Kiosk

6:30a Ronin woke me up at my bedside. I was baffled as to how he got out of his room and I didn't hear him crying out or running down the hallway. The plastic safety doorknob was still in place, so....? Nikko was already babbling when we walked by, as usual. I wonder exactly what time Nikko is waking up and laying in bed babbling to himself? I'm NOT complaining. I'm ecstatic that he isn't rushing to the door and trying the knob to get out anymore. I'm just wondering how long he's lying there, awake in the dark and being ok with it instead of wanting to summon me, like before.

Today was a good family activity day for us on this April 2nd, World Autism Day. I dressed the kids in some shade of blue shirt for the occasion. We drove up to Palatine to check out a nature center, but it was closed on Fridays unbeknownst to us. We put Audrey in the umbrella stroller and took a walk on a 1/2 mile trail anyway. There were birds whizzing around in the air, but hardly any wildlife except for a few geese. The trail was relatively dry except for a few patches that were really muddy. Of course, those were the only places that Ronin fell down. He was a handful, trotting ahead of us, shuffling his feet in the leaves and running off-course as he explored. Nikko, on the other hand, was very well-behaved and mostly stayed by our side. I gave him the opportunity to push the umbrella stroller while we were still on blacktop, just to give him some heavy pushing opportunities. He didn't balk at the task but also didn't mind me doing hand-over-hand. Nikko kept leaning forward, giving almost no strength to his upper-body, so I would step back at times and let him try to push and drive the stroller without any help so he could muster that strength from within. Nikko was pleasant and didn't rush far ahead of us, unlike Ronin. After our mini-hike, we headed to Schaumburg to have lunch at Sweet Tomato, a salad buffet. I brought nuggets for Ronin and was able to get him a plain baked potato as well. Audrey ate garlic bread and a nugget, and later became a fan of the macaroni and cheese that Denis found for Nikko. While I was paying for lunch with the American Express card, Nikko recognized my little wallet and started to get whiny that I wouldn't give him my Costco card. Don't know why my Blue Cross Blue Shield card didn't placate him; it had to be the Costco card. *sigh* After lunch, we went to IKEA so I could look at their kid tables and chairs. After we bought two different-sized tables and four chairs, Denis went to get the Pilot and the kids and I waited in the returns area. The kids were playing with an interactive kiosk when I heard Nikko start whining. I walked around to his side and he was standing in front of a computer screen that didn't have a keyboard. He was pawing the bottom of the screen and I realized that he had inadvertently dropped my Costco card between the screen and the plastic border surrounding the screen. I was exasperated, thinking I would have to cancel the card because all the employees around me were busy handling customers, and there was no way I could step up to a register ahead of all these return-people that had a number and were waiting for their turn, just to pull someone away from the return process. I almost gave up when I remembered that down the hallway I had seen a glass employee window where someone could possibly help me. Luckily, a guy had an allen wrench and knew which kiosk was the culprit, but it wasn't until he opened it that we could see where the Costco card had fallen. And to thank my lucky stars, it had fallen in a spot next to the hard drive so it was retrievable instead of cancel-able. I vowed never to give Nikko that Costco card again. I'll have to come up with a substitute, unless I want to jeopardize my card again. The kids fell asleep on the way home from IKEA. Nikko didn't stay sleeping upon transporting him inside, which was fine by me so that it didn't interrupt his bedtime. The hours before bedtime were really a blur, and I lucked out because Nikko did not freak out on me when putting him to bed. He didn't seem ultra-sleepy, so I worried that he'd bound out of bed and tantrum. Nope, didn't happen. Hooray!

I believe we are going to go to Denis' parent's church on Saturday for their Easter service and because we haven't been there in a long time. It will make for an early morning, some running around to get out of the house by 9a, and for a long midday. On the way home, I'd like to stop at Home Depot and pick up a can of polyurethane so I can seal the kid table and prevent spills (yeah, right) from happening.