happy

JJ turned 10 on January 26th. I can’t believe my little boy is 10 already. He has gone through a lot in is young life as we struggled with his developmental delays and the eventual diagnosis of Autism. But I’m so proud of him for all he has accomplished and the person he is becoming.

I wanted to share 10 things about who JJ is at this time in his life:

1. He is so excited about everything. He always seems to have a inner delight about even the little things in life.

2. He has an amazing memory and can remember even the littlest things about life or things people say, even if you don’t think he is listening or noticing what is going on around him, HE IS.

3. He loves video games. Getting a DS for his birthday was a huge event in his life. The first thing he talks or asks about every day is that DS and the games. “Can I play the DS as soon as I get home?” He also loves to play on the Wii and computer games. He has a bit of trouble with the coordination of it sometimes, but he keeps trying and enjoys it even if he loses. He also LOVES to just watch other people play, especially his Dad.

4. He loves going to Cub Scouts. Its hard for him sometimes with the requirements and the things he has to do – but he still loves to go. I’m so grateful for the leaders and the other boys who are patient with him and make him feel like he belongs.

5. Everyday when JJ gets home from school, I read little notes from his teachers and they always say how happy he is and how helpful he is with everyone. It’s so good to hear. Sometimes we struggle at home with him getting overwhelmed and overstimulated and it causes fights and grumpiness with his sister and us (his parents), but its so nice to know that he is so happy with everyone else. He’s happy at home too (most of the time), but its good to know he gets along so well with the teachers and the other students in his Life Skills Class.

6. He loves FOOD. It seems like we can never fill that skinny little tummy of his. He will eat twice as much as I do and still be hungry. He rarely has things he doesn’t like and its nice to just put something in front of him and have him eat it. Not sure what we are going to do when he is a teenager as he is already eating us out of house and home!

7. JJ ADORES the show Phineas and Ferb. His favorite character is Agent P/Perry. He just loves everything about it. He’s always pretending to be Agent P and playing with his Phineas and Ferb toys. He loves talking about the show and reading about the show and playing the show. It’s pretty much all we hear about from him.

8. JJ is very helpful. He hardly ever complains when I ask him to do chores and little things to help me around the house.

9. JJ has a movie bug just like his parents. He loves watching movies and tv shows. Even though you would think it would be an overstimulator (and it can be sometimes) – most of the time, it is something that actually calms him when he needs a little down time.

10. JJ loves to travel. While I can’t wait to take him on a plane someday, cause I know he’ll love it, but for now he loves to travel in the car and he loves taking the school bus everyday. And he loves riding on trains and the TRAX. He is very content to gaze out the window and see where we are going. I’m never sure what is running through his head, but I’m sure its inspiring and its fun to watch his delighted eyes as he gazes out that window!

I love you JJ and I’m so happy to be your mom.

JJ was so excited about his birthday and he had a great day! I just thought I would share some of the fun he had that day.

He was so excited that his birthday fell on a Thursday – which is pizza day at his school. Pizza is his favorite. Even better, it was parent teacher conferences this week and they invited parents to come to lunch with their kids. So I got to go have a picnic with JJ in his school’s gym on his birthday! I also brought donuts for him to share with his class and he was so excited about that.

While JJ was at school, I spent the morning/afternoon (after going to lunch with him), creating a Agent P cake for him. I first made 4 mini cookie cakes. (I just made my red velvet cookies and put some cream cheese frosting in between each layer). I think I did about 5 cookies on each little cake. Then I frosted the cakes with chocolate cream cheese frosting. Then, I used fondant for the first time to create the Agent P, that I put in the middle. It didn’t turn out exactly as I had planned, but it was pretty good. I used green sprinkles on top of the cakes to look like Agent P was peeking out of the grass/ground to head out on a spy adventure. I admit that cake decorating is not my forte, but JJ loved it and that’s all that mattered.

After school, JJ got to watch some movies and play. For dinner, of course, we had Pizza and JJ was so happy to have it twice in one day!

Then the moment he was waiting for…his presents. I wasn’t quite able to capture how truly happy he was when he opened his Nintendo DS. It was really like a dream come true for him. The rest of his presents were games and additional stuff to go with the DS. (Oh and of course he wore his Perry Shirt on his birthday).

And then of course we had to blow out candles and eat cake and ice cream before going to bed! And JJ got overly excited about the blowing out candles too as you can see in the photos! I’m so glad JJ had such a fabulous 10th birthday!