Claire Wiegand's Story: 2016 - 2017

Claire's weight went from extremely low to perfect for her height this year. She dropped to 97 pounds again in the summer of 2016, so we changed her diet even further, supplementing Instant Breakfast with Benecalorie and alternating with Scandishake to pack as many calories in her as possible. She's now steady at about 117 pounds, which is just right for her 5' 3" frame. She still isn't eating much on her own, but will happily demolish a serving of French fries.

After several years of having her sister as her caregiver, she returned to a day program so her sister could return to work in January. We found a day program that is just over 15 minutes away from our homes and jobs, and her father and we alternate dropping her off and picking her up each day. She seems to like it well enough, because it is a nice change of pace from home.

	After several years, we took Claire to a Sensory Friendly Films showing. Sensory Friendly Films are special showings of new releases where the sound is a little quieter and the lights are left on, specifically for families with a loved one with autistic tendencies like Claire. She seemed to enjoy seeing "Storks," and we certainly did. (September 2016)
	We brought Claire to another Sensory Friendly Films showing. She actually smiled quite a bit while watching "Trolls." (November 2016)
	In December, we attended Orchard's annual Breakfast with Santa. Claire was uninterested, as usual, but was willing to sit long enough for a photo. (December 2016)
	After Breakfast with Santa, we headed to the Sensory Friendly Film showing of "Moana." It was a great movie to see on a large screen and Claire really liked the music. (December 2016)
	Later that day, Claire even joined us for a while as we watched "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." (December 2016)
	On New Year's Eve, Claire got to wear her Happy New Year hat even though she wasn't going to stay up until midnight. (December 2016)
	Every once in a while, Claire decides she wants to hang out on the couch with Mom. (January 2017)
	Claire loves her yellow squeaky toy from our friends Brian and Ann. There's a blue one somewhere as well, but we rarely see them both at the same time. (January 2017)
	On a Saturday morning, we took Claire to AMC's Sensory Friendly Films showing of the LEGO Batman Movie. (February 2017)
	The grandkids came by later that day so we took the whole gang to Holliday Park. (February 2017)
	On an extremely warm day in February, we took Claire to her favorite park to play. (February 2017)
	Claire took time out of her busy toy-playing schedule to watch a little bit of Melodifestivalen, a Swedish song competition. (March 2017)
	Like his sister used to be, our grandson Johnny is curious about Claire and her toys. He doesn't dare take them from her because she is so big but he likes to see what she's holding. (May 2017)
	Kelly still loves Auntie Claire, but she's not quite as obsessed with her as she used to be. (May 2017)
	We drained the swim spa a couple of months later than usual, and as always, we brought Claire in to play in the water before we did. (May 2017)
	Although she can stand in the water on her own just fine, she loves being carried and bounced around in the water by Mom and Tom. (May 2017)
	We had been too busy with other things to properly celebrate Claire's 28th birthday on the actual day, so four days later, we sat her down with all of her presents to open them. She doesn't understand birthdays, but she does know that presents sometimes mean fun things to play with. (July 2017)
	This birthday was no exception. She got some nice, loud toys and musical birthday cards along with other goodies and she was very happy about it. (July 2017) Next: 2017 - 2018