Waiting on the bus

This morning when I got on the bus to pick up Nikko, I saw him smile at me from the window and when I approached he was excited. I looked down and saw his shoes on the floor, his socked feet chillin' on the seat. I asked Mrs. Beyer why his shoes were on the floor and she said he got upset so he kicked them off. As I put them on and unclasped Nikko I asked her if Nikko got upset before he got on the bus (attributing it to something that happened in the school) or after he was on the bus. She said that after all the kids are boarded, sometimes they have to wait. If they wait for a while then Nikko starts getting agitated so she gives him his burp cloth.

OH.

So that's why on some days he'll be holding his burp cloth when he gets off the bus and other days it will be in his bag. Actually, I noticed that for the past two weeks or so he's been holding it when he gets off the bus. This is a very true observation of Nikko, that he gets impatient if things don't get rolling soon when he's on a vehicle. He gets that way in the Pilot, if he's not watching a DVD. Mrs. Beyer had to move Fiona, the little girl who sat next to him, because I think in his agitated state he was flailing his arms and she was in danger. The twins' mom remarked that this was probably a bad thing to do because if they remove everyone around Nikko when he acts up, then the kids will start to leave him alone and that would be bad for his socialization. The thought of it all makes me really sad. How can we work on Nikko's patience? It's kind of a complex pot. He seems really easygoing at home, watches tv a lot and doesn't seem demanding unless it's something that he really wants (cookie, corn pops, bread & butter). Well, it's a topic I'll have to revisit soon.

The Penepacker girls came over after lunch so that Rory could get some practice changing diapers because she's going to babysit some kids down the street. I was more than happy to hand over Audrey and Ronin for practice. Nikko, however, was in my care since he had a #2 and I didn't want to torture Rory. Nikko seemed happy to have their company and was doing the Nikko dance in the living room. Allie and Sabrina had a doll that Ronin seemed to take an interest in. It reminded me of the little dolls that Pete had used during therapy, where Ronin fed them a bottle and brushed their hair. The girls found another doll in the car and left it for us to borrow. Nikko looked at the doll curiously and put it up to his lips as if to kiss it. He's done that before with a little teddy bear that came with a happy meal. I put up the doll's hand for a high five and he responded in kind. But the doll interaction was short-lived and the doll was soon abandoned. I'll see if I can get the boys to play with it again over the weekend.

Our last activity was to go to the in-laws for dinner. I put in Finding Nemo on the way down, and thankfully Nikko fell asleep 15 minutes into the ride. He continued to sleep a little bit more after we arrived, but I had to wake him up to eat or he wouldn't fall asleep well later when we got home. He was very attached to me during the evening, but I left him in Denis' care when it came to dealing with dessert. Nikko was tantruming because he wanted more cake, but it was truly a lot of sugar and we had to put a limit to it. I think it made everyone uncomfortable to see/hear him tantrum so loud; I felt some uneasiness as if they didn't know what to say, because they didn't want him to keep crying. I decided it was better if we ushered Nikko out of the kitchen so that the temptation of cake wasn't in his face. He protested when I moved rooms, but it was for the best. Later in the evening I think Ronin and Nikko showed some interest in some plastic fruit my mother-in-law had on the dining room table. Denis told me that Nikko opened his mouth as if to eat the plastic grapes. Funny, but we'll have to get them some real fruit over the weekend.