taking 2 kids for a 6 1/2 hour drive. Then I ended up with an extra day off and Hector got the car all tuned up, so I was out of excuses. The three of us loaded up into the car and headed up north. We had a beautiful drive with minimal whining (which was eased with the promise of a McDonald's Happy Meal). And after one pit stop and 6 1/2 hours we arrived just before the sun began to set.

As soon as the kids saw each other it was as if no time had passed at all. They instantly hugged and began to run around together. Canon and Lilly went through with their wedding plans and then began to play "homeschool" together. I was able to share a glass of wine and a nice dinner with the family before it was time to say goodbye. They offered to have us stay the night, but I opted to have a silent drive home. After a pit stop at Starbucks we were off and made it safely home by 2am. It was a great trip that I would happily do again in a heartbeat!

The kids playing...you'll notice that Lilly has her hands on her hips trying to control the situation as always.
In our pajamas and ready to say goodbye.
Ramona, I miss you dearly. I can't wait to have wine and dessert with you again.

Our next visit was from Haley. Anyone who had ever stayed with us in Boston had met our beloved Haley. She was Alexander's therapist and our go to babysitter for 2 1/2 years. She spent 10-12 hours / week in our house and has become part of the family. We were absolutely thrilled when she wrote to ask if she could come and visit in January.

Since she had never been to Southern California before, we took it upon ourselves to show her as much as possible. Our first stop off the plane was In-N-Out Burger (of course) and then home to get Alexander off the bus. He was thrilled and confused to see her, running up and down the halls.

We also spent the day tanning and shopping at Huntington Beach and Laguna Beach, and went to The Getty Villa. Then we did downtown LA, showing her around Hollywood and ending her trip with a sunset at Venice Beach. We all had a great time and she was overwhelmed by the fabulous weather. She went from 2 feet of snow and blizzard conditions back East, to 80 degrees and clear skies....we are currently trying to convince her to move out here with us.
Hello Haley!
Lilly is now a huge fan of the American Girl dolls. She has yet to own one, but has been scouring the catalog and has lots of requests. This is her at the American Girl store in downtown L.A., in front of the latest release, Kanani.
In Hollywood.
Hector with his good friend, Samuel L. Jackson.
Alexander with his good friend, Mickey Mouse.

Merry Christmas!

2011-01-31T12:45:00.000-08:00

Our first Christmas in Southern California was a great one. After a ton of rain, we had a cool front (about 60 degrees) and a beautiful green landscape. The kids missed the snow, but Hector and I loved the sunshine (and not having to scrape snow off of our car).

We spent Christmas Eve with Hector's family. We toured the lights around town, ate a nice dinner and then built gingerbread houses. On Christmas morning, Hector's parents came over for breakfast and to watch the kids open presents and that night we went over to Hector's grandmother's house for Christmas dinner.

Blade Runner and Pink Lady

2011-01-19T19:36:00.000-08:00

Alexander received a pair of roller blades, and all of the accessories for Christmas and absolutely loves them. While he was on a break from school, I took him to a basketball court to practice and he was able to let go for short amounts of time. I tried to take a video of him, but every time I put the camera up, he would stop to pose for a picture.In other news, Lilly is sick and injured. On Sunday, she fell on some bricks while playing in the back yard and she woke up on Monday with a horrible cold. She has been home from school all week, lying in bed and watching movies. So what makes a sick little girl feel better? Wearing a pretty pink dress of course.

Happy New Year

2011-01-10T21:04:00.001-08:00

Resolution #1: Keep current on this blog!

Let's start with a few things that happened at the end of last year. We enjoyed a nice Thanksgiving with Hector's family. It was a relaxing day with good food (just as a holiday should be). In the weeks to follow, Hector and the kids were able to visit with extended family, enjoying more good food and lots of laughs. It is such a joy to see the kids getting to know their great Aunt's and cousins. Lilly is still calling Hector's grandmother, "Aunt Nani", but we are getting there.

While the 3 of them were on vacation from school, I was busy at work. The holidays are, of course, the busiest time of the year in the world of retail. I am thrilled that things are settling down, everyone's back in school and I am back to my old routine.

Below is a short slideshow of our pre-Christmas activities. Southern California got drenched in floods this Winter, so the kids were able to put some of their Boston gear to good use. It became common practice, when returning home from an activity, to head outside to play in the puddles, come inside, take a warm bath and then finish the afternoon off with a steamy cup of hot cocoa. As long as it is above freezing with no snow, we are one happy family!

Beach Babies

2010-11-15T20:11:00.000-08:00

Even though they were both born in Minnesota and raised in Massachusetts, my kids have somehow turned into beach babies. While we were on Oahu this Summer, they spent every moment possible at the beach and never seemed to tire of it. However, since moving back West, we haven't taken the time to see the Pacific until this past weekend.

Sunday was a beautiful, clear, 80 degrees, so after church we packed up a cooler and headed for the coast. We knew that the water would be freezing (around 60 degrees) but we told the kids that they could play in the sand and stick their feet in the water. To our amazement, they stuck their entire bodies in the water and insisted upon swimming around the shoreline. It was quite the site to see as the only other people in the water were surfers wearing full wet suits. Once Alexander's teeth began to chatter we would make them take a break and play in the sand to warm up before heading back in to the icy sea.

When we had run out of food we took a walk along the pier and then headed back to the car while watching the sunset. It was a beautiful day that has left me with raccoon eyes and the dream of owning a cute little house near the beach.

Huntington Beach.
Too sunny.
Playing in the sand.
Playing in the water.
Upset that it's time to go home.

Tutu is here!

2010-11-08T20:48:00.000-08:00

We have been very lucky to have my mom visiting from Hawaii for the past 5 days. She flew out for a short trip to check out our new digs and celebrate her birthday.

Her visit began by making sugar cookies with the kids - thank you Aunty Sherri for the great baking set!

Then we got together with one of her childhood friends, her 2 kids and 3 grandkids. Everyone had a great time visiting and celebrating the upcoming birthdays.
For my mom's birthday, we went out to lunch at a vegan restaurant and ordered off of their raw foods menu. Here Lilly and I are enjoying raw "doughnut holes"...I am not sure what they were made out of, but they were delicious!
Then we picked Alexander up from school and got a tour of the classroom and outdoor play area.
We ended the night by cooking dinner and making a raw birthday cake. And yes, it tasted as good as it looks - and without any guilt.
The next night we took Lilly to see the stage production of Peter Pan. The play was fantastic and the perfect first theater experience for Lilly. They set up a 360 degree theater in a tent, so there wasn't a bad seat in the house. Lilly had a great time and cried when it was over because she didn't want to go home.
We ended the visit with dinner at Hector's parents house. The in-laws haven't seen each other since our wedding (almost 13 years ago) so it was nice to have the whole family together again.

We miss you already Tutu. Come back soon!

Recipe for a great Halloween

2010-11-01T20:26:00.000-07:00

First you will need 1 little girl who has been planning her Halloween costume since going to Disneyland in January...it helps to also have a Nana who is willing/able to sew the dress and bloomers to turn that dream into a reality.Next, order 1 Harry Potter Kit from Amazon and find the perfect tie at a Good Will store. Note - you will have to pay shipping for the Harry Potter Kit, because you procrastinated and didn't order it early enough to guarantee delivery before 10/31.
Now it is time to add the pumpkins. Alexander thinks that carving them is much more fun if you are wearing nothing but your underwear.
(Hector did all of the carving, but we were very excited, because Alexander drew the face on his little pumpkin all by himself.)

During this week you will also need to prepare for 2 school parties. This is done by running around town to buy Halloween candy, that you are willing to let your son eat, to send to his school and the supplies to make popcorn ball pumpkins to send into your daughter's school.

On Halloween day, invite your friends and their kids over for dinner....she did the makeup herself, doesn't it look awesome!

Dress the kids in their costumes and head out to a local Halloween carnival.

Apparently the Community Church of Orange County hosts an annual Kidz Block Party for Halloween. This year, it was in downtown Brea. It was absolute madness. A block of tents and booths set up for the kids to play games and then trick or treat for candy. Plus they had bouncy slides, live music, pony rides and face painting.

End the night by letting all 4 kids dig into their candy, while you catch your breath and have a chance to actually speak to the friends that you had invited to come with you.
*Just in case you were wondering, Lilly has already decided to be Wonder Woman next year.

Shark Boy, Bubble Girl, and Bicycling Powerhouses

2010-10-28T13:28:00.000-07:00

Last week we turned into quite the Super Hero family.

A couple of weeks ago we discovered that our beloved son had indeed become Shark Boy. He began growing a second row of teeth. This was quite startling since none of his original teeth were even the slight bit loose. While we were horrified by the sight, it had no effect on him whatsoever.
Finally, last weekend we awoke to find this.
Alexander had finally lost his first tooth. And just like a shark, we have no idea where that tooth has gone. All we know is that he went to sleep with it just a little loose and woke up with a new hole in his mouth. Thankfully, the new "shark tooth" is beginning to move forward to join the rest of the gang now that there is room.

In other news, Lilly received a Princess Bubble Wand as a gift. Of course the picture on the packaging showed a little girl dressed up as a princess while blowing bubbles, and so, faster then a speeding bullet, Lilly turned into Bubble Girl.
Meanwhile, Hector and his Sister were busy becoming Super Bicycling Powerhouses. They both completed a 26 mile bike race in Long Beach in just about 2 hours.

Tune in next time for more heroic adventure....I hear that Minnie Mouse and Harry Potter may soon be making an appearance.

Update

2010-10-25T19:56:00.000-07:00

I hadn't realized how long it has been since I have posted on Blogger, until a friend of mine e-mailed, asking if I were still alive. So yes, I am still alive, and this is what we have been up to:

When we returned from Hawaii, Hector showed me an apartment that he had found and we quickly signed the lease. Unfortunately we were not able to move in for another 3 weeks, so we stayed with his parents and began preparing for our move. In the beginning of September, we moved to Brea, California. It is a cute little suburb in Northern Orange County. We were both unfamiliar with the area, but have really enjoyed living here thus far.

In the midst of unpacking, both of the kids started school. Since Brea is such a small area, they placed Alexander in a private school for children with Autism that is about 15 miles away in the city of Orange. The Special Education Department has been extremely helpful (a first for us) and they even placed Lilly into preschool. They have a program set up for siblings of special needs children. Lilly automatically qualified for a scholarship to the public preschool so that she would have the opportunity to socialize with neuro typical peers (aka, normal kids).

September also brought employment for Hector. He is working, in the mornings, as an aid at a private school for children with Autism. He works with the 17-21 year olds and is not having a very good experience there. We are hoping that this job in only temporary, until another opportunity arises. He is also teaching one class, American History, at Citrus Community College. He loves teaching and hopefully this will turn into a more permanent position.

I was able to transfer to The Container Store in Costa Mesa, and am working there part time. It is a bit of a drive and I have had a tough time adjusting to the different management style, but I am starting to find my way and have made some good friends already. Other than that, I spend the mornings homeschooling Lilly, taking her to and from school, and tending the household chores. Just about all of the boxes have been unpacked so I have begun work on our small yard.

I was hoping to include a slide show of pictures from the Summer, but am having trouble uploading the photos. I will keep working on it and post again soon.

Thanks for your patience as I rise from the grave of a cross country move and return to the land of the blogging.

Mr. and Mrs. Kai Dodson

2010-08-15T00:13:00.000-07:00

What? Kai got married? Believe me, I am in as much shock as you are. As hard as it is to believe that there really is someone out there who wanted to marry him, it is even harder to believe that there is someone out there whom he wanted to marry.

So, here's the story. A couple of years ago, one of my cousins (who lives on Oahu) came to Maui for a visit and brought along her friend, Darsie. She and Kai met and were dating in no time (even though she lived on Oahu and was going to school in California). The two of them flew back and forth and were able to make the long distance relationship work. Before flying out, for her Law School graduation, he asked her parents for their permission and then popped the question during her graduation dinner - in front of her family and friends! I know what your thinking... who is this jet setting, romantic and social guy and what did he do with the never going to leave Maui, cranky, recluse Kai that we all grew up with. Well, apparently that's what happens when you fall in love.

Oh wait, the story gets even better. So, I can deal, with Kai falling in love and getting married, but he also had a wedding. I don't know about you, but I just always assumed that if it was going to happen, it would happen in Vegas and there would be a lot of alcohol involved. And not just any wedding, a big, traditional wedding. In a church.

All kidding aside, the wedding was beautiful and a ton of fun. They got married on a beautiful day in Darsie's church. The ceremony was lovely and everyone looked fabulous. Lilly was one of the flower girls, and even made it down the aisle, before running to my mother's lap. The reception began with a cocktail hour while the wedding party took photos and then the festivities began. They wanted to include a little something from all of their cultures, so there were 1,000 folded paper cranes in the entrance, a lion dance, a money dance and a Bonzai toast. There was also a photo booth, a slide show, and a game - of which our family won, of course (now Kai has control of the remote for the first year of their marriage). The night ended with dancing and lots of hug,s as family came from near and far to celebrate the event.

