More Cracker

Bo came over for Nikko's 1st of 4 DT makeup sessions. Chinny was also here, while Audrey and Ronin were initially out with a nap, but they both woke up halfway through the session so she helped keep Audrey out of the way. Before DT, I was watching Nikko and he didn't seem to be in a good mood. He appeared slightly sullen and didn't want to interact with me. I worried that his session would go poorly. Fortunately, that wasn't the case. Nikko was more attentive than in sessions past, participated in the activities and even gave us some eye contact between commands to see what was the next step or for assistance. There were not great moments, especially when he was going Noodleman on me and not lifting his body off the floor like a jellyfish out of water, but I felt like the good outweighed the bad. Nikko didn't do color sorting with pegs, but he built upward with them. He helped put together Elmo using the arms and legs appropriately. That's big, because in the past he's been putting the legs where he wanted them to go, in the neck or in the arm sockets. When handed the feet, he knew that they went on the end of the long legs. He also took a turn in feeding Elmo with a spoon and banana. There was a colored toy with pegs that he put on the appropriate bars for the first time in a long time. Nikko was helpful in putting each activity away, and looked up at Bo when she requested him to open or close a bag as if asking for help. I was very happy with the session today.

During lunch, Nikko was pulling me toward the fridge and looking up at the box of crackers. I asked him if he wanted more of something, More Milk? More Bread? More Crackers? and I'd sign More, then sign Crackers. He imitated what I signed, so I rewarded him. There was one other time at the table when he spontaneously signed Crackers so I gave him some. Much later in the day, he came up to me with a little picture board book of shapes. I asked him what he wanted and he put the book in my hands, and pointed to the page of squares, where in the upper left corner was a picture of a cracker. I was surprised and asked him if he wanted a cracker, and he smiled. Of course I went to give him some! A few other times later he brought me the book asking for crackers. IS THAT COOL OR WHAT?? If this is truly a realization of a picture of a cracker, then we must be going on the right path and I need to break out all the pictures I have that I am not using. Nikko was in good spirits for the rest of the evening from what I could tell. Sure, he'd try to push me off of the ottoman if I were in his way of the mirror, but I'd tickle him to stop him from being so serious and from looping into this routine. Tomorrow, since we don't have any therapies, if the weather is good, I will probably take the kids to mom's house since Ronin hasn't been out of the house for two days.