Today is Kiernan's 6th birthday and the 5th anniversary of his autism diagnosis. He has come such a long way with both monumental dates.
6 years ago, he was born, by c-section....he was breach and in distress. He was 3 weeks early, and still a whopping 9 pounds. He was almost 24 inches long. He is still very tall and skinny. Not much has changed there.
He was born with a smile and a dimple. I still love his little dimple.
By the time he was 1 year old, we knew that he was also autistic. We should have been used to the diagnosis, but I remember having to take a minute to put it into my mind. 4 with autism. Now that will be hard.
Deirdre was not diagnosed until a year later.
Kiernan is still very much autistic. He rocks, stims, hums...he is non-verbal, but uses sign-language and his Vanguard. He leads you to what he wants. He is independent and strong.
He is trying very hard to potty train. Not an easy fete. But, you see, I do not stress about the potty. There is so much more in life that is harder than potty training.
I do not know what Kiernan's future holds for him. Like my other children, I hope he matures into an independent adult. I can hope for the best, and prepare for the worst.
Like my other children, I adore him. He makes me smile when he walks in a room. He reminds me of why I am here on this Earth...to be his Mommy.
Happy Birthday my dear sweet little soul. I hope it is a happy one for you.
About Me
- Mom26children
- I am the proud mother of 6 children. 5 of our children have autism. We do not feel our world has ended, but just begun. We do not chelate, intervene biochemically, give shots of any kind, practice ABA, etc. We treat them as we treat any humanbeing. We treat them with kindness and respect and expect the same from them. They are exceptional children.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
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7 comments:
That is so sweet! Happy Birthday!
I knew by the time my younger was was a few months old. I just KNEW. No one would listen. And I still have docs and other experts telling me that they do not think he is autistic. A mother just KNOWS these things, folks.
I love your positive outlook. I wish everyone had it.
Happy Happy B-Day 2U Kiernan.
3 weeks early and 9 LBS! You either have big babies in your family history or you were working with gestational diabetes.
Linda got progressivly worse with the diabetes with subsequent pregnancies. Fist one, we had to watch her sugars; by the last, she had to be on insulin. Luckily though, the kids were never over 8 lbs at birth.
Bill
Hi Bill,
No gestational diabetes, Just very large babies. The largest was just over 10 pounds. The smallest was 8 pounds 11 ounces.
No insulin, but I did eat alot of hamburgers and Mexican food.
Jeanette
kiernan sounds like a little sweetheart. Happy Birthday .We also knew very early, Beauty was approximately 9 months old when she was first diagnosed. Beauty is also a little star and makes me smile.
New to your blog! My son has Down syndrome and just turned 6 also. So independent, he thinks!
nice to "meet" you!
My beautiful boy just turned six too. He was the smallest of my three at 8lbs 13oz and they got progressively bigger. His little sister was 10lbs 4oz (10-4 good buddy...heh) and his littlest sister was 11lbs 3oz. All three were c-sections and all three were insulin-dependent pregnancies. Strangely enough though, I love being pregnant even though I had to deal with the righteous indignation of an endocrinologist who nearly demanded I abort. Anyhow, I've been loving your blog for a while now but rarely pipe up. Perhaps that will change.
All the best.
Jeanette,
I hope that Kiernan enjoys using his Vanguard and the computer. How does he like the computer and Vanguard? Maybe you could post a photo of him using it since maybe not all of your blog readers know how Kiernan uses the Vanguard.
I wish that I could meet your family so that I could interact with Kiernan, he seems like a sweet child. Not that your other children aren't sweet but I've have had experience with pre-school non-verbal children at a summer day camp as a camp volunteer for 5 years, and we treat the children like human beings and they enjoy camp.
Sadly I live in another state so I don't know if meeting your family is possible.
Your blog is one of the neatest honest parenting blogs about autism that I've read.
Have a great day.
-Jenn
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