Big and Little

Rayyan reading his 'Big and Little' book.  Pronunciation has improved and we are also buying books of a higher level now for him to read.  Thank you, God!!

And to you my boy, you will always be Mummy's and Daddy's pride and joy...  Love you, baby!!

The Dragon

We would like to wish Happy New Year to all our Chinese friends.  May the dragon year be a good year for all of us, a year of progress, great happiness and pleasant surprises :))

I have been inundated with work, which explains why this blog has been 'dead' for a while.  There are so many things that I have not updated.  I realised that I have not even posted Rayyan's birthday party pics and that was like 2 months ago!  I really must do that soon because this blog serves as a chronicle, a record of the important things that happen in my dear boy's life and I want us to be able to look back and reminisce one day..

Anyway, we went on an impromptu trip to Malacca during the CNY hols.  Really impromptu because we just decided to pack up and go on the day itself!  Made the hotel bookings, packed our bags and we were on our way!!  And like many unplanned trips, of course something will go wrong... We forgot to bring our pouch containing MYR, forgot to top-up our Touch n Go card and ended up paying toll of SGD50!!  But you know what, in the end, we got back our $50 (they actually kept our money and return it to us on our way back!) and we brought home many other sweet memories :)

Rayyan thoroughly enjoyed himself... swimming in the hotel pool, playing at the indoor playground (yup, found one just opposite our hotel!), eating his fav doughnuts and experiencing his very first trishaw ride!  He enjoyed it so much that we took the trishaw twice! lol

And the good thing was, he was very well-behaved and cooperative.  I was very interested in the history of Malacca and we went to many museums and historical sites.  And I was really happy that Rayyan didn't throw a tantrum when we were at the museums, he didn't throw a tantrum when we climbed up the long flight of stairs to see the remains of St Paul's church, he didn't throw a tantrum when we visited the mausoleums.  Mummy and Daddy are so, so proud of you, darling!!

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Exploring Malacca's streets

Both of us at the iconic Christ Church

My boys with the cannons at Malacca Fort

Where shall we go next??

Reading up on Malacca's history... like real only! lol

The boy who loves hotel rooms and always the first to test the bed!

Pool Time with Daddy

Another famous site.. Fort A Famosa

Old tombstones at St Paul's Church

Samudera Museum where Rayyan learnt about ships

Captain Rayyan on board!

Enjoying the gorgeous sunset

Pretending to walk on space.. haha

Rayyan's first trishaw ride!!

Having fun at the indoor playground

Me and my little Sultan :)

2nd trishaw ride!

And I shall end this post with this picture of Rayyan riding the trishaw all by himself!!!  And it actually moved ok!!  Bullock cart next!! lol

Probiotics

Many parents have recommended that I give Rayyan probiotics, saying that they see improvements in their children after taking probiotics.  These improvements include better eye contact, better focus, less hyper, sleeps better at night, etc.  With all these improvements, I thought, why not?  No harm giving it a try, after all, probiotics is recommended for everybody...

In recent years, there has been growing interest in the use of probiotics as a natural way to restore the balance of friendly bacteria in the guts. This has many benefits including enhanced immunity, but also positive effects on mood and behavior. Many parents of autistic children have reported vast improvements in their children’s behavior with the use of probiotic supplements.
-Autism Nutrition
http://autism-nutrition.com/probiotics-for-autism

So, what kind of probiotics to give Rayyan since there are many different types and brands?  Many parents recommended those probiotics from Kirkman Labs (a very popular brand among ASD parents) but since these are difficult to get, I wanted to try something that I can find easily here first.  Went to GNC and found Multidophilus 12.  

I know some parents give this probiotics to their children and yes, their children show improvements too so I decided to read up on it a bit more before giving it to Rayyan.  I decided to give these probiotics to Rayyan during this holiday period so that I can monitor his behaviour closely.

I am really not sure if it will work on Rayyan.  We have tried GFCF before and unfortunately, it didn't work on him.  I was hoping that this will and gave him the probiotics last Saturday.  It has been 4 days and how is he so far?

I must say that his behaviour is erratic these 4 days!!!  He is more hyper than usual and he will also suddenly laugh non-stop!!  And this happens in the middle of the night too!  He has been waking up early these few nights!  He has been waking up at 2 or 3am and this is driving both my Hubby and I nuts!!  And when he wakes up, he will blabber to himself and laugh and laugh!  Goodness!  I am imagining those friendly bacteria fighting with the unfriendly bacteria in his body and wreaking havoc!

Yes, I have heard from some parents that this might happen.  That he will be out of control for maybe a week or so before everything starts to settle down.  I am praying very, very hard that's the case here!!!

Through My Eyes

This song was written by a lady, Valerie Foley, about what it can feel like when you are autistic.  It was inspired by the way her son, Billy, lives his life.

I truly love this....

'Through My Eyes'

See the world through my eyes

It changes shape and it changes size

 It's not quite the world you see

If you could find a way to look around inside my mind

Maybe you would understand me

-Chorus-

Cause I'm not blind, but I can't always see

 I'm not deaf, but things can sound strange to me

 I'm not trapped, but it's hard to feel free

Imagine what it's like to be me

Imagine what it's like to be me

It's hard for me to try to think things through or talk like you

Everything can be a blur sometimes

But if you walk along beside me,

Hold my hand and guide me

Together any mountain we can climb

 (Repeat Chorus)

I’m dreaming of my future

And it’s brighter than you know

I’ll get there on a different road

When I’m ready to go

I don’t need pity

I don’t need tears

I just need someone to help me understand my fears

Show me that you believe in me

Let me know that I’m ok

Help me feel safe in the world

And I will find my way

(Repeat Chorus)

IMAGINE SEEING THE WORLD THROUGH MY EYES…..