For those who were unable to make the wedding, I put together a slideshow of the night for you to enjoy (and to prove that all I said before is actually true). And, in case you were wondering, I didn't doctor the photos. Kai is actually smiling in all of those pictures - who knew he could be so happy?

California Dreaming

2010-08-06T23:54:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry for the delay between posts, but it has been a busy July. We have been fighting with Cambridge Public Schools (more about that in a future post), went blueberry picking and moved to California. That's right, you read correctly, we have moved back to California. Hector had announced it on facebook, but because we were fighting with Alexander's school, I didn't want to post anything about it publicly online until we had settled with them.

A few months ago we were faced with the question of where to live? Our lease was up on September 1st and would have to be renewed for an entire year, so we could either stay in Cambridge for another year or choose to move on. We loved the house that we were renting and had made some really good friends, but we have been desperate to live near family and Hector was still unable to find work or a doctorate program that provided us with the financial package that we would need for him to continue his studies. After weighing our options we decided that it would be wisest to move back to Southern California now instead of waiting for another year to go by.

Our biggest concern with moving is Alexander's schooling. We would like to settle somewhere so that we could work with a school district and build some consistency for him. We joined an Autism group on Yahoo and contacted an Autism support group. Hector spoke with two Special Education Attorneys and we have decided to follow their advice and move to Fullerton (which is in northern Orange County). I was also able to transfer my employment and will be working for The Container Store in Costa Mesa on a part time basis.

And so, our journey has begun. We rented two pods to ship all of our things out West. Hector's mother flew out and spent 4 days with us, helping to watch the kids, pack and clean the house, while I worked and Hector loaded up the pods. Then she flew with the two kids and our cat out to Los Angeles, while Hector and I loaded up our car and drove across the country. Their flight went very smoothly and they all made it in one piece. Hector was able to go with them all the way to the gate (just like in the old days) which was a great help and comfort for the kids. We gave Benvolio (our cat) a sedative and he slept the entire flight. Since it was a 9pm flight, the kids slept for most of it as well and everyone woke up in good spirits once the plane landed.

Later that night, Hector picked me up from work and, after a quick shower, we started our drive. We left Cambridge at midnight and drove for 18 hours. We had packed a cooler full of food and took turns sleeping through the wee hours of the morning only stopping for gas. By 10 am we made our first stop in Ohio at a playground for a picnic lunch. By 2pm we were ready for a break, so we decided to stop at Notre Dame University in Indiana and tour the campus. We considered driving on into Nebraska, but by 6pm, when we stopped for dinner, we could no longer move. We found a hotel accross the parking lot and quickly passed out for the night.

The next morning, Hector had us on the road by 5:30am, for a 7 hour drive to Lincoln, Nebraska. There we stayed with friends and toured the city. We had a fun night out with them and a good night sleep before getting back in the car and starting out for Denver, Colorado. 7 hours later we were in Denver, where we stayed with friends of ours. We restocked on snacks for the car and had a relaxing evening looking around the church where they live (they rent out an apartment in the basement).

Early the next morning we started out for Los Angeles. We drove for 14 hours through some crazy lightning storms, and a very desolate area of Utah before making it to Las Vegas, where we stopped at In and Out for dinner. We considered stopping for the night, but since we still had a couple hours of daylight left, we decided to plow on and made it to Hector's parents house by 10pm. Not bad, 3,000 miles in 4 days. I wouldn't want to make the trip again this month, but it was a lot of fun and a great break from our crazy lives.

3 days after arriving in LA, the kids and I were off again, to Hawaii for my brother's wedding. We will be spending a couple of weeks with my mom, while Hector stays with his parents, looking for employment and housing. We are very fortunate to be able to stay with Hector's parents until we get settled, but our anxious to get our own place so that we can register Alexander for school.

I will be posting more about the wedding and our adventures in Hawaii, but for now, here is a slideshow of our drive.

Strawberries!

2010-06-11T06:28:00.000-07:00

I was so excited to find out that I had Memorial Day off that I didn't quite know what to do with myself. Should we try to take a day trip somewhere? Should I tackle one of my many projects around the house? Should we try to get together with friends that we don't see very often? And then the answer showed up in my in-box...Strawberry picking.

A couple of years ago my mom and I took the kids blueberry picking in Minnesota and everyone had such a great time that I have been determined to do it again. The problem is that I don't know where to go in Massachusetts. Last Summer I found out about Tougas Family Farm from another mom, but by the time I got my act together, picking season was over. When we were looking for places to pick pumpkins last Fall I thought that we would give them a try, and it was a great success. They have a playground and some farm animals for the kids and amazing baked goods for the adults. It fit all of my criteria...close (only a 45 minute drive away), inexpensive, and a real farm.

Side note - I refuse to pay more to pick my own anything, then I would at the grocery store, already picked and in a nice little container. Plus, I don't need all of the extra kiddie rides and flashy things. I want my kids to enjoy the fruit picking and fresh air, not the attractions.

Back to the berries...

So this year I was on the ball and signed up for e-mail alerts from Tougas Family Farm. Strawberry picking is usually an end of June affair, but we had such a warm Spring that the fruit came early and they opened Memorial weekend. YEAH!!! I called a friend of ours (Canon's mom)to see if she would join us with her two kids and plans were made.

We decided to leave early and pack a lunch. Make it home in time for her kids to take a nap and then we would meet back at her house for a barbecue with the husbands.

The kids all had a great time and were kind enough to taste the strawberries as we picked them to make sure that they tasted as good as they looked. The Morales' ended up with 10 pounds and we picked a healthy 11 pounds (although I'm sure that Lilly ate at least 1/2 a pound while we were in the fields). Then they played at the playground and fed the animals. Lilly continued to eat strawberries the entire ride home, exclaiming that she was going to turn into Strawberry Shortcake.

We grilled up steaks, hot dogs, and kale (because I'm the crazy mom who is always trying to get their kids to eat healthier food)and finished the meal with a Strawberry Shortcake. Then the husbands had the great idea to use a projector and watch the movie Up. So we settled onto the couches and enjoyed our little family movie theater. By the time we got home, Lilly was complaining of a stomach ache and I figured that she had probably consumed 1-2 pounds of strawberries throughout the day.

Amazingly, we had no problem finishing off all 11 pounds within 4 days (although I'm sure that Lilly consumed most of it). They were just so tempting as they sat in the fridge, plus I had to use some to make strawberry ice cream.

I just got another e-mail saying that blueberry season will be starting next weekend, so I know exactly what we will be doing on my upcoming day off. I foresee another tummy ache in Lilly's future.

Lilly Tales

2010-06-10T17:25:00.000-07:00

The other day, while Lilly and Canon were playing, I overheard this conversation.

Lilly: Canon, you're not my best friend anymore.

Canon: Why not?

Lilly: Because you're my husband.

Canon: Oh.

Besides, planning her wedding to Canon, here are a few other things that Lilly has been up to lately.

Pretending to be a cat who is dressed up like Minnie Mouse.

Seeing Shrek 4 in 3D.
Scaring away bee's with her new giraffe mask.

Let me explain...Lilly is dreadfully afraid of bugs and the other day, while playing outside with her friend Ewan, she came running into the church screaming and crying. It seems, that there were bees buzzing near by. Well, Ewan's mom quickly explained that Ewan is also afraid of bees, but wears a special mask to scare them away. The following week at church, Lilly was given her very own, bee scaring, mask.

Working Girl

2010-06-06T17:34:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago Lilly had decided that she was going to ask Debbie (the owner) for a job at Bird By Bird (the children's clothing store that I work at). Well, mission accomplished.

One night, while I was working, Lilly spoke to Debbie on the phone and asked her if she could have a job and get paid. After a quick interview, Lilly was hired. She came to work with me the following week and was given tasks to do for 1 hour. She had to cut the scrap paper into note paper, count the shoes, and organize the hangers.

After about 15 minutes she was ready for her first break, and after 30 minutes she had had enough of, "this work stuff". But I reminded her that if she wanted to get money, she had to complete all of the tasks and work for the assigned hour. With some encouragement, she made it through and was rewarded with a $10 bill.

When Hector came to pick her up, she was very excited to show him her new treasure.
The next day, they promptly went to Target where she quickly spent her loot on a new Tinkerbell doll.

Now that she is, once again, all out of money, she is on the hunt for a new job. So if anyone is looking to hire a 4 year old, with a short attention span, to complain through every task you assign her - Lilly is your gal!

Springtime Adventures

2010-05-09T10:22:00.000-07:00

Springtime here is highly unpredictable. It can be 50 degrees with thunderstorms and then 75 degrees with sunshine (often in the same day). All of the rain has made for a beautiful green landscape and has caused us to take advantage of any warm and sunny days.

One of our many adventures was to take a walk along the Charles River (okay, so not really an adventure since it is only a couple blocks from the house). Alexander was feeling sick and had to stop and rest along the walk. Lilly and Hector ran around and explored, while Alexander and I spent most of the afternoon sitting on a bench.
That is until I asked if he would like to go and get some ice cream. Upon hearing those words, he jumped up and began to run towards the ice cream shop. He happily ate up his cherry sorbet and had no problem walking home.
Hector has been taking advantage of the Spring season, by running. He has become addicted to running around Boston and typically logs a couple of miles every week. He even ran in his first 5K. He successfully completed all 3.1 miles in a mere 30 minutes and 55 seconds. He has already signed up for a 10K in July and is working his way towards a full marathon.
During Alexander's Spring Break, Hector took the kids to the Public Gardens. It is a beautiful, man made garden and pond in the middle of down town Boston. A fun day filled with watching ducks,
and smelling the tulips.
Then we were off to the Cape for Mother's Day. I was scheduled to work on Mother's Day, but had the previous Sunday off, so I requested that we take a trip to Cape Cod. The kids and I have never been there and the weatherman said that it would be 80 degrees and sunny, so off we went. It is about a 2 1/2 hour drive from Boston to the tip of the Cape, so after a quick run to Starbucks and a pit stop to see Plymouth rock we finally made it to Provincetown.

Provincetown is at the very end of the Cape and is mostly a tourist beach town. There is a small shopping strip with art galleries and funky little stores, a high school (that is about to be closed because they only have 14 students) a public library, and Pilgrim's Monument (the monument was built to honor the pilgrims who settled in Massachusetts and looks across the ocean to Plymouth Rock).

We had promised the kids that after touring the town we would take them to the beach. It is still too early in the year to actually go in the water, but we brought their suits and some cups and explained that they could play in the sand. Well, the beach in Provincetown was quite dirty so we figured that we would just stop at one of the many public parks on the Cape as we made our way back toward Boston. Little did we realize that all of the storms that hit New England last month had done major damage to the Cape. We are West Coasters, I don't know of any beaches with sand dunes and cliffs that have to be accessed by a long windy stair case. Well, every public beach that we are aware of is currently under construction and has no public access. After our second attempt, we gave up and apologized to the kids. Fortunately they were happy with a small pile of sand near the sidewalk while tour buses came through to see the Atlantic Ocean. It was quite a humorous sight.Here are more pictures from out adventures for your viewing enjoyment. Happy Spring!

Lilly Tales

2010-04-24T20:56:00.000-07:00

For Lilly's birthday this year, we got her a princess wallet. Hector thought that it would be fun to put her birthday money in it and allow her to go to Target and buy some things that she has been asking for. So he took her to the bank and they deposited half of the money in her savings account and then headed to the store. Each time they visit, he allows her to choose one toy. Earlier this week she went and purchased her third Barbie - which was followed by this conversation:

Lilly: Next week I'm going to buy another Barbie.

Papa: No, you spent all of your money, you can't buy any more.

Lilly: Well, when will I get more money?

Papa: You have to wait until next year and then you'll get more money for your birthday. Or you could get a job.

A brief pause as Lilly contemplates the situation

Lilly: Well, maybe I can ask Debbie for a job at Bird By Bird.

*I work at a kid's clothing store called Bird By Bird, and Debbie is one of the owners.

Lilly Tales

2010-04-24T20:46:00.000-07:00

After breakfast this morning, Lilly came out of her room looking like this...and declared it to be, "Dress Up Day!!! And on dress up day, little girls get presents and have a party with balloons."

When she asked for her presents, we reminded her that Dress Up Day didn't exist, and she reminded us that she was just pretending. A few minutes later she found a package that had arrived the day before. My mother had sent it and I just hadn't had a chance to open it. Inside was this...
A new outfit for Lilly. An hour later, the doorbell rang and it was Lilly's friend Canon. His uncle was babysitting for the day and decided to take him for a walk. They ended up near our house and thought that they would give us a ring. So we took the kids to play at the park and then back to our house to hang out for a while. Later that afternoon, Hector ran across the street to the store to pick up a few things. One thing was a package of balloons to entertain the kids while I was at work.

