Hunny Bunny

School report: Speech - Greetings. Good with "I did it" after puzzles! Naming pix, body parts.

When Ronin was going to the potty for #1s and #2s and made successful attempts, he would proclaim loudly with his fists in the air, "I DID IT!" Then we'd have to sing his song: Yea for Ronin, Yea for Ronin/he went pee pee/in the potty! Yea! Yea! Yea! Yea! Yeeeaaaaaaa for Ronin! I'm sure that Nikko and Audrey were listening not far away. Both kids were able to sing the song afterwards, and Nikko started saying I DID IT when prompted. I hope he is starting to generalize that phrase if he hears it at home, then hears it at school, then associates it with an accomplishment. I've got to break out the photo cards again, and build some vocabulary with him. I want to do it when Ronin is not around because Ronin is very good with vocabulary and I don't want Nikko to feel overshadowed. It happens a lot when we read books.

Audrey received a package yesterday; it was a little plush baby in a pink bunting with bunny ears from our friends Pat and Gail. The baby is aptly called Hunny Bunny. It's Audrey's, but Ronin became attached to it and was carrying it around for most of the day. Today, Nikko took the baby out of the bunting and started carrying it around. Ronin got upset and wanted it back, but I had to redirect Ronin and tell him that he could play with Hunny Bunny later, since Ronin had him (or her) all day yesterday. I could see that Nikko was very comfortable holding Hunny Bunny in one hand and had a sinking feeling that he wouldn't let it go easily. Ronin was pretty good about letting HB go, even though it took a lot of tears and persuasion. I feel bad that many times, or rather, most of the time, I have to tell Ronin or Audrey that Nikko is not going to give up a certain toy and that they should go and play with something else. Or I'll tell them that Nikko will play with said toy for only a little while, and will soon forget about it. The problem is I am never sure if/when Nikko will give up a toy. When Nikko is holding a toy that the other kids want, I can tell from a little push/pull whether or not Nikko is going to be flexible about giving it up. Usually he is NOT. When I do go ahead and take the toy away from Nikko to give to the others, Nikko gets upset, pissed off, angry, and physical. Even if I drag him away to another room or try any form of redirection, if Nikko wanted that toy badly enough he will find a way to tear himself away from me and get back to that toy. Explaining sharing doesn't work. Explaining consequences doesn't work. That being said, today I witnessed something unusual. Audrey was playing with a little toy car. Nikko came up to her, looked at the car and took it away from her. She started crying and getting visibly upset at Nikko, tears streaming down the face, loud wails. He looked at her in wonderment and then handed the car back to her. The crying stopped and he moved on. This happened twice today. I wonder if he was sorry that he made her cry, or if he was figuring out that if he takes the car away from Audrey then she will cry; give the car back and she will stop. It's too bad that it becomes such a loaded experiment with feelings, tears and taken toys on the line.

By the way, Nikko had intentions of bringing Hunny Bunny to school, but I made him put the doll in his backpack before getting on the bus. We discovered his plastic dog bone in the backpack so I traded him the bone for the doll to hold. After the kids came back from school, I released Hunny Bunny back into the living room and Nikko didn't pay it any attention at all. Ronin was happy to have the baby back.