Life With Four (OMG) -- March 28, 2009

Today I took my 14 month old nephew Zach for the day. He has been having some issues and I wanted to give his parents a break. He is a gorgeous little boy but is a handful. They are getting him looked at for autism right now. So today I had 4 children ages 4, 3, 1, & 2 months. Wow was it a day. Zach was actually pretty good for me but trying to carry two children who don't walk yet, diaper bags, and trying to control the two that can walk was a difficult task. I couldn't even imagine trying to do that every day. And for you parents out there that have 4 children under the age of 5, I give you props. I couldn't do it without loosing my mind and just sitting at home all the time because it would just be to difficult for me to go anywhere with all the kids by myself. Having three children who are young is difficult but add in one more and it's almost impossible. But having my nephew gave me the chance to see what symptoms he was displaying and to see how he interacted. It wasn't as bad as I originally thought but the differences are there and pretty hard to miss. I am so glad that his parents are having early intervention come in to do an assessment and most likely start services for my nephew. Most likely he will at least need speech and occupational therapy if not physical therapy too. He only says two words, has sensory issues, and is still not walking (though he is taking a few steps). I don't even remember how Alex acted at that age but I know that I really didn't have any major concerns about him (though I should have, but being my first child I didn't know what to expect). It wasn't until he was two that I really noticed that he was behind in his speech. I had a speech therapist come in and do an assessment but she said, "Oh, he will catch up." He had only said 30 words at that point and most of those words he had said only once. But I did let that statement keep me in denial about anything being wrong with my son for another year. It wasn't until someone asked me if he was autistic that I started doing research. I knew nothing about autism before starting research and when I read the symptoms of autism it described Alex to a T. I was happy that I had finally found a word that described what was going on with me son but also very scared. Scared about what having autism meant for my son, scared about what it meant for his future, and scared of the unknown. He was diagnosed when he was 3 1/2. He is now 4 and has made so many improvements in the past 8 months. I just wish I would have come out of denial sooner so he could have started therapies sooner but what is done is done and I can only focus on the future.