These look really cool. I do believe Duhdee will be signing Monkey up for one in the near future. Free fun! Tools! Everyone will be happy.
Month: March 2009
Another library trip this am.
We also went to Lowe’s, CVS and took both dogs to the vet. It’s been a busy one. The library and Lowe’s were my favorite stops of the day because Monkey enjoyed them so much.
I had requested a couple of books I thought Monkey might enjoy (The Complete Adventures of Curious George and The House in the Night) and I had seen that the library had a copy of Duck and Goose available as well. Monkey was a bit reluctant to go in at first but once he saw all the books in the Children’s Room he was in. We found Duck and Goose and then picked up our other selections at the circulation desk. He was so excited about Curious George that he carried it all the way back to the truck. This is quite a hefty book too! He looked at that book the entire 20 minute drive to Lowe’s.
At Lowe’s he was just so good. He didn’t ride in a cart. He stayed with us, didn’t get into anything he shouldn’t and was thrilled by the rows of vacuums and refrigerators, lol. Duhdee and I were able to stroll through the store and take our time which is just so nice. I told him how proud I was of his behavior several times, lol…take every opportunity, right?
After lunch we had to go to CVS and the vet’s. Monkey and I were both flagging by that point but we got through it. He just took a few minutes to eat a cheese stick which gave me time to rest as well. Now we’re off to the basement where Duhdee is hard at work already.
Jeeze, when did weekends start to require so much work?
Irony, the definition of.
My health insurer sends me e-mails periodically about the health benefits of reducing stress.
My health insurer is also continuing to refuse to pay for my son’s autism evaluation. The evaluation we’ve had to wait 5 months to schedule.
I live in a state that is going to require my insurance carrier to provide this evaluation starting July 1, 2009 anyway and they are insisting I must file a formal appeal.
Instead of suggesting yoga and breathing exercises why don’t they just, you know, PAY FOR THE FREAKING EVALUATION ALREADY?
That just might provide a smidge more stress relief. Gah!
Seriously, do they think we are trying to set up a 3 day, 9 HOUR austism evaluation for fun?
An impromptu speech update.
Yesterday morning we bumped into Monkey’s speech therapist as we were leaving the school. She stopped us to speak briefly about how wonderfully he is doing these days.
She is so impressed with all of the new sounds that he is making. She is most impressed with his newfound willingness to try imitating new sounds. She said this is particularly key, if he doesn’t want to try there is nothing anyone can do to make him but he’s motivated and clearly wants to master this whole talking thing.
We mentioned the blowing out candles and the counting to her, she said that explained why he suddenly seemed to understand how to, and be able to, blow bubbles at school. She had noticed exactly what we had. Prior to the candle practice each night Monkey would make the “sound effect” of blowing without actually blowing. As cute as it was, he really needed to learn how to push air past his lips to help with his speech. It’s pretty cool that something as fun and easy as blowing out candles after dinner has turned out to be free “therapy!” I can see now, in hindsight, how this was a really good approach to take. It gave him visual proof when he was blowing correctly (the candle went out) and when he was not (the candle stayed lit.) I wish we could say it was planned, lol, because it’s rather brilliant!
She also had a bit of a puzzle she was trying to work out. She and Monkey have been reading Are You My Mother? and she couldn’t get Monkey to say “Mama” or “Mommy.” She knew he had to have a sign or a word for me but he was not sharing, lol. We told her that he calls me “Umma” and that he does know the sign for “Mama” as well. Armed with this info she can now try to get him to cooperate a bit more. She is a very nice and very experienced ST but she does let Monkey get away with more than his other therapists/teachers do and the boy does take advantage.
She also shared that No, David! is his favorite book at school. She said it was about a naughty little boy and the picture she showed us was of a boy drawing on the walls. She said he really seems to get the humor. Given the fact that he recently used a permanent marker to write on Great Grampy’s hot water heater in the basement I’m willing to say that he’s maybe picked up a habit or two from it. Ahem.
I’m still going to add it to our library at home, lol.
Basement fun.
Monkey is understandably obsessed with our basement these days. We spend a lot of time down there as we clean up, reorganize and prepare to build an office for Duhdee’s newest business.
The clean up portion was a ton of fun for Monkey because we had to pull out all of his old toys which he really loved. He would play with his baby toys and you could see that he clearly remembered all of these old friends. We found a lovely young family via craigslist and we gave them ALL of Monkey’s outgrown toys and baby gear, they were very excited.
