A New Course

When I started this blog, I dedicated it to Tyler and his journey through autism. Tyler's journey is now only a part of the story. He now has a partner in this race--Jesse. Jesse has always been a unique, amazing kid. He is BRILLIANT, and honestly the funniest kid I have ever met in my life. Though Jesse seemed to have a will of iron, he has given me the greatest joy a mom could know. When he was a toddler, we would sit in the floor for ages while I quizzed him on animals, their sounds, letters, and numbers (including spanish). The coolest thing was that Jesse seemed to thrive on learning new things. Jesse also loved to build. He would use every kind of block and even random objects. He would gather a stack of dishes, pile them on top of each other in these strange shapes and call it his rocket ship. He first worked the VCR at 12 months old. Jesse struggled with a slight language delay at two years old from ear infections, but ear tubes seemed to remedy the problem. Though Tyler had struggles even as an infant, Jesse still seemed to thrive and surpassed every developmental goal except for his slight speech delay. Our one struggle with Jesse was his will--a will of iron. There was no book or parenting method that would even come close to overtaking it. When he set his mind to something, it could easily turn into a 2+hour ordeal. As Tyler got older, Jesse also struggled with anxiety and large social gatherings. Holiday gatherings frequently turned into tantrum time. Though Jesse always had "quirks", he reached a real low point when Tyler was diagnosed with autism. The stress in the house affected Jesse in a very negative way. Therapists were constantly in and out of the house. Jesse obsessed about everything TYLER. He hid food and toys. He guarded his "stuff" from Tyler like a dog perched by his food bowl. Jesse packed loads of toys and trinkets everywhere he went and battled to keep his stuff with him all the time. He had developed some severe OCD tendencies that were making life very difficult. We were desperate to help him, but also very concerned for Tyler. We decided to put Jesse in therapy to help him sort through his anxieties and feelings. This really helped, but we saw the greatest improvement when Tyler started preschool. Jesse had time to get mom's full attention, and he thrived. TO BE CONTINUED......