No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

He used to spill milk.
He used to tear paper.
He used to push Giggles.
He used to write on the walls.
He used to yell.

Most of these things have come and gone. We see them occassionally, but its rare. Usually he finds a new way to blow off steam and the old ways are not seen again. His latest is door slamming. He slams at bedtime when he is tired. He slams when he is frustrated. And he slams when he is perfectly happy, but needs to complete a script in his head.

So, we considered a high tech solution. We considered installing some kind of door stopper on the doors, or maybe even taking off his bedroom door, just to break the cycle. In the end, we went very low-tech. We put folded bath towels over the top of the doors, so that they do not close all the way.

He hates that.

And after a week of trying to discipline him for slamming the doors, we decided that was part of his script. He was waiting for us to say something so he could yell back at us. Now, we ignore it completely, toss the towels over the door and the nearby doors and we walk away.

At the same time, we try to get him to use words to express his frustration. We ask him what is really wrong. We ask him if he is tired, hungry or thirsty. We ask him if he is sad or mad, and why.

I think we are making progress, but the doors still rattle most nights around here.

Related posts:

1. The fustration is very frustrating We have determined that many of the problem behaviors we...
2. I just gotta do it. Like I have said before, if you have the time...
3. Spilling Milk is Naughty. I am sure I have written about this before, because...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Unfortunately, what they don’t tell you is that sometimes a circa 1989 purple velvet dress will literally disintegrate if you snip the stiches that hold in the decorative lace. Oh well. Now I will never be famous on the internet.

Related posts:

1. An oldie but a goodie Giggles, circa October 2008. ...
2. Typed by Pookie wear is the purple face ...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

7:00 am – up and dressed to see Pookie off on the bus.
8:30 am- on the road to WI. She played MagnaDoodle all the way there. Also told me her “knockknock joke” over and over. (”KnockKnock. Who’s there? Banana!”)
10:00 am- arrived in WI and picked up Uncle JoeJoe to take him to see Uncle Bill in the Nursing Home.
10:15 to 10:30 am – waved and danced for all the new old friends she made at the nursing home. Raced Uncle JoeJoe back to the car, laughing that she won.
10:30- back on the road to drop JoeJoe off and go see Grandma next door.
10:30 to 11:15 – played Crocodile Dentist with Papa and pushed her Tulip Baby Stroller thru the house. Stayed out of the cat’s way.
11:15 to 12:00 – lunch with Grandma and Papa, sitting on a big chair.
12:00 to 1:00 – more goofing off with Grandma and Papa, including imitating the way Papa walks around with his hands in his pockets or on his suspenders.
1:00 – back on the road to pick up Uncle Chuckie and take him to see Uncle Bill.
1:15 – out of the car at Uncle Chuckie’s work and finding out we were early and would need to come back later.
1:15 – back in the car, when Mom decides to drive to see another old friend, Ray.
1:30 to 2:30 – visiting with Ray, playing only with his Kleenex box, his footstool and a handful of coins she found in my purse, yet blissfully happy. Jumping on Ray’s lap every 10 minutes or so.
2:30- back in the car to go pick up Uncle Chuckie
2:35 – out of the car, find out we parked at the wrong door, back in the car.
2:37- pick up Uncle Chuckie, but invited inside to meet all his work friends.
2:37 to 3:00 – dancing, smiling, waving and talking to Uncle Chuckie’s work friends.
3:00 to 3:15 – her second visit to the Nursing Home in one day. Still happy and well-behaved.
3:30 – back to Grandma’s where the Crocodile Dentist game came out again.
4:30 – over to Uncle JB’s house next door where she played with T-man, Baby Belaina and Reggie the Wonder Dog for nearly an hour.
5:30 – back on the road home, wearing a pair of fuzzy pink pajamas borrowed from Baby Belaina.
6:00 – Mom stops for gas and notices the car’s front headlight is out.
6:00 to 7:00 – Giggles sits quietly on a park bench (with only her stuffed dog and a glass of milk) at Super Walmart while a nice guy who looked like Patrick Swayze changes the lightbulb for us.
7:00 – back in the car for the 90 minute drive home. More knockknock jokes. Still only funny because of the way she yells “BANANA!”
7:05 – Giggles asleep in the backseat.
9:00 pm- we arrive home and Giggles settles into bed for the night.

