"Good Boy"

Mr N says "good boy" quite frequently, looking for praise and reassurance. It's so sweet, so precious, so cute, unfortunately at times I do have to tell him "no" when he asks "good boy" as to not encourage the behavior. But when he is being a good boy I readily assure him that he is a good boy.

Today was our monthly grocery shopping day, so we got up early and headed for the valley. Mr N was pretty cranky when he first woke up and all through his shower, but once he was dressed and back in bed with sissy he calmed down. He took a 30 minute nap on our way to town. While in the first store he ate some goldfish crackers and as we checked out he ate a banana. Both kids did pretty good but they slow me down quite a bit, so I dropped the kids off with Daddy at work before I hit Costco. After I finished up my shopping I grabbed the kids and headed home for therapy. There was an accident on OPG so we had to take NPG which takes longer and makes me sick. But we did stop for a couple of minutes and watched them drag the carnage up the mountain onto the highway. We were late getting home so Mr N's therapist was already here, thankfully she was relaxing on the patio reading.

Mr N fell asleep on the way home and was cranky when he awoke from his nap when we got home. I popped in a movie that came in the mail and that calmed him down long enough for me to unload the need-to-stay-cold groceries, with his therapist's assistance.

During therapy Mr N ate four mini muffins, he ate some granola after therapy and is eating another mini muffin.

Since Mr N didn't get a great nap today, just two short ones, he wasn't in the best spirits for therapy after the early wake up and rough sleep last night. He did listen to her read a book for a few minutes, then did some art work, neither of the kids were as excited about art today as his therapist and I. But our art projects rock!

Mr N spent some time torturing Elephant, I'd feel bad but Elephant walks through flitting his tail to get Mr N's attention so that he'll pull it. Elephant has ample opportunity and hiding spots to avoid all torture, yet insists on getting tortured during therapy nearly every day.

This evening I decided to see how many words Mr N has, since we're hoping he can begin speech therapy soon, they'll want to know. I started writing them on the sidewalk and was happy to see the long list. After I took the picture I thought of six more, but didn't add them. He now has 62 words that he uses pretty regularly. He had 14 when he had his first speech evaluation.

While Mr N was spending some one on one time with his therapist, I spent some time with my E. We read books and I painted her toenails.

Now I have to update from the last three days that I missed.

~~~~~~**Sunday**~~~~~~

We went to meeting and Mr N struggled when we first got there, we ended up going back out to the car before meeting even started. He wanted buckled into his carseat and there he sat for 30 minutes, completely content. Then he was ready to go inside, so there we went. He did great sitting and being quiet until the last 3-5 minutes then we had to head back outside. After meeting was over he went right up to a little girl that visits pretty often (her grandparents are in our congregation) and gave her a hug, then proceeded to play with her until she grew tired. During their laps around the hall he stopped a couple of times and gave a little girl that was 8-9 yeas old a hug, that he's never met before. He said hi to several people, including our neighbors who are very good at engaging him. They are very sweet people, and I appreciate their interest in my little man.

After meeting Mr N took a nap and I held his sweaty body until three o'clock, then we headed outside to play in the kiddie pool. I worked on my grocery list and Daddy played princess games with E, I think he secretly loves it. We spent the rest of the day watching the kids play happily in the water, in their swimming clothes, then in their underoos, then naked, then back in their underoos, then finally it was bath & bed time.


~~~~~~***Saturday***~~~~~~

We were determined to make some progress on the downstairs bathroom, so I left Daddy to it. I had borrowed a CD from Mr N's therapist and we listened to it while the kids and I sang and danced. I'm pretty sure that sentence has the word "and" in it far too many times. sigh.

After lunch E and I headed outside to play in the pool, Daddy and Mr N ran to the hardware store for stuff. When they got back Daddy so kindly kept the kids distracted for a while so that I could read my book in peace. I still LOVE the book "Overcoming Autism", it's so educational, informative, and encouraging. Every time I read it I feel like I have so much more that I can do to help Mr N. I love that it not only gives practical suggestions, but it explains why we do the things we do. It doesn't just say "don't let kids engage in awkward stims" it explains that these stims are typically life long and that if your child is stimming during a job interview would it prevent them from getting a job; I hadn't thought of that. I'd always thought if it's not hurting anyone, then I don't mind. It also explained that we can teach children that there are appropriate and inappropriate places to engage in stimming behavior. While normal functioning people pick their nose in private, they don't typically do it at work, school, etc; it's not socially acceptable. I could go on and on, but really I'm just so grateful to have been given such a great book by such a great friend. Thank you again, Andrea.

Around 1:30 we decided that we should go scout out a new camping spot for next time. We got the kids ready, packed drinks, snacks, ergos,  and fishing gear, just in case. We headed towards Cherry Lake since it always seems less occupied. We figured it was Saturday afternoon, this is when it will be the most crowded, we wanted to see how bad it could get. We first stopped along the river that flows below the dam and found a great place to camp and decided we'd camp there if we didn't find anything better. We headed up along the west side of the lake almost clear to the North end, but there is no lake access at all.

The kids were ready to get out and play so we headed to the dam and let the kids play while Daddy did some fishing. Along came a forest ranger, so I stopped him and started grilling him for information on where to camp. He gave us several suggestions 1. head toward some rivers that are out a ways 2. get a canoe and row to the island on Cherry Lake and camp 3. hike into Lake Eleanor and camp. We thought Lake Eleanor would give us the most seclusion since he said it was only 1/4 - 1/3 of a mile hike from the parking area.

With the night still young we decided to check out Lake Eleanor, how long would it take to hike such a short distance? Leaving our water and snacks in the car we head down the short path. About a half mile down the trail there is a sign "Lake Eleanor 1.2 miles" and an arrow pointing the way. We weren't going to give up, we headed on down the trail, hoping we wouldn't be disappointed. After scouting out the area we found the most amazing area, complete with a sandy shallow area where the kids could play. As it started to get dark we headed back up the trail. Only I'm not so sure we realized how much the trail really was "UP". Along the 1.7 mile trek back we got bombarded by mosquitoes, or should I say that I got bombarded by mosquitoes. Apparently they were not interested in Daddy or the kiddos.

We arrived back to refreshing drinks and snacks to energize us from our 3.5 mile hike and decided that we'll attempt camping at Lake Eleanor after we have a few more camping adventures under our belt since we don't really want to have to make multiple trips with our gear.

Ultimately we decided on option 2. get a canoe and row to the island on Cherry Lake. Only canoes get pricey so we settled on an inflatable fishing boat. Our next camping trip should be an adventure!

~~~~~~***Friday***~~~~~~

Anyone still reading? Mr N took a four hour nap that took up almost all of his therapy time. He had a rough wake up about two hours into his nap that required Mommy to hold him for the rest of his nap. When he eventually woke up from his nap he was in amazing spirits. He jumped right down to play with the new toys that his therapist had brought. He did great playing with nesting blocks, puzzles, etc. I was so proud of my little man.

I don't know how I got blessed with such an amazing family, but I'm not complaining. My dear, sweet husband and beautiful children fill my life with joy.