Early in the month we participated in the Autism Speaks walk at Angel Stadium. We had lots of fun. We got so many freebies, and it’s always nice for us to take a minute, and celebrate this precious boy that God gave us to watch over. We completed the whole walk (5k) and had lots of fun. Brendan’s favorite part was seeing himself on the Jumbotron when they let us walk on the ball field. We even took our elf, Toby with us!
December was also Brendan’s birthday. He turned 9 this year! We celebrated his birthday with family a few days before his actual birthday, and he sure let us know that it wasn’t his actual birthday 😉 We would like to note, that with the new age of 9-years old, there has been an increase in sass and facial expressions!
Christmas and New Years flew by! We enjoyed time with family, and our first ever trip to the Rose Parade!
We all had a lot of tough moments behaviorally this Christmas break. There were a few moments during our break where I honestly couldn’t wait to get back work. I forget that I am away 10 hours a day, 5 days a week, and my patience level for having my name called all day got to me a few days. I really had to refocus and realize that my behavior is not benefiting either one of us.
But, we were more prepared this break, with schedules and resources to help get Brendan through the many things we were doing. We created a schedule for break that included reading and math! Something that we all could count on being done everyday. Routine is very important for Brendan. Also, we had a visual calendar that we would fill out first thing in the morning with what we were doing for that day and what time. This really helped to transition Brendan between activities since he already knew what we were doing for the day.
Growth is happening for us all, and we’re excited to see how this continues!
