Lunch, jokes and missing teeth

    There's a reason why I sing the praises of Nixon's teacher's aide. This morning I asked her, at drop-off, if it'd be possible to get another copy of yesterday's chart. It was in his folder this afternoon!
   

    Pretty much what I had expected after 4 days off, plus a week of short days after a day off last week. He hasn't had a full day of school in over 2 weeks. His transitions were rough, he didn't want to do his work and was just being Nixon when his routine is messed up.
   BUT.....

   ...he pulled it together today! He ate lunch in a separate classroom, instead of the cafeteria, because he was being too goofy. He had apparently started telling jokes and listening to jokes and got overly excited from this.
   It's actually not uncommon for jokes to get Nixon super excited. He doesn't really know emotionally the right response all the time, most of the time he goes very extreme with his emotions. It's hard for him to regulate his emotions after he gets too wound up. Removing him from the cafeteria was actually the best thing for him, as he pulled himself together the rest of the day. 

    Finally, after we got home and Nixon was playing on his tablet while snacking on his Poptart Nixon's loose tooth popped out! He said, very calmly, "My tooth fell out". I got up and went to the kitchen, getting warm salt water ready for him to swish with. He came over and said "Mom, you need to get that water ready. Make sure you make it warm and salty. For my mouth, and my missing tooth."
   I had to go into the bathroom with him, not because I was worried he wouldn't swish, but because there was a little blood and that tends to get Nixon really upset. I spent about 3 minutes with him, calmly telling him that the blood wasn't a bad thing and it'd stop in a few seconds. He was, surprisingly, fine with it all. This is the first tooth that fell out and didn't have the new tooth emerging from the gums already. This was his fourth tooth to fall out and his second top tooth. 

    I love his gap tooth smile! 

When Acronyms meet new places

   Part of every child's life is birthday parties. Neurological normal kids have no problem with these events and they love attending.

    Our lives, however, make it a little harder. There's knowing he's going to face overwhelming noises, have sensory overload from the sounds, more than likely at least one meltdown. Then we have to factor in that there will be limited routine and lots of chaos. While birthday parties are fun for most kids, for my little SPD, ASD, ADHD kiddo it can be exhausting.
    I don't try to avoid parties, Nixon's only had 2 invitations this school year and we've attended (or made plans to attend) them both. But it takes a lot of preparation, both for Nixon and me. I start by reminding him it'll be loud. I then let him know that he will have to let the birthday child open his presents, without Nixon's help. I have to let him know that we may eat first or play first, there's no real routine.
   The biggest thing I do for him is let him know that, at any time, he can ask me to leave or help him find a quiet corner. I also carry headphones in my purse, in case he just can't handle the noise. I try to make the car ride, to and from, as quiet as possible, allowing him to decompress immediately afterwards.

    For me, I make sure I have a BIG cup of coffee. I also pack my balls-of-steel because  I never know when I'll have to deal with an adult who doesn't understand Nixon's issues and tries to run his/her mouth. I've been lucky so far and never needed to use them, but with every event we go to, odds are eventually one day I'll need them.

Wednesday still remains his worst day

   It's also becoming my worst day! I don't have his behavior chart to post here, because it was handed to me as I was going to his classroom. I folded it up and put it in my jacket pocket but it wasn't there when we got home...or in my purse....or in my car. It's just gone.

    Nixon started his day saying he didn't want to be in school. Then when it came time to leave he said he didn't want to go home. He did get 7 smiley faces.

    After school I took him to the group play that we first went to earlier this month. He was okay at first and then not so okay. He only wanted to participate if it was his turn. He even quit musical chairs because he wanted to play with scooters.
    I actually spoke to another mother there. Her son had Nixon's current teacher last year. She had a lot of issues with the school and the principal. So much so, that this year our school spent money out of their budget to send her son to a charter-like school. She likes the school and her son is doing amazing there, but it worries me that something similar may happen to Nixon because of his own issues.

   Finally, Nixon asked for some "awesome" hair today. I did the best I could, and he was super happy with it.

    I asked him after school, if anyone said anything about his hair. He said "Well, this one boy who was taking a poop in the bathroom, he said he liked it!". He also said some kids at lunch were talking about it, but he didn't elaborate.
   I took the time to let him know that he'll never please all the people all the time, so as long as he's not hurting himself, he should just focus on making himself happy. Things like haircuts and hair styles and other forms of self-expression, is what I meant. And I did clarify that to him.