Presents, check. Party with friends, check. Balloons, check. Happy Dress Up Day everyone!

Happy Easter

2010-04-07T15:05:00.000-07:00

As we celebrated our risen Lord, we were blessed with a warm and sunny Easter Sunday this year. Taking advantage of the weather, I planned a barbeque and Easter egg hunt with our friends the Morales'. Their son, Canon, is one of Alexander and Lilly's favorite friends (and the one who Lilly plans to marry in "5 weeks", so we are told). So after church we headed over to their house for the festivities.

While Hector grilled the steak and hot dogs, the kids dyed eggs that we then hid in the back yard. It was a bit chaotic as they went hunting for the 48 eggs we hid (in hindsight, it was way too many), but everyone had a great time and we were all thrilled to spend the day outdoors.

Lilly In Wonderland

2010-04-04T19:47:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, Lilly finally turned 4. She has been waiting for this day since the moment she turned 3, and has been planning since Christmas. We celebrated by making her favorite dinner, fish and rice, and then cake and presents (no, I didn't make the cake, Lilly picked it out at Whole Foods). It was a nice and low key evening...the calm before the storm.

The rest of the week was spent in chaos as we planned for the real celebration that was to take place on Saturday. About a month ago, I came up with the idea to have a tea party for her birthday, to which Lilly quickly agreed, adding, "and I can be Alice. Can you make me an Alice dress, Mama?" And so the Alice in Wonderland Tea Party planning began.

Lilly and I headed to the fabric store where she picked out the fabric and pattern for her dress, and at 1 am on Thursday morning, I finally got around to sewing it. Hector picked up tea cups and plates from Good Will and after an all night baking session on Friday, we were finally set for the party.

We had 13 kids and 11 adults in our tiny little place, but all went well and everyone seemed to have a great time. Our landlord is named Alice, so when she heard about the party, she brought down her collection of Alice in Wonderland books and some tea pots for us to borrow. Hector decorated the entry way with a little door and a shrinking potion, and on the menu: mini bacon and egg quiche, chicken salad sandwiches, strawberries & grapes, vegetable platter, Chex mix, biscotti, heart shaped shortbread cookies, mini eclairs, and mini chocolate cupcakes with raspberry whipped cream frosting....yes I did make everything from scratch, with the help of Alexander's therapist who helped me during Alexander's break times on Saturday morning (God Bless her - she even finished the hem on Lilly's dress for me).

The kids ate, played and decorated tea cup planters that I had ordered from a catalog, and after two hours of madness, we sent them all home before they crashed from the sugar. I had to run off to work, so poor Hector spent the next 4 hours cleaning up the house (and wondering how in the world, crumbs got on top of our television). We are both looking forward to catching up on some much needed sleep this week, but it was all worth it. When Lilly tried on her dress before the party, I told her to look in the mirror because she looked just like Alice, to which she declared, "I don't look like Alice, I am Alice."

Happy Birthday Baby Boy

2010-03-14T18:48:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, Alexander turned 6 years old. That's right, I said 6. Can you believe it? Has it really been 6 years since my baby boy was born?

Alexander's birthday is always a bit tough for us. He doesn't have very many friends, doesn't really like parties and, to be perfectly honest, doesn't usually understand the concept of a birthday. We have learned over the past few years to keep things low key and just try to make the day special for him.

This year, however, he surprised us. He knew it was his birthday and had expectations. When he woke up and we wished him, "Happy Birthday", he didn't ask for his usual breakfast of oatmeal with blueberries. No, he knew that it was his day, so he asked for Veggie Booty (his favorite snack). So after a bowl of Veggie Booty and a bowl of oatmeal, he opened his presents.

Then it was on to the big surprise. We took the kids to Toys R Us to pick out bicycles. My mother has been wanting to by Alexander a bike for 3 years now and we have finally given in. Our landlord agreed to let us store the bikes in the basement and we live just a couple of blocks from a very nice bike path, so we thought that the timing was right. Alexander picked out this green monster and had a blast riding up and down the aisles at the store. I have a feeling that we will be taking the training wheels off by the end of the Summer.
And of course, we couldn't leave Lilly out. Her birthday is in just a couple of weeks, so we figured that it really wouldn't be fair to make her wait. Unfortunately, there weren't very many choices in bikes her size, but she agreed to this plain purple one, when we showed her how we could decorate it. Hector added the Princess helmet, Princess bell and flower basket and she hasn't stopped talking about it.
Later that evening we went to some friend's house for dinner and I brought brownies and sorbet for dessert. We all sang and Alexander surprised us by knowing exactly what to do with the candles (see the video below and make sure that you have your sound turned on). Happy Birthday to my BIG KID!

Lilly's Wedding Tales

2010-02-18T13:09:00.000-08:00

Lilly: Mommy, I'm not married yet.

Mama: No you're not.

Lilly: But I'm going to get married soon.

Papa: Really. Who are you going to marry?

Lilly: Alexander. Mmmmm....no, no, Canon (a 3 year old boy in her Sunday School class).

Mama: You're going to marry Canon?

Lilly: Yes. And I am going to wear a long beautiful dress.

Mama: What is Canon going to wear?

Lilly: A shirt, pants, and a bow. And we aren't going to dance. Nobody will dance at the

wedding.

Mama: No dancing?

Lilly: No, we are going to have story time instead.

Lilly Tales

2010-01-29T17:01:00.000-08:00

When I came home from work yesterday, Alexander was working with one of his therapists and Lilly was in our bed watching a movie. I went in to say hello and after a quick hug and kiss this is what I was told:

Lilly: Mommy, I cleaned the walls in your room.

Mama: You did? What did you use to clean the walls?

Lilly: My tongue.

Mama: You licked the wall?

Lilly: Yep. I licked it all over.

Mama: Thanks Lilly.

Later that evening I was preparing a bath for Alexander when Lilly yelled, "Alexander spilled!" Thinking that he spit out his medicine, I began to yell at him until I noticed that he had thrown up all over the floor.

Thank God for disinfectant.

Merry Christmas!

2010-01-11T19:14:00.000-08:00

Is it really the middle of January already? I'm fairly convinced that 2010 will be over before I realize that it has begun.

We had a wonderfully mellow Christmas this year. We opted to stay home and spend the day in our pajamas (as everyone should on Christmas day), so we woke up around 7, opened presents by 8 and then enjoyed a big breakfast of pancakes, bacon and eggs. The kid's spent the day playing with all of their new toys while Hector and I relaxed. I do my best not to cook on Christmas, so instead of having dinner, we opt for a nice big plate of antipasta that we can snack on through out the day. Hector had gone to "Little Italy" earlier in the week to stock up on Italian cheese, meat, and olives and I simply baked a loaf of olive oil bread to go with the spread. We enjoyed fresh canolli and the kids dug into their sugar cookie house for dessert.

I apologize for taking so long to post our Christmas photos, but here they are all wrapped up in a pretty little slide show for your viewing pleasure.

Getting ready for Santa

2009-12-24T18:13:00.000-08:00

Preparations have begun for Santa's big arrival in the Amaya household. We started by making a sugar cookie house. It was my first attempt at such things, so it isn't the most symmetrical thing, but at least it is structurally sound (oh, and it was originally going to be a gingerbread house, but Lilly and I made gingerbread men last week, so I decided to stray from tradition). Lilly helped me cut out all of the shapes and then the two kids covered it in icing and chocolate chips.

Next, it was time to make a card for Santa. Lilly was extremely distraught that she wouldn't be able to stay up and meet Santa (we explained that Santa only comes if everyone is sleeping) and she wasn't willing to share any of her cookies, so Hector came up with the idea of making a card for him instead. I wrote the words, and Lilly drew the rest.
The picture on the left is Santa and the one on the right is Lilly.
On the back of the card she drew a picture of Rudolph, complete with a red nose and a bow in his antlers.
And now the children are tucked into bed, so Santa better get to work before the visions of Sugarplums leave their sweet little heads.

T'was the week before Christmas...

2009-12-20T15:49:00.001-08:00

Winter began with a warm front, which brought just a couple inches of snow. Then it cooled down dramatically and we spent all of last week in the teens. Then, last night, it warmed up to 30 degrees and we had a blizzard (by New England standards). With a solid 12 inches of snow on the ground it looks like we will definitely be having a white Christmas.

It also means that we were stuck at home all day long. Church was cancelled this morning so I was forced to finally work on a project that I had been promising Lilly for some time now. - About 2 months ago I made the mistake of letting Lilly watch Martha Steward with me. It just so happened that this episode included a woman showing how to make an easy sew tutu. I printed the pattern off of the website and Lilly has been asking me to make it for her constantly. The other day I finally had some time to take her to the fabric store where she picked out a purple/blue sparkly tulle for herself and a pink sparkly tulle for her friend, Ava. Now that we had all of the supplies, I promised her that I would find some time on Sunday for her to help me make them. I woke up this morning to her grabbing my face and declaring that, "tonight we are going to make TUTU'S!!!" - She helped me with the pinning and Alexander kept a close eye on the sewing machine.

Here she is doing her "ballet pose". I took multiple pictures, but this is the one that she picked out and asked me to post.
While we were sewing, Hector volunteered to brave the cold and dig out our car so that I could go to work in the afternoon.
An hour before I was scheduled to go in to work, the store manager called and cancelled my shift due to the weather. So, against my personal desires, I walked the kids to a nearby park to play in the snow. I figured that since I had taken the time to buy them snow pants and snow boots, I might as well get some use out of them. I was freezing (because, of course, I don't own snow pants and snow boots), but they absolutely loved it. They slid down the slide into big piles of snow, made snow angels and crawled around in the white powder. After 45 minutes, I could take it no more and we headed home. Alexander is eating the snow off of his gloves in the picture.
We took off the layers of wet clothes and Hector plopped the kids right into a warm bath while I made a pot of hot chocolate and spoke with my mom (who complained about how cold it was getting in Hawaii.)
With bellies full of chocolaty goodness and dry pajamas on, we cuddled up and Lilly took a picture of Alexander and me.
What a great way to start the week before Christmas...and to all a good night.

Catching Up

2009-12-08T17:38:00.000-08:00

Where does the time go? I feel like every time I blink, another week has passed me by. So here is a quick review of what's been going on.

It has been a beautiful and warm Fall, but Winter has finally settled into New England. We got our first snow fall on Saturday night (fortunately I had just gotten the kid's snow boots on Friday) and are now blanketed in 2 inches of white sparkle.

We had a great time visiting with friends over Thanksgiving week (as Hector posted) and are now trying to get into the Christmas spirit. The stockings have been dug out of the basement, but haven't yet made it onto the wall. Thanks to my mother, we have a beautiful wreath hanging outside our door and Lilly is busy making her Christmas list. Today, she exclaimed, "I can't wait to see what Santa brings me on Christmas!"...at this point, kid, I'm as in the dark as you are.

And now the pictures:

Today, Lilly asked if she could take a picture of Hector and I hugging.
Glasses to help you see the Emerald City in Lilly's new Wizard of Oz book.

Dress up time!

We had the Pyles Family over for dinner before they headed back to Idaho.

Showing Benvolio some love.

Lilly took her new friends on a tour of downtown Boston. She and Nate's daughter quickly became good friends and have already made plans to Skype one another.

Plymouth, Thanksgiving and Being Grumpy

2009-11-28T09:21:00.000-08:00

So I’m not usually in the habit of posting on Bree’s blog, but I thought I would share some pictures I took this past week. A good friend of ours from our Calvary Chapel Bible College days is in town. Bree and I haven’t seen Nate since our wedding day, so I was very excited to learn that he was coming to Boston. One of the places he and his family wanted to visit was Plymouth, MA. So a bunch of us made the trip down to see the Mayflower, Plymouth Rock and the Plymouth Plantation.

And here are a few pictures I took from Thanksgiving.

On a totally unrelated note, here is a video I took of Lilly having a rough time waking up. Enjoy.

A Wicked Good Birthday

2009-11-24T18:24:00.001-08:00

Last month, Ajja and I celebrated our 31st birthday's in style. Born a mere 2 1/2 weeks apart, we have been friends for the past 24 years, growing up together in Hawaii and somehow managing to both end up on the East Coast. Since moving to Boston, I have gone down to Pennsylvania to visit her, she has come up to Boston to visit me, and we have managed to meet in the middle (New York City) twice.

The last time that we were in Manhattan we tried desperately to see the Broadway play, "Wicked". We stood in line after line to try and win, or purchase, tickets that were under $100 to no avail. So how could I resist when Ajja called to say that she was able to get us into the show for a mere $60?

It turns out that a friend of hers from college had gotten a job as a dancer for the play and offered us the staff discount. So I took the day off of work, called in a sitter, and jumped on the bus to NYC. I got in around noon and Ajja and I met for lunch. Then we spent the day wandering around Chelsea Market (we were very fortunate to have a beautiful 70 degree and sunny day) before grabbing dinner and heading to the show.

