Dr Appointment #3

Here we are. A new follow up appointment. The very first thing she did was to put him on the scale and there it was ! 5 pounds heavier!!. In 1 month he went from 70 to 75. It could be a growth spur or simple eating like a horse since he got on the medicine. Don't know yet.

As behavior goes the Dr was very pleased. I discussed with her the school situation and she was ok with all that. He seems to be doing good and stable.

Today was a busy day preparing for a Superbowl party tomorrow. He went to the store with me and did wonderful, later I took the girls out and he stayed doing projects with dad. He had a good day. Sometimes bothering his sisters but as soon as we would distract him he would stop.

He is doing great..

Lately

So I skipped the last 2 days for no reason. Actually I kind of forgot about it. However if anything meaningful would happen I would be typing away. If you have noticed he has been having very average days. Thank goodness for that.

No meltdowns or high stress situations. In reference to his academics at school we are still talking about it and we will make some decisions in the next IEP. I notice more and more how little he can read. Last night I made some Tollhouse cookies and I asked him to read the directions. He was able to read half (with a struggle) I was pretty surprise. Now instead of having him read every night quiet in his room I'm going to ask him to read out loud.

His behavior with his sisters has been good. If they tell him to stop he does it the 2nd time, not bad compared to never. With us he has been very responsive and asks permission for the most part about everything. Also he keeps on going to his neighbor friend and does good there. Overall he has been awesome lately. Happy and not worried.

Learning disability??

Here we are again, trying to figure solutions out. I think we had some breakthroughs today. As we know Carlitos has a very hard time at school. Specially regarding writing. Well...after observing him lately and after sitting with him doing homework some questions came to my mind. He really has difficulty with some basic concepts, 1st and 2nd grade level. then it occurred to me that he could have 2 different situations.

First, maybe he has a learning disability, if that is the case I think Dyslexia may be an option. Second, maybe during the first grades we were so focused on his behavior (priority at the time) that we assumed academics were fine. But now that his behavior is not the same it became obvious he is missing a lot of concepts he needs to understand to get what they are teaching in his class. This idea would explain the level of frustration he 's been having all this time and why he is quiting everything.

They are evaluating him at school to find out of he has a learning disability separate from his Autism. If all this is true then we can plan what direction to go about it.His teacher and I we discussed more resource room and compared ideas. She agrees and has noticed the same things I did.

He did incredibly well today at school. He had a perfect day. And in the afternoon he did great too. Not a hiccup. Very nice for him.

Unexpected

Wow, today was a day full of surprises. But let's start from the beginning. Carlitos had a slow morning, took a lot for him to get out of bed. Eventually he got himself ready for school. At school he had some trouble with work.Once he was home we sat down to do some math homework. Well...as we were doing this I noticed a few things...

First, I actually noticed that he is missing a huge piece of critical thinking in math. The problems were very basic but he could not organize it in his mind to create a multiplication set up. I tried to go around it, kind of hinting which way to go but clearly he could not see it. And the other thing is that at the end of 3 exercises he broke down crying because he could not do the right answers, he was truly sad about it. I did see him trying very hard but not being able to do it or get it. he was pretty much devastated by it. I talked to him about the fact that we go to school to learn things we do not know, otherwise why we would go??. Something to think about.

Later in the afternoon, in the middle of nothing, suddenly all my smoke detector went off, I mean OFFly loud! We all jumped immediately and got out of the house. I could not find any smoke, smell of fire. After 2 hours we came to the conclusion that the batteries were running low and they decided to let us know. I am very proud of the kids following direction and not freaking out (they did that a second later). It was interesting.

he did have a hard time going to bed. He end up falling sleep on the sofa. I think he is still nervous over the fire alarm.

Another week

Seems like the medicine is working well so far. He seems calmed most of the time. No wars or major meltdowns.
He had another good day without incidents or strange behavior. He is eating more than usual but is not an issue. I still keep an eye on it. We have another Dr appointment this Saturday. It should go ok.

Today Carlitos started a new karate class. He was very excited and did a great job following direction. Also he did some homework without a problem. He is doing very well. Went to bed easy.

