Leaps forward....mostly good but with a dose of defiance

I figured I'd share more photos taken by S. Jordan Photography as part of an update on Liam.

At one point, most of Liam's porfessional photos looked like this:

But in the last year, he has learned to look at the camera and smile and show off his beautiful eyes.

During my last update on Liam, he was in the middle of a huge regression and I am happy to say that it is over.

One of the most exciting things for me is that he is about 90% potty trained.  He is having accidents about once or twice a week instead of several times a day.  He can pee standing up and is requiring less assistance in the potty.  He is not at all night trained and still soaks a big boy pull-up (Good Nites) and even pees through to his bed most nights.  It is really common for kids on the spectrum to not be night trained until they are teen-agers and I am definitely thinking it will be years before Liam is ready for that step.  Thankfully, it is not disruptive to social interactions at this point in time.  Even more exciting is that I haven't had to buy pull-ups (except for the Good Nites) for months and am spending less and less time helping Liam potty.  I am pretty sure that he will have no problems managing at the chuch preschool in the Fall.

Equally exciting is Liam's language as he has made huge leaps.  He is answering questions on a more regular basis, asking questions, and even sustaining one or two back and forth bits on one topic.  After waiting nearly 4 years, I can have short conversations with my sensitive guy.  For the most part, I love hearing how his mind works and it gives me alot of hints to what sensory input he is needing at the moment or when he is building up to a meltdown.  The ability to communicate has made parenting Liam fun and rewarding.

With typical language comes typical behavior of 3 year olds that talk.  With Liam's language and social delays, we had no terrible twos....or at least nothing like what I saw my friend's experience.  Liam's newfound ability to communicate means a new found ability to talk back, question mom's authority, and just be downright contrary.  Liam has always been spirited and willful and has alot of issues related to wanting to be in control.  This has made for some tense times at our house.

I have found that this level of language requires a whole different set of parenting skills.  I am behind the ball as parents usually have a year or so while their children go through speaking phrases, simple sentences, answering simple questions, and finally sustaining conversation.  Liam did all of this much faster and my parenting hasn't yet caught up to his skill level.  Liam likes to contradict choices I give him and tell me "No Mommy those are NOT my choices.  Stop saying those choices!" while crying and then adding "My choices are to eat an ice pop (at 8pm) or watch Diego."

Liam is also exhibiting lots of silly and boy-ish behavior.....non-stop potty words through dinner time, yelling inappropriate things, talking about people's butts, giggling at farts.  I am really feeling out-numbered these days.

Liam still has delays and all this progress has brought with it a rash of sensory seeking behavior.  These days he is putting everything in his mouth.  People always worry about small items near Ben, but he never puts things in his mouth, but yesterday I had to pull out a Thomas the train size barrel from his mouth.  I have given him things to chew on and he keeps getting ice to chew on all day.....but it isn't enough.  He has started clicking his teeth for hours a day, chewing on his fingers, and generally behaving like a 6 month old in the middle of teething.  He has also been seeking out lots of crashing behavior but thankfully it has been nice out so we spend lots of time outdoors.

Socially, he is doing better, and seeks out kids to play with often.  His interactions are off quite a bit still, and it interferes a bit with kids wanting to play with him.  He doesn't make eye contact and generally is looking at the ground while talking and has a tendency to either shout or whisper.  He wants freedom at playgrounds so he spends quite a bit of time out of earshot from me so I don't always know how he is being treated but I always note when kids walk away or exclude him by body language.  Yesterday though, he met a 5 year old girl and they played together for about an hour.  It gave me hope that he will be just fine socially.