April 21st, 2005

Busy, busy, busy. It sure seems like every week I write about how busy I am. My life is like an old Calgon commercial…I guess I keep fantasizing how one day I’ll sit down and write “what a lovely week…Jakob and I have been having great conversations about school and Kenny and I are leaving for Bora Bora tomorrow”…

The Play Date on Saturday went great. It was so nice to be around other families facing the same challenges. The next Jakob’s Play Date will be May 14.

Jakob has been doing pretty well. He was a bit of a booger there for a few days after Mom and Dad left. He started messing with stuff he’d been leaving alone like the fireplace. For some reason his patience level was a little low. He’d go from 0-10 in no time. Things that normally wouldn’t frustrate him were and he was pretty whiney. I’ve been told by more than one expert (parent or therapist) that usually a “difficult few days” lead to some serious “learning days”. That appears to be the case here. He’s starting to use a lot more signs and he’s doing well with following directions. I can see the wheels turning in his little head…he’s definitely up to something.

I laughed so hard I almost wet myself the other day. I’ve been trying to teach him that his sippy cup stays on the deck and doesn’t go up in the swing set. He loves to throw the sippy cup down the slides so trying to break that habit has been a little difficult. I can’t even count how many times I followed him through the yard to the ladder on the swing set, waited for him to get about half-way up, took the sippy cup away and put it back on the deck. He’d whine all the way down the slide and then sprint to the deck, grab the sippy cup and we’d start the whole process over again. Then one time, instead of just taking the sippy cup away, I gave him a ball to throw down the slide. He took that ball, walked 20 feet to the fence and threw the ball over the fence into the trees. Then, of course, he came back for the sippy cup. The look on his face…he is so ornery. It was one of those moments when I couldn’t help but laugh.

Everything with him is like that…a game. He one-ups me then I one-up him. It can go on forever. It’s so funny. I have to admit that I enjoy the process when I have the time to go through it. Jakob is just so smart. The ideas he comes up with and the ways he tries to manipulate me are hilarious. I gotta say…I’m impressed.

With all the beautiful weather we’ve been having, I’ve gotten way behind on the housework. All I want to do is play outside. With the rain, maybe I’ll get caught up. If I don’t…oh well, such is life.

I’ll probably get side-tracked from my dusting with the several books I’m reading. Autism stuff, apraxia stuff and a little on glyconutrients. It’s so tough because there is no research on anything so it’s hard to say what works and what doesn’t. I guess I just gotta trust my instincts…I will certainly write about it when I figure it out.

Jakob has quite the runny nose…allergies I think. He gets that honest…I’m a mess too. I need to stop to pick up some Puffs on the way home…

-Jenn