Wicked was absolutely fabulous! The sets and costumes were amazing, the script was funny and the singing was sublime. I would see it a hundred more times if I had the opportunity. But the real magic didn't begin until after the show. Ajja's friend (whose name has escaped me) took us on a backstage tour. We got to dance around the stage, see the props, look (not touch) the fabulous costumes and meet other cast members. It was the perfect end to a wonderful day.

After the tour I quickly ran 10 blocks downtown to catch my midnight bus home. I made with 10 minutes to spare and had a great nap while I headed back to Boston. Unfortunately I had to go straight to work (a 5am shift), but I was so energized from the trip that time flew by quickly and before I knew it I was back in my bed, fast asleep. There's no place like home. Ajja and I onstage at the Gershwin Theater on Broadway.

The freaky green baby prop!

Ajja's friend with her Flying Monkey costume. She is awesome in the show and gets to dive off the top of the theater and fly over the audience every night.

School Update

2009-11-06T16:30:00.000-08:00

In a previous post, I had promised to keep everyone updated on our struggles with Alexander's schooling. I apologize for taking so long in keeping that promise, but I wanted to let everything play out before giving the official update.

Hector and I were very unhappy with the Autism classroom that Alexander had been placed in. The teacher is great, but she is receiving no support from the school and we were fairly confident that Alexander was bored in his new classroom. We met with the school and argued that he needed more of a challenge and asked that they place him with the "normal" Kindergarten students. They originally only wanted him to spend 8 hrs/wk in the "normal" classroom to start and then slowly increase the time as he showed progress. While this sounds great, we just don't have that kind of time. We knew that he could handle much more than that and asked them to give him an opportunity to prove himself. They (very begrudgingly) agreed to a "trial week". Once they got approval and so on, they would allow him to spend 3 hours every morning with the "normal" kids.

Next we had our home therapist, Dana, meet with the school so that she could review Alexander's programs and create a cohesive environment (between home and school). While she was there she questioned this "trial" and asked what their criteria was for allowing a student to enter into the "normal" classroom. While she was told over and over that they would be taking data on him while he was with the other students, no one was able to explain to her what exactly they were looking for in order for him to prove his readiness. As a result they allowed her to observe him in the "normal" classroom as well so that we could meet after the trial and compare notes.

The trial went fabulously. Hector met with the Kindergarten teacher and she seemed to truly enjoy having Alexander in her class. She doesn't have any Autism training, but she has two grandsons with Autism and is eager to learn. She also noted that Alexander was often used as an example to the class for displaying such good behavior. Dana reported that her observations and data showed that Alexander was more than capable of handling himself in the "normal" classroom. He has a hard time with the language (which is to be expected), but is able to follow along when the teacher uses visual aids. He also watches the other students and then follows what they are doing. Dana spoke with the teacher about using more visuals and finding just 3 things per lesson to focus on with Alexander. Dana also suggested that she hold training sessions for everyone who works with Alexander (like the gym and music teacher) so that they can learn more about him and gain tools to use when teaching him.

Hector and Dana met with the school on Wednesday to review his trial week and they agreed with Dana's findings. Alexander did indeed impress them! They decided to put him in the "normal" classroom for 3 hours on Mondays, Tuesday's and Fridays and 2 hours on Wednesdays and Thursdays (simply because that was the easiest way to maneuver his schedule - he still needs to fit Occupational, Speech, and Physical therapy into his day). He will spend the remainder of the day in the Autism classroom so that he can have individualized teaching and they can work on new skills with him. They also agreed to meet again in January to review his progress and see if he can increase the time that he spends being integrated. We are hoping that they are beginning to realize that Alexander will rise to the challenges presented to him and push him to do greater things.

Hector is now working with the school so that we can regularly review their data to see what specific things they are teaching him during the day and what progress his is making. It is sad that we have to stay so on top of things in order to achieve results, but we have found that if we do not constantly remind them that we want to be actively involved, Alexander is quickly forgotten. Also on Hector's to-do list is to complain to the school about the lack of support that the Autism classroom is receiving. These poor children have really been thrown into a small corner classroom and forgotten about - leaving the teacher to fend for herself.

What else is on the Autism to-do list? I will be meeting with Alexander's holistic doctor next week to discuss his supplement schedule and to see if there is anything else that we can be doing. I was just given a card for a free consultation with a pediatric chiropractor. We are also looking for an activity that Alexander (and hopefully Lilly) can participate in. Something like swimming or T-ball. Unfortunately we will probably have to wait until the Spring programs begin before we can enroll him in anything.

I am constantly reminded of something that I read about Autism to-do lists. Lisa Ackerman (the founder of TACA - an Autism support group) had said that the day her list ends, is the day that either her son is healed or she has given up hope. My sentiments exactly.

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-03T19:56:00.000-08:00

Happy Halloween! This year the kids got all dressed up and we went Trick-or-treating before heading to a Reformation Day party at our church. We took them to a street (not too far from our house) where most of the houses hand out candy and really get into the spirit of things. Lilly was too scared to approach a couple of the houses, even with the promise of candy. Alexander took no time at all to warm up to things and quickly understood that saying, "trick-or-treat" will get you candy.

After seeing The Wizard of Oz recently (and the ruby slippers) Lilly decided to be Dorothy for Halloween. I lucked out because one of our friends' daughter's had dressed as Dorothy a few years ago and they still had the costume. Ava (Lilly's best friend) also, just happened to have red sparkle shoes that we were able to borrow. All we had to do was buy her a basket and put her hair in braids and she was all set to go. Alexander was a bit more of a challenge. I was hoping to make his costume again this year, but with my busy schedule it just wasn't going to happen. Fortunately, we found his Fire Chief costume at the toy store and he loved it. He carried it in the car and couldn't wait to play with the bull horn. We were also thrilled to have a 75 degree night (it will be 48 degrees tomorrow). Everyone was able to sit on their porch and hand out candy and we didn't even have to bring our coats!

Haley, one of Alexander's therapists, dressed as Abby Cadabby from Sesame Street, upon Lilly's suggestion.

Dorothy and the Fire Chief are all set to go.

Trick-or-Treat!

One of the best parts of the neighborhood we visited was the Fire House. Every year they open the garage door and let the kids climb in the fire trucks.

At the church party.

Lilly sums up the evening.

FALL!

2009-10-21T17:41:00.000-07:00

It has been cold in New England. Frost on the ground and scraping ice off of your windshield cold. So we decided that it would be the perfect time to go and pick our pumpkins.We packed up the kids and headed out to Tougas Family Farm (about 40 miles outside of the city).

It was a cold and rainy day, so we were one of the few families there. The kids ran around and picked out their own pumpkins.

Sadly, this is the best picture we could get.

Alexander was much more interested in the playground then in the pumpkins.

Who doesn't love a girl on a tractor?

Or a boy on a tire?

The next day, Hector and the kids carved the pumpkins and we now have a beautiful Jack-O-Lantern outside our front door...

The pumpkin farm also had goats, chickens and turkeys. Here is a short video of Hector and Lilly playing with the goats.

Back to School (and more house pics)

2009-10-02T12:09:00.001-07:00

Last week, Alexander finally started back to school. Due to the move, he had to switch school districts and is now attending the King Open school in Cambridge. They didn't start back until after Labor Day, and then Kindergarten started an entire week after that, so he ended up only missing the first week of school. With his special needs, registering him is not as simple as showing proof of residency, and with a public school, comes an extra set of hassles. We had originally hoped to have him repeat preschool, but the cutoff for Kindergarten is about 6 months younger than it is in Boston, so they didn't feel comfortable having him with kids who were so much younger. The registration process, for us, began with a meeting which included the preschool coordinator as well as the kindergarten coordinator. After meeting with them we concluded that we would have no choice, but to send him to Kindergarten. Then comes our requests. Although his IEP (education plan) has him slotted for an "Autism only" type of class, we would like him to be able to integrate with normal students as well. This narrows our choices to only 2 schools in Cambridge that have this option (only one of which had an opening).

Let me digress for a quick moment. Cambridge Public Schools run on a lottery based system. This means that it doesn't matter where you live in Cambridge. When you initially register your child, you list your top 5 schools and then are placed in a lottery. When the selections are made your child is guaranteed a placement in one of those schools (but you can always choose to be on a waiting list of a different school as well). Since Alexander has special needs, he is guaranteed a placement in a school that can offer everything included in his educational plan. We are then able to choose which school we want to send him to (as long as it has an opening).

We then visited the school and interviewed the teacher. The school was bright and clean (although big) and I had been advised by other parents that it wasn't the best school in the area, but not the worst. It was somewhere in the middle and worth checking out. Sam, his new teacher is young and energetic and has a lot of experience working with children with Autism. However, we noticed right away that the Autism only class was very boring. The walls are white with very few things hanging. The class only has 5 students so it is fairly small with very few toys and little furniture. We then went to see the typical kindergarten class that he would be able to slowly integrate into. It was fabulous. The walls are painted bright purple and the room is huge (the class has 20 students). They have a sand table, pretend kitchen and dress up area. There are a ton of toys and books, as well as a little couch in the reading corner. There are paintings and crafts that the kids have done covering one of the walls. So after signing an amendment to his educational plan, and proving residency, he was able to start last week as a student at the King Open.

Things would just be way too easy, if that were the end of it. Lucky for us, this is just the beginning. We called our home therapist and had her go out to assess the classroom and meet with the teacher. Then we set up a meeting with the school because we would like him to begin integration. After that meeting, there will be another meeting to synchronize his home and school programming and then another meeting to look at and assess his goals. Then we will be meeting every 4-6 weeks to track his progress. Oh the fun!

So how is Alexander doing? He is doing okay. He seems to like his new teacher and smiles whenever we mention her at home, but we are pretty confident that he is bored in his new setting (and who wouldn't be with only 4 other students and white walls?) He asks to go the bathroom a lot during the day and Hector has noted on more than one occasion that they are babying him. When we mentioned this we were told by the school that he is still transitioning and we need to give them time to get to know him and that he probably isn't bored, but just getting used to his new surroundings.

So now for my rant. The above is why we hate Autism only classrooms. For some reason the schools seem to forget what a normal kid is like and they only focus on the Autism. Just because he has Autism and doesn't know how to socialize or play with toys correctly doesn't mean that he doesn't want to. So what if it's distracting to have color on the wall, teach the child to not be distracted. They would never give a "normal" 5 year old 2 weeks to transition into Kindergarten before having them participate with all of the other students in his class. It is not good enough for Alexander to be playing near another student, we expect him to play with the other student and they need to help him until he is able to do it on his own. Stop holding him to such a low standard! The standard is a "typical" 5 year old, not a 5 year old with Autism. Yes, Alexander is doing pretty well compared to the other kid's in his class, but we don't want to compare him to them. We want to compare him to the other 5 year olds who are running wild on the playground, painting pictures, hiding things in their pockets, and making a mess. He should not come home from school clean! What kindergartner comes home clean? Mine does, and it's just not right.

Anyways...I will keep you posted as we begin our series of meetings.

In the meantime, Hector and Lilly have been enjoying having the house to themselves. Hector has been doing school with Lilly (she is completing Nursery School with The Great Books Academy home school program), as well as having play dates and visiting the Museum of Fine Arts. Lilly with Benvolio.

New rain boots...which are worn around the house constantly.

Hector with his wall of books.

Playing in the "cave" under the covers.

And here are a few more pictures of our new place. I apologize if you have already seen them. Hector is much quicker at posting to FaceBook then I will ever be.

Master bedroom.

Living Room.

Dining area, and entry way (on the other side of the living room).

My triangular kitchen.

The kid's room.

The Big Move

2009-09-19T19:19:00.000-07:00

It took 5 hours, 7 people, 2 pick up trucks, and a van, but we finally moved out of Allston. It was an exhausting week leading up to the move as we sold furniture and packed up our lives, but we are thrilled to have finally moved across the river to Cambridge. Our new place is only about 1.5 miles away from our old house, but it is amazing what a difference a river makes. Once you cross the Charles River, you are no longer in Boston (Allston is considered part of Boston), but are now in Cambridge. Which means a new County, new car registration, new TV channels and a much quieter and cleaner neighborhood.

Once we got into our new place, Hector and I went right to work moving in. I started by unpacking the kid's room and the kitchen and Hector tackled the living room and our bedroom. It was another exhausting week, but after 7 days we were officially unpacked and no longer had any boxes lying around. We are now finally able to enjoy our new house and the kid's and I even baked cookies for the first time this week.

Here is a picture of our new pad: We live on the first floor and as you can see, the entire house is a triangle. Our new place is only about 850 square feet (our last place was around 1200), so there were a few challenges trying to fit everything in, but there is a surprising amount of storage space in this small little house (and a lot of triangle shaped shelves).

