Tucker

We have had this big baby for about 3 weeks now.  And... he really is a big baby.

He is doing really well with going potty outside only.  We had a small set back when we found out he had a bladder infection, but since he has been on antibiotics he has done awesome.  I don't think we have had an accident in the house in probably 4-5 days!  Now granted, we do take him out very often to avoid those accidents.

The kids absolutely love him!  They like running with him outside and throwing toys for him to fetch.  We were having a rough time with walking him, but he is also doing much better on that as well.  Still nips and wants to go back home when we start walking, but then he settles down and walks nicely next to us for the most part.

He definitely knows where home is and doesn't really like to leave the yard.  We even let him off of the leash or tie out and he stays in the yard.  He runs around like a maniac (awesome way to burn some energy)!

The other night we gave him a bath and an hour later we let him run around the yard without being tied up.  Of course he found a puddle behind the sandbox and proceeded to run through it a few times.  Thanks Tucker!

We are crate training him and he does really well sleeping in his kennel at night.  He is also going in there to nap during the day on his own.  He will also go in there when we say kennel.  Last night he was so tired.... we were going to go lay down for bed and take him out one more time like we usually do.  He was laying on the kitchen floor and Bill said, "Tucker Outside."  He got up and walked into his kennel and would not come out to go potty.  It was too funny!  He was ready for bed and wanted nothing to do with going outside.

He is doing so well and we love having him in our family.  At times he is a total pain in the butt, but we love him!

First day we had him.

Taken a couple of days ago.

I just got done having a hard conversation with Alex.

He was supposed to be sleeping.  Billy and I were watching TV and he came up stairs.  I asked him what was wrong, and he replied that he was scared.

So I had him come up and talk about it.  He was afraid that someone was going to come into our home and take his toys.  We had to assure him that everything would be alright.

I then asked him if there was anything else he was thinking about.  He then began to tell me that he was worried that he would be sleeping and the toaster would start on fire.  I told him that we would do everything we could to make sure that everyone got out of the house safely.  He was worried we wouldn't be able to see and get through the smoke.  So I explained that if there was a fire we needed to get down on the floor to crawl to the door.  He started crying and said, "What if we forget Rhoslyn?"  I started crying.  He was so worried about leaving Rhoslyn in the house if we had a fire.  I asked him why he thought of this and he said he saw a tree on fire in Amherst by Grandma's.  It's amazing what he automatically thinks about just seeing something like that.  He went on to explain to me about how this has been locked up in his brain.  That it's behind a closed door that is locked up.  It was all very detailed.  

Sometimes it's hard to explain to people all of Alex's little quirks with having an Autism Spectrum Disorder.  Not saying that this is exactly correlated with that, but he has very vivid thoughts and he worries a lot.  He gets anxiety and worries about things like this.  He even told me how it was in his heart.  I think he felt anxious and nervous.  Sometimes he is very restless at night because of thoughts like this.

Another thing that comes up is the aftermath after visiting with people all day or going to an event such as a wedding.  He will do fine for the most part when we are there, however when we get home or get in the car sometimes he will flail his body around and cry and scream because he doesn't know how to settle himself down and he is so overstimulated at that point.  After leaving Great Grandma's Memorial Day weekend he literally spent 45 minutes on the drive home doing this until he exhausted himself enough that he fell asleep.  

Well Billy went down with him to read him a story and hopefully that will help him have happy thoughts to fall asleep too.  I hope you all don't mind my blog about this.  Sometimes I just need to get it out there and write about it.

I think Alex is off in dreamland now :)  Hopefully good dreams and thoughts for the rest of the night.

Timber Rattlers Star Wars Night

Last night we went to a T-Rats game and it was Star Wars night.  How awesome is that?!  Alex had a million questions as to what was going to happen and what it was all about.  Of course we had no answers for him.

I bought these tickets as part of Billy's Fathers Day gift and I picked some awesome seats!  We had front row seats and had a perfect view of the game.  We actually find Rattler games more fun then Brewer games. It's cheaper, you get better seats, they have more fan interaction, and there is less people.

Before the game started a guy out in the field gave Rhoslyn and Alex each a baseball.  They thought that was the coolest thing.  Of course they were selling $5 light sabers so they each got one of those.  During the game we caught a foam hockey puck and I caught a Frisbee.  We had so much fun!  

Pretty sure this will be an annual thing for the Anderson Clan.  

Baby Birdies!

One day after school I opened the door as Alex was getting off the bus so I could watch him cross the road. On the concrete by our front door I noticed a broken egg shell from a bird.  

We have had a nest on top of our door light for awhile but didn't think anything was going on in it.  Bill grabbed the ladder and the camera and discovered three baby birds in the nest.  The kids thought it was the neatest thing ever!

It was fun to watch them open up there beaks when we made a noise because they thought their mama was bringing them food.

Of course a few times we opened the door and had the crap scared right out of us when mama bird was sitting in the nest and booked it out of there.  It was really neat to see her sit on her babies when the temperature dropped outside.

We also got to watch them get bigger... and one day I saw only one bird left which was standing in the grass of our yard.  It must have learned how to fly.  We haven't seen them since.

We discovered another nest under our deck which has three Robin's eggs in it.  I haven't checked in a few days to see if they have hatched yet.

I love sharing these small experiences with my children.  Last summer we were able to witness baby bunnies and this summer we get to witness baby birds growing.

When we first discovered them in the nest.

Growing up!  This is about how they looked when they left the nest.

Another nest full of eggs.

Chores

I am so proud of Alex when he tries to complete chores on his own.  I usually ask him to help with small things around the house, but every so often he likes to earn a little chore money so I make him a list of chores to complete.

I usually only have to help him a little bit and he does most of the chores on his own.

Today he cleaned the bathroom counters/sinks, wiped down the toilets and toilet bowls, helped put dishes away from the dishwasher, put all of his laundry away, and helped wipe down the kitchen counters and table.  It's so cute because after he cleaned the bathroom counters he was going around wiping down the light switches.  I didn't even ask him to. =)

He got $1 to go towards his spending money.  I don't give him a lot for doing chores because he needs to know that he has to help out and not always get money for helping.  Plus he is still young and doesn't know the value of money.  It's been a bit difficult teaching him that it is good to save some of his money to put into his savings account.  We are getting there though...

Autism Walk 2013

Saturday our family participated in our first walk and it was so much fun!

We did the "Walk for Autism" and our team was large enough to have our team name printed on the back of our shirts.  We were "Team Alex."

It was the perfect day outside.  Not too hot and not too cold.  The kids enjoyed the bounce houses before the walk started.  After the walk we went and enjoyed some pizza at Stevie B's.

We are so grateful for those who walked with us and for those who donated.  We had a lot more people participate with us then we would have ever anticipated and it meant so much to us.  We are looking forward to doing it every year!

(Just a few photos from the day)

Pizza Night!

Billy was lucky enough to head to the Brewer game tonight with the his co-workers so the kids and I had a homemade pizza night.  They enjoyed helping mom put the toppings on (and eating some too)!

After dinner Alex quickly changed out of his angry bird shirt into his Brewer shirt to cheer the Brew Crew on!