A depressing read

My lovely neighbour f0und this book in the library, read it to give herself some more understanding of ASD, and then re-borrowed it for me.

Too bad it was incredibly depressing!

Yes, George and Sam are a whole lot worse than Bright Eyes, but I could recognise a lot of what they did in Bright Eyes and started to feel pretty rotten about the whole thing again.

I put the book down halfway through and will be returning it to the library.

Talking about... what?

I often share the cute (or coherent) things Bright Eyes says on this blog. The reason is that they are reasonably few and far between. We were outside today on the swing set and this was his conversation to me for about five to ten minutes.

“I’m Sam, You’re Elvis. Elvis! Elvis! Sam and Elvis. I’m Sam, You’re Elvis. (mutter) Sam, Sam... (louder) I’m going up. Up. Up. Mum! I’m going up there. I’ve got my blue and yellow. My blue and yellow and black. Hmm. Who’s that? Mum! Who’s that up there? You’ve got mumble mumble car. Red car is fixed. Black car is broken. Mum! He’s got a broken wheel. He’s got an ouchie. Mum! I’m Sam. I’m Sam. (not looking at me but clearly telling me to get off the swing) Get off, Sir. Sir. Sir. Get off. Let’s get off the fire truck. [Me: No. I want to stay on.] Let’s get off together. Let’s stay on. Wee-oh-wee-oh-wee-oh. We’re doing it. Sir. Red and blue and yellow and black...”

I know that most of the time he was talking about Fireman Sam (a lovely British kids TV program), but its hard to join in with the game sometimes because he has a strict way he likes to play it. There are days when I tune out...

Blah

There are days when I feel like a fairly useless mother and worse RDI therapist. Today was one of those days. Husband was working (sometimes he does Saturdays) so I just hung around with the boys, tired, and unmotivated to do anything.

RDI lab time was difficult. I find it so hard to stop requiring the ‘right’ response, especially when I’m tired. I was trying to set up a game with blocks, building a home, then a school and then a road between them, but he was a little bit more interested in the way two of the blocks fitted together.

Thankfully it is now 6pm and both boys are in bed. If there is one thing I am good at, it is getting children to bed early. I need it for my sanity.
Hopefully tomorrow is a better day.

Hi visitors

One of the cool things about having a counter for the number of visitors to this blog (see to the right) is that I can also view statistics about where visitors are coming from.

The other day I was delighted to see that people from about 10 different countries plus lots of Aussies from different places are dropping in here and there.

If you're a regular reader, I'd love to hear from you. Why not leave a comment?

Shower boy

Bath times have been hit and miss in our house for years. Some days Bright Eyes is ultra-happy to hit the suds. Other days he refuses long and loud.

Last night my eight year old daughter was (as always reluctantly) taking her shower when the already naked two year old baby decided it would be fun to go in and join her.

I said to Bright Eyes who was just down the hall (having already refused to take his bath), "Hey look! They're in the shower together." He was curious and came to have a look. I could see the gears clicking and a minute later he said, "Me too!"

Quick as a flash I whipped his clothes off and shepherded him towards the shower door. He got in tentatively but in about a minute he was having so much fun with the other children, I just had to take a photo!

Positive things: He chose to do it after I pointed it out to him. He joined a joint activity that looked like fun. It is running water!!! He has never done it before.

Grocery shopping

Monday mornings are our grocery shopping days. They are getting easier!

Bright Eyes is a real helper now. He's interested and shows attention to what we are doing. He asks me if he can buy something with a cute little smile and query look on his face. He finds things on the shelf and puts them in the trolley, and then helps unload. It's great.

Today I was playing problem solving.

Me: "We need something round..."
Him: "A ball?"
Me: "No, something that comes from a chicken..."
Him: "Hmmm. Egg!"
Me: "Yep. We need some eggs."

Me: "We need something that's white and a drink"
Him: "Milk!"

Now if I can get the two year old helping as well, we'll have a fabulous time.

Pay attention Mum!

One of our new objectives this week is getting Bright Eyes to understand that just because someone is in the same room or close by, they may not be available for communication.

We have a long way to go.

He spends his day calling "Mum, Mum" from wherever he is, expecting me to drop everything and come running. He still has that two year old belief that Mummy is 'on tap' and is always available.

If I say, "Not yet" or "later" he yells louder and groans and moans. Apart from inflicting pain, I'm not sure how we're going to teach this one!