I am Max, I am three

Silly Face

That is the phrase we have been teaching Max the past couple of weeks.  Max is three.  Wow, what a year it has been for little Max.  He has grown so much inside and out.  More then we ever expected but also more then we hoped he would.  Here are Max's highlights.

January- Max is evaluated and begins both speech and occupational therapy.  He has two words.  It is so hard he cries during speech therapy but does the work anyway.  All I can do is give him a gentle push and sit back and watch.  When he is done I have plenty of hugs and reassurance that it is all ok.  Max has an ear infection.

February-  Therapy continues.  we are on the wait list for two clinics to get some sort of diagnosis for Max.  This is at the urging of the Speech therapist so we know for sure the path his therapy should take.  Max has an ear infection.

March- We get into the childhood development center at the UW to start Max's evaluations.  We meet with the doctor 4 times and she gets to know everything about Max's life.  Therapy contiues.  Max still has another ear infection.

I love Daddy

 April-  Max gets the diagnosis that he has Autism from the doc.  While we are thrown by it a bit we aren't completely surprised.  Max already has more words, is very outgoing and now really enjoys therapy.  Max gets glasses and ear tubes for his ear infections.  We begin ABA therapy and continue OT and Speech.

May- Max gets croup and spends a night in the hospital.  He has more words is adjusting very well to all his therapy.

June- We see the developmental pediatrician.  He goes over Max's health history like the CIA trying to solve a case.  He suggests a follow up for genetic blood work, finding a dentist, physical therapy, and a consult with one of his colleagues for Max's tone issues.  Max is healthy for the first time in months.  More new words are coming out.  We see the eye doc and she decides we need to patch Max's stronger eye for 2 hours a day.  After two days Max just accepts it and doesn't fight it.  

I found the boys doing this at the top of the stairs one day.  Max thought he was so funny!

 July- Max finds his love of swimming and playing outside.  He is now in PT, OT, Speech and ABA therapy.  Max is healthy, happy and the new words are coming more and more everyday.

August-  More words, more therapy, more swimming, Major blood draw at children's hospital.  We see the eye doc and nothing is changed

September-We have totally stopped counting Max's word.  He uses two and three word phrases he climbs, runs, and jumps.  He starts dance class after a break for the summer and finally will touch all the props and participate in all the activities.  Max saw the dentist who was awesome and Max did great getting his teeth checked and fluoride protected.

 October- Max is excelling at all his therapies. Mastering tasks and programs and basically making everyone fall in love with him.  He has some exzema flare ups and off we go to the allergist for a check up.  We see the eye doc and up the patching to three hours a day.

November- We go back to the developmental pediatrician.  His collegue takes one look at Max and pronounces him "normal".  No major gentic adnormalities show up and Max wows the pediatrician with all his progress.  Therapies everyday as normal.  He has started to really master pronouns and we are working on how to ask questions.

December-  We visit a potential preschool for Max next year.  YAY!  It is a normal private preschool full of typically developing kids and everyone thinks it will be a great fit for Max.  Max has come so far with his speech now he can say anything he wants and his SLP will be doing some testing to see how measures up on the standard scale next week.  We see Max's regular pediatrician and he not only doesn't yell at her but he smiles lets her check him out says her name and hi and bye.  She was blown away at the differences in him in one year.  Max sees the eye doc and we still patch for three hours a day but everything looks good and stable.  Max even cooperates for more involved eye testing and can answer some questions on his own.

Max is one of the most amazing little boys I know.  His spirit is so strong. He is sweet, happy, loving, friendly, funny, caring, and so much more.  He loves with his whole body both good and bad.  He is so very "three" right now.  Stubborn, opinionated, I want to do it myself.  He accepts all his therapy with a positive attitude. He may not always like the work but he just does it anyway.  I am always amazed at what he can.  He is a little bit of a prefectionist which has served him well in therapy.  He has a funny little comedian side.  He likes to joke around and be tickled and be silly.  He has the best smile and belly laughs.

Max loves:  Pengy, monkeys, books, cars, balls, baths, bubbles, hot dogs, quesidillas, juice, going outside, swimming, swinging, Jakob, Mommy, Daddy, Hannah, and all his therapists(Katie, Carly, Sherilyn, Stephanie, Monica, Mary, Dulce, Deanna, Alice, and Cyn), mini peppies, yogurt, and eggs.

Max dislike: getting changed, when Jakie steals his stuff, not getting to do it himself, anything gooey or sticky, falling in his head(which he can do a lot), pasta, the camera.

Max has grown so much this year physically.  He gained 6 pounds and now weighs 28 pounds.  He grew three inches and is now 37 inches tall.  He is still below the 5% for everything but he stayed on his curve.  He has a good appetite for a three year old, and eats a very wide variety of foods including lots of meat.  Max will be re-evaluated this spring by the psychologist.  We don't expect any difference to his diagnosis but just to keep an eye on his progress as his diagnosis may evolve over time.  We are really excited to see what he will accomplish in this next year including potty training which we will try next weekend and going to preschool next fall.  We will also work really hard on eye contact and getting messy.   Colleen has a phrase she uses with her son who has some sensory issues and I like to use it with Max from time to time.  Max can do hard things!!  Recently he started helping smear his lotion on after bath and he will now touch therapy putty during OT.  Both of these things are huge for his sensory issues.

Max has some fun phrases most of which he picked up from Carly his SLP
1.  Carrots- do we eat it?  Yes(said in a silly duh mom voice), Cat- do we eat it?  No. (said in the same silly voice)
2.  Playing a game with his ABA therapist he looked up at her and said "this is too much fun!"  word for wood what Carly would say.
3. Putting on a shirt he always points out that he has elbows and exactly where they hide in his shirt.
4. Running up to Dave in his footy PJ's and asking where his foot is then saying yes we eat it so Dave will pretend to munch on it and tickle him.
5.  A moose and a goose together have juice-but not the hippopotamus!
6.  But yes the HIPPOPOTAMUS!

Max loves to sit and watch the world outside the front window.  

Max we are all so proud of you, your determination, and your strong happy spirit.  We love you so very much.  

Happy Third Birthday Monkey Max!!!!!!!!!!!!