As I said in my first post; Zander was the cutest little thing I'd ever seen. I couldn't believe something so precious came from ME? He was a great baby but intensely fussy. His moods were extreme meaning when he was happy he was super happy, cooing, smiling, animated and melted your heart. When Zander was upset though he didn't cry like a typical baby; he screamed bloody murder and often panicked us thinking some unseen force was hurting him. He was inconsolable and as new parents it was very upsetting.
He was the first baby I'd ever come across where old standards did not calm him down. He hated his swing and did not like the motion of facing backwards in the car. It was my arms, the rocking chair or his changing table and that's it. It also made it very hard for us to ask anyone to babysit. There were a few times we came home after just running to the grocery store to see my moms hair standing on end and a look of panic across her face.
He was the first baby I'd ever come across where old standards did not calm him down. He hated his swing and did not like the motion of facing backwards in the car. It was my arms, the rocking chair or his changing table and that's it. It also made it very hard for us to ask anyone to babysit. There were a few times we came home after just running to the grocery store to see my moms hair standing on end and a look of panic across her face.
I couldn't recall any of my friends ever having the same problem. Everyone I'd ever known that had a baby was out and about within weeks eager to put their Lil one proudly on display. I remember thinking this shouldn't be so hard. We figured it must be gas or maybe he was allergic to my milk. We must have gone through 4 different types of formula, plus Goat Milk and 5 different bottle systems before we gave up and took him to the doctor. The doctor blamed it on his "slow colon" saying everything was perfectly normal and that lots of babies have digestive problems or he may have colic and that babies usually grow out of it.
In spite of his tummy troubles Zander continued to thrive, he hit all of his milestones like tracking objects visually, holding his head up, rolling over, sitting, standing early and we couldn't have been more proud.
He was extremely observant. He would study everything intensely, books, our faces, his toys. At 3 months he started watching the entire Jungle Book, by 4 months he was laughing at all the appropriate places. By 5 months he had what we thought was the most amazing attention span; he had this set of 24 alphabet books and he would sit there with you for 20-30 minutes while you went through each book page by page talking about each picture. We thought that was a good thing, we had no clue that it may have been a possible sign of Autism.
He was extremely observant. He would study everything intensely, books, our faces, his toys. At 3 months he started watching the entire Jungle Book, by 4 months he was laughing at all the appropriate places. By 5 months he had what we thought was the most amazing attention span; he had this set of 24 alphabet books and he would sit there with you for 20-30 minutes while you went through each book page by page talking about each picture. We thought that was a good thing, we had no clue that it may have been a possible sign of Autism.
He began walking (and falling) and climbing then running, learning signs and talking; everything was right on the money. He started going through mommy/separation anxiety and didn't want me to leave which I LOVED. He loved to snuggle and curl up in the rocker with me and listen to stories. The 3 little Pigs was his favorite, he would laugh every time I would do the pig and wolf voices and wouldn't go to sleep without my rockin rendition of Home Sweet Home and a few other songs.
By 12 months he was almost completely off baby food and starting to eat mini versions of what we were eating. He was fearless and eager to try anything. He learned to drink through a straw and vanilla milkshakes quickly became a favorite treat for him. About this time Zander began to line his toys up. You could leave him with a pile of toys walk out of the room and by the time you walked back they would be sorted by likeness and either lined up or stacked on top of each other. I've been known to have a few perfection issues and also have a knack for organizing and categorizing things so of course we didn't think anything of it. He also started to take my hand and push it towards his toys wanting me to make things move and pop and dance instead of doing it himself. Silly me, I thought this was my child wanting to play with me; I had no idea that this was another potential sign of Autism.
