All about Max

This post is mostly for those who have been wondering about the little things I have mentioned about Max and for a warning to parents who might see these signs in their own children.

As you all know, Max is a very happy and quiet boy. He never really cried as a baby and has never really been loud or disruptive. From birth to 15 months, he seemed to have normal levels of communication and development. It was around the 18 month mark we noticed a difference. Max had stopped using verbal communication with me and Curtis. He still said some words to his babysitters but never used them at home. The words he would use with his babysitters were not the words he was using 3 months earlier. Words like dog and kitty were no longer of interest to him but he would say "out" if he wanted to go out. He also lost interest in looking at people.
It was very hard to get him to look you in the eye and he never responded to his name or loud sounds.
At his 18 month appointment, I mentioned my concerns to Max's Pediatrician. He tested out some of the things I had mentioned and he too gave some concerns. He connected us with a state funded group called Kids Who Count. This group helps all ranges of children with disabilities and development delays.
The main concern was Max was showing signs of Autism.
Max met with four therapists and was tested in three categories: communication, motor skills, and health. Loss of hearing was ruled out. Max can hear but chooses not to respond or his brain is not wired to respond. For example; We can be out on a walk and a dog can startle me by barking but Max thinks nothing of it. Or..I can start a bath at home and he will come running to the sound.
Max was assigned 2 therapists to come to our home twice a month to work on motor skills and communication. He loves it when they come. They always bring new toys.
About three months ago, one of the therapists was working with Max. I was over joyed to tell her of his progress. He was signing more and was making more eye contact with me. On top of that, he was learning his letters and loves it. To my astonishment she shook her head and said, "I don't mean to freak you out but that is a sign of Autism". I knew it was not normal for a two year old to know his alphabet but I just thought that meant he was really developing. Turns out Autistic children have a very long attention span and love patterns.
Of course this did freak me out. I had really turned a blind eye to autism because he had been doing so well over the last 6 months. Now I had to face it. I cried for two days because my little guy would never have the life I had dreamed he would have.
I have a cousin who's child is Autistic so I contacted her to lean what a could from an in-home expert. She let me know there is a whole spectrum for Autism. I was in the worst case scenario mind frame at the time. She let me know the spectrum is called the PDD spectrum. At the top there is the type of PDD that was featured in the movie "Rain man". In the middle is classic Autism. At the end they have PDD and most of the time this is not as bad as ADD.
My cousin, Dana, was wonderful to talk with and provided me with so much comfort and understanding of our Saviors plan for us and our beautiful children. She was very understanding when I admitted I had cried for two days. She told me her goal is to make sure her son is happy. Even though these beautiful children do not see the world through our eyes, they are closer to the Savior and are filled with his love. What more could a mother want?
A few days latter I met with Max's pediatrician for his 2 year update. We talked about Max's progress with the Kids who count program and he offered a blood test to check Max's chromosomes. We were looking for fragile X and deletions in his chromosome line.
Max's test arrived a few weeks ago and we are happy to say he failed the test. He has perfect chromosomes as far as test could tell.
Over the next month, Max continued to learn his alphabet. One day while we were in the car, Max spotted Curt's coke in the cup holder. Curtis and I were both watching the road so we did not see him signing more. To my astonishment I hear him saying "M-O, M-O". I turned around to see him frantically signing for more. He really is a smart one.
Max's vocabulary is growing everyday. He no longer avoids eye contact. At my last birthday party, he went around the circle of guests and gave everyone a big hug.
At our next meeting with the therapist, she took note of all his new progress and said Max had done wonderful. I questioned her about a diagnosis for Max and she said she could not give one at this time. They do not want to brand Max with Autism when it may just be development delays.
Max does show signs found with children on the PDD spectrum but he is very high functioning.
For example:
He loves letters and will spend a good portion of his day pointing them out to me.
His motor skills are lacking. He still will not jump with both feet off the ground.
He still ignores me about 60% of the time when I say his name. He'll ignore you too.
He is not interested in constructive time. I know no 2 year old is but he is the worst in nursery. Good luck getting him to sit on a mat by himself for even 3 seconds.
He really is a smart kid but he seems to be in his own world a lot of times.
We try not to have the TV on very often. We try to play games with him to encourage eye contact. We applaud him for learning his letters and showing them to us. He learns about one new letter every week. He has really picked up on sign language. Over the last month, he has learned at least 5 new signs.
Max can do almost everything a child his age can do. His tendencies are just a little off from most kids.
I would suggest to anyone who has any concerns with their child's behavior to talk with their Dr. and let them know your concerns. It is so important to get our children help at a young age. I have heard so many times from so many loving family members, "Oh, he's fine. I'm sure he'll grow out of it." Or, "He's just being a 2 year old". My view point is, if you have concerns, bring them up with a Dr. your are your child's voice for now. You must act in their best interest. If you feel like something might be wrong, you should check it out. You are their parent.
I am so grateful we acted when we did. With the help of Kids who count, Max is well on his way to function in a normal classroom. Who knows, with all of this help and early learning, he might be the smartest one in his class.
That is our update for now.

