1 out of 150 and one is mine...

I apologize for the amount of photos I have posted...I went through his pictures and was just unable to narrow them down and even this is with cutting out half of what I had...I wanted to show my Zachary over the years to you as we see him and have grown to adore him. He is an amazing boy who has taught me more about life, love and purpose than I ever could have learned anywhere else. He is smart, kind, funny and loving. He has always been a happy boy as the photos will show...that was the hard thing with him...where was no trigger that we saw...no moment it changed...he has always been a happy child with smiles and laughter. In that sense, we are beyond lucky.
1 in 150 children are diagnosed with Autism...1 in 94 boys. It affects boys 4 times more boys than girls. It is the fastest growing developmental disability. More children will be diagnosed with Autism than Cancer, Diabetes, Down Syndrome and AIDS combined this year. It receives less than 5% of the research funding than the other diseases...there is no known cause and no known cure. It can cripple a child's ability to communicate with the world around them.
April 2nd is world Autism Awareness Day. You can search the web and look at lots of sites with information if you want to learn more...I encourage you to do that...not for me or for Zach, but for yourself....this is something we are going to see more and more of until there is an answer to this mysterious disability.
www.worldautismawarenessday.org
www.autismspeaks.org
I have been quite lucky in all honesty. Zach is high functioning...he is speaking very well and able to communicate with us. He is happy and full of life most of the time. He does have days where he is less alert than others...we have some bad tantrums that sometimes come out of no where...obsessions over things. But he is insanely smart...he can read, tell time, do some math, spell...he knows all of his states and can find most on a map. Knows some about money...all of his months, shapes, seasons, colors, etc. He loves maps and has an atlas he reads at night along with his children's encyclopedia. He is loving and kind. He gives the best hugs. He is a wonderful little boy...he didn't ask for this and most days I am sure he struggles with things he can't even tell me about...but he is making huge strides and doing so well. We are so blessed to be his parents and get to share his journey of life with him. He has enriched our lives beyond words. NO, it isn't a cakewalk being the mom of a child with Autism. I have many days I cry and feel like I have failed him. I live with so much guilt that I can't even describe to you unless you are in my shoes. But I also know how lucky I am...I want the world to know that this face, this child is the face of Autism. It isn't a cut and dry example. It affects so many children and so differently. He looks so normal and in many ways he is your average 4 year old...
So I chose to share some photos over the years of him...I apologize for the amount...I am so proud of Zachary Jay!

My wonderful angel....I love you Zachary!

Random thoughts...

I can't get over it is April...when I wanted time to pass a bit quicker here, like the year of Test Pilot school that I did NOT enjoy...it drug on forever...now I have to admit I am feeling rushed.  We had dinner at the club with the couple we had over last night...they are so nice and I am really excited we met them...Dinner was actually good...no, not the actual food. I try to stay at the salad bar....the kids ate well and sat for a long time we could talk.  We saw some other friends there too, so it was a nice outing for us in general.  

Zach had a huge triumph yesterday...okay to explain...He HATES getting his toenails cut...he is fine with fingernails, hair, but toenails send him into hysterics...I literally have to sit on him to get him to stay still and let me do it and he is still screaming and crying the whole time. They get so long my mom calls them talons and they make it hard for him to put his socks on.  So with Zach it is often best to let him think he is in charge...so I let him choose the day we were going to cut them....he chose August...I reminded him it had to be in March....he chose March 31, of course.  I asked yesterday what time...he tried to give me really late times when he was already in bed, so I told him between 1-5...he chose 4:30...seeing a pattern?  So at 4:09 I said, I know it is early, but lets just get this over with, are you ready?  Oh My God!  He let me cut his nails...I didn't have to hold him,  didn't hear crying, whining...there was no thrashing or hitting...they are all short and he actually said," thank you mommy, when they get long again, you cut them, okay?".  I was so thrilled...Little things for most are huge things here I tell you.

Still very intrigued with this idea of sensory processing disorder...looking into that and finding out more...requesting a new evaluation in Texas once we get there...we will see what we can find out for our little guy...

Erin is starting to have separation issues...Zach didn't go through this until he was about a year older than her and it was when I was super pregnant with her. She is all about me and it kills her when I leave. It kills me too!

Just learned sales tax here is going up to 9.25%....what the heck????  I am so irritated I can't even fully speak about this or I will lose it...just another reason this place drives me batty and I am so ready to leave...4 years here I think I have handled without too much bitching...but man if I choose to write a blog on all the things about being here that have just done me in, and I probably will, be prepared!  

Okay...I am off to get myself looking like a semi living and functional mom....having lots of abdominal pain on the right side...will watch it for the day and see if it this is more serious and I need to seek out a doctor...for now lets hope not...

AUTISM AWARENESS DAY is tomorrow...I will be sure to blog about that....