Hand-made book

Austin made a book at Academie Duello, out of wood, paper and string. He bound the pages together with the string, and has decided to turn it into an art book of monsters.

Here are a few pictures of his creations:

In the Island Squid drawing, Austin has provided an idea of scale in a "Measuring Box" to the lower left of the drawing. He compares the squid to an island. Must be a very giant squid!

He has drawn an electric fish that will zap anything that comes within 3 metres of it, with 250,000 volts of electricity. I noticed that Austin wrote out "two hundred fifty thousand," and 200 50,000. He's very good at leaving out "and" when saying numbers (ie. two hundred fifty, instead of the common mistake: two hundred "and" fifty). The "and" is meant to be saved for notating a decimal place in a numeral. I asked Austin how to write the number, 50,000, and he said, "fifty, with three zeros after it." Then, I asked him how to write 250,000, and he said he doesn't know. I asked him how to write 200,000, and he said, "two hundred, followed by three zeros." So, we came back to 250,000, and I think he has a better understanding of how to write it now. He said, "two hundred fifty, followed by three zeros."

"Marinas" is a monster that I drew. Austin asked me to contribute a drawing to his monster book. So, I drew a sea monster with a lot of teeth. Austin recommended adding a semi-circle to the top of the creature's head, for its eye. Good suggestion. Marinas is an eel-like monster, covered in scales, with a small fin on its back and a large tail fin.

In the dragon picture (the monster is named, "Dracna"), Austin demonstrated to me, how to draw wings. It was really neat to see how the wings took shape as he drew the lines, with curved lines joining them. It lends a sense of depth and dimension to his drawing.

Tliskion is an alien creature with two eyes at the top of its head.

Swamposaurus looks like a cross between a Spinosaurus and Therizinosaurus (one of Austin's favourite dinosaurs).

Austin's birthday cake

Austin designed his birthday cake as an almost life-sized drawing of Captain Rex. I used Austin's drawing to decorate his cake with blue and black icing.

Here are the photos.

CPR Training

Skye completed a Wilderness First Aid course last week.

We had a discussion with Austin, after watching a video of a swimmer being dramatically rescued in Australia. This video shows an excellent example of agonal breathing, a muscular reflex that looks like breathing, but isn't.

Austin's observation of CPR, is that perhaps the quick, short breaths maximize the oxygen content of the out-breaths. His theory was that, if the air doesn't spend enough time in the lungs, it is less likely to be converted to carbon dioxide, so the air going into the patient will be oxygen-rich.

Skye also had a recent discussion with Austin, about First Aid. Skye noticed that Austin occasionally shows an interest in anatomy. More from Skye, later ...

Yes Man

Austin and I watched Yes Man (with Jim Carrey as "Carl") together, on Friday night. This is a light comedy (rated PG13) about a guy who has been leading quite a scripted life. He's very compliant, not overly ambitious, and certainly not adventurous. He works in financial services for a large U.S. bank, and has the authority to broker loans to entrepreneurs who try to "sell" their ideas to him, in order to qualify for financing. He's been passed over for promotions a few times, has been in the same job for five years, and just missed his best friend's stag! Just before Carl's life began to change, his best friend yelled at him, that he will die a lonely man.
By a series of spontaneous events, Carl ended up at a seminar which promoted saying "Yes" to all opportunities that are presented to him. So, Carl began accepting opportunities that he never would have accepted in the past. He had some unfortunate experiences, but each one led to something good.
At the end of the movie, Austin remarked, "I think there's a message to this movie." And Austin decided to start saying, "Yes," and to try new things. I would ask Austin to clear his place at the table, he would say, "Yes," and do this willingly and right away. Gemma would ask Austin if he would like to join her to pick up Aidan from school, and Austin said, "Yes," and had a great time playing with his brothers.
Last weekend, Skye was taking a Wilderness First Aid course. We picked him up from Lighthouse Park in West Vancouver, around 5:30 on Saturday and Sunday. Skye was running late on Sunday, so the boys and I went for a hike on the trail. We heard an owl in the woods, and Austin was the first to spot it. Then, Austin and Aidan happily skipped up the trail, hoot-hooting away.
Austin said, "I've had an amazing two days, because I decided that these days would be great!"

Now, I will be trying to say, "Yes," more often. Poor Austin has tried it on me a few times ... "Mom, will you play Lego with me today?" Oops ... too busy with tax returns and year-ends for my clients. Actually, "Why not???" Let's go have some fun. :)

OT Session with New Therapist

The April 12 session at Sense Ability didn't go very well. Austin had a disappointing day.

I dropped Austin off at OT, then drove directly to Toys R Us in Richmond, intending to purchase the Lego Star Wars Republic Gun Ship, as we had been told that it was in stock, there. They were actually sold out, so I returned to OT, empty-handed, to a very sad boy.

