Wake Me Up When September Ends

Change is in the air!  One thing I truly love about living in Utah is the changing of the seasons.  Each season has a distinct personality, and I love seeing nature's transformations.  It was a LONG, HOT summer, and it was a good one, but I'm very glad autumn is finally on it's way.  The colors of the trees are beautiful at the moment.  Spring is my favorite season, but Fall is a very close second.  I love it.

I do need to write about a few things, now that September is nearly over.  It has been a busy month, though now that "birthday season" is winding down, I feel less guilty about not documenting them.  I hope I didn't miss anyone, though I probably did.  Here are links to the albums for Noah's 5th birthday party ("Puss in Boots" theme), and for Tessa's 4th birthday party ("Barbie" theme).  Both were lots of fun, and Lexy and Rachael did phenomenal jobs putting them together, especially considering their extraordinary circumstances.  Mach had carpal tunnel release on her left (dominant) hand just a few days ago, and Lex just has a lot going on.  Bravo, ladies. 

I love this little tradition of the Niusulu family: we always take a picture of Rachael and Seuao giving the birthday girl kisses on the cheek.  It's so cute.  (Click on the picture for a link to the online album).

I helped out a little bit by making silhouettes (using GIMP) for each of the birthday guests.  It has been a learning process, but I really like the way Benji's turned out.

Kinda fun.  Anyway . . .

Back to Noah's party.  For months and months it was going to be an "Angry Birds" party, but a couple of weeks before, he decided he wanted to go with Puss in Boots.  More power to you, kiddo.  It was fun.  He may hate me someday for getting this picture, but I have so many fantastic ones of that photogenic child that one candle-blowing shot is okay.

Did I write about Dave's big 30th luau?  I don't think so.  He turned 30 on August 27th, and they had a big party on Labor Day weekend.  And boy--it decided to rain.  A LOT.  It was pretty epic.  In the album, there are a lot of pictures of people, but they are all interspersed with shots of the sky and the gathering clouds.  Kinda funny.  But there were some awesome rainbows to be seen afterward.  I love this picture of Dave, Lexy and Zeke.

Come to think of it, I don't think I wrote about Sabrina's birthday either.  We all went to Bear Lake that day, which was fun.  I don't know what it is; maybe it was getting over the "terrible twos," but Sabrina has just become the cutest stinking little fern.  Every time I see her she is just happy and hilarious and sweet.  This picture of Sabrina checking out the nailpolish she received for her birthday . . . it just cracks me up.  The look on her face is priceless.

And here's from the North Shore @ Bear Lake back in August.  The Sortor Girls are just amazing in the water--they went swimming almost every day this summer, and it shows!

Sabrina & Ella splashing in Bear Lake

Mia the Mermaid!

And here's one of all the kiddos.  I hope this will be a yearly tradition!  Yes, it shows my weakness as a photographer, because I don't know how to keep the background from becoming so overexposed.  Oh well--this one was the best of the pictures I took (Benji is actually looking up!).

L-R: Zeke (1), Lily (5), Noah (4), Benji (4), Tessa (3), Phoebe (3), Sabrina (3), Mia (4), Ella (8)

Oh, gads.  I still haven't blogged about the Bryant Family Reunion in Yosemite.  Or finished the Cruise, for that matter.  *sigh*  I don't know if I'll ever catch up.  Well, writing about it may or may not happen.  At least I have gotten this far (and at least I'm feeling well enough to do something)!

Talk To Me

All right . . . back to more important things.  It's time for a Benji update.  This is the most recent picture I have of him is from our outing to the newish splash pad in North Salt Lake, in the Foxboro development.  It was a lovely day, and a really nice splash pad.  I met up with Konae there, and Rachael joined us.

Lily, Tessa & Benji @ the splash pad. 

Benji was in his little pirate shirt, which I made for all of the nieces & nephews @ his birthday party.  I'm glad the kiddos still wear them, even if they are ugly as sin!

