I was shooting to get us out the door by 9a, but at that time I was announcing final diaper changes. I finished changing all three chilluns by 9:10a according to the living room clock. I was in the process of putting on socks and shoes, then loading up the kids, and when I was backing out the driveway I looked at the clock. 9:27a. Arrrggghh!!! I have got to get us out the door even earlier next time! Next Monday there's no playgroup because it's Memorial Day Weekend. The following Monday 6/1 is playgroup, 6/8 is playgroup but I'll have to bring Ronin into the room because Chinny is still in the Phil, 6/15 no playgroup because Shirley is in the Dells. That sounds about right, I'll have to reconfirm her schedule. Nikko did all right in playgroup, but he didn't want to be in circle time at all. I spent most of it wrangling him. Later on I asked Shirley what she prefers I do, reign him in or let him go. She said I should let him go but I should stay in the circle and participate, and after a few weeks we'll start reigning him in again. Nikko went into a cupboard and found some blue drumsticks that he used to drum a drum briefly but started wandering around with them, probably in a stim way. I think he just likes to hold something in his hand because he wasn't looking at the sticks and running them back and forth like he used to. I worried that transitioning him off the sticks would be hard, but we tried it anyway. Shirley got a bin and put some of his sticks in it, then invited him to put one away, and then encouraged him to put the last one in the bin. Surprisingly, he complied. I think it helped that I also used key phrases like, "Last call for sticks" and "Bye bye sticks" and "No more sticks". We had to do this with a red spoon he found in the bean bin. I told him to say bye bye to the spoon and put it in the bin, which he did, and then he helped me put the lid on the bean bin. I am watching how Nikko gets over transitions. The goal is that he won't throw a tantrum whenever we take away something of his, and if he does tantrum, how can we soothe him or how long will it take for him to bounce back? Craft time wasn't so hot, we drove a car through some paint and made tracks on paper, but he just wanted snack time. Of course he did well during snack time! He also loved the parachute, and then it was time to go. Meanwhile, Audrey was enjoying observing everything and threw some smiles at the volunteers in the room. I had dropped Ronin off at the daycare and at first he cried and didn't want me to leave. When I came back to pick him up, he was happy but didn't want to leave. Typical.
Since Ronin was in a pretty good mood today, I decided that we should pay mom a visit. After lunch, I packed the kids in the car and went to Skokie for a few hours. Everyone seemed to do well, but I forgot that they had some red Swedish fish that Nikko liked. I had to make them disappear after a few. I talked to mom a bit more about the weekend that Denis will be in Atlanta and asked me to come visit with Audrey. The boys would stay with mom. Mom suggested that we leave Ronin and Audrey and that I take Nikko instead. It wasn't that she was scared of him, but for a few other reasons. Nikko's pretty attached to me, but there's a parental bond that is very strong and she fears it will be hurt if we leave him for a few days. Nikko is also not as easy to please as Ronin, doesn't interact as much and wouldn't enjoy the same things. Nikko would probably be so angry and hurt if we left him, whereas Audrey wouldn't know the difference at this stage. I do agree. I would love to take Nikko with me because I want him to experience things, like the airport. I want him to enjoy traveling somewhere. How can he have imaginary play if he doesn't experience things to pretend? I think he would enjoy the trip, and it won't be for very long anyway. Mom said that Audrey would be easy to take care of, which is the opposite of my initial thought. I thought she would be the most difficult, but in actuality it would probably be Nikko. I don't think anyone knows how to soothe him well except me. Ronin would be happy if Mom plunks him in front of the fishpond. Nikko, not so easy. I'm all for this idea. Now we just have to make sure our plans will move forward, I'll have to get him a seat on the plane with one of Eric's tickets... and I have to talk to Eric about how those tickets work anyway. I have no idea.
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