I am not thrilled with the fact that there is a street on either side of the front door, and that there is no parking or yard, but there are two playgrounds near by (one just 1/2 a block behind the house) and we are right across the street from Whole Foods (which is all too convenient). The landlord also lives on the third floor and is Lilly's Sunday School teacher, and there are two guys who occupy the second floor apartment who also attend our church, so it feels like a bit of a family in our little triangular house. Last Monday the landlord even has us all over for dinner so that we could get to know one another better.

So what else has been going on in our lives (since moving wasn't enough)? Well, Hector is a Teacher's Aid for 2 classes with Harvard's extension school, helps out a professor with household chores, does Event Security (when his schedule allows) and stays home to take care of the kids. I will start my Nanny job on Monday (which is only 3 days/wk), I work about 20 hrs/wk at The Container Store (for those of you who do not live near one, it is an entire store filled with containers and such to help you lead a more organized life), and I am still working at the children's clothing store twice/wk. Alexander is about to start Kindergarten on Tuesday (he is starting a week late, since it has taken us some time to get him registered) and Lilly is in a big kid bed for the first time. Have I mentioned that we are a bit busy?

Here are a few pictures from the past couple of weeks. They are all a bit random and not necessarily related to one another, but I know that my blogging has been sporadic lately, so I figured that I better post some cute pictures to make up for it.

We've moved!

2009-09-02T10:33:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note to let everyone know that we have moved. We are currently without internet and phone, so I apologize if you are trying to get a hold of us for any reason, but I'm sure that a mass e-mail will be going out soon with our new contact information.

More pictures and details to come in the near future, but in the meantime, here is a quick story:

The other day Lilly was explaining to me somethings that Cookie Monster had done on Sesame Street earlier that day and she ended her story with, "and I was like, what the hell in Cookie Monster doing?" She has definitely been spending too much time with Hector lately.

Lilly Tales

2009-08-17T12:30:00.000-07:00

Mama: Are you Princess Raspberry?

Lilly: no.

Mama: Are you Princess Blueberry?

Lilly: No.

Mama: Are you Princess Strawberry?

Lilly: NO!

Mama: Are you Princess Broccoli?

Lilly: NOOOOO! I'M PRINCESS HUMAN!!!

Caught Purple Handed

2009-08-14T18:37:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, Hector called me at work asking if I could pick up a bag of frozen blueberries on the way home. I had just bought a new bag, so of course I asked what had happened to all of the blueberries, and here is the story:

While Hector was preparing Alexander a snack, of oatmeal with frozen blueberries, the phone rang. He left the kitchen and spoke for about 10 minutes before returning to put the food away. When he returned, he noticed that the (just opened) bag of blueberries was almost empty and there was no evidence in sight. He called to Alexander and this is what he found.

Apparently, Alexander has not yet learned how to cover his tracks!

Dress Up

2009-08-09T17:20:00.000-07:00

Okay, so the Summer is slipping by all too quickly and I am still way behind in posting pictures. Here are a few pictures of the kids (and Hector) playing dress up back in June. Papa's shoes.

Franken-Alexander,

The Ballerina,

The Karate Kid,

And the Russian Grandmother!

Now, on to some current news. We have found a new place to live! On September 1st, we will be moving about 1.5 miles down the road to another apartment. It is similar to what we are in currently (the first floor of a 3 family home), but it is less expensive, a bit smaller, and most importantly, it is in Cambridge! We are very excited to be getting out of Allston and away from all of the rats (literally - the infestation is so bad that there have been news reports on it).

In case you are unfamiliar with the Boston area I have a great story that portrays Allston perfectly. Last night, at around 2 am, we woke up to a bunch of drunk 20-somethings who decided to stop in front of our house on the way home from the bars. Apparently some of them lived upstairs, and were throwing beer cans to the others who were down below. Hector called the police and the noise ended shortly there after. This is a regular occurrence on our street, so we are very anxious to be moving on.

This does mean, however, that Alexander will have to change schools. I am hoping to speak with a mom, who has a 4 year old with Autism in the Cambridge Public School District, this week. She should be able to give me some of the inside scoop before I begin the registration process, since I am completely unfamiliar with this school district. We are hoping to find a classroom that is willing to work with us, as we have hired an independent agency to develop a therapy program within his school (more on this in another post).

Meanwhile we are still having employment woes. Hector has been tutoring for the past couple of weeks and will be house sitting for a professor this week, but hasn't been able to find anything beyond that. I was fortunate enough to pick up about 30 hrs/wk at the children's clothing store, but will have to return to my normal schedule in September (about 9 hrs/wk). I just began my training at The Container Store, and will begin working this week, but the schedule varies and is only about 8 hrs/wk. We will definitely need to find more work very soon, so please keep us in your prayers.

Phase 3.1 - Plan B

2009-07-13T07:38:00.000-07:00

We have finally begun to walk across the bridge, and it appears to be keeping us here in Boston. We still haven't officially heard about Hector's interview in California, but he was told by the office manager that the offer had already been sent out. Since we haven't received it, we are assuming that he didn't get the position.

Although we were really looking forward to moving back to California, it just doesn't seem like the responsible thing to do at the moment. Hector still hasn't been able to find a job, but at least I have the opportunity to pick up some extra shifts at work and he will most likely be able to T.A. a couple of classes at Harvard in the Fall. Plus Alexander's therapy can remain consistent.

The entire reason for taking time off before finishing school was so that Alexander could receive the best possible treatment, so we expect big things from him this year. My mother has graciously offered to help fund a more intensive program for him, so I am excited to see how much he grows and is able to learn. Lilly will finish up her Nursery program in August and we will begin Preschool (home schooling) with her in the Fall. Hector will be retaking his GRE's and filling out his applications, so I expect to be very busy arranging all of this in the next couple of months.

Our plan now is to move to a less expensive apartment in September (when our lease is up), to continue looking for employment and stay put for the next year. Hector will begin to apply to doctorate programs in the Fall and we will follow him to whatever school he chooses. Currently his list of potential schools includes a bunch on the East Coast, a couple in California, and one in Indiana, so who knows where Phase 4 will take us!

*On a more important note - A mere 35 years ago today, baby Hector came into the world. Happy Birthday Hector!

Catching Up Again

2009-06-28T17:48:00.000-07:00

I am only about a month behind in posting these pictures, but we're getting close to being all caught up.

Hector's graduation from Harvard was quite an event. There were a total of 4 ceremonies and 2 receptions. It started on Wednesday night with a service for the Divinity School in the Memorial Church which was followed with a short reception. Then the opening ceremonies began on Thursday morning (at 8:30am). All of the graduates meet together (including undergrads) in Harvard Yard and it is quite a sight to see. There is a lot of tradition involved (as well as a lot of top hats) and the President of Harvard conferred all of the degrees.

The next ceremony was specifically for the Divinity School and was held in the Memorial Church once again. Here he received his diploma and there was a student speaker. Then there was a break for lunch before the final ceremony. The final ceremony is actually the annual alumni meeting (since all of the graduates are now officially alumni) and this is where the president and guest speaker gave their addresses. Then there was another reception at the Divinity School to celebrate the graduates.

It was a long, but enjoyable day and I am so proud of Hector for all of his accomplishments. His official degree (in case you were wondering) is a Masters of Theological Studies. Here are a few pictures from the 2 day affair.

Hector's family came for the graduation and here are a few pictures from their visit.

What's Next?

2009-06-20T11:28:00.000-07:00

So now that Hector and Alexander have both graduated, what's next for the Amaya familia? I wish I knew.

When Hector started school (long before the kids were born) we came up with a 3 phase plan. Phase 1 was North Hennepin Community College, Phase 2 was a Bachelor's Degree from the University of Minnesota, and Phase 3 was a Master's Degree. As for Phase 4, well we figured we would just cross that bridge when we came to it (it seemed like something so far into the future that it wasn't worth planning for). So here we now stand at the foot of the bridge.

We had originally made our master plan without knowing that it would include 2 children and an Autism diagnosis. I know that I mention it often, but Autism is truly exhausting, so we made the decision last Summer to take a break from school. The plan was for Hector to find a job in California so that we could be closer to family and build a stronger support system. We decided on a 3 year break (Alexander will then be 8 1/2, and most services reduce greatly at the age of 9) before Hector would return to school to complete his studies.

Unfortunately the job market is not exactly booming, and Hector has not been able to find employment in California (he has been looking for teaching positions), even with the help of a job placement agency. Plan B is to remain in Massachusetts for another year and then apply for a Doctorate program next Fall. The reasoning behind this is that, if we remain at a low income, Alexander qualifies for one more year with the Autism Waiver Program (which provides up to $25,000/year for therapeutic services).

That being said, Hector just returned from California and had a job interview on Friday. He found the job posting on Craigslist and after applying received a call asking him to come in for an interview. So 5 days later, he jumped on a plane and will be home again tomorrow. The job seems to be perfect and exactly what we are looking for, but it is between Hector and 2 other applicants. We should know the answer in the next 2 weeks.

As for Alexander, he will still be in school until the middle of August here in Boston. He qualifies for an Extended School Year, because of his special needs. We just had his annual review and he has made improvements in every area, but is still, developmentally, at the level of a 2 1/2 year old. We have been fighting with Boston Public Schools for the past year and half in an attempt to get him more services and have decided that if we do stay in Massachusetts it would be more worth while to change school districts. We are also planning on sending him to Kindergarten (even though he is not quite ready). If the new school district can provide him with the necessary support, we believe that he would benefit from the challenge and hopefully improve at a faster rate. Next year we will look at the evaluations again and decide if he should repeat Kindergarten or move on to the First Grade.

During these uncertain and discouraging times, we covet all of your prayers and will keep you posted as we learn what will come next in Phase 3.1.

Catching Up - on hold

2009-06-17T17:50:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, Hector took all of our pictures with him out of state, so my catch up blogs will have to wait until his return. In the meantime, I thought that I would write about something current. This morning, Alexander graduated from Preschool.

It was an adorable ceremony where each class took turns on stage singing songs. Then all of the kids put on paper caps and were each called on stage individually to receive a certificate of completion. The teachers were a little nervous, but all of the kids did great and everything went smoothly.

Alexander is the one in the yellow. He didn't sing (as Lilly points out) or do any of the movements, but I was thrilled to pieces that he was able to stand with everyone and didn't run to off the stage.

Proud graduate.

With his teacher, Ms. Kaplan.

Catching up

2009-06-14T19:08:00.000-07:00

It has been a busy couple of weeks for the Amaya family. I had a friend from Minnesota visit for a couple of days followed by a friend from Pennsylvania. Hector had finals, we all got sick (Alexander's school even closed due to a Swine Flu outbreak), Hector's family came to visit, Hector graduated from Harvard and we went to New York City. Needless to say, I have a lot of blogging to catch up on...so let's get started.

Jill is a great friend from Minnesota who came to visit for a couple of days in May. Hector watched the kids so that the two of us could get out and have some girl time. We visited the Green Monster on Mother's Day to see a Red Sox game (and we won!), did the Freedom Trail and toured Harvard.

Shortly after she left, my dear friend Ajja came to visit from Pennsylvania. I've known Ajja since I was 7 years old (we grew up together in Hawaii) and haven't had a chance to see her in a little over a year, so I was thrilled that she was coming to visit. Lilly was equally thrilled, because Ajja brought her friend Kristin with her, and Kristin is a real live ballerina. Plus, Ajja is a great photographer and snapped some fabulous pictures of the kids for us.

Here's a slide show from the two visits, and I promise more to come in the near future.

Preschool Daze!

2009-05-22T09:53:00.000-07:00

In April, Lilly officially started preschool. Three times per week our dining room is converted into a school house and I become the teacher of a very excited three year old. We are working our way through The Great Books Academy's nursery program.

It's a home school program that Hector had found years ago and includes workbooks to teach numbers, letters, colors, and handwriting as well as reading materials. The focus is on classic literature, so the workbooks are based on stories like Snow White and Cinderella which is perfect for my princess loving daughter. We have added on a catechism program and I try to prepare at least one project to go along with the reading each week.

Lilly loves doing it and asks for school every day. I am enjoying the freedom that homeschooling provides and am realizing that it's a lot more work than I had anticipated. Most recently we have been reading through the Beatrix Potter Collection and have planted a little garden on our porch. I got some books from the library that show how a seed becomes a plant, so we have been checking our seeds every day and Lilly shows our bean plants to everyone who walks through the front door.

Doing her workbooks.
Our garden. A bird ate our sunflower seed that was planted on the left.
The bean plants.

*On a completely unrelated note, the ivory dress from J.Crew was the pick for Lilly's flower girl dress. Unfortunately the date of the wedding has changed, so we returned both dresses since we aren't sure if they will still fit next year.

Lets get physical!

