Happy Birthday Tanner!!

Tanner, Tanner, my gosh you turn 9 today!!
Wow, my other special needs boy! Diagnosed at two with autism, but has come such a long way since. Looking back, if I knew then what I knew now about autism, I would have seen it when he was a baby.
My best baby, never, ever fussed. Could entertain himself in his swing for hours!


After not talking one word at two, our speech therapist is the one that saw the other symptoms of autism. After getting into Pingree school for autism for preschool, they totally turned my baby around. He went in not speaking one word, and came out not able to shut up!
Jenny McCarthy is wrong, you can't cure autism. He'll always have his autistic tendencies. But they are manageable, and there's no reason why he can't get married and have a full life.


Now he goes to a "typical" school, with the help of a resource teacher that has taken him under her wing. I'm very worried about school this year though. This resource teacher will no longer have him, so I'm just hoping that we can keep him in the "typical" school setting without her. She would let him eat lunch with her, instead of the noisy cafeteria. And if there was a cloud in the sky, he could stay with her inside for recess.
But man he's turned into a handsome young man. Often he is called the mini me of Ray. (I really need to find Ray's kindergarten picture, you would seriously die!)

Tanner is going to be such a great big brother to Makayla. He loves Down syndrome babies. Ella is his girl, and he wants to bring her home to be his baby sister!

Happy Happy Birthday my little blonde babe. Keep showing the world you can do whatever you want to! We love you!!