Improvement in the Monkey/Great Grampy relationship

Melissa

I’ve mentioned before that Duhdee’s grandfather lives in the other half of the two-family house we live in.  We’ve lived here for all of Monkey’s life but, for some reason, Monkey is a bit scared of his Great Grampy.  They both want to interact with each other but Monkey is just very uncertain about Great Grampy.

We’ve had some nice interactions, mostly in our house where Monkey feels safest.  Monkey has been adament about not going into Great Grampy’s house though and he tries to avoid direct interaction whenever he can.  Something is changing though and Duhdee and I are trying our best to encourage it.

For example, since our plumbing disaster ruined Great Grampy’s bathroom ceiling Duhdee has been spending a lot of time down there doing repairs.  Monkey has been missing his Duhdee and he’s very drawn to tools so he has twice now ventured, willingly, into Great Grampy’s house to visit with Duhdee and watch him work.  He waves to Great Grampy from a distance and, yesterday, nearly wandered into the living room to join Great Grampy watching TV but he thought better of it.

Another really nice interaction, also yesterday, happened in the basement.  Duhdee was building a new shelving unit for me for starting seeds.  Great Grampy came down to see what we were up to and Monkey waved to him and said “Hi.”  Then he started showing off for him!  He ran around the basement and performed feats of strength.  He tried to push the house off the foundation, he tried to move the dryer, he tried to rip down the cast iron waste pipe…and all the while he was making eye contact with Great Grampy and smiling.  He was also grunting to show how much effort he was putting into his feats of strength.

We’re really encouraged by all of this and I know it’s making Great Grampy very happy as well.

Countdown to Dryness 2009* – Night 4

Melissa

Last night Monkey put himself to bed a half hour early.  That, coupled with the fact that he woke up around 10:30 requesting a glass of water, drank it and then asked for more, did not bode well for his efforts to stay dry for 7 consecutive nights but HE DID IT!  He woke me up at 6:45 (which is also 45 minutes late for him) and we went straight to the potty ((Ok, OK, I rolled around and whined about how early it was for about 5 seconds before we went to the potty…I am never going to be a morning person.)).  I am very impressed.

The other, massively important, aspect of potty training is at a dead standstill.  He’s gone twice in his pants each day this weekend.  The potty training specialist keeps saying we need to get him to sit for 5-10 minutes after each meal.  The only time this kid sits still for that long is when he’s eating.  We are not eating in the bathroom!  We’ve tried the sticker charts, we’ve tried really fun toys, we’ve tried books, we’ve begged, we’ve bribed…nothing will entice him to sit there.

I really just don’t know what to do.  He knows when he has to go, it bothers him enough that he tells us as soon as he’s done so we can clean it up, but he still just keeps going in his pants.

*Thanks Holly’s Mom for the snazzy name.

I hope he never loses his love of the vacuum!

Melissa

This morning Monkey began asking to vacuum the floor before my eyes were even opened.  I’m sure a lot of people would find this annoying but since we have two, double-coated, dogs…well, it’s always good to have someone who enjoys vacuuming around!  I did make him wait until after we’d had breakfast but as soon as we’d cleaned up I suggested he go get the vacuum out.

You would have thought I’d just invited him to Disney World by the way his face lit up.  Of course, he didn’t want to actually USE my vacuum, he just wanted to watch me use it but he did help out a bit with his Dirt Devil.

I have high hopes that, some day, he’ll beg to use the vacuum and then proceed to vacuum the entire house.  Maybe even daily.   A girl can dream, can’t she?

BTW, day 3…he woke up dry.  I don’t mean to bore anyone but I will lose track if I don’t write it down and I did promise him that after 7 dry nights he could wear underwear to bed too.

Folic Acid

Melissa

We started Monkey on folic acid therapy in August of last year.  I can’t believe I didn’t mention this at the time, lol.  Anyway, the literature all says that it takes a minimum of 4 months for the effects to show up, if any, and we’re well past that mark.  In fact, the 4 month mark was in early December. 

I would really encourage other families to consider this.  We’ve had no side effects at all and we just so happen to have witnessed a marked increase in Monkey’s ability to attend and communicate starting right around the 4 month mark.  Part of this could be explained by the increased sensory OT he’s receiving at school but he maintains on weekends and during school vacations when he’s not getting any OT so I don’t think the extra OT can account for all of the improvements.

Normal developmental stage?

Melissa

The worst thing about having an only child with FXS is that I never know what is “normal” behavior and what is maybe a sign of problems.

For instance, this weekend Monkey was pretty much glued to me.  I said on more than one occasion that I wished I had a way to tie him to my back so I would at least have my arms free.  He was hanging on me constantly or asking for piggy back rides (he sign’s “pig” and says “back”, pretty darned cute and he came up with it all on his own.)

So..is this normal 4/5 year old behavior or a sign of anxiety?

Another dry morning!

Melissa

I’m so excited, Monkey is doing so well “holding it” during the day and it seems that he’s able to do the same overnight as well, very cool! 

On Sunday, when the plumber was downstairs cutting the cast iron pipes below the bathroom floor, we put Monkey in a diaper.  The noise in the bathroom was tremendous and it was coming in spurts, Monkey was too scared to go in the bathroom to do his business.  Rather than risk an accident we thought a diaper made perfect sense.  Monkey didn’t seem to mind at all. 

Then, a few hours later, Monkey came running to the kitchen where Dudhee and I were talking.  He was very upset and he grabbed his diaper.  I thought he’d gone and wanted a change but I quickly realized he was still dry.   Duhdee ran down to ask the plumber to take a break and we rushed to the toilet.  Poor Monkey barely made it…he really had to go!  I was happy to see that he is this determined to be potty trained.  He seems to have really turned the corner on this and is much more motivated than he had been. 

Not so much on the poop still.  We still have to catch him or he goes in his pants.  He knows he has to go, he runs to hide, but he isn’t willing try to go on the potty yet.  I wish I knew why :-\

In other news…I’m back to work today.  *YAWN*

The plumber has left the building!

Melissa

We have a nearly functioning shower!  Duhdee just needs to put the…uh…piece….back on.   I am no handywoman, obviously.  Grampy still has a hole in his ceiling and his wallpaper also needs to be patched but Duhdee will get to that tomorrow.

The plumber insisted on showing us what he snaked out of our pipes.  I asked him if he was sure I needed to see and he said yes.  I may never sleep again.  He was very impressed.  Try to imagine what it takes to impress a plumber.   *shudder*

T-minus 20 minutes until the arrival of the plumber!

Melissa

Duhdee is down in Grampy’s bathroom tearing out his ceiling.  The leak damaged the plaster so it needed to be repaired anyway but the added bonus is that the plumber prefers to go through the ceiling anyway!  That saves us having to rip up our bathroom floor and remove our toilet.  Yay!

Grampy wants the plumber to replace anything that is questionable, not just the leak.  The plumbing is 70 years old, all cast iron….my fingers are crossed that this won’t be a multi-day event!