Today was Jonathan's last day at the amazing summer camp that he attended. I am thrilled with the camp. Jonathan loved it. He looked forward to going there every morning. He was a bit sad today that it was the last day.
He bonded with a kid his age and his mom and I exchanged information today so we can do weekly play dates. It is hard to find kids that our kids actually enjoy playing with. And she was extremely thrilled that her son had a "friend". He is 5 and had never ever connected with another child. So for her, it was a really big deal. It was very cute to see Jonathan and DJ hug each other in the mornings or yell at each other's names to say hi. They just really connected well.
Today Jonathan had a good day. Lots of language. In the morning, we had our normal daily routine, left Vanessa at school and he asked "Mommy, when do I come back here" and I told him Monday. Then, as we were heading to the camp, he noticed that there was no traffic and pointed it out. Then I told him that we had to stop at my office quickly to pickup my phone and he was very curious. As we approached my office, he saw the building and said "look mommy, that is a big mountain". That was cute. I explained that those were buildings. Then, when we parked he could not get enough of it. We ran into my bosses and he greeted them. He was a bit shy and could not answer a question, but for the most part, he was polite and sweet. We went to Starbucks to get the volunteers in his classroom a Starbuck's card as a thank you token. He was excited to give those to Jessica and the others.
We went back to the car and headed to the camp. When we arrived, he noticed that he was last. He hates to be last. "Oh no Mommy, we are last again. You told me yesterday that we are going to be in the middle today". Then another boy came through the doors and he was excited and said "look mommy, I am not the last one. I am in the middle". I kind of think that this attitude of not wanting to be last is going to make him competitive enough to push himself in school and other activities.
When the camp was over, we came home and Abuita took him to McDonald's and bowling. They came home, and he played with a playstation game for a while before we headed to HBOT. He became strangely agitated when the game didn't load. He normally just calls me and asks for help. But today he saw something on the TV that scared him and he ran out screaming. He had not done that in over a year. But he was able to explain to me what scared him and I showed him that it was nothing. Then he said "mommy, I forgot to cover my ears. I cover my ears when I am scared". And I told him that there was no reason to be scared. I fixed the problem and he was happy.
We went to drop off his stool test samples at DHL and I needed the GPS to get to the place and to get out and head to the HBOT. He was so cute. He asked for it and I told him I needed it. Then he said "mommy, are you lost?" and I said yes. Then he said "can you give me the GPS when you find the way?". That kind of shocked me and I answered yes. And I did once I found my way.
When we arrived at the chamber, we went in and he said hi to everyone. Then he said "Tom, I want to watch a movie. Can I pick the movie please?" and Tom said "sure Jonathan, go ahead". Jonathan picked Blue's Clues. One of the parents standing next to us looked at me and said "wow, he speaks very well". Actually he doesn't compared to a neurotypical kid. He has trouble putting the sentences together, putting the thoughts into well structured sentences. He is getting better, but not normal yet. But for a kid with autism, he does speak well. And it only really started to happen 4 weeks after we ended the last HBOT session. We went into the chamber and Jonathan was concerned about his ears. But he did great. When we reached 1.5 atms, he asked for the headset and spoke to Tom. Asked him "Tom, are we there yet? Can I put on my hood now?" and then said "ok. I'll put it on. Bye bye now". I put the headsets on and Tom pointed out how much Jonathan is talking now. He remembers him back 5 months ago and how little he spoke then. And he said that for people like him that saw him many months now, the shock is greater than for us that see him every day. That was very refreshing to hear.
His receptive language keeps impressing me. He was watching the video inside the chamber and I was talking to one parent when he said "look mommy, it has for sides" and I said "what does sweetie?" and he said "the square". I didn't have to say much and he understood my question. 6 or so months ago, I would have had to guess or ask the question in a different way. Then he said "and the triangle has 3 sides" and I said "what about the circle". He thought hard and said "zero" and the other parent said "Jonathan, a circle has 2 sides. One inside and one outside" and showed him with his fingers and Jonathan looked right at him and said "yes, the circle has 2 sides. ah". That was really cool. He also laughs at his own amusements. He tried to suck his thumb but he forgot about the hood. His thumb hit the plastic and then he turned to me and said laughing "look mommy, I'm so silly. I forgot I had my hood and cannot suck my thumb". And we both laughed.
He would not stop talking in the car on the way back. His head movement to say yes or no have become very natural. His eye contact when he is listening and trying to understand has become increasingly better. His brain is processing, connecting. Two days only back on the oxygen, and I can already see some changes. He definitely is a big HBOT responder.
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