Stop! Go!

I'm not avoiding a post, I've just been compressed for time to finish things after the kids go to bed, even though I am so grateful we finally got a portable dishwasher. I'm STILL very busy. Yeah, sure, I could cut out some frivolous minutes by not being on Facebook, but since it's one of my only social gateways to the outside world, it actually helps keep me sane. So why chuck it? Oh yeah, so I can clean up the kitchen, mop the floors, load laundry and catch up on reading autism boards.

Yesterday (Saturday) and today were pretty ordinary days. Except for last night, where I went to a gun safety seminar that Denis signed me up for. I learned quite a bit, and got to shoot a variety of revolvers and semi-automatic guns on a range. I also shot fairly well given that I haven't shot any gun for over 13 years or so. Denis fed the kids and put them to bed and didn't have as hard a time as he has in the past. "I must be getting better at it," he remarked. YEA!

Yesterday morning and this morning as well, Nikko was not really in the best of moods. He woke up decent, but he's been ending up whining on the kitchen floor before breakfast. This morning I attributed it to him not wanting me out of his sight since I wasn't home when he went to bed. Understandable. There was another point during the day when I was playing "Sandwich" with him where he's on the floor and I roll on top of him to put my weight on him, giving him some input, or pressing up to him against the couch in a full-body smush. When I played this with him, he seemed to enjoy it, but I think I kept pressing on when he decided he'd had enough. When I didn't let up, he got really upset and then he was bawling and swatting at me. I was very apologetic and told him I'd stop when he told me to. He had to calm down from that one. Speaking of stop, something else he's been doing lately takes his word "Go" and uses it to our disadvantage. At school he was prompted to the phrase "Ready, set..." and Nikko would say, "GO!" I noticed at home when I would say "Stop", he would say, "GO!" Sounds appropriate, right? Well, nope. Sometimes he will be doing something like hitting a toy hard against the oven or hitting at Ronin (because Ronin started it, nonetheless) and I'd restrain Nikko and tell him, "Stop that! Stop!" Nikko would turn to me and say, "GO!" every time I said Stop, until I could read the pain in his face that he was misunderstood and his last word would be "GOOOOOOOOOO!" and he'd be crying. That makes me feel so bad that I realize I have to use another word besides Stop when getting him to stop an unwanted action. Haven't figured out what that word is going to be yet, unfortunately.

Nikko will be back in preschool on Tuesday. We don't have any scheduled outings for tomorrow, but it's supposed to be partly sunny and in the 40's so maybe I can take the kids outside to play. If not, I will try to take them somewhere, anywhere. They need to get out of the house! It's going to be hard until Thursday night because Denis is in Springfield on business and I have to put the kids to bed by myself. Then I have to clean up everything after they are asleep by myself. I did it tonight and it's 2am and there's things I'd really love to accomplish but have now run out of time. I'm going to have to dig deep for patience for the next four days. Deeeeep.