Today Wyatt only dug up the house plant (again), threw the contents of a box of Cheerios out the window, squeezed out all of my eyedrops, and lobbed five pounds of tangerines around the house. He also found a more dangerous way to climb the walls of the tub to get into the shampoo and stuff that we set atop the frame of the glass doors. He now accomplishes this by straddling the sides of the tub and then stepping up on the soap holder indentation while holding onto the washcloth bar.
Oh yeah, and he took off his poopy diaper in the other room, unbeknownst to me, and then put his shorts back on. At least he set the poopy diaper on top of some junk mail on the floor. Then he went a little more in the shorts. I do applaud the effort at independence, I really do, but he stepped in the shorts poo and tracked poo smears all over the house, like one of those family circus cartoons.
Bad things can happen when a parent tries to take a 10 minute nap.
The program supervisor says Wyatt is bored and needs to have his leisure time structured down to the minute. Uhg. That sounds like just as much work as cleaning up all of his boredom messes.
Schedule, schedule, schedule, schmedule. I just want to sleep. Tomorrow is another day, though, and we'll get that big schedule up and running (smoothly, I hope) sometime this summer.
We found that it wasn't so
We found that it wasn't so much what went into the schedule that mattered as the visible (to my son) existence of a schedule that helped him to prepare for transitions and move more smoothly from activity to activity. We scheduled lots of downtime (in shorter intervals to start with). We found that overloading the schedule with too many activities created extra anxiety about fulfilling the schedule (for both him and us).
That's really good advice,
That's really good advice, especially about the shorter intervals. Personally, I like a lot of down time, but Wyatt's downtime and my downtime clash.
I suppose I'll have to get a convenient timer. Cindy swears by that for housekeeping, and I have heard that tip before. So why not use it for downtime as well? It's just going to be annoying in that it takes the average person about 3 minutes to resume their former activity.
I don't know where I got it,
I don't know where I got it, but we had a big clock timer that had a "red" area that disappeared progressively as the time got closer "0". We put it out in full view with the schedule in view right beside it. This helped my son see how much time was remaining to do the activity he was working on and pace himself accordingly and to see what was coming up on the schedule next. For example, if he looked up and saw that there was a only a little red left showing, he knew that there wasn't much time before a change in activities was scheduled. He could then "hurry" to finish or, if he was finished, could use that time to prepare himself to make the change (i.e. put his things away and/or get things out for the next activity). I think that's how he developed his liking to be "ahead of schedule." The trickiest part at first was getting the "amount of time" alotted to each activity (including scheduled down time) just right. The sequences were also strategic (i.e. something he disliked was followed in the schedule with something he particularly liked, etc.)
The joy of going to all the work to get this type of structuring established is that, after a while, you don't have to be there to make every change in activty happen and you don't have to argue/reason/cajole or deal with a tantrum during the transitions. The schedule starts to take over as "the authority" lessening the power struggles.
OMG!! Thr stars must
OMG!! Thr stars must be lined up just right for the chaos to emerge!!
Trinity went to the bathroom yesterday while I spent 10 minutes (or less) checking email. I ASSUMED she was taking her time on the potty..(she is sometimes sitting there almost an hour!) This day was different.
I walked in and she was at the mirror. She said "why are you in here Nanny?" and turned so I could not see her face. I asked.."what are you doing?" to which she replied NOTHING! THIS IS A FIRST PEOPLE!!!
This is common for my grandsons...they are always doing something they think they should cover up! Nothing big, just kid stuff. But for Trinity.... she never gets into anything! When she was a baby, she never put anything in her mouth. At the time, we thought, Wow! what a great little baby..you don't have to watch her like a hawk. Those days may be over.
Back to the mirror....I turned her around and her right eye is absolutely bright red!!!!! OMG..I almost freaked out. She would not tell me what she had done. FINALLY....through much "figuring" I determined that she had wanted to put hair gell in her hair...(she is getting a streak of vanity)..there's ANOTHER cause for celebration, ......but somehow it ended up in her eye. I had to practically sit on her to flush it out with water. She screamed and cried...I was so grateful for the tears. They were helping the eye. Having her that upset with me was difficult. I just kept saying "I am SO sorry baby.."
I don't think she will try that again without me. But I do know that she will be venturing to try more new things and this will be an ongoing process....
Some people probably think
Some people probably think I'm wierd, but I think the first "white lie" is a reason to celebrate! When one thinks about it, It takes some pretty sophisticated thinking to make a white lie. For instance, she had to anticipate that she had done something that might upset you (so she had to not only recognize your point of view but also predict your emotional state). I know the people who make up the baby calendars don't tend to put in a sticker for this sort of thing, but it is a milestone nonetheless.
It's so heartwarming to see
It's so heartwarming to see our kids take an interest in their appearance.
Sometimes Wyatt will refuse to wear something. I am hoping it is because he is developing preferences, but it is probably more likely that he finds the clothing item uncomfortable or tight. He also loves to smear toiletries and beauty products all over the counters. If it looks like lotion, he'll rub it all into his hands and wipe the excess off on his hair and clothing. His first pre-school teacher did a yoga and hand lotion segment of the day and Wyatt REALLY liked the hand lotion stuff. Sometimes I wish I could get rid of all of the soap, lotion, and products in the house because then I wouldn't have to deal with Wyatt's fascination.
