Today, Gab did wake up early and in a good mood. I already knew that he would do well at school. By the way, he was moved to afternoon class that will start at 1pm and end at 3pm.

We went to school together with Daddy.. something new for Gab because last week we went to school with Yaya.

Gab went down the tricyle.. then started screaming and crying!!! What happened??!! I actually didn't have any idea why he cried. So there we go again... outside the school gate... under the heat of the sun. Daddy was carrying Gab when he suggested that i buy Coke from the canteen to give to Gab as reward... if he will go inside school... it worked!!! Good thing we were at school 10 minutes early for those kinds of problems haha.

Now, our problem is how to get Gab go inside the classroom... class will start soon! I decided to hand my cellphone to Gab and told him that he can play game if he goes inside the room. He immediately accepted the phone, but... he didn't follow me inside the room!!! (playing tricks huh!). Ok, so i only have i one more weapon... v-tech's apple alphabet!!! (electronic talking alphabet board). Good thing that before we left for school, i already put the "apple" inside a separate bag and have Daddy bring the bag with him in case of "emergency power struggle" haha. Upon my cue, Daddy reached for the "on" button of the apple in the bag. It made a familiar greeting to Gab.... and.. ta-da!.. everything's under control now. Gab went inside the room upon my command.

Gab sat down quietly on his chair and just continued playing game. I just let him play for a while and looked around what the other kids were already doing. The activity was tracing curve lines. When most of the students have finished doing the activity and were falling in line to have their works checked, i decided to get the phone and ask Gab to finish the activity already. I thought he would get angry and scream, but he quietly finished the tracing activity with my help.

After finishing the tracing activity, Gab just sat down quietly and observed what other kids were doing. RECESS TIME! I thought Gab would go out because some kids went out the room to go to their parents. He had his snacks inside the room.

Ok, second half of the class.. coloring time. Teacher Alice introduced blue to the kids. While she was talking, Gab imitated her but he was talking jargons. I was amazed at how some of his jargons sounded like the teacher's words. Teacher handed out the paper that the kids will color with blue, Gab looked at it then compared the drawing on the paper with the cloud drawn by the teacher on the board. Gab did the coloring activity by himself, i just had to cue him to finish coloring the big cloud.

CLASS TIME FINISHED!!! GAB GOT 2 STARS FOR TRACING AND COLORING!!!

TIME SPENT INSIDE THE CLASSROOM: 1 hour and 40 minutes ^______^

P.S. Here are some pics taken in the morning while we were doing his homework for today ^^

A Skype chat...

When I opened my computer, I was already log-on in Skype. Roma sent me a link to a video about a highschool student who has autism but graduated salutatorian in his batch. His salutatory speech was very inspiring. It easily melted my heart and enkindled my hopes for Gab's bright future. Then Roma and I chatted about the book she told me a few months back about a family's journey with autism. Thank you.

A Facebook message...

Louise, an elementary and highschool friend, sent me a message through Facebook. She told me that she visited my blog and learned about Gab's condition. She said she admired my courage and that she's now one of Gab's Angels. Simple messages like that lifts up my spirit and continue our advocacy. Thank you.

A phone call...

My day is almost over when my husband called me up using an unknown number. He told me that his phone was robbed on his way to work. I actually don't even know what to say but for sure i suddenly felt disappointment. It's not his first time to lose something.. but anyway i can't blame him for what happened except for not trusting his instincts. The other problem was... it's my mom's phone that my older brother gave her. Maybe i'll just tell my mom tomorrow morning. *sigh*

Today's Gab's second day at nursery school... i wasn't expecting much especially when he woke up already in a bad mood. I decided that we will attend the 10am-12pm class no matter what, but first i had to think on how to change his mood. Last night i was chatting with Dianne and she mentioned using clay for therapy for the hand and fingers. Good that i have a set of n0n-toxic clay, Gab happily played with it, rolling and squeezing the clay. It helped him to relax.

Again at school.. we stood outside the classroom for some minutes.. but we were able to get inside earlier than yesterday. Gab sat down quietly in his chair... playing snowboarding on my cellphone.. occasionally looking at other kids making noise or looking at the teacher who's almost shouting because it's like a fish market just outside the room because of the parents constantly shouting commands at their kids.

While Gab was busy playing games, i checked on what writing activity other kids were doing... slanted lines. So i started making dotted slant lines for Gab to trace. I guided his left hand to make slanted lines while his other hand still holding the cellphone. After finishing 6 lines.... cellphone game again. Then he noticed the boy sitting in front of him, eating snacks already even though its not yet recess time. So Gab asked for his snacks also.

The teacher approached us and greeted Gab "good morning Gab! Are you going to study today?". Gab just stared at her for a moment and took the paper with a big banana drawing to be colored later and looked at it... then back to cellphone playing. After finishing his snacks, he was still asking for some more so i went outside the room to buy some chips in the school's cafeteria. When i went back to the classroom, Gab was already outside the room carried by his nanny.

TIME SPENT INSIDE THE CLASSROOM: 15 minutes!!! hooray!!! Good job Gab ^____^

P.S.: In the afternoon, he had his regular 2hrs session with his ABA teacher, then after that he helped me make pancakes =)

Today's Gab's first day in nursery school. I got up at 6am to prepare his breakfast, school bag, and uniform. I was in mix emotions pondering about what will Gab do at school. I felt excited and scared all at the same time hallucinating that Gab will behave and adjust easily or will scream out loud and throw tantrums at the site of a crowd of kids.

