Catch Up

I know I said after Christmas I was going to make this post but once again life got in the way. So in November Cole went for his 6 month MRI to look at the white matter again. My husband and I were hoping to get the news that it had improved and it was no longer a worry that Cole could have White Matter Disease. Unfortunately right before Thanksgiving we were told that there was no change in the MRI. Since we have a great neurologist she wanted us to send her the MRI to have the hospital she works at look at them again. Since there was no change I didn't rush this time to send the scans. Looking back I wish i did rush them out. We had our appointment in December to evaluate Cole's autism and I was also hoping to go over the scans and to see when his next MRI would be. Well at the appointment the doctor proceeded to tell us that she would be looking at his MRI that Friday and that she wanted to see where the cyst was. Apparently the report stated no change in MRI with cyst on brain. Cole's first MRI didn't show a cyst so this was just heart breaking to us. It meant that I had one more thing to add to my list of worries and things to watch out for. I still don't understand why the hospital Cole had the MRI at had not red flagged this so that his neurologist would look at this first. Thankfully the news came back that the cyst is not pushing on anything in his brain right now and that we would monitor it. His next MRI will be in a year but as I right now I am thinking of asking to have one done at the age of 3 for Cole which will be in 6 months. I wish I could blog and say the appointment went great and we got great news but it seems that we keep getting bad news or I should say undesirable news. The up side to the appointment is that Cole showed better eye contact and responded to his name the first time the doctor called it. I was so proud at that moment with him. We are also saying mama and dada a lot now. So that is the MRI update that i promised I would write. I remain positive that this will  all work out but I know that as a mommy I will continue to worry. Just a heads up for my readers Cole has an OT evaluation through EI on 16th of January. I am hoping to blog that day about it but if not the next day. I also plan to blog more for the new year. I connected this blog to a facebook page that I hope to add pictures of procedures and evaluations. My hope is that one day I will have helped another family that struggled to find answers. So my New Years resolution is to stay positive, blog more and try to appreciate the smaller things in life. What are your New Years resolution? Do you plan to make any this year?

After Christmas Math

Well as much as I tried to get online t post it didn't work. We spent the day redoing Cole's room to fit his new toys. Cole could care less that he had presents under the tree. I pretty much had to force him to sit with me to open gifts. We took no pictures because it took over an hour for a few gifts. My goal with the Christmas gifts was to get him things that were fun that could also help with his therapies. His gifts were puzzles, Mr Potato head accessories, bouncy ball pit, some books and play dough. So yesterday was a day of cleaning his room and going through clothes so we could fit the bouncy house. Cole also got a train set from my sister which came with the table so we had that to put together. After all day and a few stops at the store Cole has his dream room it seems. He actually napped in his room which he hasn't done in awhile and he was in and out playing all day. My hope is to actually get him to sleep in there soon. I figure one step at a time. Now if only I could get the rest of this place clean I could be happy.  Cole has a week off from EI which means that I have a week of trying to work with Cole. I can safely say I did nothing with his therapies yesterday. With all the work I do and the also working with Cole I decide its time to go back to school and possibly get certified or a degree to help other autistic children and their parents. I learned this Christmas that everything I did was more for me and not for Cole. I loved Christmas and wanted Cole to love it too but truthfully he really just wanted to follow his normal day. So I decide next year that I will not work so hard to make tradition but to just enjoy my day with him. I plan to take every holiday this way now. So how many parents tried to make Christmas more for their child(ren) and you were more excited?

Merry Christmas

Its been awhile since I have been on to blog. My new years goal is to actually blog more and to try and slow down a little. It seems that since I can control how much I work i have become a little obsessed with it and have been working a lot more hours. Which is also the reason I haven't blogged. Also a lot has happened since my last blog which is Cole had his MRI, we found a preschool he loves but isn't accepting until Sept. and the holidays are here. I promise I will blog tomorrow on all of the business we have had in our life the last couple of weeks and also how this holiday has gone.
So to anyone and all that read this blog....Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

Meltdowns with change

It seems lately Cole has either been testing people to see what he can get away with or we have had major meltdowns. This last week I was kicked out of the EI session because Cole was using me to not have to do his work. I was more then happy to walk away since I know that after the session they will inform me of everything they did. It was hard listening to him cry but I knew he was crying to get his way. Recently I went back to work and the started a second job which is suppose to be per diem. The per diem job has me training so I am putting in 2 or 3 days with them and then working my full time job. I don;t know if things changed to fast for Cole and he is having a hard time adjusting to it or if he is just being a 2 year old. What I do know is last night he had one of his worst  meltdowns. It happened when he woke up and it lasted about 40 mins. I tried everything from making him a milk cup, changing his diaper, giving him a snack and trying to turn on a show he likes. It felt like it was never going to end and when it did i think Cole and myself were drained. I plan to really look into different things that might help with meltdowns along with reducing my schedule at my per diem job until Cole is well adjusted. So my question to everyone is have you dealt with meltdowns? Do you have any suggestions on how to handle the meltdowns or make it pass faster?