Store Visit and Sidewalk Chalk

This weekend the family made a trip to the local Walmart.  We went in to purchase some groceries and other household items.  Samuel is pretty familiar Walmart and understands that he rides in the cart when he goes (he would run around the entire store if we didn't have him in the cart).  This week we entered on the appliance side instead of the grocery door.  We then went to the household items (soap, toothpaste, shaving cream, etc.) section and Samuel was not very happy.  He kept saying "this way", pointing toward the other side of the store.  Then as we began to go that way, he got even angrier because we did not go down the aisle that he wanted us to go.  Next thing we knew, he was screaming to the point that most of the store could hear him.  We soon realized this week's trip to the local Walmart was not going to be successful with Samuel.  Therefore, I suggested to April to keep Cameron and I would take Samuel to the car.  As I took him out of the cart and went out the door, he was screaming at the top of his lungs.  I'm certain some of the customers had to be questioning if I was kidnapping him as I carried this kicking and yelling child to the car. When we reached the vehicle, I literally could not get him into his car seat due to the kicking that he was doing.  Therefore, since I knew it would be a while before April and Cameron were finished shopping, I decided to let him sit in the front seat while we were parked.  The crying and screaming continued for another 10-15 minutes before it gradually stopped.  A few minutes later, he was completely calmed and voluntarily climbed back into his car seat.  I buckled him in and we waited patiently until April and Cameron returned.  The rest of the day went very smoothly with no problems from Samuel.  One year ago, there is no way we would have known how to handle this outburst.  Although things are far from easy, we feel like experience has taught us how to better handle various tantrums.  Everything is still very much trial by error and the next time may not be as successful, but at least progress is being made.

We have been blessed to have a couple of days of beautiful weather.  Yesterday while Cameron and myself were gone, April took Samuel outside to play.  We have some sidewalk chalk that he enjoys using.  I have mentioned in previous posts, how infatuated he is with letters and numbers.  Well, Samuel wanted April to write the numbers as he called them out on the sidewalk.  He would say, "write 1, 2, 3."  So April would write every number from 1 to 30 on the driveway in a certain color.  He would then get extra excited as he repeated each number.  Moments later, he would hand April another color for her to write the numbers 1-30 again and repeat the cycle.  She did this through five or six colors and it lasted around 45 minutes.  They did play T-ball for a short while, but the better part of an hour outside was spent writing numbers on the sidewalk.

Although repetition can be rather mundane for adults, we are thrilled that Samuel is excited about something productive like numbers and letters.  I'm curious about other parents experiences with this type of behavior and how we can keep it positive, but not allow this infatuation to prevent him from experiencing other things around him.

Thanks again for taking time out to read.  I am most grateful for the many kind words that people have shared.

Until next time,
Brian

Six Emotions and Bedtime

A couple of months ago April brought a book home titled, "My Book Full of Feelings" by Amy Jaffe and Luci Gardner.  There are six emotions that this book discusses: Worried, Happy, Frustrated, Calm, Angry, and Sad.  April has done a wonderful job explaining these feelings to Samuel and he has significantly enjoyed the book.  We often find him "reading" it in his bedroom.  He can go through each page and tell you what the different emotions are.  In fact, he will not only tell us the emotion but also act it out.  When he says "Happy" it will be expressed with a high pitch voice and a huge smile on his face.  Then he will say "Angry" and do it in a deep ruffly voice.  Sometimes during the day he will randomly start to repeat all the six different emotions. He has also learned how they apply to his life.  There are mornings that he will wake-up with a smile on his face and come into the living room saying "Happy."  Those moments are special for a parent.   Although his vocabulary remains limited, his ability to communicate with us verbally is growing.  By understanding how he is feeling, we have a better knowledge of what his needs are at that particular time.  It also seems to limit the sudden change of emotions that he frequently can possess.  I consider this a small but significant step in his development and our growth as parents.

As I am writing this tonight, he has been put to bed only to have gotten up.  For some reason he is running around the living room in full laughter mode.  I'm not exactly sure what he is finding so funny, but it is always good to see him smiling and laughing.  However, it is obvious that he is very tired and is moving around in an attempt to keep himself from falling to sleep.  The last couple weeks he has gotten out of bed almost every night.  Samuel and Cameron share a bedroom, with a bunk bed.  Cameron sleeps on top, with Samuel on the bottom.  We have a general routine where they lay down, I tell them a story, pray, and then I sing a few songs (only a 5 and 3 year old actually want to hear me sing).  After the songs, I say goodnight and leave the room.  In the past they would occasionally get up if they were not very tired.  However, every night recently Samuel has ran into the living room a couple minutes after I said goodnight.  I'm afraid this is becoming part of his routine, even on nights that I know he is sleepy (like tonight).  It usually takes April or myself to rock him before he gets still enough to doze off.  Last night, he was not asleep when we were ready to call it a night, so he jumped in bed with us.  Most nights after he falls asleep I will carry him to his bed, but last night I just left him in ours.  I'm thinking that his recent desire to get-up is a combination of a new found routine and needing extra stimulation before he goes to sleep.  If any parents out there have bedtime suggestions, please feel free to share.    

Thanks for taking time to read this week.  I greatly appreciate all the support and kind words people have expressed.