When Gab knew that he will be going out, he excitedly wore his new uniform and new pair of black shoes with the help of his nanny. We had no problems going to school, he even went down from the tricycle alone and walk towards the gate of the school.. then suddenly... he stopped right in front of the open gate of the school and turned back at started walking away! haha maybe he realized that "uh-oh i'm not familiar with this place!". So his nanny hurriedly carried him and ran going inside the school and Gab screamed... then... we stood outside the school gate for 1 hour!!!

I was observing Gab while we were standing outside the gate, noting how many minutes we are still going to stand there before i'll finally force him to go inside. But it was out of my plan since i don't want to cause any trauma to him of that place and i could see that he is scanning the inside of the school through the grills of gate, looking at anxious parents waiting for the start of the class for nursery and kids running around. I could sense that he is getting interested.

Finally, after an hour of stay outside the school gate, Gab cued that he's ready to go inside by reaching the gate grills. I smiled and told his nanny "it's ok to go inside now". We went inside the gate, Gab's still observing all people inside and peeking through the open door of the nursery classroom. I was getting annoyed at other mothers because they were crowding the classroom door so it's kinda hard for me to squeeze in while holding Gab so that i could show him what's happening inside the room.

Thanks to Mickey Mouse's number poster that caught Gab's attention because it gave me an idea that maybe he can actually go inside the classroom on his first day. And yes it did happen!!! Gab and i went inside the classroom and he went down, walked around the room looking at the ABCs and numbers posters. I asked the teacher where is Gab's table, she pointed at the corner leftmost table in front of the room. I guided Gab towards his table.. then.. he sat down.. look at the table.. saw nothing at the table.. nothing to do.. he stood and left the room.

It only spent more or less 20secs inside the room! But i was already happy to see him improve a lot in adjusting to places and crowd and noise. After that, Gab spent the remaining hour walking outside the room and running up and down the stairs.

Last Wednesday, Gab's ABA teacher, T. Divine, advised me that it would be beneficial for Gab if he will enter nursery school or even a playgroup to get exposed to other regular kids of his age. Gab ever since has problems with socialization, or in kid's terms "playing along" with other kids. Often times, he seems not interested to play with other kids. Our neighborhood, made the situation worse because at home he's the only child and around the neighborhood there are no kids within his age range. His older cousin seldom visits our house, but Gab likes playing with her for the reason that he can make his cousin follow what he wants to do. So, it doesn't really help him learn new things.

At first, I thought of enrolling him in a SPED school, but after thinking about it many times, i decided not to continue with my first plan. My goal is mainly socialization and not academics as of now. For me, I think if he will enter a regular nursery class, he will be around regular kids who likes talking a lot and playing a lot. Maybe he could pick up or imitate some words and actions and behaviors exhibited by regular kids.

My expectations: Soon Gab will play, talk, sing, and do activities together with other kids. He won't be stressed anymore if he's in a crowded place. And, he will be more independent just like other kids.

My fears: He will ask me to carry him the whole time inside school during the first weeks (hahaha!). He will cry when irritated or bored during his first month at school T_T. And, he will get other kid's things and get into fight (LOL!).

GAB'S ANGELS: Please include Gab in your prayers for fruitful school days ^___^.

We went to QC Memorial Circle today 'coz i thought Gab needed some time out and play freely after 2 exhausting hours of therapy...

Today, Gab is mastering "high five" and "come here" together with his ABA teacher. He has already mastered "sit down", "give", "give me", "close _____", and "open _____".

To all Gab's Angels: thanks for your continuous support and prayers. ^__^

Today's a GOOD-BAD day for me...

GOOD: I'm happy because Gab finally had a haircut in a different barbershop because the barbershop he usually has his hair done is too far from our house now since we moved back to my parents' house. Since its not sunny today, we decided to walk around the village to scout for a perfect barbershop. Gab's barbershop specifications: open ( really open as in no glass panels or glass doors!), has a television (so that he can forget about the haircut haha), along a busy road (so that he won't hear the razor sound), and NO WAITING TIME ( in short, not popular barberhsop lol). At first, Gab tried to resist but when the barber started razoring his hair, maybe he thought he can't escape anymore s he stopped crying and just insisted to be carried by his nanny during the whole time. Gab doesn't like the barber's cape, at the end of the hair-razor-cut session, he and his nanny were filled with hair HAHA. End-result? Gab now has a clean-cut hair ^_____^

BAD: I carried Gab when we were walking going home after his haircut because we have to walk on a busy road. I didn't notice that my watch accidentally fell off from my wrist. Maybe the lock was caught off on Gab's clothes that's why it was unlocked. I realized that i wasn't wearing my watch while i was preparing to take a bath. F.Y.I.: It's an ESPRIT silver watch filled with pink swarovski crystals inside the frame. Its my husband's gift to me when we were still in university =(

I guess along with good days and bad days, there are times that we also have good-bad days.. just like we have sunny days and rainy days, we also have sunny-rainy days..