I stayed up late last night to organize our pantry and empty some freestanding cabinets to make room for the two highchairs in our kitchen that now sit next to the portable dishwasher. Nikko's seat remains in the booster at the kitchen table. I tried putting Ronin in a booster a few months ago but he didn't like it and he still tends to fall asleep in the highchair. Since he's so skinny and light I figured I should just leave him in there a bit longer. Why not? I'm on a semi-organizing kick and I made a two-column sheet that I plan to put up on the wall to remind me about the things I need to work on with Nikko. The left column is about actual skills to work on like imitation, turn-taking and hygiene. The right column is a repost of the "10 things I can do right now to help [Nikko]."
Today Ronin had speech at 9:30. He was much more compliant than last week. Nikko didn't stay by himself during the session; instead he continued to stand on the hippo stepstool and jump off while looking at himself in the mirror. The catch was that the stepstool was right next to Peter and Ronin as they played with plastic food, but it didn't deter Nikko from jumping aside their play or poking at Peter or for pushing Ronin out of his way. Audrey was also trying to get into whatever Ronin was doing so we were being ambushed on two sides. After therapy Nikko dragged me to the kitchen and stood in front of the food cabinet. I knelt down and asked what he wanted. Does Nikko want More Bread? I signed More Bread and looked at Nikko. He signed More Cracker. I gave him a big smile and rewarded him with a pile of crackers. I'm so happy because I didn't prompt him with the Cracker sign so he didn't imitate Cracker. This time he chose it on his own. YEA!
Denis came home a bit early from the range so I felt a little comfortable taking the boys outside while Audrey took a nap. I led them into the backyard and opened the sand box for them. Say what?? I had a master plan, to take one of the kiddie pools, rinse it out and let the boys play in it. I had my dishwashing soap, brush and rubber gloves all ready. I fumbled with the hose a bit and Nikko was right at my ankles trying to play with the water. I got down to business and the boys abandoned the sand box to get in my way while I hosed down and scrubbed the pool. The fruits of my efforts were worth it, however, because the boys splashed in their Crocs and seemed to enjoy the water. They did a little sitting but not as much as usual, probably because the water was cold. It was only 78 degrees outside, not a hot 85. Nikko saw my blue rubber gloves laying on the grass and investigated them. He pulled one on and needed help pulling on the other. They went up to his biceps and didn't fit his fingers at all, but Nikko didn't mind. He wore them in the pool and was very content with them. I didn't mind this at all, but made sure that when we went inside I made those gloves disappear. After all, I used them to clean up the dirty, muddy pool. I took the boys inside after their interest in the pool waned and gave them a bath. I was pretty tired after dressing them both in the bathroom and dealing with Ronin's whining and crying because he only had a half-nap today before lunch. He didn't sleep at 2pm because he already napped, and there wasn't another nap in the late afternoon so Mr. Cranky was out in full force. Nikko hadn't slept all day and so at 6:30ish he slept sitting up on the couch. I woke him up for dinner around 7:15p and he was cranky, too. In fact, he didn't properly eat his dinner until later when Denis came home from class. I hope he fell asleep well later on at bedtime. Going all day without a nap is a looooong day, but he seems to be able to sustain it. That doesn't mean I encourage it, it's just what happens.
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