So Sebastian had his 15 checkmarks, which earns him a Friday prize. However, he explained that because other kids were talking when they weren't supposed to that no prizes were handed out today. He emphasized repeatedly that he wasn't one of the kids who was talking, which is undoubtedly true. Ugh, his teacher needs to rearrange some brain cells. Her checkmark system of "promoting positive behavior" (as she says) seems to be providing as much positive as it is negative. You just took an earned & promised reward from a kid who has been waiting 2 long weeks for it. This was done because individuals around him, that he obviously has no control over, were talking when they weren't supposed to. Think. Turn on your heart.. and your brain.
Our Friday aide was here today. She's 19 I think? But seems to have the life knowledge & maturity of a 39 year old. She has taught Judah to say, "Booyah!!" - obviously there are still teenage glimpses at times, haha. She was giving Judah many directions today. He was following them so well! And if he didn't follow the instruction she would continue to cue him until he did it.. usually it was just him not wanting to do it, but the majority of the time he was doing what she asked! She told him she needed his foot when they were getting ready to put on his shoes. He put his foot out. Tonight I told him to look up when I was washing his hair - I touched his chin thinking that might help, and for the first time ever, he looked up while I was washing his hair! He looked up every time I asked him!! I've been asking him to do that for years!!! Yes, very literally, years.
Judah said a couple words today precisely on cue. One was a word from a commercial on TV. He said it right as they did, even matching the tone. The other was during SpongeBob. He has really incredible timing & pitch. I catch this every once in a while.. eventually it will spark enough to be seen often. Tonight he was laying in his bed singing very loudly. When he stopped I heard Sebastian, who was laying 2 feet away in his own bed, say "Night, night Judah." Then Judah chattered something back to him. Neither of them knew I was standing outside their bedroom door. So sweet.
Sebastian just had his second night using up an entire bottle of body wash in the course of one bath. Seriously!!!? I feel like I need to go into the bathroom and squirt the soap in his hand myself at this point. Honestly, an entire bottle during ONE BATH. And it's name brand!!! We've had to hide the sugar jar from him because he gets into it in the morning, eating the sugar straight. Since that was unavailable this morning he decided to have his sundae that he wasn't allowed to have last night. This happens before the rest of us get up. A few days before that it was brownies. Thing is, he's not too good about keeping his face clean. The circle of chocolate around his mouth wasn't helping him much.
Willow & I hit about 5 yard sales today. There was one really unique sale - it was half wine paraphernalia (mostly brand new or like new) & the other half environmentally friendly kitchen items (either new or like new with multiple replicas). Prices were unbelievably awesome. I was able to snatch up a small pile of clothes for Willow at one sale - nothing too great, but she just needs clothes! I feel awful when I open up her drawer that holds both her shorts & shirts & am clearly able to see the wooden bottom of the drawer. She helped me pick out clothes that she liked. She did unimaginably well at the yard sales.. and it was HOT!! There was a dog at one sale. She immediately went straight for the dog when she spotted it. The entire time I was there she sat on the cement and petted Sly, her new gigantic dog friend. He was nearly 3 times her size. She asked the owner if the dog would stay there in the garage when she left. haha. She had a hard time leaving Sly.
Yesterday we parked at Safeway & immediately heard a yapping dog. The dog was in the truck parked next to us. Willow got out & stood near the truck window, where she could clearly see the dog. She kept telling me, "He doesn't like me. The dog doesn't like me!" It was heartbreaking! I told her that the dog was just scared because he didn't know us - it took quite a while to convince her though.
