I got a return phone call from the gastro. I asked her if it would be ok if I switched Nikko from mineral oil back to Miralax? My reasoning being that he was constantly leaking oil and it had created some new behavioral problems, specifically him wanting to rip off his diaper whenever he felt something leaking. She said sure, that was fine. I told her that we left off at a capful as the dosage. She asked if I wanted to try it at 3/4 capful and I told her that like the mineral oil, where she concluded that he was being overdosed at 3 tablespoons, at everything above 1/2 a capful he was having poop smears frequently. She said she didn't want him to go below a 1/2 capful and I said fine. Probably to help ease him back into Miralax. Fine. I told her that I'd give it a try for two weeks to see if a pattern develops and then I'd call her. She said that was fine. And that was it.
I am now going to look for a second opinion (thanks, Heather).
On another topic, it's a wonder that I don't go get a degree in Speech Language Pathology, because had I known I was supposed to get one of those as well as my degree in Gastroenterology, I would have been better equipped to deal with Nikko today or over the past few weeks. Why is it that Nikko chatters and babbles, is echolalic and can sing a simple tune he hears on the TV or can repeat a silly phrase his brother chanted seconds before, but when *I* ask him to say, "I want_____" he looks at me with horror and starts cranking up the whine machine? This morning he saw a cylindrical container of stick cookies with a chocolate dipping sauce, procured from an asian grocery and called Yan Yan, and stuck his hands toward the box which was on a high shelf in a cupboard. I saw an opportunity to fulfill a request of a desired reinforcer so I said, "What does Nikko want? I want Yan Yan." How did I know that I would be repeating that phrase, calmly and angrily, for the next half hour while Nikko cried, yelled, thrashed and tantrummed? He would NOT say "I want." He would NOT do what I asked him, demanded him, pleaded him to repeat. 30 minutes is A LONG TIME when it's dragging and your kid is crying/whining. I couldn't give in. He eventually left the kitchen and moved on to explore other things in a huff. I was bent out of shape as well, feeling defeated that he wouldn't give in.
Fifteen minutes later he was looking toward the Yan Yan again. I decided to switch tactics again. The Cheese Puff/Pizza tactic was identifying the object and saying it really fast. This time I tried dramatic singing. Ronin was also in the kitchen and I incorporated his help by having him sing, pointing to him at his turn, then my turn, then Nikko's turn. I would make Nikko look at me, put my hand in the air in a sweeping gesture, and bellow in a low voice that rose almost an octave and then settled halfway at the end, "iiiiiiiiiiii, wAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAnt, Yan Yaaaaaaan!" Ronin and I sang a few rounds when Nikko finally sang it back quickly to me. HOORAY! And so he was rewarded. I said this a few days ago, I'll say it again: HOW HARD CAN IT BE????
He challenged me again in the afternoon with a Chuggington DVD. I wanted him to say either I Want or I Watch. It took ten minutes of whining and fighting me, but with a dramatic singing again I got him to say I Want Chuggington. I wish I didn't have to battle my kid to get him to talk. I can see that he wants to communicate ("Open door," "All finished" in reference to the iPod) but when I make a demand/request of him, he shuts down. Maybe he's not confident enough in his vocabulary? This evening he wanted some markers that were shaped like eggs and he managed to say eggs at one point, but he was using another filler-word for markers that I can't even remember how to say. He was terribly frustrated because I refused him these markers (they were leaking) and his crying fit was quite horrible even for his standards. But hey, he eventually moved on, with the help of some chocolate chips. Ha ha.
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