Guess what

Ok. I have been holding out on most of you. Please don't feel like we are any less of friends.
Here is my secret:
I am going to have a little boy! I am due April 10th.
I really didn't want to feel pregnant for the full 9 months so I haven't posted or really made this public. I am now just over the half way mark and I have a very noticeable belly bump. I finally had to tell people at work 2 weeks ago cause I could tell some had suspicions.
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Happy Holidays.

My Birthday

It was my birthday yesterday and here is the story of my day:

I woke up early and headed off to work. Curtis had taken the day off so he was kind enough to drop me off. My desk had been decorated and gifts had been left. I only worked until 12:30 then Curtis and Max picked me up to go to the Yo Gabba Gabba live show. This is really more for Max than me.
Max loved the show! They shot off Confetti, dropped balloons from the sky and had a bubble blower.
After our fun little show, we went to Costco where Curtis bought me new Christmas wrapping paper and gift tags.
We ended up eating at the Olive garden the rushed to SLCC for Curt's class. Max and I walked the halls and tried to work off all of our treats we had eaten.
It was a wonderful birthday. Thanks for all of your kind birthday wishes!

Christmas traditions

I am very excited to share another Christmas with Max. Every year he understands a little bit more about this magical time. I have been trying to create a list of fun traditions to either start or pass on to Max. What are some of your favorite Christmas traditions?

Goodbye Truck

This is the truck Curtis was driving while we were dating and first married. There where a few things that attracted me to Curtis. One of them was that he drove a truck. My dad drives a truck.

Anyway...Curtis gave his truck to his brothers when they came home from their missions. Kevin drove it and has just bought a new car. Curtis got his truck back over the weekend and put it on KSL last night. 8 minutes later a man emailed him and bought it today. I must admit, I wish we had one more date in the truck. Goodbye truck, we'll miss you.

October catch up

At the beginning of the month we headed to New Mexico to see Claire. Along the way we stopped at 4 corners for a little brake.

We planned out trip the same weekend as the balloon fiesta. I'm sure we took over 2000 photos between Curtis, my mom, dad and me.

Curtis took this photo on Sunday morning. We really like the moon in the background.

Saturday morning we all got up early and headed out to the balloons. Max had been struggling with a cold the few days but this morning he just wanted to he held and seemed extra sad. He had been on my shoulder for about half an hour then we noticed the ear wax. Max had a horrible ear ache. Curtis and I took him to an urgent care center and got an antibiotic for him. He is doing much better.

It is too bad he was so miserable. I think he would have loved all the balloons if he had been feeling well. I must admit, it was nice not to chase him.

Claire showed us around the town and took us to some great places to eat.

I missed out on the Darth Vader balloon. After we found out how sick Max was, I didn't want to take him anywhere. I was told the crew for this one dressed in storm trouper outfits. I think the driver dressed as Darth Vader.

The Next event is Max's birthday. He turned 3 while we were in New Mexico so we planned a party for later the next week. It was a zoo themed party and I must thank Lindsey for helping me decorate 4 dozen cupcakes...and for cleaning my house 3 times...doing my dishes...paying Bailey to clean our bathrooms...bringing cheese sticks...and just being wonderful in general.

Another big thank you to Jim and Christie for bringing the Hot Dogs and buns. To my Parents for making caramel corn and putting together a veggie tray and everything else they did for us.

Max liked his party but wanted to open the presents as they arrived and was no longer interested when the time to open them arrived. All the other kids where excited about his gifts. We had to hide the Buzz toy from Tucker. It was a lot of fun but I'm always happiest when it is all over.

Last night we went to Gardner's village with Tyler and Lindsey's family. We found a witch hunt on their web site. The kids loved finding the witches and really liked the cookie they got when they finished.

I was looking through our photos and I guess Curtis took some shots while I was window shopping.

So far we have had a great October. I don't think we have any big plans until Halloween. I'm ready for a rest after all this fun.

September catch up

We have had a lot going on over the past month. Curtis had his birthday and I forgot the camera so sorry, no photos for that one. We had a small party at the Finch Cabin. Curtis and my dad made a dutch oven lunch and we had s'mores for desert. It was really nice and relaxing.
At the end of September, we picked up Tyler and Lindsey and headed for the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. We had a great time at the Nasscar truck race and Curtis announced he no longer wants to go to the car races...just the truck races. I'm sure the VIP pass he had has nothing to do with this decision. We remembered the camera for this one but forgot the memory card. We thought we might still be able to take some photos and store them on our card but alas, no photos for this event either. A BIG thanks to Grandma Kizzy and Aunt Manda for watching all our kids.