Progress?

Conlan has been living with Heather and me for the past three weeks so he can go to summer school. It has been a great experience for him and for us as well. The first few days were tough as he adjusted to living in a different place and to a different schedule. Drastic changes like that are always difficult. Every day, his teacher sends a little summary on how the day went. Most of the days lately have been, "silly today". There hasn't been any messages about him escaping and running off which was a common occurrence last year in Kindergarten. That's a relief! Every morning, he gets super excited when he sees the bus coming. The other day, he got on before I could even start to get his harness on.

Running

I recently completed my first two 50-mile races, a month apart from each other. Both were lots of fun and very different from each other. The main reason I ran the second one is because it is a certified qualifier race for the Western States 100 Edurance Run. Well, I qualified with a time an hour slower than the first race. I wonder how I would have placed if I had trained more during the month between the races, and if the weather were cooler and less humid. All this running gives me lots of time to think and ponder. I think about life, what I want to do, how to be a better father and husband, how to challenge myself and grow in other areas of life. Running for eight hours or more gives a LOT of time to think. It gives time to connect with the beauty of the Earth, to reach out to other fellow human beings, to witness wildlife in their native environments, to appreciate things as simple as water and bread and of course, my family. Heather was there both times to cheer me on. The second race was local to the area. It was close enough that Heather and Hilary surprised me by bringing the kids to the finish line. What a joy it was to see the kids there with Heather!

So what does running have to do with Conlan and autism? LOTS! For a long time, I've known I am different, not quite normal. But I couldn't quite put my finger on what was different about me. In high school, I enjoyed running on the cross country team. It was a place I could relate to others, it was a main avenue of socialization. I still keep in contact with friends made through cross country. My favorite runs were on trails in the mountains near my home, or through the golf course. I ran with friends, talked with them. But I also was able to think about things. I remember reviewing notes in my head from my European and US History classes or from Biology and Chemistry and even solving some difficult Calculus problems. I remember "dreaming" about some beautiful, intelligent young women from my classes. You know, classic teenager stuff. Anyway, back to topic, when Hilary and I had Conlan diagnosed and found out he was autistic, we soon realized that I displayed a lot of the same symptoms. It started to make sense. We read books and watched movies such as Temple Grandin, My Name is Khan. We love Sheldon from "The Big Bang Theory". Just as the cattle shute calmed Temple Grandin, running gives me an opportunity to shut everything else off, to focus and get calm. Maybe that's why I enjoy running on trails more - there's no cars or other distractions. It's just me, the trail, and nature. I can focus better. There's less sensory input to tune out.

And now, how does all of this relate to Conlan? He's a natural runner. He loves to run, especially if he can get away from his parents before they even know he's gone. I've noticed that he rarely stops moving. Instead of walking down the sidewalk, he skips. Instead of sitting in his seat to eat, he wanders around the room grabbing a bite to eat every couple minutes. (We're working on helping him to sit down through a meal). If we'd let him, he'd move around the car on car rides, but instead he stays busy by watching scenery and objects fly by. He really likes to be chased (at Church, school or wherever). The other night, he was in an empty bedroom and ran in circles for a good 20 minutes. All the while, his face had the biggest smile ever. And he was laughing so hard. I wonder if he'll grow to enjoy distance running as much as I have. He definitely has plenty of energy and natural skill to do well. His PE teacher even commented how fit he is cardiovascularly and how strong his legs are (he also loves jumping in place which can be a problem at hotels when we're not on the ground floor ;) ). I know he enjoys running around and hope it will be helpful for him just as it has been for me.