If I paid her, I would give her a spot bonus for how well she did. I would say “I can’t believe it!” But, I do believe it. She is a pretty awesome girl and loves to be out and about. Even if its sitting on a park bench at Super Walmart with only her blanket and my cell-phone to play with.

Related posts:

1. My Giggles loves me. Yesterday, when I left for work, she ran to me,...
2. On Wisconsin, On Wisconsin, Land that we Visit! We went to Wisconsin Saturday, to see Grandma and the...
3. Giggles- back to school Well, sort of. During the school year, when I go...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Giggles running around the kitchen shuffling her feet singing “Ren ten tenny…ren ten tenny…ren ten tenny!” just like Pookie does.

Pookie answering my questions about his school Halloween party that day. According to Pookie, “Pookie was a skeleton.” And don’t forget classmate F. “F was a TeleTubbie Friend.” And my favorite “Bobby wore a Bobby costume.”

Geetle riding in the backseat on the way to WalMart, reading a book. Every once in a while she would yell out “what is an IV?” or “What is a splint?”. The dog in her book must have had a really rough day.

Related posts:

1. Yesterday, the kids were home from school (Columbus Day) and I...
2. Yesterday, Today and Tommorrow Yesterday I was sitting across the table from Pookie while...
3. Its pretty cute. Geetle has been trying out some new vocabulary recently. I...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

He could not buckle his seatbelt because he was sitting in the aisle-side of the seat, trying to use the window-side seatbelt. I told him to move towards the window. He looked up at me and plainly said, “The new seat is wet.”

He said “The new seat is wet.”

Yeah, I know. That might not seem like a lot. But you are not his mother. Here is what I get from it:

1. He has made the connection and now knows this is his “new seat.”
2. He had a complaint tried to solve his problem on his own, by moving to the aisle side of the seat.
3. When I told him to move over, he refused and offered an explanation.
4. When I saw the rain drops on the seat and wiped them off, he quickly moved to the window-side of the seat and told me “bye Mom.”

All we have ever wanted for Pookie is to be engaged in his world. We want him to feel like he has a role in his own destiny. We want him to feel like its his life and he controls it. We never want him following blindly, we want him to make his own decisions and forge his own path. From that, great things will come.

When your Mom says sit in the new seat, and you are a well-behaved kid with Autism, but the new seat is wet…what do you do?

Hopefully you do what Pookie did.

Related posts:

1. Yelling on the bus- an update Pookie had a substitute bus driver this morning. We were...
2. Bus Yelling Update This morning we sat Pookie in a different seat, in...
3. Have a seat. This is a new thing for Giggles. She is walking...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Related posts:

1. Our garden is actually growing! I have to admit, I thought it might not grow....
2. Everyone on the internet is doing it. I was going to attempt to deconstruct this purple velvet...
3. A Science Experiment Let me just tell you a bit about the birthday...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Of course, I tip myself back so that she is not really going to fall, she is more resting on my stomach, but she doesn’t know that. She thinks she is a strong monkey baby.

Related posts:

1. That’s the way we do it in the city, Hookie Baby. We went to Wisconsin on Friday for Baby Belaina’s 3rd...
2. Lets talk about my baby, for just a minute. First of all, she is not a baby anymore. Look...
3. That Baby looks nothing like you. As many of my loyal readers know, Pookie, Geetle and...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Giggles likes Elmo and he seemed like a good theme to work with. We took her to the party store and she looked at all sorts of paper plates, naming all the characters she knew (SpongeBob, Nemo, Pinkerbell, Mickey Mouse Mouse, etc). We steered her towards Elmo and she was happy to choose him. For the past week we had been talking about her party and she always says its her Elmo Party.

