Long Day

Thursday Eric went to school as normal. After that he had 3 hours of therapy at home. Honestly, he seemed to do better with all of this than I ever would have. That afternoon one of the therapists called and asked if she could come from 3:30 to 5:30, and talk about scheduling a Saturday session. I told her it would be OK by me but that 2 of her collegues were coming from 4:30 to 6:30. She told me it should be OK with the provider and state so I said let's give it a go as long as it's not way too hard on Eric. We all have to get used to the longer times for sessions so now is the time to do it. They are still in the assessment phase and playing with him a lot so that will make that time go easier. Once we are down to the nitty gritty it will be harder. Eric was none too happy to come home from school to find the therapist here. Nothing a little bit of playing and tickling couldn't take care of lol! He is still very heavy into the tickle thing. He says it so clear you just want to keep rewarding him for it. Too bad he don't know that he can't be tickeled all the time. Learning that even good things have to end is one of the goals with the therapy. They were able to get him to use the word "squeeze" with a new game that she came up with. Basically he said it and she ran over there and hugged him hard. He was loving it. It's amazing how quickly he is picking up on these words. She tried to play ball with him by asking him to say it before she threw it. He usually only says it when the ball is in his hands and before he throws it. He has to be able to do it when he is asked, not when he wants to. That did not last long. Then he was asked to say car so she would give him a car. This eventually was successful after numerous trys and him walking away, ect. We are still trying to find a way to get the message across that he can't stand on and jump off the furniture. Any physical contact is motivating to Eric. If we physically guide him to a sitting position or off the couch/chair he thinks it's a game and keeps doing it for the touch. Verbal commands alone do nothing for him. This is a challenge to say the least, but we have to find some solution to keep him safe. The first hour and a half went really quickly. The other therapists were running late so they got here at 5 pm. It turned out to be a good thing we had that earlier session or we would have lost that half hour. This is where the time started dragging for all of us. Most of the second session was used for paperwork, ect. I also discussed the feeding clinic papers and whether they could come to his next appointment. The case worker and the partners of the provider agency have be contacted to get those answers. I had to sign another release form and it took forever for the one therapist to get that ready. While this was happening Eric just wanted to play with his toys. He couldn't of cared less about the therapists or anyone else at this point. Jon started wanting every toy his brothers had. Eric got a little too physical with one of these incidents and we had to let him know that was not allowed. He got it pretty quick. Eventually the ball caught his interest and he became more talkative. Then we started a ready set go game with the ball. I would start saying it before I threw it and he would say "set go". I would say the same thing before he threw it. He did great with this. Finally all paperwork was done and his binder updated. The session ended and the house was ours for the night finally. I know we all have to get used to this, and it is going to get even harder. For some reason I was just tired after all of this. Today is a new day...

This afternoon Eric is going to have a two hour session. This is his first on a weekend. We shall see how he handles this.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The good
Eric has been great with saying his greetings. He will come up to me cuddle and say "hi" to me numerous times. He will take turns with me which is great. He is saying "bye" to his friends as they leave too. Within the last few days Eric has come up to me and makes a smaking noise with his lips and puts his face by mine. He is asking for and accepting kisses from me. He won't actually kiss me yet, just by me. I never thought I would ever see this. This is the ultimate of motherhood to me. Since this is so hard for Eric I definately do not take this for granted. Wow is all I have to say. Maybe him saying "I love you mommy" is a realistic dream. One thing at a time, I know. I will take this :-()!
The bad
These little guys have been through a lot of changes the last couple of months. There is going to be plenty going on for the next few weeks with appointments, ect. The weather is so cold, snowy and yucky that going anywhere or playing outside just isn't possible. School was closed for the last 2 days of the week because of extreame cold temperatures. Today was a half day for Eric. They love going to school and were missing it I am sure. The tantrums have increased big time. All of these boys are getting upset about the littlest things, or for no apparent reason. They haven't been sleeping well either so I am sure they are very tired. They have such a hard time settling down at night. If anything wakes them up it is very difficult for them to go back to sleep. There is more being asked of Eric at home whether the therapists are here or not. We have to follow through with what they do for the therapy to be effective. He is not happy about the changes so he melts down. Andy has gotten into the habit of turning on and off the lights, the television, the computer, and the dvd player. It is almost like Andy is doing this on purpose to upset Eric. I do not blame Eric for being angry in the least bit. But Eric really does not have to bang his head, kick, hit and push his brother, stomp and scream loud enough to wake the dead when this happens. Yesterday this was all happening while I was really tired and had a bad headache. The constant blinking and noise pushed me to the edge, it was a rough night for all of us. I know this is typical behavior for children and between siblings, especially boys. The problem is that my 2 boys don't know how to express their feelings and frustrations in a productive way and these things happen. This is why routines and physical activity are so important for my sons.
The ugly
Eric's bedroom is a disaster area right now. He has unplugged the cable box and it is laying God only knows where in there. His bed is in pieces all over the room. He rips off the sheets,matteress pad, pillows and pushes the matteress off the box spring. I will put it back together to find a few minutes later it is apart again. Now to the real big problem. Eric has been taking all of his clothing off when he is in there, underwear or diaper included. He then eliminates all over the carpet. Lets just say that carpet is very stained and smelly from urine and feces. This ends up on his clothing too so I have to get him in the bath and new clothing. My clothes dryer is broken so laundry is an issue here right now. Not to mention that everytime one of them needs to go in the bath the other 2 insist on joining too. So I then have a very wet bathroom to clean too. I got the carpet cleaned the best I can, then Eric goes back in and does it AGAIN! I know he don't understand why he can't do this but this is making want to scream! He was doing so well with potty training, now we have this issue and I have to go back to diapers and get creative to boot. There is plenty here to keep me out of trouble to say the least.