class party

I actually made it to one of Bub's class events this year...the very last event.  end of the year party.  I attempted to make some peanutbutter ricecrispy treats, but I thought they were pretty oogy, so at the last min, (after my 45min nap after a 12hr shift) I cut up a bunch of fruit and we whisked off to his school.  only 2 other parents showed upin the classroom-I thought that was kinda sad, but the kids loved fruit salad.  I shoulda done my wiggles songs collection for them.  lol.
Zbug was rather intimidated by all the "big kids" and hid behind Bub for awhile, well, until Bub decided he didn't want his kid-sister hanging on him.  Zbug got the hint and found a teenee tiny chair in the corner to sit in, and then found a rocking chair..rocking chairs are endless sources of amusement I gather....

His teacher got big baked potatoes from a local deli for all the kids which was a GREAT idea since there are very few people in the entire world who have a potato allergy.  lol. apparently Bub loved his w/ just ketchup...as always.

Bub will be going to school next week as a voluntary thing.  Here in smalltown ETX the last week of school is optional for kids who are doing fine or didn't miss too much school during the year, Joe decided Bub should get that last week in, I had an aside w/ his teacher to make sure it was ok.

Anyhow.  it's been a better few days, Bub has been controlling his temper better, plus he got over his tummy bug on Monday, so maybe that was the core problem...

who knows with the mind of bub.  After dinner when Z was in bed, me and bub played "Starfall.com" on the PC, he knows how to use a mouse now.  yayee!

Nubs

PS- Bub and Z didn't think the pb treats were oogy...they devoured the whole tray while I was asleep this afternoon.

Bub had her beat by 11 months: Autism learning?

Last nite, while I was at work...changing teeney-tiny poopie diapers, mind you...My Zbug discovered how to get out of her crib by herself & sneak up on daddy to deliver a mini-heart-attack surprise.  plus before she came out to scare daddy, she pulled down a dress from a hanger and played "dress-up pretty".

Bub figured out how to crawl fall out of his crib at 13 months.  Z learned to do it 2 days b4 she turned 2.  So what does that mean?   was it that Bub is more physically driven to learn and perfect certain physical tasks as quickly as possible, or that Z's learning is more faceted than Bub's was and she focuses on multiple tasks that are completed at a slower rate vs Bub who gets "stuck" on a task and does it over and over until he feels he's perfected it, and then keeps doing it after it's perfected because it has now become a ritual?

this learning difference in the two of them has me laughing and sad at the same time.

Bub surprised me today, he came running out of his room naked...which usually means some sort of bodily material has exited his body and is lying in wait for me on his floor..but there wasn't anything on the floor.  so I took him to the bathroom expecting him to pee...cuz he prolly started in his pants stopped when he realized it, and stripped to go...but then got distracted.  So he pees then sits down on the potty and poops!  I am super proud of him.

He got all confused on how to wipe up afterwards....so momma had to help teach that.  yayee me.  (no)

It's so odd how he does things, and his rate of learning.  He will get something for a day, then regress for weeks as if he's "thinking about it", then out of the blue he'll try it again...and again, nothing for a while.  then one day he just "gets" it and then does it the right way almost always after that.  it's so odd, and frustrating to deal with.  Joe hopes verbalization will happen this way.  I'm just happy Bub understands speech and directions.

anyhow.  I'm tired, NICU shifts wipe me out.  It's funny when you consider most NICU babies are under 3lbs and they just kick my a**.  but there it is.

nite...off to make Zbug a birthday cake for her "towe" birthday tomorrow.  :)
Nubs

Bub did it for two days in a row

That's right.  My Bub has pooped in the potty 2 days in a row.  I am speechless.  he did it on his own.  no prompting from either Joe or I.  Both times it was during his pre-bed-time bath.  I guess he's finally connecting the urge to go with the actual action of pooping.  I am so excited about this.

When we were first going thru adjusting to Bub's diagnosis of autism, there actually was a support group in the area (it's non-existent now)  there were parents and grandparents there that had older kids/young adults with varying levels of ability.  Most of them tried to reassure me that potty training *probably* would happen since Bub has a fairly high level of functioning, and that pretty much it would be around 7 y/o.

At the time, Bub was barely 3, and my heart was falling...4 more years of diapers...if I'm LUCKY??!?!!??!!!!

sometimes, what is said to bring hope will crush the soul of the recipient.  Yeah, that was pretty soul crushing.

but it seems that they were pretty dead on.  I wonder why 7 seems to be the magic number that people told me to expect positive changes.  I have had several people tell me that.  it's odd, and getting harder and harder to dismiss.  Today in addition to the previously mentioned accomplishment, I walked into his room and found him writing his alphabet on a dry-erase board with a washable marker. (the door was closed so no Z-marker incident)  He gets to S on his own now (usually), after "s" he does a row of "H" (all capitals, no lowercase "h") then resumes the alphabet at "U". (I think this is a type of 'elaboration')  He's getting much better with remembering "M"s point down, and "W"s point up.  He's not mixing them up as often anymore.  He is still having some hard times distinguishing between "S" and "5" tho...but then my "5" look like "S" half the time, so peh.

