Here comes the ....rain.

Woke up this morning to a dark, rain-soaked world and a sore throat. The cold that I have been trying to fight for the last few days seems to have taken hold in the night. Another night with not much sleep. My body seems to have forgotten how to sleep and it is very annoying. On the nights when I can sleep, River decides that 2am is a great time to wake-up and have some fun. On the nights when he sleeps, my body decides to lay awake. I'm not sure what is up. I am wondering if we simply lose our ability to sleep as we get older.

We have been worrying about River lately and those type of worries are true 3am worries. The type that keep you up for hours, but don't seem so bad in the light of day (I use the term "light" loosely...I am hard-pressed to describe the grey, dismal cloak outside the window as "light"). I think I really have to get a handle on his intervention program. We had a team meeting yesterday and today I met with another consultant who pointed out things that could be different in his program. The thing that is lacking is the skills needed to begin any kind of conversation with River (or him with us). This seems to be so slow in coming. She gave me some ideas and showed me some clips of other kids at different stages in their intervention programs. I was a little dismayed at the progress some of these kids had made compared to River. I think it is a lot to do with his program, it is good, but too slow. I need to take a more active role and take more control of his targets.

The consultant today gave me loads of ideas and offered to help me put together some "scripts" and storyboards for various routines. This way we can go through some routine activities with River until he has memorized the elements that make up those routines and be able to tell us what comes next etc. The hope is that he can then generalize this into other activities so that we can talk about various things/activities and what to expect...what we like, don't like etc. What is wonderful is that she is just doing this to help. No payment. She's even going to take a Saturday morning to show me how to make the "scripts/story boards on the computer. It's great to find someone like that. We found her by accident when we were frantically calling around (ANYONE) when we first received River's diagnosis and were completely overwhelmed. She guided us through the whole complicated system of autism funding/supported childcare/finding ABA consultants/finding behavioural interventionists/occupational therapists/speech therapy etc. She works with Vancouver's Infant Development Program. This is a great resource for parents with babies and young children with special needs. I have heard that cut-backs are coming. I just hope this program stays intact. It is an invaluable resource to parents like us. I think I may have to write letters to government!

River is still wandering. Perhaps more so these days. He takes off whenever I take, or pick up, Bronwyn from school. Luckily, I have met a few parents who know what River is like and how fast he can move. There are a few pairs of eyes looking out for him, which is fantastic. I'm so glad we moved schools. There are aspects of the old school we miss, but we have maintained some friendships and that is good. We had Callum and Conan (and Helen) over today which was great. Callum and Bronwyn were in kindergarten together. Helen and I made plans (again) to go for a beer which will be fun. We just need to make sure it's a non-hockey day because otherwise the bars are ridiculous. I will make a plan.

Bronwyn seems to have hitched a ride on the play date train this week. It's great...but busy! Halloween is fast approaching and I don't feel like anything is ready. It is also going to be Mark's birthday. Unfortunately, his birthday always ends up taking a back seat to Halloween. I am sure we'll come up with something. It's pumpkin carving day tomorrow....yay!