Willow & I played some tether ball at Harritt today while we waited on older brother to get out of school. She got hit in the head, face, & eye (as she says, lol). Eventually she made me go to the other tether ball pole & play by myself, which was so awesome!! I hadn't played tether ball since elementary school! I used to love it! I was good at it too. Man, what a thrilling way to get out some aggression!! :)
Yesterday I worked hard to get as many of Judah's meds/supplements as I could into him. I only missed Beta. Today I saw big progress. He said "alright" when I asked him to go to the bathroom first thing this morning. He piddled around doing some things then eventually went to the bathroom, knocked on the door & Sebastian let him in. Never seen that before! And he went potty on his own! He is still telling me to stop at stop signs. It's hard to give him a chance to speak for himself - it feels so natural just to cue him with what he could say next. I need to tape my mouth shut. The past few days Judah has been looking me dead in the eye and touching his mouth. I say "mouth". Then he'll touch another body part & another, & I will name each one after he touches it. Scott & I both did Judah's massage tonight. Judah started doing this during his massage, coming up with even more body parts than usual! He was all smiles. I think this was sparked by watching his "Your Baby Can Read" videos - they do a lot of that. It's also helping with his following directions like.. reach, arms out, arms up, etc. He really enjoys some of the animals on those videos, especially the tiger. He is going to LOVE the zoo on Sunday.
Judah is constantly repeating us. He just needs to be taught & shown - and he will learn. Guaranteed. I can tell this from his responses to his videos & his persistent teaching from his aides. This has all brought great progress!! He's beginning to answer us when we speak to him. He does this often when we ask yes or no questions. But new answers are beginning to emerge like, "I don't know" and more. When you give him choices & say what each choice is, he will tell you the one he wants, using the word you have just used, pretty much every single time. His tantrums are so much less because he is understanding so much more. "Judah we are going to the park." and he will respond with something like, "Ok! Let's go!" and hand me my purse or keys, etc. When he falls down he pops back up and says, "I'm okay!" haha. His brother & sister do that too. He says, "Mommy, all done" when he is done with something & then he hands it to me. The more I list the more I am realizing how far he has come. He hasn't had an accident in his underwear in forever. Unfortunately disability is not providing us Pull-Ups anymore, so we are back to buying them ourselves. He poops in diapers & has them on for outings - if we can get beyond those 2 things he should be fine, with no diapers to deal with anymore.
Willow's flower chart has really been influencing her to go potty today - she's done it 2 or 3 times today, which is much more than usual!
Judah hardly had any of his milks today. He had a big poop, thank goodness.
Judah missed Beta, sleep med (although we may just be stopping it), skin rash med & eye med not needed, missed iron up (we're out), l-carnatine, miralax, molasses, oxy-mag (these 4 were because he didn't drink his milks).
Our Friday aide was here today. She's 19 I think? But seems to have the life knowledge & maturity of a 39 year old. She has taught Judah to say, "Booyah!!" - obviously there are still teenage glimpses at times, haha. She was giving Judah many directions today. He was following them so well! And if he didn't follow the instruction she would continue to cue him until he did it.. usually it was just him not wanting to do it, but the majority of the time he was doing what she asked! She told him she needed his foot when they were getting ready to put on his shoes. He put his foot out. Tonight I told him to look up when I was washing his hair - I touched his chin thinking that might help, and for the first time ever, he looked up while I was washing his hair! He looked up every time I asked him!! I've been asking him to do that for years!!! Yes, very literally, years.
Judah said a couple words today precisely on cue. One was a word from a commercial on TV. He said it right as they did, even matching the tone. The other was during SpongeBob. He has really incredible timing & pitch. I catch this every once in a while.. eventually it will spark enough to be seen often. Tonight he was laying in his bed singing very loudly. When he stopped I heard Sebastian, who was laying 2 feet away in his own bed, say "Night, night Judah." Then Judah chattered something back to him. Neither of them knew I was standing outside their bedroom door. So sweet.
Sebastian just had his second night using up an entire bottle of body wash in the course of one bath. Seriously!!!? I feel like I need to go into the bathroom and squirt the soap in his hand myself at this point. Honestly, an entire bottle during ONE BATH. And it's name brand!!! We've had to hide the sugar jar from him because he gets into it in the morning, eating the sugar straight. Since that was unavailable this morning he decided to have his sundae that he wasn't allowed to have last night. This happens before the rest of us get up. A few days before that it was brownies. Thing is, he's not too good about keeping his face clean. The circle of chocolate around his mouth wasn't helping him much.
