Something curious...

February 9, 2002

Hi everyone!

Sorry I've been out of the loop for a few weeks. I'm writing because

I've noticed something curious in Hunter over the past week or two.

He hasn't been diagnosed with apraxia... he hasn't been diagnosed with

anything. Doctors assess him over and over. Next week he has

appointments everyday except Friday. Of course no one can tell me

anything concrete and ten different people ask me the same questions over

and over. He'll be 3 next month. Two doctors (a psychologist and one of

his play therapy people) told me he has some autistic characteristics but

that he's far too social to be autistic.

ANYWAY... the past couple weeks he seems to have gone through some sort

of 'spurt'. He's always been very bright but all of a sudden he's doing

a lot of things he hasn't really done before. Let me try to list some of

them..

**putting his own pants on... he never really tried before and now he can

do it with no problem and he picks his own pants

**throwing trash away... he throws away his own wet pull-ups, banana

peels, tissues, etc.

**putting dirty dishes in the sink.. even if they aren't his. If I leave

a dirty plate or glass in the kitchen he picks it up and puts it in the

sink without me asking.

**eats properly with a spoon ll of sudden. He used to turn the spoon

upside down right before it got to his mouth. All of a sudden he uses it

correctly and uses a fork much better too.

**tries to hel me cook by getting me utensils and loads the dishwasher

for me when I hand him dishes

**puts on his own socks and today put his shoes on for the first time

**he used to throw a FIT when we tried to clip toenails or fingernails to

the point where we would have to hold him down while he shrieked and now

all of a sudden he sits quietly and actually WANTS us to clip his nails

when they got longer.

**five minutes ago he sat quietly for his head to be buzzed with the

electric clippers. It used to be we both had to pin him to the floor to

do that.

**it's been MUCH easier to put him to sleep lately and he comes into the

room with me with no complaining.

**he actually babbles much more during the day and especially the 3 hours

before bed. He attempts to make more sounds.

**he's suddenly better at brushing his teeth.

**he lets me clean his ears without holding him down to the floor.

**he understands our instructions much better and follows them.

**my brother was here the other day and said " OH SH!T " ... and what does

Hunter say right after? ... you guessed it...

I'm sure I'll think of more things later but those are a few off the top

of my head. I mean... this has been just the past week or two that all

of this has exploded. I'm a bit taken aback and wondering where all of

this came from!! Anybody have any ideas on this?

Thanks for taking the time to read this =)

~~ Amber ~~

February 10, 2002

AlphavilleWych@... wrote: