Juice-dribbling, and "Sorry"

I should have seen this coming over the last two days, but...

I observed Nikko drinking juice and holding it in his mouth. Right in his chair he let the juice dribble out the corners, over his chin, down his shirt and onto the table. I told him not to do that, even gave him a napkin to wipe up the mess on the table. The next day I didn't see him do it, but when he got up from his chair I saw his placemat was a puddle and some juice had pooled onto the floor. I brought him back and told him that we don't play with juice, we drink it, gave him a paper towel to help me mop up the juice, and that was it.

TODAY... I was in the kitchen and turned to see Nikko come to the table, take a sip of juice, then trot away. Then come back half a minute later, take a sip, then trot away. He did this four or so times when I decided to check on him and peeked around the corner. All the kids were sitting on some part of the couch, but what I saw was about 60% of the floor had juice on it. Nikko was running back and forth with mouthfuls of juice and depositing it on the living room floor. I stood in shock because at the time I couldn’t fathom WHY he was doing this, and how I’d have to clean up the sticky mess with paper towels and some Fantastic spray until I could wash the floor after the kids were in bed. I realize that I’m going to have to monitor even more closely how Nikko drinks, and when to give it to him and when to take it away. I also realize that he might enjoy that feeling of juice spilling out of his mouth, be it an oral thing or sensory thing, but Nikko doesn’t display many oral fixations, doesn’t chew on toys or objects, and doesn’t prefer crunchy over smooth. I hope this will be the worst of it. I don’t even know where to begin except to watch him drink and make sure he swallows his juice before leaving the table. When I saw the floor and all the juice puddles, I started to cry. A lot. I went to get paper towels and Fantastic to battle the stickiness and I just let loose the floodgates so much that Ronin started crying, too. I wailed that Nikko didn't even think anything was wrong, and I couldn't punish him because he wouldn't understand what I was punishing him for. I couldn't put him in a timeout because it was too late, and he wouldn't sit still in timeout the way he's supposed to. He'd sit there and laugh or babble, or even just try to get away. I cried as I mopped up the floor on my knees. I made my way to the hallway near the kitchen, near the kiddie table and noticed a big puddle in the middle of the hallway. Still crying, I squatted down to start wiping the puddle when *BAM* my butt hit the top of the back of Ronin's chair. It felt like I had sat down hard on a pole. I stood gripping the doorway, my tailbone on fire, and crying a whole new set of tears at my stupidity for not looking before I squatted. I made it back to my chair in front of the computer after fetching an ice pack, finding difficulty to sit, and put the ice pack on my swollen eyes and cheeks. I hear someone scuffle into the kitchen, then I heard, "Sorry." I didn't move, then heard again, "Sorry." I looked up from the ice pack and it was Nikko. He was by my side and I asked him what he wanted. "Sorry," he said a third time while reaching for the ice pack. I showed it to him, then gave him a kiss and a big hug for giving me an apology the likes I have never expected from him. Perhaps he realized that I was very, very sad, crying like a madwoman, and maybe he knew that a Sorry was in order. In any event, it WAS an event and I was happy and sad at the same time. I forgave him. It's too bad that he didn't say sorry later after dinner, when he pulled his juice-dribbling antics again but only on 1/8 of the rubber mat-covered floor, and at the foot of his chair in the kitchen. Grrr.

Other than that incident, here's his speech report: Categorization, naming, requesting. Good attention today!

He also did well in ABA today. Very chatty, which I definitely prefer over quiet.

During the day I made good on my promise to Ronin to go to the store for an ice cream toy. I had to take Ronin & Audrey with me to the eye doctor, who said my corneas were not healing very quickly so come back in two weeks and keep hydrating my eyes. We went to Meijer and they didn't have any ice cream play food. We got back in time to pick up Nikko from the bus stop, and I was determined to go to Toys R Us to find an ice cream toy set. The juice-dribbling incident was a slight setback because my eyes were so swollen from crying that I had to wait until the histamines calmed down. But we went, and I found the toy. Nikko ended up with another boxed Slinky. Good enough for me, as long as he was happy.