As for my Zber, she is beginning potty training too.  She now knows to pee when we sit her on the potty.  And she is ALL over putting TP in the potty and pulling the flush.  She loves flushing the toilet.  she also loves throwing toys in the toilet if she manages to sneak in there when we are looking...but so far, nothing has gotten stuck, and we have not needed to call a plumber or our landlord. *whew*

She is starting to join in on the hand-movements for itsy-bitsy spider now.  not everytime, but enough to make this mommy all teary eyed thinking about it. (Bub has yet to join in yet...ever.)

nite all.  one more day off and then the next 2 days of my unit orientation (Yayee).

Nubs

picked up a bug

I am feeling really crappy today.  it's pretty sucky cuz I have tons to do, and my next rotation starts tomorrow nite.  my head hurts like hell.  I hate this.

But on the plus side....I HAVE A NEW JOB!!!!  I got hired on at one of our local hospitals in the pediatric department!  Yayee me!!!  I'm still working nights, but I am very cool with that.  I'm really used to it by now, so that isn't an issue.   And yes..this was what my "mystery meeting" was all about. 

I would be bouncing around about this but I'm getting either thru some bug or I'm still recouperating from working all night on Sat-sun in floor stripping fumes. floor stripping fumes are not my friends apparently.  I had the worst headache on Sunday and pretty much slept all day and night. I barely spent any time with the kids the whole day.  I feel like a terrible mom.  :(

Other exciting news....Bub has poo'ed twice in the potty all by himself since last week, and Zber is saying "kitty" and "STOP"  and "y-sssssss" (it's not fully vocalized "yes", but I will take it!).  ECI visitied and Zber is not showing any need for therapies at this time. (whew!)  Masquerade (our new kitty) lets Zber pick her up carry her all over w/o complaint, and Joe fixed our old PC. our brakes AREN'T complete toast (we just needed to add brake fluid).  and we didn't bounce a single thing financially after paying all the bills. 

Somehow, we are doing things right for once.  hope we can keep it up.  :)

Nubs

finally some rain!

it rain today for the first time in what seems like forever.  not anything NEAR enough what we need here in drought-stricken ET, but enough for Lil Miss Z to get her mud puddle on...

 After the muddy fun, we waited for Bub to come home from his 1st day of school.  It was a bigish day for Bub, he has the same teacher he had his 2nd year of school.  Plus he is now in a "life skills" class with kiddos up to 12 y/o.  Bub is no longer the biggest fish in the pond.  lol.  But with the way he's been growing, and how hungry the risperidone is making him...He may be catching up soon.  erk.

Home again home again, jiggity jig.

After he got home, we went out for dinner, I let Bub pick what he wanted to eat.  Lots of jello...and fries, and fish.  a few shrimp. and a cup of ketchup.  what a lucky little boy.

more of the world from Bub, and a monkey salad bowl

Bub has been doing really well on Risperidone.  Tomorrow will be a week on it.  next Thursday I need to call his Doctor and report on how he's doing.  Peeing in the potty has improved...pooping...not so much yet.  He has been VERBALIZING!!!  Grandma caught him on tape saying "Big!" as he built a lego tower that was taller than he was.  -I- heard him say "big" while he was building a plastic easter-egg tower yesterday...and he almost never verbalizes around me...lil stinker...  lol

I met with his school nurse on Tuesday to update her on his new med and side effects to look for (most rare yet possible- neuroleptic malignant syndrome)  she never heard of either the drug or the side effects.  REALLY?  not remember NMS?  I remember VERY well Ms Wyszynski going over that in Med Surg III.  telling us how to "snatch that patient from the grip of death"  as NMS is pretty fatal if you don't identify and address it very quickly.  Bub's Dr and I talked for a great while about how frequent that side effect had manifested in her years of practice (very VERY little).  I told the school nurse that if he shows symptoms of NMS call 911.  She said they don't like doing that w/o calling the parents first.   !!!!???!!???!  call me, I'll call 911 and meet him at the hospital!  Seriously...if you had a kid go into a diabetic coma (likely in a school setting at some point), you would call the parents before you dialed 911?  I have grave concerns about this nurse and her desire to protect her license....

ANYhow,
I was going thru the pictures on my camera and noticed some pictures I didn't take, and aren't in the style or nature of pictures Joe would take..(Joe takes pictures when I hand him the camera and say, "Just take a picture of me and the kids already!!!!!")  And Bub has been understanding the camera, and loves to turn it on while making his "elaborations" to watch the progress on screen, like he's on TV or something.  :)  it's cute.  But I think he actually took some pictures while he was viewing his progress.  I need to buy him a cheap $20 digital camera soon, so he won't keep stealing my pricey one!  lol

I took this picture of his geo-work  by the driveway

Self-portrait taken by Bub...how about them nostrils?  hee!

Rolly-balls!  Bub LOVES his rolly-balls!  Unfortunately, Zbear does too...