We done alot of prep work earlier in the week, so the party went smoothly. Giggles and I had made a trip to Costco where we purchased the single largest piece of meat I have ever cooked, a 9lb beef brisket. We also got chips, veggies and drinks. I set Geetle to work all week making certain Elmo themed items that we needed for the party, you will see those as we go along here.

The night before the party, BAGD and I made deviled eggs, cole slaw, cupcakes, Jello, dip and marinated the beef. On party day, we took the kids out for donuts and then came home to finish the party prep. BAGD took Pookie and Giggles out on a few errands. We always make Pookie wait until the last minute to pick out his gifts, because we think it helps him make the connection between the gift and the person. We had told him Friday night that he needed to get a present for Giggles. I asked him if he knew what he was getting her and he said “A Little Mommy doll.” I asked him what that was and he started a script from the commercial that led me to believe this was a doll that pooped. I jokingly told him “no dolls that poop!” but knew that I would let him get whatever he wanted.

As it turns out, when BAGD took him to Target, he raced right for the doll aisle and looked up and down for it. He grabbed a doll that sneezes, also from the Little Mommy line and was pretty excited. Now, with Pookie, you have to understand. He buys what he wants to play with, but in the back of his mind he knows its not for him, that it will belong to another person. And sure enough, when he gave it to Giggles, he snatched it back to play with it himself. He made the doll sneeze, wiped its nose and gave it medicine. He played with it while Giggles was busy with other gifts. Later, when she wanted to push the doll in her new grocery cart, he gave it up quietly. If they both like this doll, that is fine. They will both learn how to share. And they can treat the doll’s H1Ni with the doctor kit Geetle got for Giggles.

While BAGD had those 2 out shopping, Geetle stayed home with me to get the rest of the party ready. Geetle loves stuff like that. I made her a list and she ran from job to job. She was really a big help. First she gathered hangers for the extra coats we would be hanging in the hall closet. Then she finished the eyes and noses for the “Pin the Nose on Elmo” game we had planned.

Then she set out the “Oscar’s Trash Toss” game. She and Pookie had made the crumpled newspaper trash bags earlier in the week. Even Giggles liked trying to crumple the newspaper (which is a good at home OT thing for kids who are developing hand strength, btw)

She hung up the “Hide & Seek Dorothy” game rules.

She decorated the Spaghetti Sauce cans we had repurposed as utensil holders.

Finally, we got to the good stuff and she got to help me decorate the Elmo cupcakes. We used a Strawberry cake mix, and added mini chocolate chips for fun. The frosting is just white, from a can. 2 cans actually. I added an entire bottle of Wilton gel food coloring to get the right Elmo red. I piped it on the cupcakes with a star-tip, which made the frosting look sort of like fur. For eyes, we used half a marshmallow and a dot of black frosting. The noses are upside down pumpkin candy. The mouth is half a coiled black licorice. These were my favorite thing, although Giggles did not eat one at all!

We had just started laying out the food when BAGD, Giggles and Pookie got back home. As soon as Giggles walked in the door, she grabbed an Elmo paper plate, climbed up on the bench and started serving herself some chips. She was in a party mood, but we wanted her to take a quick nap before the guests arrived. She laid down, but only because we talked about how it was “first nap, then party.”

Once the party really started…the party really started! We had lots of food, fun and family. Giggles ran with the big kids and played throughout the house. She waited by the front door and said Hello to people as they arrived. She looked at her presents and balloons. She chit chatted with everyone. After dinner, we had presents and cake (see pictures below!) and then the party started to wind down. After everyone went home, we played with her new presents for a while (toy food, stuffed dogs, a grocery cart, dress up clothes, playdoh, a doctor kit, books, a Hawkeye cheerleader costume and more!) and then did a little more clean up.