Willow & I hit about 5 yard sales today. There was one really unique sale - it was half wine paraphernalia (mostly brand new or like new) & the other half environmentally friendly kitchen items (either new or like new with multiple replicas). Prices were unbelievably awesome. I was able to snatch up a small pile of clothes for Willow at one sale - nothing too great, but she just needs clothes! I feel awful when I open up her drawer that holds both her shorts & shirts & am clearly able to see the wooden bottom of the drawer. She helped me pick out clothes that she liked. She did unimaginably well at the yard sales.. and it was HOT!! There was a dog at one sale. She immediately went straight for the dog when she spotted it. The entire time I was there she sat on the cement and petted Sly, her new gigantic dog friend. He was nearly 3 times her size. She asked the owner if the dog would stay there in the garage when she left. haha. She had a hard time leaving Sly.
Yesterday we parked at Safeway & immediately heard a yapping dog. The dog was in the truck parked next to us. Willow got out & stood near the truck window, where she could clearly see the dog. She kept telling me, "He doesn't like me. The dog doesn't like me!" It was heartbreaking! I told her that the dog was just scared because he didn't know us - it took quite a while to convince her though.
Willow & I played some tether ball at Harritt today while we waited on older brother to get out of school. She got hit in the head, face, & eye (as she says, lol). Eventually she made me go to the other tether ball pole & play by myself, which was so awesome!! I hadn't played tether ball since elementary school! I used to love it! I was good at it too. Man, what a thrilling way to get out some aggression!! :)
Yesterday I worked hard to get as many of Judah's meds/supplements as I could into him. I only missed Beta. Today I saw big progress. He said "alright" when I asked him to go to the bathroom first thing this morning. He piddled around doing some things then eventually went to the bathroom, knocked on the door & Sebastian let him in. Never seen that before! And he went potty on his own! He is still telling me to stop at stop signs. It's hard to give him a chance to speak for himself - it feels so natural just to cue him with what he could say next. I need to tape my mouth shut. The past few days Judah has been looking me dead in the eye and touching his mouth. I say "mouth". Then he'll touch another body part & another, & I will name each one after he touches it. Scott & I both did Judah's massage tonight. Judah started doing this during his massage, coming up with even more body parts than usual! He was all smiles. I think this was sparked by watching his "Your Baby Can Read" videos - they do a lot of that. It's also helping with his following directions like.. reach, arms out, arms up, etc. He really enjoys some of the animals on those videos, especially the tiger. He is going to LOVE the zoo on Sunday.
Judah is constantly repeating us. He just needs to be taught & shown - and he will learn. Guaranteed. I can tell this from his responses to his videos & his persistent teaching from his aides. This has all brought great progress!! He's beginning to answer us when we speak to him. He does this often when we ask yes or no questions. But new answers are beginning to emerge like, "I don't know" and more. When you give him choices & say what each choice is, he will tell you the one he wants, using the word you have just used, pretty much every single time. His tantrums are so much less because he is understanding so much more. "Judah we are going to the park." and he will respond with something like, "Ok! Let's go!" and hand me my purse or keys, etc. When he falls down he pops back up and says, "I'm okay!" haha. His brother & sister do that too. He says, "Mommy, all done" when he is done with something & then he hands it to me. The more I list the more I am realizing how far he has come. He hasn't had an accident in his underwear in forever. Unfortunately disability is not providing us Pull-Ups anymore, so we are back to buying them ourselves. He poops in diapers & has them on for outings - if we can get beyond those 2 things he should be fine, with no diapers to deal with anymore.
Willow's flower chart has really been influencing her to go potty today - she's done it 2 or 3 times today, which is much more than usual!
Judah hardly had any of his milks today. He had a big poop, thank goodness.
Judah missed Beta, sleep med (although we may just be stopping it), skin rash med & eye med not needed, missed iron up (we're out), l-carnatine, miralax, molasses, oxy-mag (these 4 were because he didn't drink his milks).
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