Uneventful

Here we are, finishing another weekend, it seems like time flies faster and faster every day. This was another day in the book of information. We all got up early as usual on a Sunday. carlitos went to the computer right away. The girls watched TV. As soon as I told him to take a shower he did it right away. His stress level has been rather low. Not sure why, maybe some kind of cycle.

We went to church and he did very well. Got a little fidgety after sitting for a while so eventually got up and walk for a little bit. Then he went to his class. He did good, participated and was part of a group presentation. Not bad.

After that we had some people over for lunch and he behaved very well. Played with his sisters a lot. there were some times when he got a little annoying but stopped right away after been told to quit. He helped with dinner and helped me cut some coupons. Actually he has been very helpful lately.

At bed time he had some trouble disconnecting himself from the computer. However after giving him a little more time he was ok and went to sleep.

Like I said...uneventful.

Day trip

I am so, so, so proud of everyone. We had an amazingly busy and fun day and Carlitos did spectacular!!.

First we all got up (some earlier than others) and started getting ready to go to the snow!!. We got all their clothe right and snacks. Everyone was really excited. So we left. The kids were entertain in the car and doing very well. After an hour into the trip the kids asked for snacks. Of course we forgot them!, but they did not make a big deal. The trip was about 3 hours total.

They were so excited to be able to play in the snow. We get to the city and there wasn't a lot of snow on the ground. So we started looking for any "spot" we could use. In the meantime Carlitos is doing great and very patient with everything. Finally there it was, a beautiful space with snow. We got out of the car, it was very cold! open the back door and we look for the bag with all the snow stuff (hats, gloves, socks...) oh no! we can't find it. We could not believe such luck. We left that too next to the snacks (my guess). I thought Carlitos was going to get super upset since he has been looking forward this trip for a while and he wanted a snow fight!!. But he didn't, he was content with dad's gloves and had a lot of fun.

Even with all the things gong against the event Carlitos was very flexible and super obedient. It was amazing. After the snow play time we went to an Italian restaurant in the city. They had pizza and all bunch of stuff, the kids did great and I don't remember Carlitos behaving so well in a restaurant, it was great.

After that we got in the car again and went to another city about 1 1/2 hours away. We took the scenic route and the kids loved it. Woods, river, snow, rocks...beautiful!. We got there and went to tons of stores to look around and to a chocolate factory (they loved that!). Carlitos was super helpful with his sisters and with us. He had a fun time.

In the way back all of them were dead tired. He did good, eventually fell sleep in the car. At home I woke them all and gave them dinner. After dinner I asked who wanted to help me clean up the house a little bit and the girls ran for their lives (of course) but he told me he wanted to stay with me and help. I gave him a bunch of stuff to do and he did it very well and with a smile on his face. So cute!.

After that he went to bed. I sneaked in and gave him a "special" coupon for his help to be redeemed whenever he wanted (extra treat). The day could not have been better.

IEP

First thing this morning was our IEP. At the meeting we had the principal, OT, speech, class teacher, resource class teacher, psychologist and Behavioral coach. We discussed academics and behavior. Most of it about coping skills and how on the evaluations he shows the intellect but as soon as stress shows up he cannot perform well.

There were a few suggestions and ideas. Officially he is out of speech at school. He has been in speech therapy since he was 1 1/2. This is huge!.

We did not have time to go over all the paperwork, it was mostly discussion time. There is another one set up on Feb 6th.

The behavioral coach stayed at school to observe him there and get an idea of the surroundings. She got a lot of info being there, and noticed a lot of things. Behaviors, interaction and coping skills.

After school he did pretty well, keeping busy with friends. He went to the neighbors house for a while. Later at night we went to someones house for dinner. He did good. Came back very late and he went to bed right away.

Support

It is amazing how much support is needed to put all the pieces together. Mental, physical, sensory, language, skills, logic, social, and on and on. It is a process that everyone with a child with disabilities goes throught, like or not. It is a lot of work to keep it going, however, is soo worth it!.

