Scream or Laugh...

Three days ago one of Andrew's meds were increased. Wednesday evening, Andrew woke up in a rage about one o'clock and we spent several hours together downstairs. Last night Andrew was laughing and running around his room and so we took another trip downstairs so the rest of the crew could sleep. While I like insanely happy Andrew better than the mean raging Andrew, I'm hoping for a "regular" Andrew tonight.

Doing chores together!

This morning Andrew helped me fold a load of clothes.  I laughed as he folded towels and T-shirts.  One of Andrew's teachers had told me he could do it and I just had to see for myself.  Later I held Andrew's hand and together we chopped the tomatoes for tonight's chilli.  I got out the tomato juice and the chilli beans and asked my elder daughter Anna to come take a picture of Andrew and I opening the cans however, I must have spoken too loudly near Andrew and he pinched my arm.  (Insert sigh here... )  

At lunch I had Andrew help make his burrito and he loved it!  If only we could have skipped the pinch that left the bruise on my arm. 


Andrew coloring in our basement

The glow to the left is his navity toy that lights up and tells the gospel story.  My mom gave it to him several years ago before she died and Andrew has always loved it.  When I made him a basement play area this summer, I put all Andrew's noisy toys in a big tub.  It doesn't bother me if he makes it play a hundred times while we are down there.

Our talker works again!

Today a new cord arrived for Andrew's communication device! I gleefully sighed for the package and had it unwrapped and plugged into an outlet in under a minute. We watched as it began to boot up and when rhe picture symbols came up on the home screen Andrew smiled and promptly asked to watch Shrek.

:) Color us both happy as we have been working with just a few picture cards since summer school ended more than two weeks ago.

Add in a nice walk to the park, coloring in the basement and nothing more than an unhappy growl when I gave him grapes instead of tortilla chips for snack and you have the makings of a much better day!

Sleepy

I woke up this morning at 3:27. Andrew was awake and making noises in his room. We went downstairs where I put in a video for Andrew and mindlessly played a Nintendo 3-DS game.

At six I went upstairs to get ready for the day and my kiddo ate half a pepper, half a cucumber, several handfuls of spaghetti and three pieces of baloney. (This was all in about seven minutes.)

Later, about eight, My middle kiddo came down stairs and switched Andrew's music video to Toy Story 2. Aparently Andrew was sure this was the worst thing ever. The fit that insued was rather epic.

I talked to the doctor and she is raising one of Andrew's meds. The recent downward turn in his behavior is frustrating as Andrew was doing so well for a while.

The saddest part is that when Andrew is "good" he is honestly a real sweetie. Last night our family went to a local metro park and we had a delightful time. Here's hoping we can even out the mood swings.

Ouch!

My arm hurts. About a half hour ago my son bit me. I guess the joke's on me as I told the behavioral heath specialist at yesterday's meeting that Andrew didn't bite other people when he was upset.

It all started after we put the paint away and Andrew and I were looking at his communication book pictures to choose his next activity. Andrew was choosing the " walk the dog" token as well as the, "bus" picture. Not only do these two activities not mix, but we already rode the bus yesterday and bus adventures are expensive, so we usually only ride the bus once a week.

I was trying to put the dog walk token on Andrew's schedule when he became agitated And started to bite his hand. I retreated across the kitchen and told Andrew it was ok and not to bite himself. In response Andrew ran across the room to grab and headbut me. I put up my arm to deflect the blow and Andrew growled but retreated. I stayed across the room because to exit would have required walking past him and perhaps having him follow me to the living room where Andrew's sisters were sitting.

After Andrew stopped growling, I walked to the other room and got paper and crayons. I have been writing things for him to trace as I sit here recounting the event. Andrew doesn't seem to even remember he was mad.

I am at a loss...

Apparently if I block an attack bitting is now a possibility...

The bruise on my arm hurts... sigh

Will he even notice if he doesn't get to go out today? Would he even make the connection? I think I'm going to email one of his teachers and see what they say. (Andrew's speech teacher works all summer and is very helpful.)

Choose your own adventure

Today Andrew and I hopped on the bus for a ride downtown. Or perhaps I should say I hopped on the bus to go downtown, Andrew had other ideas.
Our ride downtown was unadventful and soon we approched our normal stop and I motioned to Andrew that it was time to get off. To my surprise, Andrew shook his head, "no".
I pointed to the Tim Hortons as we passed, thinking he didn't realize where we were but still Andrew did not want to get off the bus. I chuckled and told Andrew, "o.k.". The trip was solely for his amusement so I figured I'd see where he wanted to get off.
We rode the bus out of downtown and through several neighborhoods, finally emerging in a more commercial area. Seeing a Wendy's off in the distance, I quickly got a picture card with the Wendy's symbol out and convinced Andrew to disembark.

Much later we returned home. I swear Andrew looked rather pleased with himself.