Oh no, not the Play-Doh!

Last week, my mom told me that Evan was gagging when the therapist took out the Play-Doh. I wasn't sure if it was a coincidence or not, because it's been several months since I've given him any (and wasn't interested at the time).

Tonight, his other therapist was here, and all was merry until she opened the Play-Doh container. He immediately started to gag. She tried to get him to touch it, but quickly put it away when she learned that he wasn't going to stop gagging.

Funny kid. He reminded me of a boy who had Cerebral Palsy who I worked with last year in the Lifeskills class. He reacted that way to Play-Doh and shaving cream.

He ALSO reminded me of Kyle, although I don't think Play-Doh was ever an issue for him. For Kyle, the first gag item was broccoli. I was very insistent that the boys ate a variety of foods, which they do, but broccoli is one thing that I quickly gave up on with Kyle. When he was around 3, I put his lunch in front of him (which included broccoli), and within seconds, he vomited all over his plate. When he was in elementary school, they had to careful on the days that they were serving it. That one has gotten better, although he still doesn't eat it, but one food item that has stuck is pickles. Kind of ironic, because Matt loves pickles. He'll eat them on anything. Ex.: He mixes them into cottage cheese.

When Kyle is at the grocery store with me, we inevitably have to pass by the aisle with the pickles, and they start at the end of the aisle. Gagging, eyes watering, face turning red is what one will usually see. We try to make it by there quickly, but once he starts, he's never quite the same during that trip--on edge. He doesn't go to the store too often with me, but it helps if we don't go down that aisle and pass it on the opposite end.

When we get fast food, I often don't bother ordering his burgers without the pickle, I guess partly because I think it's better if he learns to "deal with it," (on gentle terms). So, when I take his burger out of bag, he knows to turn around while I take the pickle off.

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When Evan's therapist left this evening, he did his usually floppy arm wave good-bye. BUT, he also said, "bye." That was a first. When he was much younger, at least a year ago, he would sometimes say something like "buh."

Before his therapist arrived tonight, he was looking at the title of his snowman book and said, "Waszat?" while pointing to the letter 'm.' He them made the 'm' sound!

Might As Well Jump!

Jumping, that's what Evan is doing right now in his crib. It's what he almost always does before going to sleep. It can last up to 45 minutes! A while back, I posted about the sleeping habits of the older two. There was a KEY sentence in that post---"I'll talk about Kyle and Matt's...Evan's is a little different."

A little different...first, he took 10-20 minute naps when he was an infant. But, at a few months old, he was sleeping through the night. Ah yes, right on schedule. Then, when he was 6 months old, we went to Florida for a week. The first 2 nights, he slept through the night. After that, life hasn't been the same.

I've tried the technique of letting him cry...it worked for the other three, but it's doesn't have a very big impact on Evan. Part of the problem may be that because I'm working, I feel a little guilty and give in a little easier. And then sometimes I think that he's just getting back at me for working, because over the summer when I was home for about a month, his sleeping habits improved.

It does seem, though, to help a little after I let him cry it out. Usually the next night is a little better. Actually, the past couple of weeks haven't been too bad. I think he slept through the past 2 nights. A couple of months ago, he was getting up 2 or 3 times during the night...usually right after I fell back asleep.

The funny thing is that recently (with the exception of the last 2 nights), he's been waking up around 3 and happily jumping in his crib! A part of me says I should go in and tell him to stop, but the other part says, ' Well, at least he's happy.' I don't know what's going to happen when we put him in a bed.

But, you know, I really think we might be on a roll now with those 2 nights in a row...hmmm...I'm off to bed...

Wordle

Click on the picture

www.wordle.net

B-ball and New Words

The boys are growing up! Tonight, they went to a Pacers game with their Best Buddies! I've never even been to a Pacer game.

One of the buddies called earlier in the week and said that the B. B. program had been given 4 tickets to the game, and I'm not sure how it was decided who would get the tickets, but somehow, they ended up with Kyle and Matt and their buddies.

I was a little apprehensive at first; the thought of them in a car with a teenager driver, all the way to Indy (45 minutes), yikes. One of the buddies just called and said that they were leaving now...the Pacers won.

I gave the boys each a disposable camera. They have almost no experience with cameras, so the outcomes should be interesting. Matt was very excited about the camera; he started taking pictures right away--like when the girls pulled in.

It's just so incredible. Ten years ago (or even less), I never would have imagined that they would be doing something like this. Two kids who did not do well in crowded places with us...now EXCITED about going to a NBA game with peers. Wow.