When we see them smile or finally "get it" your heart grows a mile. And then they do it again. At that very minute we forget the fights, struggles, battles, frustration, confusions and such. Until they happen again. And again. In a few words is bitter sweet.

Between school and State carlitos has a lot of services. I can surely see the difference they make in his life. Specially after jumping in the medicine world I think we appreciate more the efforts to find ways to make it better.

Today he did great. The morning was usual, in a good place and full clarity. Later when he cam back from school he had a chance to rest for a little bit and then later sat down with a daycare kid and did homework, he actually wrote a story. Did not complain about it or tried to fight it. It was really nice. After that played with some boys in the house, worked in his forever "garage project" and did very well.

His behavior coach came and was able to ask some questions and pick his mind a little bit. They played a game and he was able to keep composure the whole time. After that we rushed at dinner because is church night!! we ran a little bit and he went to his preteen class and did great. Came home close to 9:00pm went straight to his room. Asked once if he could play in the computer and I said....what??? NO!! go to bed!!. And he immediately put his pajamas on and was in bed in a second. That was it, the lights went out.

Such a full day, such a full life...

Good again

He did great this morning. Got up without a problem, got dressed and was ready for breakfast in no time. We are very grateful for that.

He did ok at school. No behavior issues but not a lot of work. We are still working about that. Since last night he had problems and was grounded today he did miss watching TV and computer. He was able to distract himself with other kids and projects. He went to his friend house and had a good afternoon.

Later in the afternoon I took him for a hair cut. He really needed it. He looks great now!. Had a good dinner and we played a board game together with him and his little sister. At bed time he read a book to her and after that he was ready to sleep.

He did good today again...we are glad.

Good beginning however hard ending

Great morning, he was up very early and busy. Later he had breakfast and played around. He seemed in a very good mood playing with everyone. He kept on working on a photo frame he is making for Monica.

I was gone most of the day but he played outside a lot and went to his friend's house to play Wii and such. He was back and forth with him between houses. It was a beautiful day outside and the kids enjoyed it.

After I came back he came back to the house and wanted to play something. So we started "Loteria" it was a lot of fun. A little bit later Daddy came and we went for ice cream and walk around the mall. They liked it. We came home for dinner time and the kids took showers. Everything was ok until Carlitos got upset with Alex (pulled her hair) and I told him that he was not having TV or computer time tomorrow since he reached # 3 (2 previous during the day) he got furious and locked himself in my room. I opened the door and asked him to go to bed. After many tries I took him to his bed. He decided to threat me with a stick. I took it away right then and he had a meltdown. Took forever to stop the fight. Finally we explained to him why being violent with his sticks was not good. At the end of it all he went to bed and fell sleep. I felt sad, I could tell he was having a very hard time.

He'll have a better day tomorrow.

Good day

Is Sunday and normally we would be running around in the morning but today we had a different schedule and no one had to rush. So the kids took it very slow. Carlitos was in a good mood this morning. Had a couple of arguments with his older sister (and again..she is 11!).

Around lunch time we went to some friends house for lunch and for the boys to watch the football game. He did very well playing in the backyard with everyone and sitting to have lunch. The kids went to one of the rooms and played Wii. After that I had to go and didn't come back until much later, night time.

I got home and everybody was finishing dinner. He was watching TV very content. Then, after that he decided to build a picture frame out of wood in the garage. He begged me to keep him company while there. I did and after some time I called daddy to do the same and give Carlitos some ideas for his project.

Got late and I told him it was time to go in and go to bed. He didn't want to and stayed a little longer. Eventually came in, put hi pajamas on and fell sleep on top of his bed, exhausted.

Another day where he was very calmed down and focused. Good deal!

Wonderful

Today was a great day. We had a bunch of things planned for today so we really hit the ground running. he had his slow morning, watching TV, playing in the computer, having yummy breakfast.
Today was his little sister birthday party, we had to get ready and run errands. Also he had his counseling appointment at noon. So, as you can imagine there was a lot going on. He did great getting dressed when I asked him to do it and was not hard to leave the house when the time came. At the counselor's he was focused and happy, very calmed down. We talk about all kind if things and he had great answers and explanations.

