Hello From Washington!!!

Yes, we are still alive and kicking! Finally in Washington now, we have our house and the internet - thank goodness. We're still settling in to our new digs, but a lot has been unpacked and all the kids seem to be enjoying their new home, Ben included. He's been quite hyper for the past couple of months really, and I'm anxious to get back down to business ABA wise and repair some of the damage the hiatus from it has caused. The Gluten free/ Casein free diet has been a little harder to maintain since we got here, as I'm still finding places to get the foods that Ben needs. All in all, everyone has adjusted to the move gamely, and the girls are busy making friends with all the neighborhood kids, and all the neighborhood kids are busy trying to figure out what the heck is up with Ben. I'm never sure how much to tell people, most little kids have no idea what autism is, and sometimes the parents have only a vague idea I can tell, but hesitate to ask. Apparently, there are some kids with autism out here, though - I found a Speech Therapist Practice that specializes in autism in Spokane. So that's good news, but all the military paperwork that occurs during a move is a royal pain the you know what. I think I'll take a few deep breaths now.

Finally On Our Way

After what seems like nearly forever since we've moved out of our house in Chapel Hill, we're finally on our last leg of our transition to Washington state. We're staying at my very generous, loving wonderful sister and brother in law's house. Yay! Rob and Katherine are on their long, cross country drive and Ben, Caroline and I are waiting for them to get there. My sister Barb has 3 dogs and 2 cats, and Ben and Caroline have taken to all the animals nicely. Ben seems pleased to have the dogs around and has a little smile on his face as he gets near them to give them a pat. I've had to convince him not to step on them when they lie on the floor, though. He thinks that's very funny. He absolutely LOVES the swimming pool here and spent most of yesterday floating around it while wearing his float vest. He kicks his legs and no longer has to hold onto the side of the pool, so I think he's going to be a little swimmer yet. He definitely enjoys water these days. Hopefully we'll be able to do a lot of swimming this summer on base. Well that's all for now, I guess.