The session hadn't gone as Austin would have liked. Jane is new, and Sumanta had reviewed Austin's progress with her, before he left. Sumanta explained that he had focussed on gross motor development with Austin, and had spent hardly any time on writing. So, the message that Jane understood, was to pay attention to writing and get Austin onto a program of writing practice.

Jane met me when I arrived to pick up Austin, and gave me a sample of writing exercises for Austin to practice at home. She wanted him to work on the magic "C" (c, d, g, a ...) letters and the diving letters (n, m, p ...).

Austin wasn't interested in returning to OT the following week. It was a struggle to get him out the door, and we ended up arriving 10 minutes late to the April 19th session.

I met with Jane before the session. She was very receptive and positive. I explained that I don't think Austin is ready, yet, for formal letter formation practice. He was very upset after the April 12 session, and refused to practice the letters at home, all week. Jane understood why Austin didn't complain to her, directly. She knows he is sensitive and doesn't want to hurt her feelings.

Jane resolved to put Austin on a progressive writing program which would be more challenging for him. I responded with a suggestion that she focus on building relationship with Austin before trying to get him onto a writing program. I also shared with Jane, my observations that the gross motor work was generating positive results in all areas of Austin's life.

His self-regulation has improved immensely. He is making better decisions in social settings. He is choosing to write, to convey messages to others, or to remember things he has learned. These developments are taking place, without formal writing practice. I'm amazed and pleased. The occupational therapy has been wonderful for Austin.

Jane is making a solid effort to build a good relationship with Austin, and I can see him warming up to her, every week.

Snowboarding with Uncle Brett

Today, Uncle Brett took Austin snowboarding on Cypress. They arrived at the slopes around 11:00am, and by noon, it was a bright, clear day. The good weather stayed with them.

I asked Austin how the day went, and he said it was the "awesomest!" Brett said that Austin was doing some good turns, and spent a lot of time on the edge of his board. Austin practiced a few jumps, and even "caught some air" on one. It sounds like he had a few spectacular wipe-outs too.

I picked them up around 5:15pm, so they got in a good day of exercise. Austin had really worked up a sweat. It didn't take any encouragement from me, for him to have a bath as soon as he got home. He was cold, and soaked right through.

Adventures with Nana & Papa

In recognition of Austin's 11th birthday, he spent two nights (April 8-9) with Nana & Papa on their acreage in Aldergrove. Boy, was he a happy lad!!

Here are some notes from my mom, about the highlights:

Day 1: Austin and Papa are off to do a garbage run. A1 wasn't so sure but I assured him the place was clean. Then we are all going to the library to see A. Donna - he'll be surprised! We had such a good day - so hope the weather will hold so he can mow. Last night I asked him where he wanted to sleep. He said in his own bed but the light must stay on. I said the light in the other bedroom could stay on but not one directly over his face. Then we had a discussion about the night noises he could expect to hear and what they were. I hadn't been in bed more then 10 secs. when the door opened and "Nana, what was that noise?" I explained it was the freeway traffic - then said would you like to sleep in here? "YES" So Papa and he exchanged places - but I said all lights had to be off and that was fine. Then we had a discussion about why Sally (Mom & Dad's "adopted" ginger tabby) was feral and why she lost her mother when she was so young - which led to a discussion on coyotes - then to what other wild animals we had, with the conclusion that you guys probably had more dangerous wild animals than we did even tho' you lived in the city. His last comments were, "I wish we could live in a place where there was nothing bad that could hurt you." I said that would be Utopia. - which of course led to another discussion on what Utopia was. By this time I was answering with 1 word replies so we could get to sleep. He slept until 8 AM so had a good night. The Meccano (Austin's birthday gift from Nana & Papa) worked well but the plastic parts are not as strong as they should be - anyway he's satisfied and doesn't wish to take it apart so he could build another model - he said it was hard!! I said GOOD.

Day 2: We watched Pink Panther 2 - slap-stick comedy (mindless).

A recommendation from my mom, to invite Austin to read fantasy: Perhaps if Austin knew what he was listening for, fantasy would be more interesting - it sure brought it to life for me. Basically there is a quest, lots of challenges, an enemy. Good must always triumph over evil. There is usually a map outlining the quest - and of course, magic. Very similar to Sci-Fi only their magic must have some scientific principles that make sense!!

Austin made a point of telling Nana that he must get in one hour of exercise every day, and dad says he has to work up a sweat. Austin exercised by mowing the lawn (only part of it, of course - they live on 5 acres!), playing ping pong (apparently, he is getting quite good at it), and foosball (sp?).

All in all, it was a productive couple days, and I'm sure Nana & Papa were plum tuckered out at the end!