Once we came back he got into the busyness for the party. Helped with the balloons and walked around the house. After a while asked me if I could play soldiers with him, I played for about 15m and we was fine with that.

Finally the party started!!!...a lot of little kids and a lot of noise!, loud, excited kids. Even I was having sensory issues!!. There were times when he looked stressed but handled it very well. The party was over and he was outside playing with his older sister and some of her friends.

Later we had special dinner and a movie. Then was bed time. Not a problem. I noticed he was more focused and clam today. I can't think of anything helping that, actually was a pretty busy Saturday. But I'm glad!

Friends

This morning I had the job to get all the kids up. It was very challenging to get them going, but once they did it went well. Carlitos did ok and even took a shower.

When I picked him up from school he had a story to tell. He had some interesting interaction with some boys. Let's say we have boy A and boy B. He started saying that he was sitting next to boy A at music class. Suddenly boy B came along and told him he wanted to sit next to boy A because they were friends. Carlitos said he was friends with boy A, at that time boy B said that was a lie!, then Carlitos turn around and asked boy A if that was a lie. Boy B said he was kind of his friend, for Carlitos that was great enough!. But somehow the boy B tricked him and sat on his seat.

At that very moment he had a choice to make. Could be anything!!. he chose to turn around and walk out of class, went to the office and stayed there for a little bit. After that went for some testing and then back to class. I asked him what he did when he saw them again. He mentioned that gave boy B a unhappy look and that was it. I am very proud of him for choosing the non violent way. cool.

We are still working on writing. Last night I got him pencil grips (let's try again!) and an interesting pen. It is design to be grabbed completely different.

He had a very good afternoon, mellow, slow, content. Went to his friend house and worked in the garage. He did good today.

Pre IEP

A good morning. Nothing out of the ordinary. He decided to walk to school instead of riding his bike. Who knows why, he loves to ride his bike to school.

At pick up time I went to the conference room at school. There was the teacher, school counselor, OT, Speech and Psychologist. Everyone ready to go. We started discussing his situation at home (behavior) and what triggers he has here. Then we discussed ideas and situations. What to focus on and the evaluations he needs to have. they will be doing all this next week. On Friday is our formal IEP meeting. That should be full of information.

At the end of it we decided to focus on Motivation and frustration. Those are the 2 things that stop him from learning at school. Writing is a huge issue and as we talked it became evident that selfsteem is also a problem as he gets older. We really want to prepare him socially for 4th grade. Academically he is behind. Something that the OT mentioned is that he does not breath trough his diaphragm, meaning deep breaths. that causes the body not to relax.

We discussed medicine and did not change any opinions on that. We will wait and see how he does with the dose now. The counselor at school suggested some social groups for him to practice good behavior.

As of Carlitos goes we were able to finish homework today and he played very well with the daycare kids. He was very good today.

We should be ready to go for next Friday.

Getting back on track

Again, great morning, no issues. Went to school as planned.
The issues at this point are more with what he does in school and after school. Again, today he did not do work,his behavior was good but no work. As he says...good news and bad news, I did not move my clip (discipline system) but I did not do any work. I have to say that one is as important than the other. At some point I though that just having good behavior would be great and enough!!..mmm..no. He has top learn. There is no way around it.

After school I battle homework with him and negotiated at different times. I had OK results after a lot of prompting and work. I have a pre IEP meeting tomorrow afternoon. We need to get together to authorize a new set of evaluations. Then, next week is the "big one", the formal IEP meeting. be sure I'll be writing about that.

Today he had a couple of fits. nothing major. When he gets frustrated he still gets angry but I can tell he can make choices at that time.

I hope we can figure out a way to take the negative feeling about writing. he even looks at a paper and you can tell his stress level goes up right away. Not even a chance to talk about it.

Other than all that he had a good time and one of the daycare boys helped him with some math homework. Cool!

Karate belt and more

This morning was like usual. No problems all super good and on time. Actually his sisters are having more issues than he does....