2009-05-14T05:10:00.000-07:00

The kids had their annual physical last week and here are the latest stats:
Alexander:
height - 44.75 inches, 79th percentile, grew about 2 inches
weight - 44.5 pounds, 72nd percentile, gained about 3 pounds

Lilly:
height - 35.75 inches, 17th percentile, grew about 2 inches
weight - 28 pounds, 19th percentile, gained about 4 pounds

Both kids are healthy and growing steadily. Lilly is right on track developmentally and I was pleased that the doctor noticed a huge improvement in Alexander since she saw him last (about 8 months ago).

Happy Boy's Day!

2009-05-05T17:44:00.000-07:00

Alexander had a very special Boy's Day today since it happened to be the same day as Harvard's Ice Cream Social. I was all set with cookies and snacks for Alexander (since he is allergic to ice cream), but we were thrilled to see that they also had mango sorbet! Plus they had temporary tattoos and crafts. Thank you Harvard Divinity for a great party!

Autism Update

2009-05-02T09:16:00.000-07:00

April was Autism Awareness Month, so I had planned to do an Autism post, and now that it's May, I am finally getting around to it. I apologize for the delay, but here we go:

When we moved to Boston, almost 2 years ago, we were determined to go Autism crazy. We decided that while in Boston we would focus all of our energy on Alexander. Enrolling him in multiple therapies, trying various medical interventions and learning all that we could to help him. It took about 9 months to get everything set up, but we have been in full force for the past year and we are exhausted.

Currently Alexander is in an integrated (normal and special ed students together) preschool class full time where he recieves speech, occupational and physical therapies. Outside of school he receives music therapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy, and behavior therapy. He also receives I.V. gultathione once a month, chelation (heavy metal detox) once a month, and daily takes vitamin and mineral supplements as well as melatonin to help him sleep.

We have recently hired a new therapist who is changing his home behavior program into a verbal behavior program now that he is primarily using language to communicate and we will begin to focus a lot more on his pronunciation as well. Alexander has made great improvements in the past year. This morning he wrote his name by himself where a year ago it was torture just to get him to draw a line. When he feels comfortable he will join in and play with other children in his class and loves to play with Lilly (she has become a bit of a security blanket for him). We have learned how to prepare him for changes in his day and to anticipate his behavior which makes things a lot easier as well.

However Autism is never predictable and with every improvement comes a set back. As parents this is greatly discouraging. When you look at the overall picture, Alexander is improving, but on a daily basis it's often hard to see. The first discouragement came after his last doctor's appointment. She had warned me in the beginning that everything we try would essentially just be an experiment (not to worry, nothing that we do is harmful) and that we would probably never know exactly what supplements are helping him, but it will just be a combination of things. Once again I left her office with a handful of new things to try which caused me to change out his medicine box for a medicne drawer:

Next came the anxiety. Alexander has been on high alert for the past few weeks. He is constantly chewing on his shirt and acts very stressed. I thought that is was being caused by a new vitamin, but after removing it his behavior remained the same so it is still a mystery. At school, he will no longer play with the other kids during recess, but stays right next to his teacher and has a hard time leaving me to go into speech and music therapy.

Then there was regression. When you are using so many different supplements, it is suggested that you rotate them and take brakes every now and again to determine if they are really useful or causing any negative behaviors. We took a break from the chelation and glutathione IV for a couple of months and saw him loose conversational speech. We just started up again recently, but haven't seen any improvement yet.

And there is always the poop. Alexander has been trained to urinate in the toilet for over a year, but we have yet to get him to poop in the darn thing. He still needs a pull up to do his business and if he doesn't have one, he has no problem just going in his underwear. Now that he is 5 and Lilly is potty trained, this is getting increasingly frustrating.

Lastly, and by far the most exhausting, are the sleep issues. Alexander wakes up every night and gets into our bed to sleep with us (usually around 1am) and typically wakes up ready to start the day by 6:30am. This means that we never sleep straight through the night. We have taken him to a sleep clinic and spoken with therapists and the only way to break this habit will be to force him to stay in his own bed which will mean weeks of screaming in the middle of the night (which is not an option since there are other renters who live upstairs and would be able to hear him). And lately he has decided that he does not want to go to bed by himself anymore. We don't want to start any new habits of having to fall asleep with us, so we have been forcing him to stay in his own bed which has not been pleasant. This has been occuring for about 2 weeks now and there are still the occasional nights where he will scream for 1 1/2 hours straight until he finally passes out.

With all that said, we soldier on. As discouraging as things get he is still only 5 years old and not worth giving up on. We are confident that he will be a productive member of society (even if it kills us). And so the current to do list includes:

-Organize his supplements and come up with a schedule

-Find a multi vitamin that he will tolerate

-Hire a new therapist (one of his home therapists just quit this morning)

-Sign him up for yoga (I am waiting for music therapy to end this Summer)

-Go to the dentist (this has been on the list for a while, but I am still avoiding it)

Oh, and he really needs a haircut, as you can see.

Go Fish!

2009-04-23T12:38:00.000-07:00

While Hector was on Spring Break we thought that it would be nice to take the kids to the Boston Aquarium. We went in the early afternoon on a weekday so that it wouldn't be too crowded and it ended up being a great trip. Alexander fell in love with the penguins and probably could have spent the entire day watching them.

Outside the Aquarium, trying to touch the seals.

Look Nana, a snake!

I know that everyone says that Lilly and I look alike, but don't you think she looks just like her papa in this picture? Oh and this picture was taken specifically for Nana (there is a big jungle snake somewhere in the tank.)

Fun in the gift shop.

Okay, so I realize that there are no pictures of actual fish from our aquatic adventure, but most of those came out blurry and Lilly was too scared to get close to the tank (there is one big tank that houses all of the fish, sharks, and sea turtles).

Happy Easter

2009-04-13T17:25:00.000-07:00

We had a nice and mellow Easter this year. Our church service doesn't begin until 2pm, so we were able to have a relaxing morning. I made a simple brunch and then we dyed eggs and had a mini Easter egg hunt around the living room. Alexander has been pretending to dye the plastic eggs ever since.

Future Flower Girl

2009-04-12T18:54:00.001-07:00

This week I have been on the hunt to find the perfect dress for Lilly to wear when she is a flower girl this June. After hitting every department store and boutique in Boston, here are my finds: The first is a silk dress in ivory from J. Crew,

and the second is this pink chiffon number that I found at Bloomingdale's. It is currently a little too big, but with a few stitches I should be able to alter it so that it is a better fit.

Of course, the choice is really up to the bride, Princess Whitney (as Lilly calls her), but I would love your input as well. So cast your votes and I will let you know what the final verdict is.

Oh, and HAPPY EASTER!!! I'll be posting pictures from our eggstravaganza later this week.

Peter Rabbit

2009-04-09T19:38:00.001-07:00

Lilly and I went to visit Gerri today and she brought home a couple of new friends for Easter.

Then, Alexander came off the bus from school looking like this:
They had an Easter Egg hunt and party at school today and got all dressed up for the occasion. We ran into Alexander's classroom helper at the park and she said that he had such a great time and loved the egg hunt. He didn't want to take the ears off and wore them to the park and Speech Therapy. He finally took them off on our way home from Speech but was very excited to put them back on to show Hector.

The following photos have nothing to do with this post, but are some great pictures that Hector took of the kids at the park last Sunday. Enjoy and have a happy Easter!

Princess Lilly's Royal Ball

2009-04-04T18:57:00.000-07:00

On Monday, Lilly finally turned three. She has been anticipating this monumental day for a long two weeks (ever since Alexander's birthday), and when the morning finally arrived, she greeted me by saying, "where's my cake?" Since she obviously had a one track mind, we didn't waste any time getting her presents out of hiding.

Here are some pictures and a video of her opening her gifts.

(A quick note about the outfit. Lilly really wanted to wear a tank top to bed, but seeing as how it's about 30 degrees at night, we compromised by putting it over her footie pajamas.)

That day, we went to have lunch with Gerri (I'm sorry to say that I brought the camera and completely forgot to take pictures) where she got even more presents and a beautiful cupcake that we took home and used as her official birthday cake. You'll notice that Alexander was just as excited as Lilly about the cake.

On Wednesday we had the Royal Ball. Lilly invited all of her friends for a morning at the park. We knew that it would be risky, but it was sunny and 55 degrees on Tuesday so we thought that it would be safe, but unfortunately it ended up being cloudy and 42 degrees. We all froze, but the girls had a great time running around with their tiaras and wands.

Tutu's Visit

2009-03-29T11:18:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I'm a little behind in my posts. My mother came to visit back in January and I am finally getting around to posting the pictures.

She came to visit for a short 5 days and we all had a great time with her. We left the kids with Hector and ventured out to eat at Ming Tsai's restaurant, Blue Ginger. We also had a chance to get away and see a movie and go out for wine and dessert (a great treat for me!). Lilly took us to see the Museum of Fine Arts (she had already been there twice before), and Hector made the mistake of telling her to show us the lion. As a result she was pretty annoyed when we wanted to look at the paintings and just kept trying to move along, until finally, at the very end of our tour, we found the lion. She was so excited that she perked right up and didn't want to leave.

Turning 5

2009-03-18T17:46:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, Alexander turned 5 (I know, I can barely believe it myself). We sent chocolate brownie cupcakes to school where they had a little party for him at the end of the day. I was told that they were a big hit and one of his classmates ran up to me after school and said, "did you know that today is Alexander's birthday?"

On Saturday, the real celebration began. We cancelled therapy sessions and took the kids to Chuck E Cheese's. It was a mad house and Lilly cried anytime Chuck E Cheese came near her, but Alexander had a blast. He loves the bright lights and the rides that go up and down. After a little over an hour, Hector and I had our fill and we headed off to the mall. The kids ran around for a bit (their favorite place to play is Pottery Barn Kids) and then we had dinner at Bertucci's. For some reason, Alexander loves their fresh baked rolls (it's the only restaurant that we have found that has something that he is willing to eat) and the rest of us were able to enjoy pizza and pasta.

When we got home it was time for cake and presents. It was very exciting for us to see Alexander blow out his own candles (for the first time ever) and enjoy opening his gifts. I don't know if he understands the concept of being 5 years old, but he definitely knew that it was a special day just for him.

I can't take credit for the cake design (although I wish that I had been smart enough to come up with it on my own). My Aunt sent a picture of this cake last Summer (a friend of hers had made it) and Lilly has not stopped talking about it, so I promised to make it for Alexander's birthday.

March Madness

2009-03-12T12:58:00.000-07:00

March has been a particularly busy month. Aside from the usual therapy sessions for Alexander and keeping up with Lilly's social calendar, we've thrown in 2 birthdays and a new budget year for the Autism Waiver Program. What does all this mean? Well the birthdays mean annual doctor's visits, cupcakes for Alexander's class, and invitations for Lilly's party. The new budget means weekly meetings with Alexander's broker and the Department of Retardation as we try to figure out how to properly disperse next year's funds. Oh, and I forgot to mention that we have just hired a new Senior Therapist for his at home program (the previous one was forced to quit, due to a conflict of interest when she took a new job with the Department of Retardation). She has been evaluating him and working with us to create a new home program for Alexander.

Sounds like a crazy schedule, but I had it all under control until this week. It started off easy enough. Sunday was beautiful and I was able to take the kids to the park after church. On Monday it rained/snowed all day, but I was still able to pack up Lilly and get all of the grocery shopping done. In the afternoon, 2 therapists come to the house to work with Alexander which was nice and relaxing for me. Then came Tuesday. Oh, horrible Tuesday. After story time at the library, we went over to one of her friend's houses to play where she ate a strawberry yogurt as well as the lunch that I had packed her. When we got home she took a nice long nap and all seemed well.

That afternoon, when we arrived at Alexander's speech therapist, she was complaining that she wanted to go home when all of a sudden she vomited pink goo all over herself and her car seat. I quickly rushed Alexander into the office to start his speech session and ran with Lilly to the bathroom as she continued to vomit all over the sidewalk. I stripped her down and gave her a quick bath in the sink (thank goodness she is still small enough to fit in a sink) and changed her clothes.

By this time she had calmed down and said that her tummy no longer hurt, so we headed back to the car to put her car seat and all of the dirty clothes into the trunk (MA law does not require Alexander to use a car seat, so I let Lilly use his for the car ride home). We headed back into the office and she began to play nicely.

10 minutes later she began crying and said that she had to go to the bathroom where she proceeded to turn the sink and bathroom floor pink. Another quick bath and a change into Alexander's spare clothes and we ran back to the office just as he was finishing his session. The therapist let us borrow a bucket for the car ride home, which we fortunately did not have to use. The rest of the evening went smoothly. I called Hector to come home early from school so that I could clean everything and he could help get the kids into bed.

We just hung around the house on Wednesday so that Lilly could continue to recover and all was well until 1:30am. Alexander has a horrible cough that woke him up. By 2am Hector and I held him down and forced some cough syrup into his mouth which upset him further. He continued to squirm in bed and never fell back asleep. By 5:30am he was running laps around the house. At 6am he finally pooped (which I believe was the reason he wouldn't lie still). Hector sent him on the bus at 7am while I got a little sleep - oh, I forgot to mention that at 4am Lilly woke up crying because she had wet her bed.

