Verbs, Siblings, and a Busy Month

Well, the Monkey has been doing VERY well as of late. I'm happy to report that we have verbs! To some of you that mat sound very strange, but for Tripp to actually use a verb is really impressive. The two verbs he is using most are "run" and "flying." He's also using "go fast" and has used "scream." They are usually used when talking about himself, (Wook, I run!, Mommy I scream.) but he has a few times used them regarding someone else (Skeeter flying!). I know verbs are not the most exciting thing in the world, but since my last post I have done many a happy dance for verbs!

Siblings........well, as usual Monkey is tolerating Bug and LOVING Goose. Well, he loves Goose most of the time. Sadly, when you love someone, you spend a lot of time with them and you inevitably hit a point in time when the love isn't brimming over and you get flat annoyed. That happened last week in our house. I was upstairs getting the first of our Christmas decorations out when I hear Monkey's "I am really unhappy about what is being done to me" whine/cry immediately followed by Goose's "holy cow I am really hurt and scared" scream. Being half way down our spiral stair with arms full of stuff I though quick and decided it was best to shove it all back on the landing (thank goodness we don't have that railing up yet) and go as quickly as possible to the scene of the crime. I knew what had happened as soon as I saw Goose. Her hand was over her mouth and nose and blood was running down her chin. See, Tripp is a headbutter. (that looks funny when you type it out - maybe I'm spelling it wrong) Up until last week the only person he had headbutted intentionally was me - usually in the gut and since I have some cushion in that region it hadn't been that big of an issue. He has given a few of us the wayward headbut (just ask Nana!) and left bruises, but really nothing intentional...until last week. Apparently Goose was trying to force him to sit in her lap and received two butts to the face in rapid succsesion. It was ugly and they were both VERY upset. Monkey went to decompress in his room and was reminded that "We do NOT headbut our sisters!" Goose got an ice pack and at the end of our lengthy discussion about what had transpired said that she had indeed learned a lesson. What lesson did she learn? "Let go!"

Since I told a somehwat "ugly" story I'll tell a cute one too. Tripp has learned how to open his closet and turn on the light. So, now, every night, we go through a process of getting him out of the closet where he is playing and back in bed a few times before he actually goes to sleep. One of the first nights this was going on I decided he could get back up and hang with me and Daddy for a while. We don't get much time with just him so I figured it would be nice. He snuggled down in the couch between us with his calculator and looked very happy. Then has says,"Wet's count backwards. Mommy, 40." So, I counted backwards from 40. "Wet's count backwards. Daddy, 61." So Easy counted backwards from 61. He skipped a number to see if Monkey would notice - he didn't, which was a testament to how tired he really was. "Wet's count backwards. Twup (that's Tripp in his language) 100." And he sat there and counted all the way down to 0. He then did some multiplication on his calculator with his daddy before heading back to bed peacfully and not making another peep until the next morning. I'm still trying to figure out if he saved 100 for himself just for fun or if he doubts our ability to do it properly. Either way, it was cute and we enjoyed the time with him!

Busy Month.......it will definitely be that! Let's see, we have a hearing test on Wednesday. That ought to be fun. Not sure how he will respond and since he doesn't really follow directions outside of his routine it should be an inetersting experience. We have to have it done for the school district as a "rule out." Then, on the 17th we go to Temple for the first meeting with the Autism Team at Scott & White. I dreamed the other day that we went and they told me that there was absolutely nothing wrong with my child and said they thought I had Munchausen's (sp?) Syndrome. That's where the mom acutally makes her child sick for attention. Nice. I think since he's been doing so well with his language development that my brain was starting the whole "maybe he's really fine and I'm crazy" thing again. Then on the 19th we start the assessments for the school district. Their diagnostician has already contacted our preschool and will be observing him therein addition to her time with him one-on-one. The district psychologist has sent me some paperwork and will be in touch soon to schedule her part as well. She may even do her interview with me on the 19th while he's getting observed by the diag and speech person. That's a lot before Christmas, don't you think? It's good though.

I feel like we will be starting 2008 on the road to finding the best way to connect with and teach our sweet Monkey. The book our speech therapist loaned me really had some good stuff in it. It really focused on joining your child's world instead of trying to make them fit into yours. I did some simple things like just imitate the sounds he was making when he was in "the zone" one night and he immediately stopped, made eye contact, and smiled at me. Of course he then went right back to walking on his tiptoes in a circle, flashing his fingers in front of his face, and repeating the language from our cash register toy. That instant when he connected with me was amazing though. The look on his face was absolutely beautiful. And it gave me such joy to realize that when he's completely gone into his own little world, I can join him and connect - even if just for a few seconds. I better run. The critters are all getting hungry. I'll try to post after each appoitnment. Pray for us all this month. There will be a lot of running the roads, and a lot less of our regular routine so it could get dicey. Have a great week and don't forget to stop and Monkey Dance every now and then.