| Gene's Timeline: |
| Gene's first 6 weeks (see link) |
| Gene's 7 - 12 weeks (see link) |
| Gene's 13 - 18 weeks (see link) |
| Gene's 19 - 24 weeks (see link) |
| Gene's 25 - 30 weeks (see link) |
| Gene's 31 - 36 weeks (see link) |
| Gene's 37 - 42 weeks (see link) |
| Gene's 43 - 48 weeks (see link) |
| Gene's 49 - 54 weeks (see link) |
| Gene's 55 - 60 weeks (see link) |
| Gene's 61 - 66 weeks (see link) |
| Gene's 67 - 72 weeks (see link) |
| Gene's 73 - 78 weeks (see link) |
| Gene's 79 - 84 weeks (see link) |
| Gene's 85 - 90 weeks (see link) |
| Week 133 (8/1/04): Wrapped up Camp I Can this past week - Gene did well - a couple of incidents (social/behavioral), but he had a good time. Sea World was the week before - pretty much the same. Sunday (8/1/04): Church - Gene has been very anxious to sit with other kids in the pews. Racing in & plopping right next to a little girl or boy. We've been working on the "quietly & calmly" approaching people. He was better this week; wanted to try sitting by himself - was kindof funny. Monday (8/2/04): BGC - computer, puzzle .. had a little difficulty with the transition when the computer lab closed. But informed me when I picked him up that he was "doing better now." :) Tuesday (8/3/04): Busy day: Chris swimming, met w/ some friends for lunch, Natl History Museum, Chris soccer, Rebecca soccer - 'course all the kids went everywhere. Gene did okay. Too funny - Gene is into flags; well, he sees a lady across a crowded museum floor, makes a bee-line for her and sits down next to her. He then points at her shirt. LOL .. She was very good about it, though. He asked her if she knew what that flag was. She said, "oh no, if it's not the stars & stripes, I have no idea!" .. then she looked at him for a second & said, "why? do you know what it is?" Then he proceeded to name every obscure little African (and whatever else) country's flag(!!) She was floored!! So was I! Wednesday (8/4/04): Gene's soccer practice. We got there before the others so Gene was dribbling the ball around; I had him dribbled down, do a pull-back, turn around & go back the other way. He did quite well. In practice they did some s.o.g.'s, dribbling ... he worked very independently & helped pick the team name -- the Bengals! Thursday (8/5/04): Gene & Christopher played at the playground while Rebecca swam. Gene was playing by himself on the slides & then joined Christopher & the other kids, playing nicely & following the rules. Friday (8/6/04): I took Gene to BGC & he did great. He's been bringing his own puzzle, so that he has something to do while he waits for his turn in the computer lab. He went in, got started & when I picked him up, he quickly put things away & left. No transitional issues. Saturday (8/07/04): HB riding. Gene did very well on Cassie. Apparently Cassie had had an issue earlier in the week & bit a volunteer. They were holding her very closely which she didn't like & was acting a bit erratic. Suddenly she stopped short, back up, did some stutter steps -- looked just like Cassie was going to rear up. Gene totally took it in stride, held on & stayed balanced |
| Gene's 91 - 96 weeks (see link) |
| Gene's 97 - 99 weeks (see link) |
| Summary (8/04): Okay, so I haven't been particularly good about updates ... Here are some of the latest -- Social: Gene has had a regular set of "friends" for the past 6 months or so through - BGC (once/wk), his sister's soccer team (2ce/week & during w/end games), horseback riding (once/wk). He has been trying very hard to initiate conversations with anyone: drive-through restaurant csr's, bus drivers, ... anyone. He needs to develop better topics :) but he is trying!! Medical/Diet: Nothing has changed here Behavioral: Not sure how much is different, but constantly changing. Still prefers having a strict schedule & transitions or unexpected happenings "can" upset him. Still can have difficulty w/ turn-taking, particularly in conversations. But, he has really developed the "Excuse me.." when he wants to speak (unlike Christopher's excuse me, excuse me, excuse me, excuse me, until it drives you crazy..) |
| Summary (5/05): Here are some important developments -- 1st Communion: (!!) Gene achieved his 1st Communion on Saturday!! He's been participating in the mass from the pews with other parishioners, saying the prayers, singing the songs, shaking hands ... so last summer I got together with the Religious Education coordinator and we've been working together over the past 8 months. I decided to homeschool as he was so anxious over attending the classroom. Last Wed was the rehearsal. We weren't going to participate in the Blood of Christ (after Rebecca's experience last year), but he wanted to try it during the rehearsal. We were very cautious about his only letting it touch his lips and not taking a sip. He did great, stepped away, but as he was walking back to his seat, he let off a big "Yuck!" Everyone cracked up. So there was no way he was going for it on Sat. The other challenge was getting him to wear the dress-up clothes; he freaks out with buttons, so a button-down-the-front shirt was going to be very difficult. I chose to go with a long-sleeved polo-style shirt with 3 buttons, so that if I had to, I could cut off the buttons and pin the shirt. The dress pants also had a button & the dress shoes were stiff and uncomfortable. In any case, he "chose" to wear a tie (which actually was another requirement) in order to cover the buttons on the shirt(!!) ... and to wear a belt to cover the button on the pants(!) Then he finally gave in to the shoes and .. phew .. we were set. On Sat the only thing I was hoping for was that he would say "Amen" after "The body of Christ" and that nothing catastrophic happened. I didn't even worry about his bowing before approaching or holding his hands properly or taking the host properly. So he had the "Amen" down, so no worries.... however, when it was his turn, he did a beautiful bow, held out his hands perfectly and when he took the host, he took it perfectly(!) .. but he totally blanked on the "Amen" (hahaha) - oh well, the priest knew that he might have trouble and he was good. Gene did well in the group photo afterward too. So, all in all, it was a very successful day. Social: Gene is in STAR again. He had a VERY difficult start-up. The first week was so bad, he was almost pulled out. But we brought him in for a little at a time and increased the time slowly until now he has been having GREAT days almost every day. He is really enjoying it and feels like he really has some friends. Behavioral: I wanted to mention that today (Monday) getting on the bus was very nice. He was waiting with a blanket because it is pretty cold at 6:45am. When the bus came, he gave me the blanket and said, "Mom, will you hold this for me?" Then when he got on the bus, the first thing he did was tell the bus driver, "I'm glad you're back!" (There was a substitute driver on Friday -- 3 days ago!) Another time, at the beginning of STAR, he noticed that the aide was late. He told the leader that he was "worried about Veronica." When she came in, he ran up to her and said, "Where were you? I was worried about you!" |