Odds & Ends

The kids are really improving these days, especially in language. Braylen is speaking in 5 and 6 word sentences, and all 3 are answering 'yes' and 'no' questions. This is HUGE! Until recently, when you asked them if they wanted some water, they would say "water", or whatever word you said last. Finally we are getting answers to questions. Sometimes they jsut say 'yes' or more often 'no' without necessarily meaning it, but we are getting somewhere. I can usually tell when they are saying "no" just to be toots, and when they mean it! Big progress!

Kynsie and Kyan are also using sentences. Kynsie says "I want down, please". And a few other senteces. Generally she and Kyan use 3-4 word sentences, but again, progress. Both are improving at school, and Kyan is scheduled to move out of the 'transition' class and into a regular class for kids with autism in 2 weeks! This shows that others are seeing his progress too, so we are excited. He is curently spending more and more time with his new teacher and classmates in order to make the transition as painless as possible. He seems to be cruising through it.

Our schedule at home (which I have yet to take a picture of) is working well. In all, all 3 of them are happier with it. I am also gradually getting the toys organized and in large ziplock bags so that we play with one thing (blocks or puzzles, crafts, etc) and then put it away. I think the big thing is that all of the pieces to the toy (Little People animals, puzzles, puppets, etc) are altogether so there is a complete toy to play with. As a result, we are seeing Kynsie and Kyan play more appropriately at home and in school. And this week, Kynsie has begun to play pretend games, which is so sweet. Most of her peers have been doing this for a long time, but for kiddos with autism, it is one of the hardest things to learn. Kyan isn't there yet, but he will be soon.

Our biggest challenge at the moment is that Kyan is still hitting and kicking his siblings and most concerning, the dog. Braylen and Kynsie can somewhat provoke his attacks (not that it excuses it) b taking a toy or just having a toy that Kyan wants. And 3 year olds tend to hit some, so I am not as alarmed at that. plus, they usually hit him back, which seems fair enough to me. But Hershey is doing nothing to provoke Kyan. The ONLY provocation comes when Hershey eats food that is dropped from the table onto the floor. Kyan LOSES his mind. He will get out of his chair to hit the dog. We have put him in time out. Spanked him. Scolded him. Used pictures like this to help him understand.

He will repeat "no hitting". And then guess what he does next? He KICKS Hershey!!! I am at my end with this. We have done everything possible to stop the behavior. We make him apologize to Hershey. We take favorite toys away. I just try to run interferance to keep him away from the dog. I have also spoken with his teacher and she is on it as well. The big problem is that now Kyan will hit or kick Hershey for no reason at all. Yesterday, Hershey was eating his own food at his own bowl and Kyan crossed the room to kick him. It is a wonder that Hershey didn't bite him. I hate to say it, but that might be the best thing that can happen. He is long-suffering, but he has snipped at Kyan some lately, and who can blame him? This has been going on for months. Incidentally, we do not hit or kick our dog, so we certainly aren't modeling the behavior. It stresses me out because sociopaths very often are abusive to animals. I know--that's a big reach, but I worry. I tell you all of this to say, please pray for some resolution with this. We are out of arsenol and the poor dog needs to be treated kindly, and Kyan needs to get through his anger issues. Some days I feel like he is just angry at the world. I hope it's just frustration and a phase that will pass.


In other, more upbeat news:
Friday is generally my sleep-in day. Sleep-in meaning 8:30am rather than 7am. I tend to relish that extra hour. I also tend to stay up later on Thursday nights reading whatever book I am enthralled in at the moment, in anticipation of that extra 1.5 hrs. I should also mention that the kids usually sleep until 9am on Friday and Saturday, especially if they spent the prior evening partying instead of going to sleep. I am even more prone to staying up late when Brandon is out of town on business b/c I am a chicken and don't like being the only adult in the house. So I stay awake as long as I can. Silly, I know, but true.

Well, Brando was gone last night, and the kids partied in their room until a little after 10pm. I went through my normal routine watching shows, did some cleaning, took a quick shower and then began reading around 11pm. Finally around 12:40am, I turned off the light and called it a night.

So please imagine my surprise and chagrin when at 8am on the dot I heard "BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!" HEEHEEHEEHEEE. I lay in bed pretending the noise would go away. It just got worse. I was incredibly offended that my children were not following the unspoken rule of sleeping until 9am, so I promptly stormed into their room and barked "Lay down and beeee QUIET!" How's that for good morning? They did not lay down, and they were far from quiet, but they DID stop playing the wall like a bongo drum and the drawer slamming came to a halt as well. PEACE. The next thing I know, I have little children pretending to be animals.

Kynsie or Braylen would say "I am a Tiger" and all 3 would make tiger sounds. They went through the gammot of farm and zoo animals. Then it got really funny because they went to a few more obscure ones like "I'm a Octopus". And Braylen piped up with "Wee-boop" and they all joined in. For those of you out there who don't speak Wiggles, that is what Henry the Octopus says alot. They also did Turtle..."Turtle, Turtle". I wish I could have taped it for you. It was hillarious. Finally, they moved on to people in their lives. Mommy, Daddy, Grammy, Barbara, Patty--Braylen and Sis say "Hea-Woh! Hea-woh!" Kyan says "Hea-noh! Hea-noh!" It was too cute. After 15 minutes of listening to them giggle and play animals in their room together, Mama Bear got out of the bed and started fixing breakfast. Though I was a bit testy at first, I did thank God that I could wake up to kiddy laughter and pretend playing, instead of my alarm. Great way to start my Friday.