April is Autism Awareness Month

As many of you know, my precious nephew Ethan has autism, and it is my privilege to talk about him and to let you all know that April is Autism Awareness Month.

My sister might correct me on this, but I do believe Ethan was about 18 months old when the diagnosis of autism was first floated as a possibility. Immediately Sarah signed up for early intervention therapies, and Ethan has been in therapy (now at Riley Hospital for Children) ever since. My whole family can attest to the fact that early intervention is KEY. Ethan is doing as well as he's doing because of the hard work he's done in therapy. So "autism awareness" isn't just a nice thing to talk about it, it's vitally important! According to the Autism Speaks website, autism is now affecting 1 in 70 boys. Which is just CRAZY to me. What is causing this epidemic??? We need answers now. We need to find the cause and we need to find the cure.

Just last weekend while we were visiting in Indiana, I had the chance to play with Ethan for awhile at my parents' house. We got on the kitchen floor and put together an A-B-C floor puzzle. When he was done assembling it (lightning-fast in my opinion!), Ethan went down the row and said aloud the vocabulary words on each piece. He messed up "V is for violin" (he said "guitar," but hey, easy mistake!) and he couldn't pronounce (X is for) "xylophone," but really, what a dumb word. :) Other than that, his reading comprehension was perfect, and I couldn't stop hugging him when he was done. I'm so proud of him. I have extremely high hopes that he will conquer autism and its associated challenges and live a beautiful, healthy, and fulfilling life.

My Buddy, Auntie B loves you and can't imagine my life without your bright light in it. Keep growing and learning and getting stronger and stronger. I love you so much!

Ethan doing the Easter Egg Hunt. Yes, my sister makes her kids wear bunny ears while they hunt for eggs. I think it's hysterical.

And I can't resist sharing pictures of my other nephew and nieces, because without a doubt, they are just about the funniest kids I've ever known. Like my sister Katie and I have always said, watching them is "Better than TV!"

Only Ada knows for sure what's going on here. But she's taken to adopting a rock star pose when cameras are out. I could have died laughing when she did this.

Abby posing with her loot. Again, only one of my sister's kids would think to pose with her face in the Easter egg basket.

And last but not least, the irrepressible Elijah. Because he's the baby he has to show us how tough he is. Mission accomplished, little boy! :)

The windows are wide open...

...and I'm simply drunk on fresh spring air. Right now we have a CD playing the gentle pan flute sounds of "Sedona Spa" (one of those random Target purchases, next to the greeting cards!) and even though the sun finally set an hour or so ago, it's still warm enough in our loft to have the 7-foot French-door "windows" open wide and the array of ceiling fans a-whirling. Ahhh. Spring is definitely on her way in, if not here to stay.

Wanted to post some pictures from yesterday. We visited a new pediatrician, Dr. Estes, who I really, really like. We told her about our problems with the last office, namely the attending physician in charge of Dr. Terry (who we just loved!). The attending physician and I did not see eye-to-eye (that's putting it mildly) on the issue of vaccinations. I'm so very hesitant to over-vaccinate, especially considering that my nephew has autism. After Ethan's diagnosis, my sister became extremely careful with vaccinations and I think it's absolutely reasonable that I follow suit. There is still a debate raging (mainly parents versus physicians) as to whether autism and vaccinations are linked, but until they can prove what actually does cause autism (and nobody knows for sure), then by golly, I'm going to be careful about one of the prime suspects!

Anyway, Dr. Estes listened to all my concerns and expressed that she totally understands my position as a parent (she has 3 children, one of them with Down's Syndrome) and wants to help us make decisions we're all comfortable with. She did recommend that I read Dr. Sears' The Vaccination Book, which she says is basically informative (not opinionated) so that I know which vaccinations I really am okay with and which ones I simply want to forego. I was almost blown away by that -- actual partnering with a doctor. This is what it's supposed to be like! So that is a huge relief for me and Marty. We just were so on edge about our recent experiences with pediatricians and Dr. Estes was such a breath of fresh air.

And in closing, here are pictures of my growing boy!

This was taken on Monday at my OB/GYN's office while we waited on Dr. Pickler. Look at how LONG he is!

This was taken yesterday while we waited on Dr. Estes. Notice the torn paper on the exam table. We had to stick his paci in his mouth to avoid paper-eating.

And here I am with Puppy. Notice that I let him play with a (closed!) Tylenol bottle. My bestie scolds me for this practice. Also notice that apparently I'm 20 weeks pregnant in my FACE, too. Sigh.