Till Next Time,
Brian

Sweaters, Shoes, Letters, and Numbers

April has told me for a while that I must be color blind.  She says this half-jokingly, but it stems largely from me not being able to decipher black and navy blue.  They look the same to me, but she insists that they are different colors.  Due to my lack of vision, I am able to get out of picking the boys clothes in the morning. More often than not when I do pick out their clothes, April goes behind me and gets something else for them to wear.  This morning as we were getting ready for church, I decided to "be helpful" by not only picking out Samuel's outfit, but also dressing him.  I was right proud of myself until April walked in and said, "that sweater does not match his shirt."  She quickly marched to his closet and handed me another sweater to put on him.  At that point I proceeded to take off his sweater and put the other on.  After I took the original off, he began to protest the new one.  He fought it for a bit as I was trying to get it on, until finally I prevailed (or so I thought).  Samuel demonstrated his displeasure in the new sweater (the one April picked-out I might add), by kicking and screaming in a way that he has not done in quite some time.  April and I both tried to calm him, but nothing would work.  In his fit of rage he ran over to the kitchen trashcan and tried to throw the sweater away.  Fortunately, he hasn't figured out how to take outer wear off by himself. Thus he just screamed while pulling back and forth on the sweater.  We realized at this point that he was not going to compromise and we came to the conclusion that this was not a battle worth fighting.  April took the sweater off and Samuel immediately ran into his bedroom where he grabbed the first sweater off the hanger in the closet and came back into the living room with it.  We ended up changing his pants (this was April's compromise to the original wardrobe malfunction) and placed the first sweater back on him.  After this he was peachy perfect and ready to go to church.  Once we arrived at church, April noticed that his shoes were on the wrong feet.  In the heat of getting him dressed, I had put Samuel's shoes on backwards.  Luckily, he did not fight us switching his shoes. By the way, during Worship and Wonder (kids church) the teachers said he had one of the best behaved days he has had in a while.  I guess the early morning rant got everything out of his system.

Despite the occasional rants, Samuel continues to impress me with his development.  He absolutely loves letters and numbers.  We have this letter box that he received for Christmas.  He enjoys spending time playing with the letters and putting them in ABC Order.  Recently he has started spelling words with the letters.  He can spell his first and last name, STOP, GO, YES, and NO.  In addition, he can count to 30 without any problems.  My parents have a child's desk that was mine when I was a kid.  It includes a chalk board on one side and a magnetic board on the other.  Inside are all the letters and numbers.  He absolutely loves playing with this and I wish we had one like it.  Unfortunately, I have not seen anything quite like this for sale.  I've briefly looked online, but have not yet seen one that I feel he would like.  I'm curious if anyone has some suggestions about where we might could find a simple play school desk.  We are thrilled with his interest in letters and numbers, so we would really like to capitalize on this strength that he has developed.

In conclusion, I would like to wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day.  I am blessed to have a loving, caring wife who makes daily sacrifices for our family.  In this season of love, I thank everyone for the multitude amount of support you have bestowed upon us.  We love you all very much!

Until next time,
Brian

Parking Mistake and a Haircut Visit

Samuel started his new school schedule this week.  As mentioned in my previous post, it was recommended that Samuel go from three full days a week at school to two half days.  Therefore, he started his T/Th half day routine on Groundhog Day.  He doesn't seem to be bothered by this change of routine.  I'm uncertain how much he understands the difference between a Monday and a Tuesday, therefore that change went very smooth.  April has picked him up at 11:30 am both days and she said he appeared surprised to see her on Tuesday.  However, he did not complain about leaving early.  He told everyone "bye" and gladly went on his way.

On Thursday, another obligation kept April from being able to take him to school.  Therefore, I requested to go into work a little later and took Samuel instead.  This was the first time I had dropped him off since his first day back in October.  I told him when he woke-up that I would be taking him to school so he would be prepared for this change.  Everything went smooth as we took the 15 minute drive.  However, when we arrived I parked in the same location that I have picked him up from in the past.  I quickly realized that this must not be the same place April parks in the morning, because Samuel threw a fit!  In muffled words he kept saying, "over there".  I did not see any spaces where he was pointing, but I decided to pull out just in case.  Unfortunately, there were no spaces so I went back to where I had been parked at.  This time Samuel screamed bloody murder!  It was also time for me to walk him inside.  He was screaming and yelling as we headed into the school office to get my visitor pass.  Amazingly, after a moment of being inside the office he started to calm down.  I then held his hand as he took me out of the office and down the sidewalk.  He knew exactly where to go and everything went as clock work.  As his teacher walked up, Samuel let go of my hand and said "bye daddy".  That evening I asked April where she usually parked in the mornings and she told me I was in an entirely different lot than where she generally stops.  Just having that one change, caused him to have the outcry that he did.  However, it was interesting that once we entered the office, he was back on his routine and everything was fine.  It is something I have to constantly remind myself about.

Earlier today I took Samuel to get his hair cut.  This is the first time I had taken him in several months.  (The last several times, my parents took him to our family barber during the week when they were watching him.) Today, when it was Samuel's turn he hopped right into the chair.  However, as a three year old with autism it is very difficult for him to stay still.  The noise of the razor seems to agitate him.  I helped to hold his head still while the barber did his job.  Samuel would have sudden movements that could be extremely dangerous. Fortunately, our barber has nearly 50 years of experience and does a remarkable job of not hurting him.  I wonder how long it will be a challenge for Samuel to get a haircut?  Is this something that will get better with time, or will he always struggle to keep his head still as scissors and a razor are inches from his face.  I'm curious about other parents experiences with the usually simple task of getting a hair cut.

As always, thank you for taking time out to read the blog.  It is awesome to see how people all around the world are visiting this site each week.  We feel incredibly blessed by all the support.

In honor of tomorrow's Super Bowl..........Go Panthers!

Brian