My son is a model in a calendar! He's Mr. October! Sara entered him (Gavin 4yrs) into a contest for the National Autism Association annual calendar and he was picked! I just thought I'd use this little platform to brag a bit. We always knew he was a handsome devil, but wow. And now he's also on their advertisement for the big spring sale email. We had no idea they did that until it just popped in the inbox and whoot, there he is! The picture they used was one from 2 years ago when he was two.

I need to get more shots of him modeling our baby and toddler clothes before age starts taking its toll, right? He likes his black "Future Mac User" shirt quite a bit, so maybe I'll put that on him for the big Easter Egg hunt at the church today. Or maybe it should be the "Junk in the Trunk" shirt? That one probably wouldn't go over well with the older patrons. Well, they probably wouldn't get it, especially since Gavin has zero junk in the trunk. He doesn't have one yet, but I could make him one that says "You're Old" just for fun today. That would be a hoot.

We are planning on expanding our line of designs to more older kid stuff someday anyway. With one more baby on the way, our progression of in house models will grow concurrent with Sara's website. Of course, we welcome any of our customers photos to be entered into the modeling contest. Your baby could win a free Snugfit™ and gain the distinct celebrity of regularly appearing on our website! Check out the home page for more info.

Gavin was embarrassed today! For the first time ever, I saw Gavin get red in the face and look very self conscious. He's nearly four (next week!) and he has Autism, so it is kind of a big deal to me. I feel like he's really healing when he shows tangible signs of a unique personality like that.

Here is what happened: We were at Fit for Fun, a cool little place downtown for toddlers and babies to hang out and play together. It's a great place. It's kind of a Saturday morning tradition for me and the boys to head downtown for a playdate at either Fit for Fun or Monkey Joe's. We were eating snacks at a toddler sized table and polishing our proficiency in barnyard animal sounds. All of a sudden, from behind Gavin came a little lad that recognized Gavin from school. "Hi Gavin!" he exclaimed. Gavin looked at him, completely caught off guard, then looked at me and in the same instant turned beet red. I was completely thunderstruck. Shyness! I couldn't help it, I just started roaring with laughter, elated to see this new show of his true character. I wanted to tell everybody there "HEY EVERYBODY! My son is EMBARRASSED! Can you believe it?" Of course, probably no one there would have grasped the depth of what I had seen, unless they too had a child stricken with Autism.

I don't go around introducing him as "Gavin, with Autism." So, a lot of people we encounter at the park and other places might not even see him as different. Yes, he's got some really odd behaviors, I guess. Maybe people do see him differently? I don't know. At any rate, I was pretty psyched when I saw that flash of individuality in him.

On the subject of potty training, I am really mystified. Gavin was using the toilet for about a week. He loved it! It was his favorite thing to do.

"Gavin, do you have to pee pee in the potty? Yes or no?" I'd ask.

"Yes!" he would shout with great enthusiasm.

Now, when I ask him the same question, he pretends not to hear, or runs away. What's the deal? Since he has autism, I'm thankful to get any kind of response to a question. Being able to ask "Yes or No" is extremely valuable. But why now is his standard reaction a nonverbal vamoose?

I think the answer is that the novelty of using the potty is gone. The honeymoon is over. It was fun for a week, but he's found that it is much easier to just let it go, on the go. Dirty pullups don't seem to bother him at all. We've tried the cool alert pullups. They haven't had an effect that I can measure, and I have reservations about the chemicals in them. There is one thing that motivates him like no other, and that is the "Cars" movie. Gavin absolutely loves the extra film that comes on the dvd called "Mater and the Ghostlight." We've turned that into a huge bonus prize for him to earn only if he poo poo's on the potty. He knows that the only time he gets to see Mater being chased all around Radiator Springs by the Ghostlight is after he does a number two. So far it's worked pretty well. One of us has to remind him that there is a great prize waiting in the dvd player if he succeeds. When he doesn't remember (which is most often) and I have to change his pullup, I remind him then that Mater is going to have to wait. He's always very regretful.

I love the way his brain works sometimes. He can be so funny. When he's sitting on the potty, just looking around and humming to himself, I remind him of the task at hand. I'll say "Get that poo poo in the water, so we can flush it away!" (He loves to flush the toilet) He looks at me thoughtfully for a moment, then coaxes "Come on poo poo, take a drink!" As if the poo poo is hiding, not wishing to be flushed. What a kid.

Gavin goes to a great little pre-school where they are working with him on this subject as well. They take him to the toilet every hour, and he has very few accidents. When Garrett is potty trained, I hope his older brother will finally catch on. Garrett seems ready now, so I guess we should be concentrating our efforts on him? Sometimes peers are the best teachers, I think. I just hope they're both in regular underwear by the time the third ankle biter arrives! Three rounds of diaper changes would be more than I could handle. God bless you parents of multiples! I don't know how you do it!