Andy is chewing holes in his shirts

Andy loves to chew on bibs and his shirts. He is really starting to ruin his shirts by grabbing the collar and chewing on it for as long as he can. He usually requires several shirt changes at school due to soaking his shirts from chewing and drooling. He is tearing up and ruining his bibs and we have to throw them out, because they are disintegrated. He is now ruining shirts at a fast rate. They are getting so filled with holes that we can't have him wear them again. I already have to cut buttons and zippers off of all shirts before he wears them. Otherwise, he will chew the button off and crack it right in half with his teeth. The buttons and zippers also present a choking hazard for him.

I'm having to buy him all new shirts, and looking for stuff on sale and new with the tags at resale shops for cheaper. I also started letting him chew on the baby's receiving blankets, since she has so many. He enjoys holding them and chewing on them, but eventually throws them to the side and forgets they are there. He will then go straight for the collar of his shirt. Sometimes, we are removing his shirt until bed time, when he won't stop chewing on them. We then put his shirt on after he has fallen asleep.

The most frustrating thing of all is that Andy WILL NOT pick up food and put it in his mouth. EVER. Even after years of trying to get him to do it. He just will not. He will put other objects in his mouth though, like blankets and clothing with absolutely no problem. If it is food though, he will not do it. He will pick it up and throw it on the floor, or make a mess with it, but won't pick it up and bring it to his mouth. It's very frustrating.

Andy is happy to be back to school

Andy just LOVES being back in school! Thank God for school! Andy is so happy to walk up to school and see his teachers and friends. Being in school really changes his behavior at home too. He isn't so quick to meltdown, but he still will. He's gotten out of the house, for a change of pace, and we get a break as well. Andy claps and squeals on the way to school and is smiling and happy. It is just so nice to see.

Summer Blues

So, summer was tough. We didn't have any awesome and exciting vacations. We don't feel we can do that type of stuff with Andy. We feel strapped to the house. I can't really look at Facebook. Seeing everyones photos of their weekends away, and trips to the beach makes me sad. People also don't understand that we CANNOT and do not have the freedom to just do whatever we would like to do like THEY do.

Even having people help us with Andy, we feel we still need to be here. When he gets out of control, we take him up to his room. Or I put him in the van and go for a 30 minute drive.

We tried to keep Andy busy with our mother-in-law, and by me driving him around to places to make him happy. I drive to my mom's and bring him inside, and then the infant, and try to hang there for two hours. Andy plays happily on the floor with toys, but then after two hours of that and a snack, we are ready to head back home.

Overall, Andy hasn't done well on most days. Meaning he is crying and upset and bored. He has a few good hours, and a few bad hours, each and every day. I wanted to plan for a better summer for him, but the baby was here this time around and was very consuming.

Next summer, I'd like to have therapy appointments and things scheduled for him. We are also trying to network more and find out about things for him to do. The problem is that this year we didn't want to put him in any summer camps, because we don't trust people with our completely non-verbal son. We are always concerned about possible abuse, even now there was an incident of a special needs boy being raped at Novi High School last year. He was put into a seclusion room with a 200 pound special needs boy unsupervised and was raped. This kind of stuff paralyzes us with fear of who we can and can't trust with our son. He is basically like a helpless infant.

Back to school

Hurray! Andy will be able to return to school in a few days. He will be so thrilled to be at school with all the kids. He loves it so much. Whenever we take him there, he just sits and watches all the kids, while clapping and squealing. That's when he's truly happy.