#25daysofautism

Day 2: A picture before diagnosis

Courtney was around 15 months in this picture. At this point, as a first time mom, i felt she was reaching all her milestones. Yes, she was a colicky baby and never slept but I didn’t see those as signs then. Maybe she was a little delayed in speech but she had some words. She was able to imitate, she had pretend play skills, and she was engaged with us.

Just a few months after this picture, all those skills along with others disappeared. Regression was so hard to watch. It was gradual so at first I didn’t even realize it was happening. Then suddenly I realized I hadn’t heard a single word in forever. In fact, I don’t think to this day you would see her pretend to have a full on conversation on a broken cell phone like in this picture.

I wouldn’t change her for the world but boy would I love to have those moments back.