    And let's hope that dangling tooth falls out soon!

Last week got away from me, here's the 23rd's post

    Friday came and went, as did the rest of the weekend. Nixon's had Monday and today off from school, in-service working days for teachers. It's the end of the semester, which I guess these days are used for grading without distractions of kids in the classrooms.

   

   

   He had another great day. Even with his minor meltdowns, he's really reacting positively when given choices and consequences. 

    Our weekend involved a visit to a couple comic book stores. Saturday was a creator signing. We waited in line, Nixon was great because he had his tablet. When he and I were done, Mac was still talking to the creators and getting a sketch from the artist. There are times I have to remind Mac that Nixon's at his breaking point. Saturday was that day. All Nixon wanted to do was go look at the Big Hero 6 toys at the front of the store. Mac wanted him to wait until he was done. I finally saw how hard Nixon was trying not to have a meltdown (he was sitting on the floor, rocking side-to-side hugging his knees at one point). I snapped at Mac, I told him I'd take Nixon and he can do whatever he wants to do. 

   I'm not perfect, neither is Mac. But I go out of my way, often at the expense of my own interests and time, to keep Nixon from melting down. Mac's usually pretty good at the same thing, unless he's doing something he really wants to do or is super involved in something. Those are the times he'll expect Nixon to "behave" and those are the times we usually have a meltdown, with a side of Mac's frustration showing. 

   For the most part, the weekend was great. We watched a movie together Sunday night, because Nixon was off Monday we extended bedtime for him. 

Today he made choices based on consequences

    Nixon's all impulse and very little forethought. He's not good with consequences either. He knows his actions have them, but unless it's something he's really attached to, he's not overly focused on them.
    More on this later.
    Today, Nixon hardly ate his lunch. I asked him why and he said he was "too busy eating my Ravens colored (purple) Popsicle". I asked him where the Popsicle came from, because I do not pack those! He said "G let me have one. She got a prize and could pick 3 friends to have Popsicle with and I was one of her friends! I even got to pick the color and they have the Ravens color, so I chose that one."

   The most impressive thing about today's behavior chart isn't the 7 smiley faces, it's the note that he changed his actions when told about consequences! Earlier this school year he wouldn't have even listened when in a tantrum/episode. Today he did and he responded! With positive choices!
   I'm such a proud and happy momma tonight!

Wednesday seems to be a hard day for Nixon

   *I'm posting yesterday's chart today because last night I focused on family first*

   Another early dismissal day. Nixon was super excited yesterday when I picked him up because there were giant snowflakes falling from the sky!

   He had a mostly good day. He did have a minor issue, which happened during writing time. Nixon was getting frustrated during the assignment. He got up to go to the bathroom and on his way he swiped a crayon across another students paper.
   He got a break after this and did finish the class assignment, and apologized to the other student. It's frustrating because we know writing assignments are an issue for him, I'd expected his writing work to be done during his one-on-one learning time. If I see this again I will be calling the school and scheduling a meeting.

Another great day....until bedtime.

    After having yesterday off for MLK Jr Day, today could have gone either way. But Nixon made it wonderful! His day started with a visit to a teacher who had brought in some hissing cockroaches, which Nixon loved! He even asked if she could bring in more another time for him to see. 

   He has early dismissal all this week. Some sort of end-of-semester break crap. Whatever, I pick him up 2 hours early every day this week. He was all smiles at pick up today.

    At bedtime I was checking on his fish. He has a Betta fish and 2 ghost shrimp. We thought one of his ghost shrimp died the first night we had him, but it turned out it had just molted its shell an hid for a day. 

    Tonight, I found that same shrimp, tucked in a corner and pinkish in color....on its side. This time, Midnight as he's known in our house, was really dead. I called Mac to show him and then we broke the news to Nixon. 

   Nixon was fine, but he after a few minutes he started bawling! We talked to him about death, told him his tears were okay and that it's okay to be sad. We shared things we liked about Midnight right before we buried him "at sea". Nixon was still crying, I laid in bed with him until he was asleep. 

    My heart hurts for him. I love him and hate seeing him sad. In the end it was a learning opportunity.

RIP Midnight (large one on the left)
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