Konae & her kids, and me trying to get Benji to look up.

Anyway, about Benjamin.  We have had a few big (well, big for us!) things happen in the past week.  First: I realized that he gets songs stuck in his head, too.  He's usually speaking his own language, so we only catch words here and there.  But the other day, he was quoting the Move and Groove song from "Signing Time" (Season 2), which gives you signs and actions.  He said, "Shake, shake, shake, freeze."  The next word is "kick," and eventually he said that, too.  It makes me happy to know that he sings to himself (incidentally, I have been singing Keane to myself for the past several weeks . . .), and that the connection between brain and mouth is becoming clearer.

Second: a real sentence.  While I'm fairly sure I have heard him say sentences before, I'm doubt he knew what he was saying (he said, "I guess I did it," but there was no reason or repetition).  This time, it was a response to a question.  The context: we were at Target yesterday, and he was sitting in the basket while we cruised the dollar section.  Since it is back-to-school time, they have some fun decor and stuff there, among which are street signs (''My Way or The Highway," etc.).  I pulled out a Stop sign (it says "Stop Studying" on one side; something equally snarky on the other), but it is red and shaped like an octagon.  I held it up to Benji and asked him what the sign said.

He replied: "The sign says . . ." then he paused for a minute, and said, "Stop."  I couldn't believe it!  He wouldn't say it again, but I know what I heard.  I think I may need to go back and buy that Stop sign, just to remind me!

Today, church was a bit of a challenge.  He would not sit still for ANYTHING, so it was basically a 3-hour wrestling match.  He was also talking to himself all through Primary, while the teacher was trying to give her lesson.  I also found out that a little girl in his class actually wanted to come play with Benji, but her mom didn't know how that might work with him.  I realized that Benji has very few social skills, and that I haven't sought out many opportunities for him to work on them.  I just know how he his with his cousins, who love him, but don't love playing with him.  I understand, and I'm not offended by it; they want some interaction, and Benji doesn't really know how to play with other kids.  He'll play along side them (sometimes), but he's so caught up in his own world, always exploring and finding things to spin and things to put in his mouth, that I'm not sure how much he even notices other kids. I'm sure this will be something we will be working on for the next few years (and maybe for the rest of his life), but the fact that Natalie actually wanted to play with him gave me a little wake-up call.  I don't think I'll be setting up playdates anytime soon, but I guess that is something that normal kids do, and maybe I should look into that.  I'm really going to try to get involved in the PTA and parent groups at the Pingree School this coming year, because almost all of the parents are going through this same thing.  Social awkwardness is a hallmark of an autistic child, so not having to explain what Benji does, what he understands, etc. will be so nice.

Even though church was pretty rough, we had something pretty monumental tonight at bath time.  He has pooped in the potty before, but only a few times, and most of those were lucky catches.  We always make him go potty (standing up) before he gets in the bath, but tonight he kept scratching his bum, so I sat him down.  I sat him down yesterday for about 20 minutes, and nothing.  Tonight, after about 10 minutes, he went!  He sat there for about 10 minutes longer, getting it all out.  I was so proud of him!  I told him a hundred times how proud I was, and I tried to be super-excited as a motivator for him.  I don't think he noticed how happy I was, but I told him "good job" over and over again.  I'm wondering if he wouldn't do better on a potty schedule.  As of now, he'll go when we take him, but he has never said the words "potty" or "poo poo" or "pee pee" without being prompted.  The other day, he was giving me hugs, and with no indication whatsoever, he pooped in his diaper.  I don't know if we can get on a pooping schedule, but I think we'll at least try a more strict potty schedule, and see if he'll stay dry.

Pretty exciting, at least in my world!  The next challenge is our upcoming vacation.  I don't know how he'll do on the road; I think we'll have to make a lot of pit-stops, but I'm pretty sure that's par-for-the-course when you have young kids.  I long for the day when I can say "Potty up, dudes!"