Open the present and see what's inside

Today is David's sixth birthday, but we celebrated with a party for him last night. This year he was so excited for his birthday, and it shows us the remarkable progress that David has made since starting the Son-Rise program. Just last Christmas he showed no interest in opening presents or participating in family activities. On David's fourth birthday, when it came time for the birthday cake to be lit and the lights turned out, he was scared and ran from the room. He was brought back in after some calming down, and we sang to him, but there was no blowing out of candles, he remained fretful in Julie's arms with his head turned into her shoulder. So last night was celebrated with even more joy, because he chose to be with us.

Julie started out the party with games that had David's interests in mind. There were ten of us, each blowing up a balloon, without tying it off. We counted to three and then let go of them, and all of a sudden the air was filled with balloons whirling around David, and his eyes lit with wonder. We released balloons several times as he jumped with glee, and clapped his hands excitedly. Then we all gathered in a circle and held hands, and did ring-a-round the rosy with him. All the while he beamed and rolled his head from side to side.

One of David's many quotations is from Blues Clues .. present time, present time, open the present and see what's inside, so we all chanted this to him to encourage him to open his presents. While he wasn't totally interested in unwrapping gifts he did spend a little time playing with each of the toys.

Party hats had been passed out to everyone before the party and David amused us by adjusting every one's hat to his specifications. He wanted the hat to be sitting exactly in the middle, on the top of your head, with the elastic under your chin, and in front of your ears. Having just a small problem with claustrophobia I chose to put the elastic at the back of my head, which I got away with most of the night, until he discovered I had deviated from his set course. After that he would keep checking to see if I had it right. When I could no longer stand the elastic under my chin, I put it under my nose. He caught me the instant I did it and came over and said "Let me help you" and he proceed to help me get it 'right'. As soon as his attention was elsewhere, I totally ditched the hat. LOL

Christina had prepared a wonderful birthday cake for David with a fun Madagascar theme. When it came time for cake, he asked for the lights off, he waited for us to sing the traditional Happy Birthday and then he blew out his candles. Then we repeated the fun while singing Happy Birthday to you, You live in a zoo ...

After the celebration Ed and David had fun playing with a toy phone. The gist of the conversation was "ring, ring, ... hello, Oh hi Jessica ... see ya real soon" Then David would ask "Who was that Ed?" and Ed would say "That was Jessica" The same thing was repeated with different names. David was giving Ed his whole attention and using his name. All of the small steps that he makes really start to add up over time, and show us that he is steadily growing closer to being a part of our world, and less of his own.