My son was always meticulous
My son was always meticulous about his personal cleanliness. He particularly did not like to have dirty hands and wanted them cleaned right away (He was always very much a boy and got his hands dirty lots; but when he was done he wanted his hands washed straight away).
On the clothing side, he was never very brand conscious and still does not like to wear "logo'd" clothes; but he does like his clothes to fit fashionably well in addition to being quite particular about how comfortable they feel). Now that he is buying his own clothes, I see he can be a very discerning shopper. He does notice clothes on other people that do not fit right or that are unnecessarily dirty.
He was always almost embarrassingly conscious of how different people smelled. Smokers in particular would cause him to krinkle up his nose, and when he was small (after he learned to talk a little), I had trouble stopping him from saying rude things to smokers we'd met out in public. He never liked the smell of stronger household cleaners (generally those than contained bleach) and did not like me cleaning with them. After a while, he got more used to it though. He does not like strongly perfumed products either (makeup, shampoo, etc.) so I stay with the unscented varieties and I don't wear perfumes myself.
Just a thought - perhaps Wyatt also has some sensory issues regarding smells which may be causing some of his apparent fascination with certain products.
I was like that when I was
I was like that when I was little. I was constantly embarrassing my mom by yelling out things at the store like, "P.U., who farted?" and telling women that they needed to shave their mustaches or that they had embarrassing cellulite.
LOL cant get a fart past a
LOL cant get a fart past a kid thats for sure =)~~~
No kidding - and once
No kidding - and once they've opened up their little/big mouths about it - EVERYBODY knows for sure. They do keep us honest, don't they? Oops, was that me??
That sound like me when I
That sound like me when I was pregnant. My nose was working over time, no
cravings but I loved the smell of coffee lol. And by the way I dont like having my
hands dirty/sticky eighter yuck!!
Marcel is in time out for
Marcel is in time out for a little while because he was scratching me AGAIN. Time out is pretty
good. He's in the master bedroom, the tv is on cartoons. I've got a "window" in the door to
make sure he's okay. Sometimes he's in there 5 minutes, sometimes he falls asleep in time
out (on the big comfy bed). There are many days I dont have to use it at all & there are days
when Im sooooo glad we do have it, like the other day when he got into his poop and I had to
control the situation because on top of a poopy child I had a hyper dog ugh. First thing I did
was give him a bath, then I put him in time out while I cleaned up the huge mess in the
other room. Nicole you may need to simplify your surroundings so it'll be safer for Wyatt
& less worrisome for you. That way you could take a quick cat nap. Here in San Antonio the
other day a six year old autistic boy just walked out of his apartment while his dad was
resting. He climbed on a chair and somehow got to the lock. Thank God the little guy was
okay. A neighbor found him in nothing but a dirty diaper and brought him in & called the
police. These kids will keep ya on your toes, thats for sure!!
We refer to our bed as "the
We refer to our bed as "the big comfy bed" also! What a coincidence!
Anyway, we have key locks on the two exit doors and the only other ways out would be out of a second story window, which we have child safety bars on. We have the bars over the screen parts, not the whole way over the glass. We could always bar across the glass later. These bars are Guardian Angel brand, which they say on their website are now mandatory on all construction in the state of Massachussets. I wonder if Medi-Cal would cover something like that? They were about $400 for all, plus the cost of the handyman to install them properly.
I suppose another thing that could happen is that Wyatt could try climbing onto the balcony wall and jumping off, but he's a supremely cautious kid, so I think we're safe for now. It would be an enormous undertaking for us to secure that area. We don't have A/C as we rely on ocean breezes. We leave those doors open year-round. Also, the builder installed the door frames backwards, so that presents another layer of difficulty in securing that area.
As for having your door with a window in it, I think you guys have come up with some fabulous ideas. I also like your idea of half-door to the kitchen, although that would not work for Wyatt because he has his trick of pulling up a chair to use as a step-ladder.
Eventually, we may decide to put a lock an interior door, but there is a fire safety issue. I mean, we don't WORRY about it, but if there was a fire and we couldn't locate the key in a hurry, we would be in trouble. Also, I feel like a jailer because my keyring is getting so heavy. I've got lots of new keys on it to doors AND a locking cabinet.
The reasons we would have for locking Wyatt's room would be to keep him contained in one room during the night, so if he wakes he would not be roaming the house unsupervised while us parents are out cold. The problem with that is the potty access, which would be an issue if we succeed in getting him potty trained. In that case, we would have to look at hiring a contractor to add a doorway in the hall that would make the hall bathroom en suite with Wyatt's room. Are you still awake? Is this incredibly boring? :) Sorry!
Anyway, this is the price we pay NOT to institutionalize our special needs children. Back in the day, a lot more people would send their kiddos to "residential facilities." Today, if our private residences look too much like "facilities," will it look like we are creepy child abusers who lock our children up in "cells"? The neighbors might even think we're torturing our kids because they hear loud vocalizations and periodic screams throughout the day and night.
I dont know about anybody
I dont know about anybody else but no you didnt bore me AT ALL.
The trick to getting social security to pay for things is to go through
the doctor. He or she must make the request and say it's medically
necessary.