Thursday is a bit of a blur. I took Alexander to play outside (in 20 degree weather) to keep him awake and after speech therapy we went to our weekly curch family group. We didn't get home until almost 10 at night and Alexander bit Hector's finger while we were trying to give him his cough medicine. After lots of screaming and crying (by everyone in the house) we all finally got to bed.

Today, I am happy to report that Lilly is back to normal, Hector, Alexander and I have caught up on most of our sleep, and all of the laundry has been done. Tomorrow we head to Chucky Cheese to celebrate Alexander's 5th birthday (which is actually today) and on Monday we have an appointment to do another IV for him. Hopefully there will be no more surprises so that I can survive the remainder of the month.

Lilly Tales

2009-03-09T17:39:00.000-07:00

This morning:

Mama: What do you think Lilly, do these shoes look okay with this jacket?
Lilly: Yeah, it looks nice Mama....but not those pants.

Happy Girl's Day!

2009-03-03T19:45:00.001-08:00

I love Girl's Day because... I got new shoes,

and a new purse!

The Big Apple

2009-02-28T14:44:00.000-08:00

My dear friend (since age 7), Ajja, is currently living in Pennsylvania and had the brilliant idea to meet in New York for a couple of days to see the sights. She was able to borrow an apartment (from friends who were going out of town for the holidays) and Hector agreed to watch the kids, so off we went.

We decided to go the week between Christmas and New Year's Eve, which as it turns out, is also when every one else in the world goes to New York City. We were determined to see a Broadway show but were unable to get tickets for a decent price, so instead we enjoyed watching Street Performers and marveled at the fabulous Christmas decorations. Oh well, now we have a great excuse to go back.

Here are a few of the amazing pictures that Ajja took while we were there. Enjoy!

The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades.

2009-02-25T18:52:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day

2009-02-17T14:27:00.000-08:00

Last week our dining room became a small Valentine Card factory. Alexander had a party at school on Friday, where we were encouraged to bring in cards for the kids to trade, and Lilly was invited to a card exchange on Saturday. I was determined to include the kids in this process so we headed off to the craft store where they each picked out some glitter paint and a package of heart doilies, then we went to work. They took turns painting the hearts as I ran around frantically trying to keep the glitter under control (thus the lack of pictures from the event). Everything was going well until they got bored. It turns out that 10 hearts were all that they were interested in and we had to finish 24 of them! Eventually I had all 24 painted heart doilies drying nicely on my kitchen counter and two glitter covered children in the shower.

After gluing them to red paper squares and writing a little message on the back, our cards were finally complete. Alexander came home from school with a bag full of cards and small toys (I confiscated any candy) and Lilly had a great time at her party. She has now learned that Valentine's Day = heart shaped lollipops and loves the holiday. Here she is giving you one of their handmade cards.
They also received some treats in the mail from Tutu. Alexander got a cash register that he'd been eyeing at Potter Barn.

And Lilly received a new Disney Princess breakfast set.

I hope that your Valentine's Day was as eventful as ours!

Lilly Tales

2009-02-12T16:23:00.001-08:00

About 45 minutes before bedtime Lilly was snacking on some Alphabet Cookies when this happened:

Lilly: Mommy, I want more cookies.
Mama: Okay. You can have 5 more cookies and then all done.
Lilly: Mmmmmm. How about 10 more cookies (while holding up only 3 fingers).
Mama: How about 7 cookies.
Lilly: Mmmmm. How about 8.
Mama: Deal.

Lilly is currently sitting at the table, enjoying her cookies while I am left wondering how I was out negotiated by a(n almost) 3 year old.

Papa's Princess

2009-02-11T17:08:00.000-08:00

Last month, Hector had all of a week and a half between handing in his last final and starting his Spring Semester. He took advantage of the time off as much as possible and scheduled two very important outings with his little princess. Since so much of our lives revolve around Alexander’s needs, we go out of our way to make sure that Lilly has special activities as well.

They started by going to see The Tale of Despereaux in the theater. Lilly loves movies and she was so excited to go to the theater for the first time ever. They shared popcorn and a soda, as well as Goldfish, Craisins, and Cheerios, and Lilly has been telling everyone she sees about it. She sat still and quiet the entire time and can’t wait to go again.

The next outing was to the Museum of Science. They are having an exhibit on mythical creatures that Hector wanted to share with Lilly (one of her favorite books is Greek, Rome, Monsters, and is all about ancient mythical creatures.) They spent the entire day at the museum seeing every exhibit, including the Planetarium, which Lilly thought was a little scary at first. Every time we are out at night she says, “look Mommy, stars, like at the museum.”

Lilly Tales: Where's Peanut?

2009-01-26T14:58:00.000-08:00

Just a minute ago while running around the dining room:

Lilly: Mommy, where's Peanut?
Mama: Who?
Lilly: Peanut?
Mama: Who?
Lilly: He went to work. I'm going to find him.
(screaming) Peanut!!! Where are you Peanut? Are you at lunch? Peanut!

Just another rant.

2009-01-24T11:53:00.000-08:00

We have been asking Alexander’s school to add ABA (a type of behavior therapy) to his list of services for a year now, and yesterday we met with them and were declined once again.

Some basic info: ABA is one of the few therapies that has been proven to be effective for children with Autism (along with speech therapy and occupational therapy). Boston Public Schools has an entire department devoted to ABA, however it is very expensive, since it requires a trained therapist to work with a child one-on-one.

A little history: Last January we met with Alexander’s school team to revise his IEP (education plan provided for every child with special needs) and requested that ABA services be added. In order to qualify for the service, he first needs to be evaluated. The school has 45 school days to complete the evaluation. After an angry phone call the evaluation was finally performed on the 45th day. Then they have 2 weeks to write the review. When we finally received it, the supervisor had concluded that Alexander’s current placement was fine and that he was not in need of additional services. We disagreed with these findings and were able to point out that much of the information on the report was incorrect, so we wrote a letter requesting that an independent third party complete an evaluation. The request was finally approved in May and we had the assessment done. We didn’t receive the assessment until the middle of June (after the school year had come to an end), however it stated that Alexander’s classroom was not functioning properly and that he was being ignored for large chunks of time. It also gave a long list of suggestions to improve the classroom.
Due to these findings, we scheduled a meeting with the school to once again request that ABA be added to his IEP. During this time the school hired a new ABA supervisor who was unfamiliar with the class and we agreed to have her do a new review when the new school year began. She reviewed him in September and found that he did need a lot of help, but was getting that help adequately in his current classroom and that they were utilizing ABA techniques.
We met with his school team again in October and decided to have him move from an Autism classroom to an integrated classroom. He is no longer receiving the help that was provided in his previous classroom and the teacher is not able to give him the one-on-one attention that he needs to learn the curriculum.

Which brings me to yesterday: Since he is now in a new classroom we asked for a mediation session (where an impartial third party meets with us and the school to come to a mutual agreement) because we still feel that he is in need of ABA services. I requested this in October and finally had a meeting scheduled for Friday, 1/23. Hector and I met with the school and the mediator yesterday for what proved to be a pointless session. They kept us waiting for 30 minutes before beginning. After we stated our case, their response was that we should put him back into his old classroom if he needs more help. This makes absolutely no sense to us, since he was bored in his old classroom and was obviously ready to move on.
After 2 hours of discussion the only thing that they were willing to offer us was for him to be taken out of his current classroom for 30 minutes/day and return to his old classroom for one-on-one instruction from the teacher that we have observed to ignore him. So a years worth of work to accomplish absolutely nothing. He is in the exact same place with the exact same list of services.

The reason for my great frustration: Besides the obvious, Hector and I just cannot understand why Boston Public Schools are determined to see our child fail. His teacher, the special ed coordinator and the mediator all agreed with us and thought that we had a very solid case, and yet the school was not willing to yield in the slightest. I know that budgets have been slashed and that money is tight, so I would rather they be honest and just tell us that they have inadequately trained staff and no money to provide him with the services that he so obviously needs instead of pretending that they are doing all that they can to help him and that he is indeed receiving an adequate education.

So, what’s next: The next step would be to hire a lawyer and take them to court. However, Boston is notorious for dragging out court cases (for years at a time) and Alexander just can’t wait for us to prove our point. Plus, Hector will be graduating in June and we are planning to move out of state next Fall, so there is no sense in wasting any more time and energy for a service that we will never see.
In the meantime we will continue to view school as a merely social opportunity for him, and focus our time and energy on his other therapies. Alexander is excelling in his home ABA program and at Speech and OT (the other day he used two 4-word sentences on his own for the first time).

What I’ve learned from all of this: I am not equipped to take on the school district. We were attempting to navigate the system on our own and Alexander has paid the price. When we move, the plan will be to hire a Special Education Attorney to consult with before we set foot in any classroom. This is an expensive alternative, but with Alexander turning 5 in a couple of months, we can no longer afford to make any mistakes on his behalf.

Oh the joys of raising a special needs child...pray that I survive.

*In case you were wondering, Lilly is still occasionally calling Alexander, Mark. And we still have no idea why.

Lilly Tales

2009-01-14T15:37:00.001-08:00

This afternoon, while Alexander and Lilly were running around the house playing/fighting, I heard:

Lilly: Mark!!! Mark!!! This way Mark. Mark, go this way!!!
Mama: Lilly, who is Mark?
Lilly: Mmm. It's Alexander.
Mama: Why are you calling him Mark?
Lilly: I don't know.

I still have no idea why Lilly has decided to change Alexander's name, or why she chose to change it to Mark, but she has continued to call him Mark all day.

Better Late Than Never

2009-01-07T18:12:00.000-08:00

Here are a few of the pictures from Hector's parents visit in December. We all had a great time with them here and look forward to seeing them again soon.

Lilly Tales

2009-01-05T11:29:00.000-08:00

Lilly: Mommy, what is Aunty Sherri's name?
Mama: It's Sherri.
Lilly: Oh. I like Sherri.

Merry Christmas

2009-01-01T08:15:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!! I know that I'm a little behind in the posts, but we've had a busy December. There have been 2 big snowstorms (at least by New England standards) which caused Alexander to have an early Christmas break, Hector's family came to visit and we celebrated his sister's graduation (congratulations Dr. Betty), I went to New York for the weekend, and there was this little thing called Christmas.

Here are some pictures from Christmas morning. We had a mellow morning with just the 4 of us opening gifts and lounging around the house. The kids are still a little unsure of what happens on Christmas morning, so Lilly's big plans consisted of waking up and eating yogurt. Alexander woke up early (as always) and ignored all of the presents under the tree, but the minute Lilly saw all of the gifts, her eyes lit up and she wanted nothing to do with breakfast.

As you can see, the kids loved all of their gifts and were far too busy playing with them to look at the camera, but we did our best. I hope that everyone out there had a very Merry Christmas and I promise that there will be many more pictures to come in the New Year.

2 Going On 12

2008-12-22T13:56:00.001-08:00

When Lilly was born Hector asked if we could get her ears pierced. I insisted that we wait until she actually wants to have holes in her ears before we make the decision for her (I was 7 when I asked to have my ears pierced and assumed that she would be around the same age). Little did I know that at 2 1/2 Lilly would be ready to accessorize.

In November she began asking for earrings. I explained to her that it would hurt and that she wouldn't be able to touch them, but she insisted. We decided that if she still wanted them when her Nana came to visit that she could get earrings. Lilly was so excited that she called her Nana right away to tell her the news. In keeping with our promise, Lilly got her ears pierced while her Nana and Vampire were here visiting last week. She cried for about 30 seconds while I was holding her head, but was quickly comforted when she saw her beautiful new earrings.

Lilly has also been quite the Lady around town. Because Alexander has so many things going on we go out of our way to remind Lilly that she is special as well. Last month Hector took her for a father/daughter day to the Museum of Fine Art. They looked at the paintings and viewed the antiquities (she was scared at first, but quickly warmed up to all of the statues) before having lunch at the cafe and taking the train home - and yes, she carried the purse with her the entire time. This month they are planning to see the movie Despereaux at the theater, where Lilly can't wait to get popcorn and a soda, and next month they will go to the Museum of Science to see an exhibit on mythical creatures.

Pillow Talk

2008-12-20T18:28:00.000-08:00

The other night when Alexander crawled into our bed (as he does every night)...

Mama: Alexander, move over. Ouch, we need to cut your nails.
Alexander: No.
Mama: Maybe tomorrow. Night, night.
Alexander: Night, night.
Mama: I love you.
Alexander: I wa wu.

I rolled over and fell asleep with a smile. I had just had my first conversation with my son.

Seriously?

