Nikko had a lot of activities today. We'll see how it affects him tomorrow. Shelly mentioned that after running around in OT she wonders if he will have the need to crash tonight or tomorrow, and might possibly not need to until Saturday.
I was really stressing out this morning because we all woke up later than usual. Luckily Denis had a later morning meeting and was able to help with getting Ronin dressed and some breakfast items. But Nikko was totally Velcro Man and I was trying to run around and gather items for the food bag and diaper bag with him clinging to my leg. I tried to make light of it, but I was clenching my teeth the entire time. I didn't have a helper today so I had to take all three kids with me. Amazingly we got out the door by 9:30, which didn't seem too late, but in actuality it was just a bit late. When we arrived at playgroup, Bethanne said that the triplets were sick today, which left only Jason and Nikko today. She said that Ronin could stay if I wanted him to, and while I hesitated at first I decided Why Not? I went to tell the daycare that we'd come back another day (they recognized me from before. Nice people.). Ronin had a great time, I must say, because he was free to explore everything, he got to paint with watercolors, and his mommy was right there in the same room. Nikko explored everything, too. He saw a gray bin and signed More Please for someone to open it. I knew exactly what was in that bin: colored cardboard bricks which he hadn't seen in weeks. I was very surprised that he remembered what was in the bin, and when Jim the Volunteer opened it, Nikko was indeed rewarded with the bricks. He did a little stacking but opted to just lay in the bricks. I dreaded the cleanup and expected a tantrum. We got some resistance from him, but I turned his head away and gave him big hugs while they hauled the bin into the next room. Nikko seemed to accept the transition well. He didn't stick around the circle for circle time, but he did sit at the table to paint with watercolors. He stuck his fingers into the paint and wiped them on his shirt as well as painted the picture of an Easter egg. After that was a little bean bin time, then snack time (Ronin couldn't eat the Cheetos so I gave him animal crackers and rice milk. By the way, he deftly ate some purple Play Doh as evidenced by the purple behind his front teeth. I tried to swipe his mouth clear with my finger and got bit instead.), then parachute time and it was time to go home.
I had 15 minutes to get some lunch into the kiddies and then Bo showed up. Since Chinny wasn't around to take Ronin into the basement I suggested we had his therapy session at the dinner table. He hadn't done that in so long, since working with Janelle, but I don't think that was what caused his crying and resistance. He just wanted to not be strapped into his booster chair, plus he wanted to be Velcro Man. Bo pointed out that even though he was constantly crying, every time she put an activity in front of him he worked on it, even looking focused at times. When the activity was over, he looked for me and ended up wailing. He had worked on a puzzle, peg board, book, shape sorter, and threading w/shoelace from what I recall. Elmo, too.
Bo said to me, "You must be very patient."
"Excuse me? You mean ME?"
"Yes," she replied, "to be working with Nikko and have the other two around."
"Oh, I'm not very patient at all, but on days like this I just have to be focused so that Nikko can get the most out of his therapies. But generally it is very, very hard for me to be patient!"
After DT, I thought about hanging out at home for a while, but I looked at the clock and figured that my best chances for Ronin and Nikko to take a nap would be in the car. Audrey was getting tired and would sleep regardless. So I packed the kids back in the car after doing diaper changes on all of them and headed toward the clinic for OT. Ronin fell asleep for an hour, and Nikko fell asleep for the last 30 minutes of the ride. Sufficient, I'd say.
In the clinic, Shelly had set up the obstacle course and both boys had at it. They did a lot of climbing, just a little bit with shaving cream and blocks, but mostly climbed and crawled on the mats and a big plastic slide she found. Nikko loved the slide. Shelly showed me how she lined a long tunnel with some kind of sensory foam that looked like a panel from a soundproof booth. Nikko enjoyed crawling into it and relaxed in there for a while. Shelly had remarked to me that she thought it was great that Nikko can generalize. I asked what she meant and Shelly said that Nikko seems to be able to do certain tasks in different environments, which is a good thing. For example, he is able to figure out how to climb stairs to go down a slide and can do it at different parks, not just the one by our house. This is true of other skills Nikko has, including building with blocks or drawing. Some kids can only do those things in their own home and not when they are out in public. So, that is something very fortunate for us.
Finally, after OT, I had to take the kids to Costco because we were out of chicken nuggets. Our Costco used to carry Dino Nuggets, but they switched to Mickey Mouse nuggets. Nikko accepted them, but lately was on a hiatus of MM nuggets. When I went to the Costco in Glenview they only carried Dino nuggets. I tried them on Nikko last week and he ended up gobbling them up! But now that I'm back on MM nuggets I am worried that he doesn't like them as much anymore. This would mean I'd have to go to Glenview for Dino nuggets. Man, what a picky eater I have! Two, including Ronin! We came home and we were in the living room watching Hi-5 and unwinding from our whirlwind outings. Audrey was whining for another nap so I rocked her to sleep on the couch. I ended up dozing holding her. I think Nikko came up to me twice and put his face very close to mine, smiling at me. Finally after 20 minutes or so I woke up, saw that it was nearing 7pm, and knew we should get dinner rolling. I actually felt rejuvinated after that catnap, and felt as if it were a brand new day already. Maybe I was just exhausted from running the ship on autopilot all day. In any event I think the kids benefitted from a mom that was in a good mood for the rest of the night.
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