At school he did well, did some of the work but did not write anything. More and more he refuses to write. I'm not sure how we are gong to help him out on that. He really hates it. Came back from school and I tried for him to do some homework but he refused and end up in his room. I did not make a big deal about it. Finally one of the daycare boys came and he wanted to play with him. So I told him he had to do at least a page to be able to play. And of course he did!.

Tonight was great because was the kids graduation in Karate. We dropped them off so they could get ready and practice, after an hour the parents came in the room and the kids were ready to preform and get their belt. He went up from a white belt to a green belt, skipping yellow. He could not be more excited!!!

We came home he put his pajamas on and went to bed just fine. Very excited. He also had his OT today in the afternoon. It went pretty well and he did some exercises for writing.

Tantrums

This morning everything started like normal. Same routine, and timings. Carlitos got up like usual and got ready the same way he normally does. He had a good beginning. Went to school on time.

When he came back from school I checked the journal and the teacher mentioned that he did some of the work and the day was pretty good. I was very happy to hear that since I was wondering if our return from the trip was going to affect him in any way.

The afternoon was a different story. He seemed a little frustrated and short. He was bugging his sisters a lot. he did do his homework without much problem but once he got bored it was impossible. Later in the afternoon he adopted an attitude of "I want this and I will do it even if you don't want to".
We had the idea for dad to take him to home depot, since he loves to go there but he decided he wanted to go to an specific friend house. We said no, it was far and a school late afternoon. Not a good idea. He started getting very pushy and loud. Finally dad had to go and Carlitos got this hard look in his face, no flexibility at all. Got angry!. punched the window and got ready to kick the wall, he looked at me and i told him...go ahead, go for it, is not a good idea but do what you want. he stormed out to his sister's room to lock himself in (we took his lock out) and I stopped him on time. he gets destructive with her stuff.

So he ran out of the room and went for the front door saying that this time he was serious and he was leaving!! I told him to go ahead. At this point he is manipulating my reactions to him. He left, walked to the end of the street, turned around and came back home. As soon as he came in I ignored him and kept on doing whatever. He went to the computer and stayed there for a little while.

He was distracted part of the time. When he was done with that around 6:00pm (dinner time) he decided he wanted to go to a neighbors house. I told him no since was so late and it would be rude. Plus we had to have dinner. he got mad again and said he was gong to do it anyways!! and started walking to the door. I said, OK, go but I'm calling his mom right now to not let you play at the house. He was furious and with a battle decided to stay. he went to the back yard to take some air and immediately got distracted with the idea of making a pit fire. He got happy again later.

I don't like the idea for him to think he can do this horrible fits and walking out and then all be OK as soon as he gets happy with no consequences. So at dinner we talked to the 3 kids and told him that we are giving him 2 chances to make the right choices. I'll give 1 warning, then 2 and after that by 3 he would lose TV and computer for that day (his favorites). He understood so I hope helps a little bit.

At this point I'm not sure how much the medicine is helping him. He still gets very angry and out of control, not exactly like before but pretty bad still. We have an IEP next week to go over all the school situation.

We will keep tracking his behavior and see if we can do something different. I weighted him today and has not gained any weight. Ufff...that worries me a little bit.

We are back!!

So the last 4 days my husband and I went to a cabin with some friends. We do it once a year and is a great opportunity to spend some time away from the kids.

Well...I got a phone call on Thursday (the day we left) and it was carlitos very upset. He was calling from school. I asked him what was the problem. he insisted he wanted to go home!!. Then he told me that he was upset because his one on one assistant told him "He was the worst kid she has ever helped!". I.....took a moment....and then told him to stay in the school office for a moment and wait for my phone call. Immediately I had to find out if this was true!.

To make the story short I called the teacher and some other people and it was confirmed. She did say that. Poor choice of words and unfortunately very damaging for her relationship with him at school. She apologized to him and seems like he accepted the apology. At all this I'm many miles away following all this up by cellphone. Amen for technology!.

I understand that him and his sister fought a lot while we were gone. I got a few drama calls while we were out. Nothing too bad but still not good either.

So we finally came home tonight. We gave them presents, and later had a "family meeting" to go over everything that happened while we were gone. Discussed all of it and clarify anything confusing and after that it was all done. Carlitos was so excited to have us back!!.