2008-12-15T06:51:00.000-08:00

Growing up in Hawaii we had 2 pairs for shoes. 1 pair of cloth slippers (those are flip-flops for all of you who grew up in the mainland) that were for school and one pair of rubber slippers for play. Every once in a while there might be a pair of rain boots thrown into the mix for puddle jumping in the driveway during a rainstorm. But here in Massachusetts where there are climate changes that accompany the season, kids need a ton of shoes.

With the change from Fall to Winter came the pulling out of snow boots and it got me wondering how many shoes these kids actually have gone through in the past year. So here you go, here are 4 seasons worth of shoes for 2 kids. Seriously? My kids wear 14 pairs of shoes in a year? Sadly, after taking the picture, I realized that there were actually a few pairs missing. I forgot to add in the 2 pairs of house shoes that they need indoors for running around on wooden floors in the winter. And then there is another pair that Hector's mom just knit for Lilly, bringing the grand total to 17 pairs of shoes! At least I can rest assured that their feet have been well cared for.

Goodbye Fall

2008-12-09T07:12:00.000-08:00

We woke up on Sunday to our first dusting of snow and yesterday was a bitter 20 degrees. It is supposed to warm back up to 40 tomorrow, but the barren trees and grey skies are a constant reminder that it is now Winter in New England.

Here are a few pictures from Fall, when the trees were bright and the sun was shining - except for the 3 days when it was 20 degrees. One of which just happened to be the same day as the big Harvard / Yale football game. Hector and I left the kids with a sitter and braved the cold to watch the 173rd meeting of the two schools. While the game itself was not much to see, it was great to be a part of such an old tradition. We made it until the end of the third quarter before our numbing limbs could take no more (Harvard Stadium is about a hundred years old and made of wind chilling concrete), but at least Harvard won the game!

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-29T10:07:00.001-08:00

I figured that this would be a great time to update everyone on Alexander's progress (plus it's good for me to see that he is indeed making progress from season to season).

After battling with his school for a couple of weeks, Alexander has finally been moved to a new classroom. We had received multiple reports from therapists that Alexander was bored in his current classroom (an Autism only class) and we had noticed that a lot of his bad behaviors returned once school started. His behavior therapist concluded that he was just acting out and it was suggested to us that we move him to an integrated classroom. An integrated classroom runs just like a normal preschool class would, but the teacher is trained in special education. She helps the normal and special needs children all learn together. After visiting the class we were convinced that this is where Alexander needs to be.

The school didn't think that he was ready and was worried that he would get lost in all of the craziness, but we insisted and they finally conceded to doing a trial week. After one week of spending half the day in the new classroom everyone was convinced that he could indeed handle the new setting. He has been in the class full time now for about 3 weeks and seems to really enjoy it. There are 15 students (4 with special needs and 11 normal) as compared to 6 in his previous classroom and only 1 teacher and 1 aid, so Alexander has been forced to become more independent which we are thrilled with. He is still not interested in socializing with the other children, but has started to participate in circle time (doing hand motions to the songs) and is able to follow the directions and stay with the classroom.

Last week he went on his first field trip to a pizza place, where all of the students were able to make their own pizzas and watch them get put into the hot oven. I chaperoned and helped the teacher as we walked with 15 four year old kids about 1/2 a mile to the restaurant and back to the school. Alexander did great and stayed right in line with his partner as they walked. He sauced his pizza and then ate only the crust (he can't eat cheese). The two of us were exhausted from the day, but I am thrilled that he has the opportunity to do "normal" things.

He has also started saying 2 word combinations such as, "want cookie" and "red circle" and is very interested in labeling items. His speech therapist has discovered his love of technology and has been using a digital camera to take pictures. Then she has him look at the screen and say "see chair." She also just introduced him to a computer game that has been very motivating. In addition, the speech therapy group invited Alexander to join in a group session with 4 other children to work on his social speech. There has only been one group thus far and Alexander broke out in tears and had to leave early. Hopefully he will be able to adjust and learn in the new setting once he gets used to things.

In Occupational Therapy news, Alexander is learning to write letters. He is currently working on capital I, F, L and E. It takes a lot of creativity to keep him interested in handwriting, but as he improves hopefully he will become more excited about it.

We hired a new therapist to work with Alexander on the weekends. She plays with him for a short while (working on pretend play and appropriate play skills) and then we take him to the library (on Saturdays) and the grocery store (on Sundays). We are beginning to focus a lot more on social skills and language, which Alexander is not to pleased with, but we anticipate that he will rise to the challenge once he realizes that he has no choice. He is also continuing with music therapy and 6 hrs/wk of behavior therapy.

We have also been taking him for a monthly glutathione IV. This is just another means of detoxing his system in hopes of jump starting something. We have only taken him three times and have noticed that he is a lot more interactive with us. He has started to laugh at Hector's silliness for the first time in his life and even tries to copy him at times while cracking up. While putting him to bed last week, he said, "Mama, tinkle, tinkle" to indicate that he wanted me to sing to him. He has also been taking himself to the bathroom to pee. This is a huge break through. We have been seriously potty training Alexander since October 2007 and he has been time trained but has never let us know when he has to go to the bathroom, let alone take himself (we fear that pooping on the potty will take another year, but at least there is an end in sight). I have also caught Alexander pretend playing with some of his toys. He took Lilly's doll and put it down on a rug, gave her a pacifier and told her, "night, night" and gave her a kiss. I almost cried at the sight!

On my current "Autism To Do List" :

-Fight with the school to have a therapist work with Alexander during Centers (organized free play). Everyone at the school agrees that he would greatly benefit from this except for the woman who authorizes it...welcome to my world.

-Find an RDI therapist to work with him and develop a program for him. It stands for Relationship Development Intervention and is a therapy style to help people with Autism learn to socialize and develp relationships with people.

-Take Alexander to the dentist. The has been on my list for about a year now, but I am dreading it greatly.

-Hire a new Senior Therapist. The woman who is in charge of his home program just gave her notice. She started a new job which won't allow her to work with us because of a "conflict of interest".

Wish me luck.

Lilly Tales

2008-11-13T17:19:00.000-08:00

Earlier this year Lilly received a package from my Aunt that contained a Disney Princess sticker book. As soon as she saw it she declared, "Princess!" and a love affair began. The only Disney princess movie that we own is Sleeping Beauty, so it quickly became Lilly's favorite. When making a new acquaintance, it is not uncommon for Lilly to state, "Lilly likes Sleeping Beauty, it's my favorite." The tale of Sleeping Beauty also has fairies who fly around with wings, which has broadened Lilly's love of all things royal to include all things fairy. Hector has also (rather conveniently) mentioned to her that the movie Star Wars has a princess in it as well - which explains her request to be Princess Leia for Halloween.

I am proud to introduce Princess Lilly, in all her royal splendor. And her twin, Fairy Princess Lilly.

Here's is Just Good Old Fashioned Lilly (wearing her Princess dress) performing a couple of songs. She is no longer composing her own works, but has done some editing to the classics. The first video begins with "Hail to the Princess" (from Sleeping Beauty, of course) and I will let her introduce the rest.

Trick Or Treat

2008-11-01T18:23:00.000-07:00

This year we took the kid's trick-or-treating door-to-door for the first time. It took a couple of houses for them to get into the groove, but once they learned the routine, they really got into it. We took them to Inman Square (near my work) where many of the houses really get into the spirit of things, decorating their lawns and porches and dressing up while handing out candy. Lilly got a little scared by all the costumes and ghosts and we had to remind her that it was all just pretend, but Alexander had no problem with all the crowds and enjoyed all the lights and activity (not to mention the candy). The best part of the night came at the very end. We visited the Fire Station (where they were handing out candy) and they allowed the kids to climb inside of a fire truck and poke around. Enjoy the pictures!

In case you couldn't tell, Alexander was Luke Skywalker and Lilly was Princess Leia.

The Great Pumpkin

2008-10-26T18:44:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we took the kids to a pumpkin patch to get our very first Halloween pumpkin. They loved running through the field and even got to take a hayride around the farm while eating freshly picked apples. Hector had never carved a pumpkin before (can you believe it?) so he rolled up his sleeves and dug in with the kids to create a wonderfully goofy Jack-O-Lantern.

Lilly Tales

2008-10-20T18:10:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of Lilly with one of her best friends, Gerry. Gerry is the receptionist at the office building where Alexander has Speech Therapy. The pair have formed an adorable bond, and as soon as we arrive, Lilly runs to Gerry's desk and the two of them often share a snack and make tea. Recently, Lilly has been drawing pictures for Gerry and has started to help her answer the phone. I'm told, by other employees, that Gerry looks forward to Lilly's visit all day and tells everyone about her.

Oh Lilly, you are a sweet young lady. It is such a joy to watch you make new friends.

Fun with Friends

2008-10-16T17:14:00.000-07:00

We've had a great week of visiting with friend's of ours from Minnesota. It was a ton of fun to hang out with the Brenton's again and it made us miss the Midewest all the more. We were so busy keeping up with all of the kids (they have 2 girls) that I often forgot to take pictures, but here are a couple of Lilly and Amara at the children's museum. They haven't seen each other in over a year, but bonded instantly. It took about 10 minutes before the two of them were chasing each other up and down the hallway and screaming like the silly, little girls that they are. They just left on Tuesday and already Lilly has been asking when "Mara" is coming over to play again.

Lilly made the front page.

2008-10-06T19:37:00.000-07:00

Lilly attends a weekly "playgroup" that is hosted by the Allston Brighton Family Network and her picture made the front page of October's newsletter. Standing behind her is one of her favorite friends, Hana, and Hana's mother, (one of my favorite friends) Elizabeth.

Today, I overheard...

2008-10-05T17:44:00.000-07:00

Lilly say, "Look Papa, boobies! I want boobies. I like boobies." - They were watching VH1's Top 20 Superhero Vixens.

Hector say, "Alexander, take off your high-heels and go to the bathroom."

Lilly Tales

2008-10-02T11:41:00.000-07:00

After breakfast I put Lilly in a dress and then went to sit on the couch. A few moments later she came out and asked, "Mommy, does this match?"

Why draw on paper, when your own body is so much more fun?

2008-09-27T08:16:00.001-07:00

The newest Lilly Dolls have just arrived.

2008-09-24T11:10:00.001-07:00

Pajama LillyDarth LillyI Picked Out My Own Clothes LillyPlace your orders now - Supplies are limited.

First week of school

2008-09-18T17:58:00.000-07:00

As soon as Alexander saw the bus on his first day of school, his face lit up and he was all excitement. He is in the same class as last year with the same teachers and the same students (there are 4 boys in the class with 1 teacher and 2 assistants). His teacher reported that they were all a bit timid at first but then they made their way into the classroom and found the same seats that they had last year (children with Autism thrive on routine) and all was well.

(Alexander is modeling a crown that he made in school)

Alexander has been unusually hyper since starting school and today I discovered why. It seems that he has been receiving Skittles as a reward in class and they have been putting syrup on the waffles that I send in his lunch bag. At home refined sugar is a rare treat and artificial coloring, artificial flavoring, and high fructose corn syrup do not exist. No wonder this kid loves school! In response to his added energy I have made it my goal to tire him out. Aside from a full week of school (6 hrs/day, 7 days/wk), Alexander also receives 3 hrs/wk of Speech Therapy, 3 hrs/wk of Occupational Therapy, 1/2 hr/wk of Music Therapy, and 6 hrs/wk of Behavior Therapy. I am also in the process of hiring another therapist to work with him on the weekends.

This morning, Hector woke Alexander up by taking this picture. Apparently I have accomplished my goal of a tired little boy.

Back To School

2008-09-11T11:42:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, Alexander and Hector both headed back to school for the Fall Semester. The night before, Alexander woke us up screaming at 12:30am. I found him sitting on the floor of his room covered in blood (it was so bad that I just threw his pajamas away). Apparently his nose had been bleeding and he wanted some water. Hector took him into the shower and a half hour later, the bleeding finally stopped. After an exhausting hour we all headed back to bed. In the morning, a tired Alexander managed a smile before the bus arrived. Lilly wanted to go to school too, and was so sad to see Papa leave.

A Day Off

2008-09-08T05:04:00.001-07:00

With Alexander's busy schedule we rarely have an entire day to spend as a family. On Labor Day, all 3 therapists who usually work with him took the day off so we took advantage of the freedom and headed to the zoo. It was a small zoo with just a few animals, but it was a beautiful day and the kids enjoyed seeing bears, leopards and flamingos. However we all enjoyed the average old goat the best. The area wasn't crowded and they came right to the fence to say, "hello". Lilly is all set for her safari adventure.

Alexander couldn't resist practicing his new emotions:

Frustrated (pictured above) and tired.

The best attempt at a smile for the camera.

Pampered Princess

2008-09-05T10:57:00.001-07:00

Princess Lilly had quite the spa treatment. First a haircut from Mama (her first one ever) and then a brand new coat of purple sparkle nailpolish (thanks to Papa).