Emma Stone's Doppelganger & The Blondtourage

Early Intervention is something that many children face in their early years. Once we were faced with EI, I read about all the wonderful things parents had to say about it, all the progress, all the fun their child had. I was honestly excited about it. Well, none of that happened.

In a word, Early Intervention SUCKED.

We started with PT, and had a very nice one named Monica. She was young, calming, a pleasure.

Owen screamed in her face and cried for the first 6 months.

After that, Owen just cried constantly, moaned, yelled-- he hated her.

Then we started with the learning consultant, a wonderful special ed teacher named Ida. So nice, so informative, and always came in with a smile on her face. Owen was standing at this point so he'd stand at the gate where I had them corralled and just yell if I made even a sound. Occasionally, you'd hear a good job because he actually did something, but it was far and few between.

By the time we started preschool, PT became bareable due to Mary, the PT that replaced Monica and the fact that we did the first 6 weeks of therapy with her at the neighborhood ear infection zone AKA Party Place. He loved the ball pit so he tolerated her and actually started to like her a bit then it was time for preschool.

Preschool brought us Ms Penny. Penny was assigned to be Owen's 1:1 Monitor at Village School. Penny was Owen's main lady and he loved it. He listened to her, most of the time, but that was okay with me because she stepped in and got him refocused and he really started to just listen more all around. He started to progress even better, and he'd be beaming when he came out of school holding her hand. Also, me being an Investigator with all things O, loved it when his teacher said that she was a like winning the lottery and just "wonderful". Even his school therapists would tell me what a great influence she was in the little man's life. That and she's one of the nicest people we've met on our Autism ride. She's still with the Short Man at Kindergarten with Ms. Susan. We switched schools for Kindergarten and it was so nice knowing that I had Penny already in the little man's corner. I will be so sad the day Ms. Penny gets snatched up by a district and starts her teaching career. Seriously, the tears will be flowing and it won't be Owen.

Now that brings us the point of this post, and that would be Owen's beloved Blondetourage.

In January of 2011, we started Speech Therapy at Abilities in Action. I was nervous as usual, who would it be? Are they Prompt trained as I wanted? Well, I wanted and I got. Ms. Sarah. Sarah was assigned to be the little man's therapist and it was soon love for him and for me it was a shock to the system. I was so nervous for outside therapy. I only knew what I had dealt with at home. If I knew that outpatient therapy would go so smoothly, I'd have pushed it sooner. Owen's being with Ms. Sarah now for a little over a year and we've recently increased to 2 times a week. In this short time, the main man has had an explosion of words. iPad, puppy, purple, byebye, up, no, BOOM!. I personally think it's Sarah. She's the only change we've had. I know she'd probably disagree, but too bad. Credit in my book goes to Sarah. His notes home from his School ST Amy have been better which is so nice as well. Amy is fantastic so I'm so happy he's been really cooperating with her and getting the work done. He only has Amy for 30 minutes at a time, so the clock's ticking and I think sometimes the boy knows it. Owen also really likes Amy. I've gone in for a Speech session and he gets the cute look at her and goes so willingly. LOVE it!

Then in the Spring of 2011, we started private OT at Abilities. This brought us Ms. Tara. In a word, Tara rocks. The boy loves her, and he comes out of therapy beaming. Before Tara, dinner time was a dance party for the kid. His butt NEVER touched the seat. Within six weeks of Ms. Tara and her OT goodness he was sitting at the table for all meals and eating without moving. That elevated her to Sarah's Holy status in my book. SOLD!

We of course, still attend Special Strides every Wednesday with Ms. Maureen. Owen's core is so much stronger thanks to his Wednesday haunt and as far as Owen's affections for Maureen? He won't go inside the office and wait for her, he stands at the curb and watches for her coming with her previous client and once he gets a glimpse he attempts to run to her. She's awesome.

Now, by this point you may be wondering-- What's up with the title?

Well, Sarah looks just like Emma Stone with blond hair. Owen thinks so too because he pointed to a magazine with her on it at Target and attempted to say her name. When I asked him "Sarah"? He shook his head for yes. All the other therapists? They all have blonde hair. I just find it so funny that all of his therapists that he's really clicked with have blonde hair.

The boy loves a Blonde. It cracks me up!

The bottom line is that when we look back on these early years, I will tell Owen all about his beloved Blondetourage and how amazing they were.

Because they are.

And we are Grateful.

Also, it's time to reset the peepee clock. The boy had his first accident in 4 1/2 weeks. :( He seemed upset by it. He was watching Fraggle Rock and I think just didn't want to tear himself away from Gobo. I hope we're not regressing.