I had to finish homework with him and it was very hard. He was pushy and in a bad mood seems like (I'm sure the excitement!). Tomorrow is a new day and I have an IEP set up for this week. we will discuss the situation with his one on one.

Insecurity

This morning he did good as usual. Woke up, got dressed and had breakfast. No news to tell to this point.
But looks like he did not do any work at school today and came home very quiet. Went to his room and played alone in there for a little bit. I went in and asked him about it and he shared that he got that weird feeling again in his belly I I call it anxiety!). But this time he said was a different feeling...really? I said, and asked him how different. He mentioned that this time the feeling was saying "you can't do it" and that he takes too long and people notice. I asked him to tell the teacher to give him more time. At the end I told him that he if just refuses to work with no explanation then is easier for people to think the wrong thing about it (defiance) but if he says something then we could help.

So my theory about the "new" feeling is pure insecurity! he is struggling with his self esteem and what people could say about him. The medicine does not help anxiety but I'm not about to fill him up with pills every time he has a new hick up. We will be looking for ways to encourage him and make him feel more secure about what he can do. Before starting any work he already failed in his mind. That is a very hard battle to fight specially when the child does not get the full picture. Wish me luck!

The Behavioral Coach came today. They played Apples to Apples with his sisters and 1 daycare girl. The game went great until he got mad at his older sister and end up slamming his room door. After that he was a little difficult.

At night we went to church at a friends house and he did OK there. Hooked up to a video game. He loves video games, probably because we don't have any!

Window

Another good day for the boy!!. Got up fairly well and was ready on time without much issues. the only thing was that he had to finish a Lego project that I broke by mistake last night. But he was on time still.

As soon as I came back from school checked the journal and it said that he had a great couple of days. Doing his work and behaving really good. I am very happy for him. less stress in school to deal with. As soon as he came from school had snack, did homework and then played with other kids.

his OT came and they were able to do some fun things. At the end the OT was telling me how negative and difficult was writing for carlitos and tried to brainstorm some solutions for the anxiety he gets with it. We don't have any good ideas so far. He claims it gives him a "weird" uncomfortable feeling in his belly. We are not really sure what that means other than anxiety.

We had karate today, the last class before the graduation next week. All of them did very well but in the way back (around 7:40pm or so) we were in the car and carlitos started getting very upset because his little sister was not looking out of "her" window but "his". He pushed her face that way so she would not look at his window. She of course fought the whole thing because it did not make any sense at all. both of the girls were trying to explain to him that windows are everybodys. he got more and more upset and started demanding something to cover the window so little sister could not see throught it!!. I told the girls at this point to stop talking to him and leave him with his issue. They were all tired by now but this was pretty weird behavior on his part. Everybody scratched their head trying to explain this one to him. No success. We got home and he was sleeping within 30 minutes.

Is the first time I see a window as property....I have to say I could not find the logic on that one!

School is back in session

How nice to have the kids back in school!. Carlitos is desperate for a normal routine. This morning everyone was dead tired but in a good mood ready to go. He got ready quickly and had breakfast without any problems. He was ready at the right time. probably excited to go back to it.



The first thing I did after picking him up from school was to check his journal to see how he did. There was no note. He explained that the teacher ran out of time and could not do it. But he was very proud on how he did at school today. he even did his writing.



He was able to do a couple of pages of homework without arguing and played with some daycare kids. All good.

later in the day he started getting annoying and pushy with his sisters. I decided to get him out of the house and sent him to the park with a friend (very gutsy since he has never gone alone) but I was checking on him at a distance. He did great. came back to let me know he was going to his house to play Wii and was back at 6 sharp, just like I told him to do.



After that played in the computer for a little bit and put his pajamas on. Went to bed to do his reading, turned his light off alone and went to sleep.



Over all a good day for him.

Difficult

A very difficult day. Carlitos was very busy and unsettled all day. Fighting a lot with his sisters and seeking all the attention he could get. He is clearly done being home for 2 weeks!!

He had a chance to go to a friends house to play, he needed it to release some energy on someone else other than the sisters.

