Thomas the Train!

Judah said "Thomas train" sooo many times today! This is a new one!

Judah came to me saying "stuck" and then more words I couldn't make out. He wanted me to fix his track in the play room. I followed him. He turned around, motioned to the play room & said, "Come.." (also new!) When I pretend I can't fix his track he fixes it on his own. So now I play dumb, every single time. Eventually he will stop asking me for help. There are a lot of things that he can do on his own that we don’t make him do. He knows we will do it for him. I try to keep that in mind throughout the day and let him do more.  I remain confident that he can do it on his own, because he can, he’ll get it.

He got himself completely dressed today & was rewarded with a McQueen water car!! He was so excited & surprised! The only part he had trouble with during getting dressed was figuring out where to start. After trying to figure it out for a few minutes, he finally handed his shirt to me and said in sort of a sad way, "I don't know." (new!!)  I showed him where to put his head in and he took it from there!

We did "stand up" and "sit down" for the Star Program work tonight. He did all of them perfectly. The Veggie Sticks reward works REALLY well. His agitation wasn't very bad at all. He decided he didn't want to do "stand up" anymore when we were on our last one, so he stayed seated in his chair and said, "Hands down!!" and slammed his hands on his knees, hahaha! That's the one we usually work on.

At school today, Sebastian went from classroom to classroom (country to country) and got his passport filled! He was really excited about that. He also got a Harritt Hawks award – see pic. He received it in front of the whole school & got to try and score a goal (soccer) in front of the whole school as well! Soccer is a big thing at Harritt for some reason. They usually do the soccer thing on Fiesta Friday (every Friday) - only people who are awarded get the honor of trying to score a goal. I was so happy for him. He looked at me wondering why I was so happy and said, “Mom, I’ve done it before.” I had no idea his other Harritt Hawk award had been presented to him in front of the school and that he got to try & score a goal! Apparently this was his second time doing all of this! Gahhh! Kids!!!

 

Even when he's not flying around on his bike he keeps his helmet on. He says it makes him feel safer.

Some super cool things that happened today!
Bean bag, practically new $5
Finally a sno-cone machine to replace the one I gifted Sebastian for Christmas (it was not a good one for kids!). And this is the Snoopy one I had as a kid! $5!!!

Willow was full of energy ALL DAY. She is now repeating what everyone says & always trying to do whatever she can to get a laugh. She was singing in my lap while we interviewed someone at the house today. Later I found her sitting alone at the play room window in the little Cars seat, staring out the window. She had her play coffee cup on the window sill, within reach. I came over to join her, she smiled, picked up her cup & took a sip of air. She played with Judah outside for quite a while today – they were both pouring rocks & dirt on Judah’s trains – they were both very calm.

Willow would not get out of the computer chair today solely because Judah wanted to sit in it. This is completely her personality at times. Judah started yelling, "Baby!! Baby stuck!! Babeeee!!" He was hesitant about pulling on her but did gently touch her while he screamed bloody murder for her to get out, haha. Willow pushes the bar a lot.. doing things like hitting her brothers, etc. She is always trying to see just how much she can get away with. Punishing her is hard, but I have started doing time-outs with her. She gets away with a lot.

The student we interviewed today was awesome – we liked her even more than the last one! Enormous experience, ideas & knowledge. She’s taken care of people with a variety of disabilities. After hearing her stories, I think Judah will challenge her only mentally.  It sounds like she can handle anything else with her eyes closed and a dog gnawing on her leg. Judah will also be a great opportunity for her to learn, as every new person she works with is. She's done a lot of respite care - so she's used to work that entails entering someones life on a very personal level, which ultimately includes an entire family. Scott said he wanted her to do all of the hours. He was very impressed. He stood at the door as she was walking off to her car. He waved to her & said, “Thank you!” hahahaa

She was awesome with the kids too. Scott was late, so there was a good window of time for her to hang out with the kids – she was completely comfortable & enjoyed them.

But I will need to work on my vocabulary a lot – every once in a while she would throw out a word that threw me for a loop or was just surprising to be heard used so casually. Smart girl. She is studying early intervention, sign language, special ed., psych.. among other things. Her availability isn’t a lot. She currently works in another home as well. She will be more available in the summer though!!

Sebastian & I read for quite a while tonight. Poor kid, I used “matching socks” as a consequence of goofing off or not paying attention. But it worked!! He surprised himself with quite a few words  - and of course his success will keep him going!

Willow is picking out her own outfits now. When we were playing in the sprinkler the past two days, she wanted her “shirt” (swimsuit) off. The boys were shirtless, so she wanted to be too! Makes sense. She couldn't figure out how to get her swimsuit off though. It's confusing for her to put on as well - she can't tell if it's pants or a shirt! haha. I got her a new backpack today. She stuffed it with so many things that she couldn’t get through the seats in the van, she got stuck! Then she almost fell out of the van from the weight of her backpack! But of course none of that stopped her from continuing to wear it. After all, accessories are important! She doesn’t get that from me – it’s totally her!

Our new routine went somewhat well tonight, for us anyway. It was thrown off because Scott had to go to 3 different stores after work. We had everyone in bed by 8:40. BUT we got everything done. And we were able to do a good massage on Judah in peace, as Sebash & Willow were already in bed. Sebastian isn’t crazy about going to bed on his own, that's new to him. But we want him to learn how to do that comfortably –so it is part of the routine.  Judah did the humming when I was massaging him – yay! I felt like I was doing it right! I’ve never gotten the humming before!

The kids & I worked hard to clean the house before the interviewee arrived. She walked in as Sebastian was trying to get the bottom pillows back on the couch & the vacuum cleaner had just been shut off. Thank goodness she likes dogs.

Judah wanted to play one of his favorite Thomas videos on the computer today. He showed me how to get to it. He maneuvered the mouse really well today when I wouldn’t click on what he wanted me to! Anyway, music plays through the whole 45 minutes of this Thomas video. Sebastian set up the same train track that was in the video when he realized we had the same track. He did this in the kitchen. So they could hear the music, see the video & play on the same track! Judah was singing! A lot!! He was so happy. He was talking a lot too. He’s been talking in new ways all day! I got some video of the talking while playing trains. They all played on the track. They all helped clean it up too! Willow did really well!

Tonight I had Judah get undressed and put his pajamas on all by himself, even his pull-up. Boy, he didn’t like that! He pretended he couldn’t do it – that’s a trick. He used to pretend he was hurt – but I finally caught on & stopped reacting to it. And he stopped being hurt! He tried quite a few things but finally gave in and just did it. Then he hugged me & was happy – this always happens at the end, haha.

The lady we interviewed believes that playing with the other kids while we get some time with Judah is still aiding Judah – this never occurred to me. I was worried about not getting time with him. She also said that as long as we are available in some way and not off at work while she watches Judah then that’s probably totally fine. She thinks that's likely what they mean by not leaving her alone with Judah. We are still waiting on clarification from the case worker on that. If we do get respite then we could use her & leave her with Judah, or let her take him places!

Judah didn't poop today.

Judah had no Oxymag today. He had 1 tablespoon (one dose) of his prescribed L-carnitine. He had 2 doses of Docusate Sodium. He had 2000 i.u. vitamin d, he had none of the folinic acid with b-12 (we are waiting on it to come in), 1 tsp. fish oil, one probiotic & no nose drops. He had no Miralax. He had 1 of his sleep pills- Sleep Factors. We did that pre-massage. He had 1/2 Bethanechol two times today.