Brick Blocks a hit

I missed yesterday's posting, sorry. It was a rainy day, quite blah, but the best part was when I saw the UPS truck whizz by after dropping off a package for me. It was the set of Imaginarium Brick Blocks I ordered. They were flat in the box and needed some simple tuck assembly. It's a 45-piece set and I think I chose the correct type because these seem quite durable. They can withstand Nikko's weight, but probably not Audrey's spit because most all cardboard will get soggy when wet. Ronin and Nikko fought over some of the bricks, but Nikko mostly laid them out in a path like the yellow brick road and both boys trotted over the brick pathway. There was a little building "up" but the bricks mostly served as paver bricks. The other event on Wednesday was the duo haircuts I gave. I knew I could do it because I've done it in the past, but for some reason I was nervous to execute the hair cutting. I gave Nikko a lollipop and he let me do whatever I wanted to his head. Ronin was not as convinced even though I gave him juice and Veggie stix (pseudo-potato chips/fries) from Costco, and put them both in front of Thomas on the laptop. In any event I finished the haircuts in about 30 minutes.

Today the boys continued to play with the brick blocks, but there was a little more building "up" going on later in the evening. I built a sturdy base for a tower and Nikko felt comfortable adding on to it. I think he just needed a little push to start building up. Backing up, however, we had DT at noon. Chinny came to take Ronin into the basement, and we had a very good therapy session with Bo. She was very happy that Nikko was in a good mood because he gave her lots of eye contact and jargoned quite a bit during our activities. She brought Mr. Potato Head, her peg board, some puzzles, and even played a hand-slapping game. It started out with doing hi-fives, and then Bo instructed me to take his hands and help him slap hers first as hi-fives, then alternate the hands from left to right. Nikko seemed intrigued by this. Bo said he was watching each hand very intently. It was definitely something new, and I will show Denis so that he can play hand slapping games with us. Bo also suggested that with the picture therapy, because Nikko isn't distinguishing pictures as a representation of the real thing, I should try to offer him pictures that are in different categories i.e. crackers vs. toy car. Shelly later suggests to me that I could offer Nikko between two pictures, but make sure the real thing is not in the room. That way he can see the pictures and possibly choose one, then I go and get it. That's different from what I currently do, where we are already in the kitchen when I offer him a picture of crackers. I know, it sounds so simple and almost DUH, but it makes sense when someone else suggests it.

After therapy I tried to continue Nikko's lunch. Immediately after Bo left, Nikko became Ultra Velcro Man again. I don't know what's triggering it, if it's different people coming in and out of our house or what, but it's aggravating. I had Chinny help me get the kids into the Pilot and while that was happening Nikko was having a massive meltdown because I was not in the Pilot at the same time. He was thrashing and kicking his legs wildly against the front seat and against the inside of the Pilot door. I was hurrying, but also came over to try to reassure him. No amount of placating him was working, and he didn't stop until I was in the driver's seat. GEEZ. He got maybe a 20 minute nap in the car and we made it to OT with Shelly. Nikko had a good session overall. He ventured over to the swing first thing and stood in it. Then he raced off through the obstacle course. He got into some little building toys as well, but his interactions were very good. Shelly brought out another swing that looked like a pommel horse without the pommels, and somehow Nikko ended up swinging on it with first Shelly and then myself. Meanwhile, Audrey was practicing sitting up nearby, even tried rolling over with some of Shelly's help. Too bad she's only 6.5 months old; if we stayed longer than end of July, Shelly could probably get her walking as she did with Ronin. After OT, we came home and I let the boys run around the driveway with Chinny. They were fighting over the Little Tikes red/yellow car. We came in later and I gave them snacks as I attempted to cook spaghetti. Chinny left for class, dinner started, Denis came home. The rest of the evening was ok with Nikko and Denis building with the blocks while I gave Ronin his bath. Tomorrow we'll get a visit from Cyndi and I will try to make a Costco run to get more Veggie stix and some WetJet floor mop refills.