Conlan jumping on the metro

Basketball

Car Rides, Squirrel Chasing, and Soccer

I've mentioned a few times how Conlan really likes car rides. He still does. It's very calming for him. He likes watching out the window. He likes the lights, especially Christmas lights during Winter. He likes watching the cars, trees, buildings and signs go by. He has two car seats, one for his mom's van and one for my car. The one in my car is just a booster seat. We bought it a couple years ago when he grew out of his car seat. When we bought it, he wouldn't stay in it, taking his seat belt off or slipping out. So we bought a bigger car seat that his mom now has. That was the solution then, just to remove the option/ability for him to escape his seat belt. The first few times since reusing the booster seat, I let it get to me whenever he would either unbuckle or shimmy his way out of the seat belt and yelled at him to get back in his seat. Not only did I feel awful for "losing it", the results of said action were mixed. Sometimes he'd sit back down. Most times though, he'd just ignore me. For the sake of his safety, something had to change: either buy a new seat with a 3-point harness or change my own approach. With finances being tight and not wanting to waste a perfectly good booster seat, I decided on the second option. And besides, he has learned to unbuckle the upper strap on his car seat that goes across his chest. So a new car seat wouldn't have lasted very long anyway - it's only a matter of time until he learns how to undo the lower buckle. So to change my own approach, instead of yelling whenever he unbuckled or climbed out of the seat belt, I stopped the car. I pulled over every time, buckled him back in, and calmly explained to him why (for his safety, that I love him, etc.) he needed to stay in his seat with the seat belt on. I've even turned on the hazard lights a few times and sat blocking traffic while I buckled him up. Sure, a few people have honked, but that didn't bother me. After a few weeks of consistent and calm enforcing of the rules, he doesn't try to get out as much. Over the past week, he's kept his seat belt on the whole time. Most of the trips are short: between my place and his mom's or to my girlfriend's, both about a half hour. But it's progress! I wonder how he would do on a long trip... Also on car rides, he loves playing with the windows. Window locks are great. But if I leave the window up too high, he gets out of his seat. He likes feeling the wind as it flows over his hand. That was so fun as a kid, I can really relate! Sometimes I wish I knew what was going through Conlan's mind. When he sees a squirrel, he follows it. If the squirrels would let him, I bet that he'd do it all day! Does he want to catch one and play with it? Is it the chase that intrigues him? Is it watching the squirrel move about? How the squirrel efortlessly hops, fluidly moves his tail, or grips the trees and climbs with such ease? Who knows. I'm just glad Conlan enjoys it. Who would've thought that moving across country from a desert of lizards and night critters to a forest of squirrels and other critters would provide such a small but meaningful benefit! Last weekend, Conlan had a blast watching, interfering, chasing, etc. the neighbors as they played soccer. Even though Conlan can't form words in Spanish or English, language isn't a barrier. Odd. It was so nice and heart-warming when one guy (one of a couple young adults) set the ball down in front of Conlan and told him in broken English that he could kick the ball. They all paused as they stopped their game for him. Conlan just picked up the ball and gave it to him as if to say, "Kick it, I like watching you do it." A few times they tried. I watched both with amusement and a deep sense of true happiness and joy.

Textures and grazing

Conlan is very tactile. When we had a sandbox, his favorite thing to do in the sandbox was not to build castles, moats and tunnels but to run his hands through the sand and pour it down his back. In preschool, he spent most of his break time in the sand boxes, sometimes just pouring the sand between containers. [See previous post on water.] It doesn't end with sand. He likes lots of other textures. He loves to feel my facial hair, rubbing his arm and hands on my face across the rough stubble. If he sees a bald guy or someone with a buzzed haircut, he feels their head. He has no fear when approaching complete strangers, even gruff-looking ones much to my chagrin. Last week, I took the kids to chick-fil-a. We played in the kids area for a while. Conlan saw a big guy with not much hair, approached him, and rubbed his head. Thankfully, the gentleman laughed. That is almost always the case, Conlan gets them to chuckle or at least smile.

Winter Wonderland and Raisins

This past Friday, Conlan's school's PTA hosted a party, called Winter Wonderland. They had various crafts, a bunch of cookies, a tae kwondo demonstration and music for dancing. Other stuff too. He spent the whole two hours either on my shoulders or in my arms. Until he saw a candy cane anyway. He wasn't even very interested in the cookies. I really worry about him. Was he just not feeling well? A tummy ache? Was he sad and missed me? I thought it was hard for people to understand and get to know me through my wall of "introvertedness", but with him, it's even more difficult. He can't even talk (yet). I hope one day he can talk so that he is able to communicate his needs, wishes, wounds, dreams, etc.
Anyway, they had a door prize drawing. I can no longer say that I've never won anything. The first number called was mine! I won a Great Harvest gift basket. It had two loaves of bread, a loaf of pumpkin bread, a bread knife, and a bunch of huge, delicious, raisin cookies.
The next day I took the kids to Pump it Up, only to find out they didn't have open jump that day. Fifty miles wasted. Oh well. I had grabbed some snacks for the trip, and the cookies from the school activity were the favorite. Conlan, unlike most kids his (or any) age, ate the raisins instead of the cookie. He picked the raisins out of the cookie, not in order to have a raisin-free cookie but to eat them and discard the cookie. Crumbs and pieces of cookie were left all over his seat. Raisins and craisins are probably the only fruit we can get him to eat, so we're grateful he'll eat them. He also eats the chocolate chips out of cookies. To say the least, he sure makes life interesting, and I love him all the more for it.