More rolly-balls!

And a while back...I posted about Zbear pulling out the Monkey wood salad bowl my parents got us.  I found the shot.  Click HERE for that post.

Monkey girl in monkey bowl!

Nubs to you all!  Good night!

bunk beds!

Here it is!  the bunk beds we BOLTED to the walls and then strapped down the mattresses to the frames to keep Bub from using it as climbing materials to the ceiling. 

Climbing!

So how do I get to the top?

Oh!  that's how!

hey!  the ceiling fan is gone!

Bub's new look-out!

Nubs!

results of Bub's ARD

So, Bub finally had his ARD on Friday, April 1st.  Originally it was scheduled for the Wednesday before, but we rescheduled b/c our meeting time was 9:45am, and no one had come out to tell us anything by 10:30am, and I was scheduled to work that night and I had been up since noon the day before.  I was TIRED!  I needed SOME sleep so I could competently take care of my kiddo's at work that night.  as it was I only got about 4 hours, and the nurse I relieved gave me a hard time about looking like the cat dragged me in...but I digress.  Joe was pretty upset about the meeting being held up, but I knew something had happened, that they were having a dispute and had to resolve it before the meeting could end...and I was right.

Anyhow, it went really well.  Bub has made improvements, not as much as I hoped for, but enough to be very happy with.  Next year Bub will be in a classroom of 7-12 y/o's and will spend at least 1 hr a day w/ a kindergarten class where he will also be with kids from the Deaf Education program and their ASL interpreter!  Also, the time he will spend in the Kindergarten class will be MATH!  Bub loves numbers and counting.

It was a very good meeting, and I am so looking forward to Mr. Man's next school year  :)


Nubs!

My Bub

So, My little man has been wearing underwear since Wednesday and has not had a single accident.  can I say how excited I am?  I am so proud of the little guy.  I know most of the autie parents I talk to said 7 was the average age of potty-training IF potty-training was going to happen, so Bub is ahead by 1/2 a year!  yayee for my BUB!  no more UnderJams and Huggies Overnites...do you have any idea how expensive they can be?!?  and I scour the internet for coupons.  Yayee, I can use the $40-60/month to save up for a family vacation in August!  woo hoo!

In recognition of my Bub's accomplishment I got him a box of dominoes.  He's very happy with them.  he likes counting the dots.  as for now, he's reading his catalogs...it's some kind of science-toy one.   I ordered a bunch of catalogs a few weeks ago, and they started coming in this week.  I'm going to have to look for more.  :)

Nubs for now!

mile stones...right?

well, I think we are seeing some good mile stones with Mr. man.

Wednesday he was playing in the pantry. He found a basket my mom gave me & was filling it with tuna fish cans (he doesn't like tuna, but he SURE likes the cans it comes in....*sigh*) (FYI- it's was the basket right in front of him & towards the floor in the below picture he was using at the time- it kinda looks like a picnic basket) anyhow. I had just checked on him, making sure he wasn't grabbing things from too high that would fall on his head (he is fascinated with things -just- beyond his reach), he looked fine with the tuna filled basket so I went back to the counter to finish studying for one of my psych classes. I hear a "thunk" & a big wail & a little man comes racing out of the pantry, pulls me down to floor level & weeps into my shoulder. Of course I hug the little man & I asked him to show me where it hurts (he never does, I have to find the bruise or cut myself once he calms down). Well, surprise surprise! Mr. man sniffles, pulls back & points to a tiny scratch just under his left eye. I am caught off guard by this, but quickly recover with the traditional obligitory "oh poor sweet baby, momma kiss it better...." speeches. Mr. Man seemed to feel better once the kisses were applied to the correct places. :)


then, this morning I woke up unusually early & watched the morning news with grandpa b4 he left for work.(getting to watch the news in the morning is a HUGE treat for me). Around 6:30 I hear the unmistakable sound of Mr. Man awake (he has taken to barking upon waking this past week an a half) so I go over to his room to give him his morning hug. He is sitting up on the side of his bed, barking softly to himself at this point. He sees me, holds out his hands & says "momma" really excitedly. That was the best good morning I got!

New favorite game is filling his "little people" bus with people & animals from his "noah's ark" set. Every "load" will contain a panda, all the others are different, but there is something about the panda that must be bussed all around town (kinda like me during elementary school). however, the panda is never the driver, tho sometimes the lion is. how weird is that?


He finally decided he likes PB & J sandwiches 2 months after I decide I can let him try peanut butter (remember, I have a dread of food allergies & food intolerances)


He saw a package of his favorite and best treat (chocolate covered graham crackers) laying on the counter, screamed "cookie" & lunged at the package, then helped himself to the "cookies" while grandma & momma laughed (we prolly shouldn't have laughed, but we couldn't help it....)

what a busy week.

testing pictures

Here's the bub. we're not sure when this is- but I'll figure it out - I think it's near his 1st birthday when Grandma & Grandpa came up to visit in 05. It really looks that way bc it's seems to be pre-1st haircut! :)
More to come.