The Good and the Bad

The Good:

Lambikins pulled herself to a stand all by herself in her crib last night!!!  Unfortunately I did not get a pic of the event but I'll post a cute pic of her I took the other day...

The Bad:

Little Man has been having issues with acting out at school, dealing with being bullied and now, apparently, bullying someone else.

He wrote a very inappropriate note this week and I had a call from the VP about it. Last time I spoke to the VP it was about ANOTHER note he wrote a few wks ago.

The first note was a list of swear words. Little Man said he wrote them down to prove that he knew them because some of the other boys were picking on him because he wasn't "saying swears."

The second note really disturbed me because he wrote about doing violence against another child.

When Little Man comes home today I am going to have to have a serious talk with him.

I am feeling really exasperated.

I get confused as to how much of this is or could be related to his autism and how much is just him being an 8-year-old boy.

And the bizarre thing is, Little Man is one the smallest kids in his class (of the boys AND the girls).

I have been thinking about looking into having him switch schools, but there are bullies and bad influences EVERYWHERE.

Little Man asked if I could home-school him but I don't know that I would consider that an option for him or not... I don't know that I have the patience for that and then I would worry about the lessened socialization since that is so important for a child on the spectrum.

Right now I am just LOST!

But here's a pic of my Little Man that I took the other day:

(see how adorable he is?)

Horrid time with Little Man

Well, well, well...

After school today - Little Man asked if he could go play at a friend's house. I checked with the care provider and she said it was fine so I allowed him to go.

When T. went to pick him up - Little Man threw a major fit because the last time he was over there, he forgot his Batman toy truck.

(The backstory on this is that Little Man had begged and begged and whined and pleaded to take his Batman truck over there for about a month or more and when I finally told him he could - but that it was HIS job to keep track of it and remember it -- he forgot it there).

Anyway, he remembered when T. showed up that perhaps, in the 2 hrs he was over there, that he should have looked for his truck. But it was time for Little Man to come home since in his backpack, I discovered that he had some homework to complete.

Little Man came home with T. in a foul, reactive, violent mood. He was yelling and screaming and flailing around -- all about this truck.

I asked him to settle down and put on his listening ears and he just shrieked like a banshee.

So I said that since he wasn't listening, he needed to go upstairs, put on his PJs, and come back down to do his homework.

Then I said that the longer he took to do it, the sooner he would be going to bed.

Well - it just got worse.

Anyway, the fit contines.

He eventually gets his PJs on and comes downstairs -- still freaking out.

Then he's flailing around and he starts holding his breath and starts turning dark red.

I told him to stop - he didn't.

So I poked him in the cheek to make him let his breath out and then he got worse.

I hate days like these.

Especially when I am pregnant because it really stresses me out and upsets me.

Overall - it's been a rough wk

Well, I try to out the cute and happy and funny things in this journal but after this morning... *sigh*

It's been a very rough week for Little Man (behaviourally) and, therefore, a rough week on all of us.

Something that I've been aware of for years is the fact that Little Man tends to experience backslides in one area or another when he is in a learning stage.

We might get days or weeks of defiance, poor toileting, a resurgance of echoalia or a temporary downgrade of some of his communicative skills.

Then, suddenly, he'll be back to "normal."

But he will have mastered a new skill or will have had an advance in some area.

This wk though, it's been very tough.

He has been reactive, violent and wildly emotional. Crying over the fact that he forgot to put the plastic dishes he wanted to wash into the drying rack. Not coming down when his Extend-A-Family worker was here to work with him on Tuesday and instead pitching a fit about not wanting to go and then pitching a BIGGER fit when I signed her timecard for a full shift but let her go home instead.

He has been rude, and mean and come out with a lot of things about how we are "the meanest parents ever" for doing things like making him go to bed as per our regular schedule, for giving him a bath, for giving him fruit choices for snacks.

And it always comes back to Little Man's claims that, "Daddy doesn't make me eat all healthy food." Or that "Daddy never gives me a bath." Or whatever.

Little Man goes to his father's place every other wkend. He is usually picked up between 7 and 9 p.m. on the Friday and returned by 5:30 (or sooner) on the Sunday.

His routines are in place in our home, and I have given that information to my ex but I have no control over what happens there.

Realizing that fact is a challenge. Especially when sometimes my son has worn the same outfit there the entire wkend because he wanted to and my ex didn't insist on him changing into something clean and fresh. Or when my son is dropped off and has last eaten a chocolate covered doughnut with a glass of chocolate milk. Or when he tells me that he was allowed to stay up until midnight...

Anyway -- this morning, Little Man was in rare form. So he's staying home this morning and going to school for the afternoon.

Grr Arrgh!