Tonight he had a very hard time going to bed. Insisting on sleeping in the sofa because he was mad. We told him it was not a good idea since it was a school night and we had things to do around the house to get ready for tomorrow (daycare kids) he got defiant and rude. We gave him plenty of chances to go to his room but he kept on pushing the issue. Finally after a long while I negotiated taking away his Legos for not listening to us and gave him one more chance. He ignored it. So...I took the Legos out of the room.

He was furious!! but not going crazy or anything like that. I waited for a while and told him again to go to his room. With some back and forth conversation he went to bed. Is not that just wanted him to "obey" for no reason. It is important the he gets a good night sleep before his first day back at school. But even that is negotiable. What made the deal was the rebelliousness and defiance I could not let him get away with it. lately he feels like he can do whatever he wants and I have to make boundaries clear. For that I put my foot down sometimes on things that seem not a big deal. I hope he gets up happy tomorrow or will be a long day.

However, I'm very excited about getting back to normal schedule!! can't wait.

Another good day

I guess everything is setting into routine (which is about to change) and the days look similar. Today he woke up as usual, ran to the computer, argued with his sisters, had yummy breakfast and played all day.

Today he went to his friends house (neighbor) and spent a good chunk of time there playing all kinds of games and such. It is good for him to go out on his own and have some independency. He called after a while and made sure he was coming home on time. He was very happy to use his new watch to keep track of time.

I have been sending him to bed early to get use to school schedule. Just a couple of days and we hit the ground running. I have faith that all will work out this year!

Totally out of character

Another day at home with the kids. A few more days and they finally go back to school. I need Carlitos to get back to routine and some normalcy.He did good this morning, a very slow day since there is no much to do at this point. It feels like the downhill from the Holidays..all the excitement and now is all over. A lot of time to do nothing.

Just like the last days the kids are fighting more than usual. But with all and all he is doing very good. No big meltdowns or fits. Just a few fights.

But then....something completely out of character happened!! Carlitos looked for a get well card in my room. Then wrote in it "I hope you get well soon..by Carlitos" and left it on her oldest sister pillow. Nobody had a clue he had done this. he never does things like that on his own!!. She was floored and went to his room to give him a hug. While she was hugging him he gave her a kiss!! sooo cute!. It was a great moment for me. He showed that he does think that way when he is in a good place .

Is Friday and counting....almost Monday!

Welcome new year

Everybody seems excited with 2009. We went to bed late last night but the kids got up bright and early!!. Carlitos did so so today. I discovered that if he is focus in a project or doing something that requires his full attention he does very well. However if he gets bored...everybody needs protection!! because he gets busy all the wrong ways, and this is the time when he gets very pushy and annoying with his sisters.
The pushiness comes from him trying to get them to do something with him. Something HE likes. The moment they say no then it becomes a fight.

He has a very hard time understanding that people does not HAVE to do what he wants at that moment. When they say no to him he immediately feels offended and accuses them to be "mean" to him. We try to explain this concept all kinds of ways but comes up again as soon as he asks someone to play. I'll talk to his OT and see if she has any ideas for this.

We had a situation were we ask Carlitos to not keep something he build inside the house. The reason for this is because it could be dangerous if it is around when he gets angry. He did not like the idea at all. We discussed it and negotiated. He was getting more and more defiant and eventually he took the object and hid it somewhere in the house so we would not get it out of the house. The offer was to keep it in the garage or a club house he has in the backyard. He refused and put his foot down. At this point we had 2 choices, either leave it alone and wait until he was calm and then negotiate or go for it and let him know we could not be bossed around like that. The tricky part was the escalation or outcome in the confrontation.

I felt very strongly about not letting him get the idea he could treat us like that and get away with it (hiding the object). So, I decided to go in the room and told him: Your choices are not acceptable and now this is your choice. You can either give the object to me and keep it in the garage or club or, I will look for it, find it and you loose it forever. He took 1 minute and then got it and took it to the backyard. I'm glad he was able to regroup good like that.

He played in the computer with his sister for a while. Worked on his garage project and read before going to sleep. He had a good day.