Speaking of clean up….Pookie and Geetle love one thing about when a party ends….they like making soup in the sink. That’s when we let them pout out all the drink cups, 2 liter bottles and punch bowls into the sink. They get to add all the left over chips, cake and odds and ends, stir it up and then watch me run it all down the garbage disposal. Big fun. They live to make end-of-party-soup. It might seem wasteful to dump out all that soda and cake, but we don’t like to keep that kind of stuff in the house. Its a waste, but with the waist in mind.

This year, as they got started on the soup, I noticed a little tiny girl pushing her grocery cart thru the kitchen. She stopped to watch and was fascinated with the process. She did not try to join in, but she was mesmerized. I had not considered that she would be old enough to make soup. But, I guess she is. So, we got a chair and I squeezed her in at the sink. She poured in the 2 liter of Diet 7-Up Cherry, some chips and a half dozen cupcakes. Very happy, she was.

Let me leave you with some pictures and a recipe for some pretty darn good beef brisket. I cut the giant hunk o’meat into 3 pieces and prepared each by the recipe. Then I put the whole thing in my crockpot on high setting. I put it on at 9:30 am, shredded the meat and returned it to the pot at 3:30pm and we ate it at 4:30 pm. Very tasty. 8-9 lbs seemed about right for our crowd of 7 kids and 17 adults. We had left overs, but better than running out.

Sweet & Spicy BBQ Brisket
5 lb trimmed beef brisket
salt & pepper
Cumin
1 TB garlic powder
2 cups Salsa
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
Sandwich or hamburger buns/rolls

Season meat with cumin, sprinkling on both sides. Cook in nonstick skillet until browned on both sides. Add 1 cup of the Salsa and heat to boiling. Sprinkle meat with salt, pepper and garlic powder and transfer (with juices) to a baking dish. In small bowl, mix remaining 1 cup of Salsa, brown sugar and worcestershire sauce. Pour over brisket. Cover and refrigerate overnight to marinate. The next day, bake at 300 degrees for 4 1/2 to 5 hours or until tender. Slice or shred brisket and serve on rolls.

Related posts:

1. I figured out the Birthday Party thing. I decided to have the kid birthday party at the...
2. BAGD’s 34th Birthday! We had a nice celebration on Saturday to celebrate BeAGoodDad’s...
3. From Pookie and Giggles today Background: Pookie and Giggles are having a rough streak. It...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

As you know, Pookie attends an elementary school in our district, but not near our home. The Autism Program is cored at this particular elementary school who happens to have the room for 2 class rooms, and OT room. It also has a separate entrance and bathrooms, but that is just an added perk. I think the wing was built to house a self contained preschool or kindegarten and was not being used that way. When they began the Autism Program this year, this school was chosen to house it.

This is Pookie’s 4th school. By a stroke of luck he went to our neighborhood school for 1 Quarter, when he first started school at age 3. Since then he spent 2 years of Preschool in another school and Kindergarten in yet another school. This year, for 1st grade, he attends the new Autism Program. Pookie adapts well, but it is alot of change for a kid, especially one with Autism. I always assumed that I was the only one who noticed that fact. But, I’m not the only one.

The Principal of Pookie’s current school ordered all the members of the class “School Spirit” t-shirts the third week of school. He just sent them home in the backpacks and said he would be pleased if Pookie and his friends would like to wear them.

I thought that was very nice, and I stopped by his office the next time I was at school to say Thank You. He said it was no problem and that he knew it must be hard to come to a different school. He also pretended to lower his voice and said “I hope they like the design. It won’t be available for the other kids until next month. You have advance copies! I wanted his class to be first.”

Sure enough, last week Pookie brought home an order form to order the 2009 School Spirit T-shirts. He, of course, already has one. So, BAGD decided to get himself one.

Related posts:

1. Pookie’s Worksheets We were pleased to see this kind of worksheets come...
2. Pookie’s Fall School Placement We have decided to send Pookie to the district’s new...
3. All I wanted was to talk to a human being. No, this is not a rant about automated robo-dialers or...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.