Birthdays…. I see lots of parents on Facebook who comment that they can’t believe how fast the time has gone by, or that they wish time would stand still forever, or say that they have baby fever now that their child is getting older. I don’t feel any of that… when I see typical babies now, there is a sort of stillness and calm about them in general that Lila never possessed. The way I see those babies act (and react) was just not our experience at all, it’s so completely foreign to me.
Lila turns 3 this Friday and honestly…. I couldn’t be happier about it. I don’t feel like time has flown by at all, and I certainly don’t miss Lila being an infant. You know who else doesn’t miss it?..…Lila! She was born autistic – thrown immediately into a world that just seemed to assault her senses from every angle. She would scream for hours upon hours – we couldn’t fix the GI pain and it gutted me. She was miserable and truthfully, it wasn’t a good time for any of us.
Her first couple of years were spent searching for answers: going to pediatric gastroenterologists, dermatologists, ear-nose-throat specialists, neurologists, having a sleep-deprivation EEG, getting ear tubes placed, and having multiple GI tests done (dysphagiagram, upper GI, multiple X-rays, and an endoscopy).
Thanks in small part to time in general, and in large part to all of us carrying out the therapy techniques we learned from Janet (our Early Intervention SoonerStart therapist) Lila has gone from screaming, not making eye contact, and not being able to communicate at all – to now using a board full of picture cards or an AAC app to communicate. She seeks out our attention – she WANTS to play with Mommy & Daddy! She creates her own games with us, and really tries to show us how to best interact with her and help her.
The older she gets, the better she can communicate – and the better it gets for ALL of us. I am just so excited to continue to watch her grow and thrive – we made it to THREE! *high five* I can’t wait to see what the future has in store for us – just keep on going, baby – GO, Lila, GO!
Dancing With Autism 
Love conquers all – the love you have for this terrific three year old is great fun to live and learn by
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Happy Birthday Lila! What you wrote was literally our life too (down to a T!) We have seen so many specialists for so many things that I’ve began wondering if we’ve seen every one there is out there now! We dealt with (and still are) dealing with GI problems (I can only imagine what potty training my LO will be like…) That was one of my first red flags that my LO wasn’t like all the other babies – he would cry for HOURS UPON HOURS and could never be soothed. Throw in his GI issues and constipation and food allergies (more so sensory food issues now) and that baby stage was a nightmare for us.
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