Friday, December 4, 2009

Library book / Potty training thoughts

12:03p - Nikko hasn't liked wearing any hats or gloves in the past. Two days ago I got Nikko to wear a hat that had some ear flaps. Unfortunately the "cap" is on the small side, and Nikko actually likes wearing it. He tilts it, however, so that one ear flap covers his left eyebrow. I think he envisions it as a hat brim. I'll have to look for a hat with a brim to see if that's truly the case. Today the temps are in the 30's so I thought I'd try putting out some fleece mittens. I put them on the table for him to explore, and somehow he got fixated on wearing ONE glove, the left one. I couldn't get him to accept wearing the right one, so I had to send him off to school with one red glove and the other cradling Nemo and the burp cloth. When he came home, I saw a library book in the backpack. They made a trip to the Westbrook library, something they'll do every Wednesday. It's a book of Nemo. I was fine with seeing it, until it was time to serve him lunch. He was having pizza and Nikko wouldn't let go of that book. It made me extremely paranoid because I had to keep an eye on him, wiping his hands every time they got red sauce on them. Now I understand why they sent home a permission slip as to whether or not the parents would accept responsibility regarding checking out books. He's going to be so attached to that book that it could possibly get ratty and torn. Thankfully it's a hardcover book, but I hope it doesn't get too beat up. Uh-oh... the oven pre-heating timer just went off and Nikko put his hands over his ears, crying really hard as if the sound hurt him or it sparked a really bad memory. I gave him hugs and back strokes, but in the end I offered him Signing Time or Nemo on TV. Signing Time was hastily agreed upon with his hands pedaling furiously before putting them back over his ears. He has not triggered like this against an oven sound before so I wonder if this will be an isolated incident. Hope so.

In yesterday's Chicago Tribune in the Chicagoland Extra section there was an article about a Jewish boy who had autism and was completing his bar mitzvah. It was an interesting look on a Jewish based special needs program and raising an autistic son to achieve bar mitzvah even through a learning disability. They have to memorize and read from the Torah, and some kids use PECs pictures and schedules to understand the cermony of it, even if the real meaning is lost on them. A person who runs the program, Abbie Weisberg, said, "We don't say 'no,' we say 'how.'" I thought that quote was so poignant and one I'd take upon myself to say it's a favorite.

12:44p - This evening I went to Target after the kids went to bed. My plan was to go grocery shopping after Target closed at 11p. I bought diaper genie refills and a bunch of underwear for the boys. I am really trying to mentally psych myself into the potty training mode. I AM DREADING IT. I have two kids to train at the same time, and need a 100% success rate with Ronin. I have an indefinite success rate with Nikko, but hopes he will catch on. I dread the cleanup I'll have to do when they have accidents. Ronin already refuses to sit on the toilet because we started with him standing up. I must have screwed up on that one. Nikko seems tolerate to sit, probably because they do that at school, too. But he hasn't peed on the toilet sitting down yet. I'll think about this later... it's stressing me out. Anyway, I lost my grocery list at Target, five minutes before close. I checked all my pockets, then starting running back down aisles that I had visited, all to no avail. I couldn't recall from memory what I needed from the grocery. Defeated, and with the Target cashier hurrying me out the door, I went home. Boooooo.

Ugh, I forgot to mention... I'm still working on Tickle with Nikko. I got a "Tick" out of him today, but he's mixing it up with "Chp-COM" again. Another sound I heard from him today was "Ju" for juice. I'll try that word again tomorrow. I will keep pushing something for him to vocalize every day, probably at every meal if I can. It's kind of addicting, trying to get him to say more and actually hear a sound close to it come out. I think it started with "Pop," which he says when prompted by me when he's signing for Popcorn [corn puffs].

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