March 18, 2007

Wow...we've been busy.

Jakob was AWESOME for his EEG. I'm still saying "Wow" every time I think about it. He wasn't a fan of getting the stuff put on and taken off, but that was expected. He doesn't like feeling confined...and his wrists were strapped down and he was in a papoose. He doesn't like his head being touched...they had to glue a lot (I'd guess at least 20) of thingies onto his scalp, then they were wrapped and taped, then a hat and more tape on top of that. He was pinned down for about an hour. I was sweating by the end of it. I was counting backwards, singing, playing peek-a-boo and whatever else I could come up that might make him smile.

All things considered, he came through like a champ. There was screaming, hollarin' and some big alligator tears but I never lost him. He continued to make eye contact and smile every once in a while. I call that a victory.

It was at home that I was most proud. He wasn't cranky, he didn't try to rip it all off his head, and he never got mad at me. He was an angel. He read his new audio books and some of his old ones. He watched a couple of videos (Signing Time and Animal Adventures) and we hung out. He was affectionate and he even took a nap. He and I spent the night together on the couch with my head by his feet. I figured that if he moved, he'd kick me in the head and I'd wake up. He slept great...

The best part of all is the EEG came back normal...no seizure activity. Whew...

We have a couple of events coming up that Jakob has really been practicing for. His big concert at school is tomorrow night. We've been singing the songs and doing the hand motions every time we're in the car. He's got it...the question is, will he be feelin' it when he's on stage? It all depends on that...if he's feelin' it. If he's really feelin' "Grinding Corn", everybody look out.

The other event is a BIGGIE...Jakob is going to throw out the first pitch at a Red's game. Wow. We are soooo excited. Spring Training started 10 days ago. He's a lefty with a heckuva fast ball. We're documenting it all for a video segment called "The Road to the First Pitch". (The game is Saturday, April 21. It's a night game and ticket order forms are available at www.autismcincy.org.) More on this to come...

I just have to say that Jakob has really been a dream lately. He's doing so many new things...he's impressing everybody. We're all wondering what's going on....what's changed...what are we doing differently that's working...and none of us have an answer. So we're just gonna go with it and figure out what to teach him next. His imitation skills have been amazing so there are a lot of possibilities. I'm looking forward to finding out what our next adventure is going to be.