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Evan has been on a role with vocabulary recently. Although he has been saying words since around 11 months, nothing ever "stuck," and it was completely unpredictable when we would get to hear a word. But now, he's saying things and then repeating them kind of "on command!" Examples that I can think of right now: affe (giraffe), owl (how random is that one), pig, Gigi (our dog), ball, ish (fish), leaf, keys, bus, dog, wazsat (what's that), bee, and (eep) sleep. The "sleep" is funny. He saves it for Grandma's and Grandpa's house. When I drop him off, he immediately says to my dad, "eep," and then laughs. They make a big game out of it. Along with those words, he's also making much more effort with sounds in general. Whenever he sees a swimming pool or any other large body of water on tv, he says with enthusiasm something that sounds like "bath," kind of like "wath," but really, he's saying "splash!" His signing of "all done" and "more" have been very consistent, also.

He also seems more content recently. Chelsey was home today, and she decided to make a cake (a very, um, sad looking cake---you know it, Chel). He didn't cry when she had the beaters on! That's highly unusual. Also, when I went shopping today, I asked him if he wanted to go with me (he always does), but today, he just watched me leave, and DIDN'T COMPLAIN!

What a day! My boys seem like they are making huge gains all in one day!

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****UPDATE****

Kyle and Matt are home, and they had a good time! The buddies did, though, comment that they seemed to be getting a bit tired near the end. They really like their nine o'clock bedtime!

The buddies also told me that some woman was rude to Kyle! Both Kyle and Matt took a lot of pictures---they used up all 27 on their roles. I guess after Kyle was finished taking pictures, he was playing with the rewind thing. The girls both said that they didn't even notice that he was doing it. A woman who was sitting two rows in front of them came back and rudely told him to stop (according to the girls). The buddy tried to explain that "he didn't mean anything by it" (interpreted--he didn't mean to be rude, unlike the woman).

Ugh. Some people.

I Was Wrong!

In the previous post, I predetermined that trick-or-treating with Evan would not be successful....I was wrong.

First of all, I think part of the success of the evening was due to the fact that I didn't have high expectations; I wasn't even sure that I was going to put a costume on him.

It all began in the late afternoon. For whatever reason, it hadn't even crossed my mind that we still "needed" to carve our pumpkins; I think Matt mentioned it. So, we brought them in and cut into them. Kyle willingly participated---it's never been a favorite activity of his; Matt has ALWAYS been into it. The picture pretty much explains their pumpkin gutting techniques.

True to form, Kyle chose for his pumpkin to have a happy face.

We turned on our porch light, lit the pumpkins, and waited with lots of candy. Unfortunately, our street doesn't attract a big crowd; okay, it doesn't attract any type of crowd. Our only visitors of the evening were relatives. When spiderman showed up, Evan immediately touched his costume; I think he liked the fabric. I then started thinking, 'Oh man, why didn't I get him all dressed up? Why didn't we go downtown? He would have loved seeing all the costumes!' Within seconds, he was crying big tears because of the hooded mask--that made me feel a little less guilty!

After that, I decided to go ahead and put the clown outfit leftover from when Matt was little. It something I had made---odd choice of material, but Matt was my 'little porkchop,' because he was porkier than the other two! Evan accepted the outfit with ease. I then decided that I might as well give it a try! With pumpkin basket in hand, we walked up to my parents house. Because it wasn't 7 in the morning, Evan balked a bit. But, we made it in the door and got a cookie---he liked that. After a few minutes there, we headed out the door. There was one house (not including ours) that had a porch light on. Should I? Hey, why not! We headed over to the house, and 5 feet from the door, he started pulling away. Luckily, the people could see us, and the man brought the candy basket out to us. Evan, to my surprise, acted like an old pro! Due to the fact that we have little to no business on this street, the man encouraged Evan to keep on taking more---which he happily did! Yay!

I was then a bit disappointed that more lights weren't on, but probably, it was for the best. I went home feeling so happy!

After we walked through the door, Evan plopped down in the entrance, and proceeded to take out each piece of candy. He then put each piece back in the bucket. This went on for a while. I tried to get him to take a bite of the chocolate, but he didn't want anything to do with it. He did, though, eat a few of the Smarties.

Chelsey then taught him a fun game called, "Shake, shake, shake!" How to play? One takes a package of candy, such as Skittles or Dots, and shakes package while saying "shake, shake, shake!" He was quite amused.

Soon after, he went into the living room, and I took off his costume. John then taught him another Halloween game called "Toss the candy in the basket." Rules of game: Evan removes a piece of candy from basket, brings it to daddy, and daddy tries to throw it in the basket. Although a made basket is acceptable, it is much more entertaining when daddy misses and says, "Missed!"

(clothes wet from lemonade)