The reorganization portion is still on-going and Monkey is even more thrilled. First, Duhdee built me a seed starting area, I have room for 4 seed tray flats now which is MORE than enough to satisfy me, lol. He has hung 4 flourescent lights (two over each shelf) and yesterday started the process of wiring them to an automated switch. He’ll program the lights to turn on and off automatically. Woot!
All of this building and wiring has meant that Duhdee has been using power tools. Nothing makes Monkey happier than power tools. We bought him a set for Christmas and they are very cool but his drill isn’t quite as cool as Duhdee’s drill. Initally, we kept him from using Duhdee’s drill but eventually we realized that he could use it safely as long as there was no bit in it. Monkey was thrilled with this development and happily spent many hours pretending to drill holes in the walls, in my seed stand and in the floor.
He’s been keeping a close eye on Duhdee though and he noticed that when Duhdee used his drill he added a “bit.” It wasn’t long before Monkey was scouring the basement looking for “bits” (this is the cutest thing he says right now besides “honey,” of course.) He’s very creative and found several potential “bits” and asked me to help him with them. After putting him off for the entire afternoon he brought over an actual bit that we decided he could safely use. It was a short, blunt bit that could be used for sockets. Duhdee installed the bit and Monkey was again thrilled.
A short time later, Monkey approached me with a bolt. He was trying to get the bit into the bolt. I took it from him and showed him that it didn’t fit and Monkey wandered off again. I showed the bolt to Duhdee before I put it away because I was amazed that, out of all the choices, Monkey had picked a bolt with the right shape! A minute later Monkey approached me again, this time with a socket. And again it wasn’t just any socket but one out of hundreds that very nearly fit his bit. Duhdee was so impressed that he stopped what he was doing and found the proper bit and socket combination for Monkey to play with.
I am so impressed by his ability to match odd shapes and to judge sizes so accurately, we’re talking a 1/16th of an inch (or mayb 1/32th of an inch) off on the socket and he had literally hundreds to chose from. It wasn’t even the most convenient socket to reach, he had to reach over several rows to get the one he picked. He just blows my mind sometimes.
Besides the wiring we’ve started painting the basement with a paint designed to seal out moisture. Duhdee picked one that is water based so Monkey was able to help us paint. He seemed to enjoy it at first but ultimately decided that using power tools is more fun. I think if Duhdee had given him the roller he might have stuck with painting longer. Though anything that we do down there paint-wise will be an improvement, we weren’t quite brave enough to hand over a full loaded paint roller. We still have miles of basement left (we’re painting each area as we finish cleaning it up and just before Duhdee re-wires it) so maybe he’ll get his hands on a roller before we finish.
Pet Names
Duhdee and I are feeling extremely greatful today that we do not use silly pet names with each other when we’re at home. Why? Because earlier today we were in the basement (yes, we spend a LOT of time down there these days, it’s getting a major facelift) and we heard Monkey say something. I had to ask him to repeat himself because I was pretty sure that he could not have said what I thought I’d heard. He repeated himself, clear as a bell.
Our son…is now calling us both…”Honey.” *snort*
Monkey can count!
Monkey has learned to count this past week. It’s so darned cute, hopefully I can get it on video. Each night after dinner we sit down and blow out the candles. There are seven candles and he can count to seven now! True, he normally starts at “two” (because he doesn’t want just one candle, no way, no how) but he will start at one if prompted and go all the way up. The words are getting clearer and clearer each time. Go Monkey!
I heard from my HR director.
He left a message for me yesterday while I was at lunch. He asked me to call him back so we can discuss a health care advocate. *Grimace* I have a special education advocate, why not a health care advocate too?
I did not call him back, I was in a very bad mood already and I am trying to limit my meltdowns these days. I just find it very annoying to think I need to pay someone to advocate on my behalf in order to get these people to do the right thing.
Cupcake comes to play.
Yesterday morning, Cupcake came over to play with Monkey for a while. Let me tell you the cuteness is nearly unbearable when these two get together. They just totally love each other. It started off a bit rocky because although Monkey is great at sharing other kids’ toys he is not so great at sharing his toys.
Case in point…he even resorted to sitting on toys (that he doesn’t even play with normally) just to keep them out of Cupcake’s hands.
After a few minutes and a few gentle reminders to share he was doing great.
The favorite activity of the day however was this…
Staring out the window watching Duhdee use the snowblower. They’d even knock on the window to try to get his attention. How cute are they? ((No, Monkey isn’t standing on anything. They’re 3 years apart and he does just tower over her. I think she was actually on her tippy toes trying to see out, lol.))