Christmas

Christmas has always been different in our household, for many reasons and this year especially. We didn't even decorate a tree this year. My fondest memory of Conlan and Christmas was a couple years ago. The night before, Santa set everything out and went to bed just after midnight. Conlan, as has always been the case, woke up early in the morning with nowhere near the recommended amount of sleep for a child. I think it was about 4:30. He woke us up holding the set of puzzles we got him. You know those wood puzzles with animals or numbers or cars. He wanted us to open them immediately and wouldn't leave us alone until we did. He spent the whole day playing with his puzzles. I think that was the year we got him a little Thomas tunnel/fort thingy. He would sit in the fort with his puzzles.

Christmas this year was spent at Hilary's parents. It was a very stressful time for all of us, but we were grateful to be with family. We left Friday evening and drove through the night while the kids slept. Not far from home, the snow started flurrying. Then it turned into a blizzard. (Note to self: take the other route during the winter that is about 80 miles longer). It probably took only a half hour longer than the longer, less mountainous route would have taken. We arrived at about 7 AM and were exhausted but excited to be there. Being at her parents, I have always felt at home and will forever miss being there. Hilary had been able to get a short nap during the long haul, so I laid down and fell promptly asleep. It didn't last more than 10 minutes before something woke me up. No longer able to sleep, I helped as best I could with the kids and getting stuff out of the van. Then I think I went to the farm and helped collect eggs.
Saturday night, his cousins had a birthday party at a Pump-it-Up type place. Conlan's favorite! Right before leaving, the kids were outside running around. I went to check on them and saw Conlan jumping on the pool cover. It felt exactly like the time I found our dog in the pool, floating but limp, the last time we spent Christmas at their place five years ago. The images and memories came flooding vividly back of that accident, not at first but within the hour. I am so grateful they finally got a pool cover after that and hold some resentment they didn't have it before. The pool was all fenced in and locked, but Conlan still found a way in. He probably thought it was a big trampoline, evidenced by his jumping up and down on it. If I had found him a few minutes later, I'm afraid the tarp-like cover would have given in. He just doesn't understand danger no matter how much we warn him and explain to him.

Since Hilary and I were both tired, we rode with her parents in their van. When we arrived at Pump-it-Up, Gavin was sleeping, and I was still in shock from the pool incident. So I stayed in the van while Gavin got some much-needed sleep, and so I could gather myself. He started stirring a short while later, so we went in and found the party. Conlan was having a blast, going on the same bouncy house slide over and over again. They had the regular lighting off and black lights on making for a surreal experience. If I had known, I would have worn something cooler for the cosmic lighting. Hilary's outfit looked real good in the uv light.

Christmas this year was much like last year. Gavin had a blast opening presents, sometimes Conlan's presents as well. Conlan just wasn't very interested in opening presents. I tried using hand-over-hand to get him to unwrap a present, but he just had other things to do, other things on his mind. Those "other" things included stripping naked because it was so hot in the house, putting his hand in other people's drinks, finding mountain dew or any can of soda to drink, sitting on dad's shoulders for seemingly indefinite periods of time, eating whatever frosting and candy he could find, or just wandering around on the periphery of the congregation of people. He is so very similar to me - crowds of people and lots of noise bother me. So I like to stay on the outskirts of the action and watch from afar.

The main present we got him was roller skates with protective gear. A couple months ago, I was outside playing with him. Some kids from the neighborhood were playing and had roller blades on. Seeing them, Conlan went berserk. He had so much fun watching and chasing them around. He hasn't shown much interest in skating on his own. When we put the skates on him and "walk" him around he has fun, but nowhere near as much fun as he had that day back in October chasing the neighborhood kids. He would rather watch and chase than participate directly.