"Go back"

Here's the latest.  Snippets of thoughts.

One day recently I told LIAM we were going to the sink to wash hands.  We went in and I started to get the stool when he pushed me and said "Go back!!!!"     Excuse me?  "Go back!" He says.   No, he insists.   Something important is happening here, he wants to do it himself!  This has been happening for a while now, but here he came out with a command, a phrase that we hadn't intentionally taught him.  He sets up the stool, climbs up and sticks his hands under the faucet. (He can't reach it to turn it on). I turn the water on and as soon as I do he tells me to go back again.   I stay, squeezed between the stool and the door while he washes.   I want to let him continue indefinitely but even with this rain, California is still in a drought!

We play with a stuffed animal unicon and he calls it a puppy.   I say "no Liam, that's not a puppy, it's a unicorn!"   And he cracks up laughing and calls it a puppy again.   This goes on for a whiLe and he laughs harder each time.  

Today I volunteered at lupes class doing an art project.  As I walked around making comments on each kids project he followed me, also touching the pages and talking about them.   Oh, and when we first walked in half the kids shouted out, "Liam!"   I love that he is so loved!

His four new words this week, written words to learn, are: oatmeal, eggs, banana, kiwi.   He knows them already and it's only been four days.  

6:30 am.   He comes to the side of the bed with the little yellow sauce pan I usually make his oatmeal in and hands it to me saying "oatmeal".

His "NOOO!" Is getting louder and stronger.

Papa was his favorite for two months, wanted nothing to do with me.   Now he's mixing it up, you know, to keep us on our toes.  So we never know what will happen.   One day he wouldn't let me push him in the shopping cart, only Lupe.   One night every time pedro looked at him at the dinner table he went "arhhhhghgh!" (or something like that) and made a horribly pissed off kind of face.  He only seems to come to the table to eat when he decides to come to the table.   Otherwise there are torrents of tears.   He hasn't suffered form hard dry boogers in ages, the Crying keeps those nasal pasajes well moistened.  

He tries to tell us things and sometimes we don't understand.   We'll repeat back to him what we hear, he'll pause, shake his head and say no, then repeat it.  Poor guy.  It must be so frustrating.  

In preschool, the kids sometimes interact with him, though not quite as much as they do with the rest who can all hold conversations.  Sometimes this is hard for me.  I really appreciate the parents who have developed, and show great affection and care for him.  They are the ones who also encourage their kids to interact with him.  The kids like him, they just think he's younger.   And he is a bit, after all he is 3.5 and it is a class for three and four year olds, one even just turned five.  

I still wish I lived closer to another family doing NACD, the neurodevelopment program we do with him. I have decided to try speech therapy locally.   If we have a good match with someone who helps us implement our program, fantastic.  If it's not worth our time we'll stop.   Part of me wants to show parents it can be done, to go without "the system". 

Liam's hair has crazy red highlights.  My scots-Mexican boy.

Lupe is doing well.   Has a hard time with math concepts.  Enjoying Girl Scouts.  She's a good sister.

Next year.  2015   I turn 40 and pedro and I celebrate ten years married.  We're going to New York.