Tanishk's Birthday 2011

13 May 2011. Now Tanishk is 5 years old. The time passes so fast. But still Tanishk doesn't understand the concept of birthday. He wasn't excited at all. He is lost in his own world so much that he just pays attention those things which interests him. He has learned so many skills but there is no excitement and no curiosity.

On his birthday, we had his school visit day and he went to his school with us. My husband taught him to say "Thank You" when someone greets him saying "Happy Birthday". And he did well. He was nervous when we reached there. I think he was bit upset because of our presence there. But when his teachers wish him, he responded by saying "Thank You". That was great.

I baked a GFCF chocolate cake with chocolate frosting for his birthday and gave it to his teacher. After school visit, we left him there. He was upset when saying bye to us. I think that is good. Now he feels connected with us and he is behaving like a normal kid. Who wants to go to school?

GFCF chocolate cake with chocolate frosting

He came back from the school with his gifts. But he was not curious about the gifts and even he is not able to tell the things happened at his school. I asked "Did you eat the chocolate cake?" He said "yes".

15 May 2011, my husband has arranged party at his sister's house for Tanishk's birthday. He put some tent on the deck area and also decorated the hall for party. He got few games - shooting, balls, bubbles, whistles, yellow car. He had planned more games but because of rain we couldn't do that. We got pizza, salad, rice, chhole and aloo ka raita in menu. I bake the GFCF cake (Vanilla Cake with butter cream frosting and decorated by sprinkles) and we had ordered a regular cake. On the regular cake, there was Tanishk's picture.

GFCF cake (Vanilla Cake with butter cream frosting and decorated by sprinkles)

We invited 6 families and 4 families came. There were total 9 kids (5 boys and 4 girls). Everyone enjoyed the party and were happy. My little one also enjoyed the presence of other kids. All liked both of the cakes and food. Kids really enjoyed the bubbles and tent game. My husband was involved playing with the kids.

But where was Tanishk? Again he was lost and didn't want to go with the crowd. He did everything for what he was prompted to do. But he wasn't interested in any of the activities except bubbles. Was he aware that all these people gathered only for him? No. He didn't show any awareness, curiosity and happiness. That's the autism which we experience daily. :)