Guang

It's exactly 3am in the morning and I can't sleep.. I miss my baby!!  My sis is out on a short vacation to KL and I am at her place now, keeping my mum company.  My sis has been taking care of my mum all this while and she deserves this break.  

At first, my Hubby and I thought that all three of us would camp here at her place while she is away but from our past experience, we realised that Rayyan has difficulty sleeping here at night.  He just wants to play when he's here!  The fact that he has school early in the morning makes it more inconvenient so we decided that it's best that he sleeps with my Hubby at home while I stay at my sister's place to accompany my mum.

So what do I do here in the middle of the night, when sleep seems to elude me?  Well, I have been surfing the internet and found very touching videos and songs and yes, I am crying in the middle of the night watching all these video clips! 

Here's one that tugs my heartstrings..

http://www.wimp.com/guangquek/

H&M

 

A trip to H&M never fails to tickle us.  We went there yesterday to spend the voucher we received for Rayyan's birthday and Rayyan got excited when he saw.... another pair of footwear!

You know what he said when he saw these shoes??  He exclaimed, "The elves and the shoemaker!" lol

This boy's world is indeed full of fairy tales and nursery rhymes.  Tell me... would you think of 'The elves and the shoemaker' when you see these shoes?  Rayyan really sees things in a different light, different perspective.  And that reminds me of an incident at the zoo last Saturday.  We were at the lion's glass enclosure and were busy observing the lion when I saw Rayyan looking closely at something walking across the glass enclosure.  It was an ant, walking across, carrying a piece of food. 

Rayyan sees the little things in life, not just the big picture... He is indeed UNIQUE.  Wouldn't the world be so boring if all of us are the same????? 

Science Centre

We have been bringing Rayyan out almost everyday this holiday.  We brought him to the zoo (as usual..hehe), indoor and outdoor playgrounds, exhibitions and recently, we brought him to Science Centre.  There's a 'Dinosaurs Live' exhibition over at Science Centre where gigantic, almost-real dinosaurs are displayed.  These dinosaurs are able to move around, open their mouths wide, displaying their razor-sharp teeth and there are dinosaur sounds all around the place.  The sounds are quite scary I must say.. hehe

And because the place is dark, with scary sounds all around, Rayyan was TERRIFIED.  He asked to be carried all the time!  The good thing was, he didn't cry at all.  He held on to us tightly but his eyes were scrutinising the dinosaur.  Overall, I must say that the entry fees are too expensive for such a small exhibition ($23 for adults, $18 for children, including entrance to Science Centre) but I'm sure the exhibition gave Rayyan a whole new meaning to the word 'dinosaur'! lol

Rayyan enjoyed the Science Centre though.  Even though he didn't understand the science concepts behind each display, he had fun with the gadgets.

This is him having fun with one of the cool animations there..

At least he learnt how to activate the animations by pressing the button and stepping on the footsteps :))

Stepmother

When Rayyan is in the shower, he has this habit of gargling his mouth with water and then throw back the water into the container where he sipped the water from!  At first we closed an eye to this because it comes from his own mouth after all but now, he seems kind of obsessed with it and it's a bit too much!  We have discouraged him from doing so but like I said, it has become a habit.

Moral of the story :  If he does anything undesirable, stop it IMMEDIATELY.

Anyway, since it has become a habit, when he drinks from a cup, he wants to throw it out too.  Most probably, he was recalling what he did in the shower.  He did it again after his dinner yesterday night and then wet his own t-shirt and the floor!  We were so mad that we made him clean up his own mess.  

Yes young man, you must learn to clean up your own mess!  He was crying but he still wiped the floor at the same time..

I felt like an evil stepmother....... But if this is the way to make him learn, so be it!

Conversation

I have been at home with Rayyan for almost 2 weeks and these 2 weeks, I talk a lot to Rayyan, even if he doesn't seem to understand or even listen to me at times!  I realised that my Hubby and I talk a lot about his interest all this while, for example, since he loves animals and is always reading animal books, we always talk to him about animals.  But I realised the importance of talking to him about things around him.  For example, when we are on the road, I talk about the vehicles around us.  I talk about him as a person, family and school and recently, we talk about friends.  I don't think he knows what 'friends' mean yet but we just talk about friends that he is familiar with.

Here's our recent conversation... 

As you can see, it is very difficult to get his focus and he doesn't listen to our questions carefully so doesn't really answer our questions.  But it's ok, I am really, really happy that we can finally 'talk' to him...  

This is the boy, who one year ago, couldn't even say a single word.  This is the boy who we thought will never talk.  I am extremely proud of you my boy and I love you with all my heart.

Thank you God for finally giving him a VOICE.  Thank you God for the MIRACLE  :)

Holiday Book

I made another simple book for Rayyan, this time about our holiday in Kuala Lumpur.  He loves to read the book and I'm glad he can understand a bit more about holidays now.

Our conversation two days ago..

Me : Rayyan, you want to go to KL?

Rayyan : Yes!

Me : What do you want to eat when you are in KL?

Rayyan : Koko Krunch!

Hahaha... Never mind if he actually eats Koko Krunch almost everyday at home.  I'm just happy that he more or less remembers and understands what I wrote in the book :)

And well, if you notice, even though the event has passed, I still use present tense in this book because Rayyan doesn't understand the concept of past tense yet.  If for example, I change the word 'go' to 'went', I don't think Rayyan will understand.  So present tense it will be for now.

And oh yes, Rayyan loves it when we reach the last part... The End! ;)