TWO milestones today, can you believe it?!
The first is that Isaac spent most of the day in his big boy underwear, and stayed DRY! Potty training an autistic child is, I'm sorry to say, a pain in the ass. It really is. He's at the point where he can usually stay dry between trips to the potty, but the problem is he doesn't listen to his body about when he needs to go. That means it's up to Dan and I to try to figure out when he probably needs to go, then we have to push and threaten him to get upstairs to sit on the toilet. Then he sits for 10 seconds and stands back up and says "all done" when he hasn't done anything, then we have to force him to sit back down until he does go. But he is going pee in the toilet, and today was his very first day going to school in his big boy underwear! I packed a change of clothes in his backpack and talked to one of the teachers about it. When I picked him up from school, he had a Spiderman bouncy ball that he'd earned from their Treasure Box because he stayed dry at school today in his big boy underwear! Mom is so proud! The underwear lasted all the way until late afternoon when the poop came. I swear I hope Isaac is pooping in the toilet soon. We're going to make out a potty schedule for him so he has a visual aid about good times to use the potty, and hope that helps. It's been a long hard process, and unless people understand Isaac's special needs, if we try to share with some people how awesome he's doing on the potty we get totally rude comments like, "He's how old?!" He'll be 6 in June, thank you very much, and we couldn't be more proud of the progress he's been making.
The other huge milestone was Isaac ate a hot dog for dinner tonight. Meat. Something other than PB & J or a pancake. And not just a hot dog, but in the bun. I had some coupons so before going to the store I asked Isaac if he'd like to have hot dogs and he said yes. I asked him if he'd like them plain or in a bun, and he said in a bun. So after school I took him to the store with me and had him help me get the stuff. At dinner time I asked if he'd like his leftover pancake or a hot dog, and he said hot dog! I nuked the dog in the microwave, then sliced it in half lengthwise (since Isaac has always had chewing/swallowing problems, I didn't want him to choke). I put 1/2 the dog on the bun, and diced the other 1/2 up. He didn't want ketchup or mustard or anything, which he never does, he likes everything dry and plain. So he picks up the bun and starts eating, getting through that extra bread length. He gets to the meat part and makes a face as he's chewing the hot dog part, and I'm thinking Oh Great! He doesn't like it! Then he swallowed and continued to eat the entire rest of the hot dog and the bun! WOW! We are slowly, slowwwwwwwly beginning to make progress in expanding the foods that he'll eat. The last time he had a hot dog was when he was probably 2 and cut into itty bitty pieces. After that he liked corndogs, and that became a dietary staple for him until about a year ago when he wouldn't touch them again. And that was the only meat we could get in him. We can hide fruit and fiber in things like pancakes, but you can't mash up meat! It's a tricky balance to find foods that will be tasty to him, and also not offend his sensitivity to textures.
We had ice cream for dessert tonight, and of course Isaac wouldn't touch it. But I guess that's actually a good thing?
Here's Dan in the backyard working on preparing the garden site a few days ago. The ground was super soft so he just got out there and dug and pulled up the grass and weeds, and it didn't take him too long either. Isaac thought he'd be fast enough to run from me and the camera!
Yesterday after dropping Isaac off at school, and since Dan had the day off and the weather was beautiful, we ran to the farm supply store and bought seeds to plant after Isaac got home from school. Isaac has been earning dimes for his piggy bank by doing chores like making his bed, so he was able to earn a couple dimes by helping us plant seeds in the front and backyards.
We were able to use the bricks and pieces of bricks we had to create a border around my strawberries. I had meant to do alot of things this last fall, but with spending the whole day throwing up it just wasn't a priority to work in the garden. So the strawberries had stretched and were starting to go into the grass and surrounding garden area, and we can't have that! We were able to move the rope trellis over and secure it well for use this summer. We planted pole beans (green beans) and spinach. In the buckets we planted hubbard squash, acorn squash, oregano, and basil. We need to start our peppers and tomatoes indoors, as well as our other herbs before we can get those in the ground outside. I didn't want to plant as much as we had last summer because 1) I'm not the one doing the planting and remember: Dan gets grouchy, and 2) I'm hoping by having fewer plants out there we won't have as big a problem with powdery mildew as we did last year. I can't wait to take pictures of our garden when it starts to grow and get pretty!
5 months ago
