Tigger

Most of the talk so far has introduced you to Pooh, so I thought I would take this time to mention my smallest offspring, Tigger. He's a beautiful 4 year old boy who never stops moving. He's so different from his brother, as siblings often are. He wants to be part of everything at every minute of the day. His favorite things are tools. He loves to help "fix" things. At the slightest hint that it may be needed, he is off running for his toolbox. And he has real tools. The King and I have provided him with small child-sized tools so that he can participate in family projects. Of course, he still sometimes takes off with our tools. Especially the King's. Especially when he needs it. And then Tigger may or may not remember where he put it. My poor hubby spends quite a bit of time searching for his tools. LOL

Tigger is a bit on the shy side. It's sort of funny, after having a child with autism, to see Tigger get embarrassed over things and then react to that embarrassment. He can be loud, crazy-funny and sensitive all within 5 minutes. He's picked up some of his older brother's quirky sayings. "You're just jealous" when they're upset at me. "You just don't like me" when they're getting disciplined. and my personal favorite "You're not my mommy anymore". Tigger has added his own "I'm just getting out of here" to the repertoire.

He's crazy-funny in that he loves to laugh and make people laugh and he'll do silly stuff to make that happen. He makes up his own words-nonsense words that he thinks are funny. He's constantly talking, CONSTANTLY. I'm just not used to that. I'm a pretty quiet person. I like to read, garden, etc. Pooh likes to look at books, draw and TV. Tigger likes to bounce and talk. He talks about anything and everything. "Mommy, mommy, watch this" "Mommy, mommy let's do_______" Lately he's been wanting to play tennis. It's Tigger Tennis because he makes up his own rules and was calling me a cheater if he didn't hit the ball. I can deal with the different rules, but i had to nip the "cheater" calling in the bud. He didn't even really know what it meant.

He's a cute little ball of fire. And i love him to death. He can really get me laughing and I love having his little arms come around me saying "I love you, Mommy". Actually, THAT'S my personal favorite.

Reciprocal RCR

Turn taking went fairly well. We did have an adjustment in the beginning because Pooh was still trying to do assembly line patterns. He also just doesn't want to do the activity sometimes. When that happens, i make sure that he is close to me, i ignore his rants and griping and usually what finally brings him around is when i say "all right, I'll just wait until you're ready." His response is usually "oh, all right, I'll do it. But I'm NOT doing it again" He's already got the nice teenager attitude. So yes, even though we do the activities and are successful with most of them, it's not smooth sailing. As a general rule, once he's into the activity he enjoys it and forgets that he didn't want to do it at first. I try to end with a nice little "we had so much fun TOGETHER" or "we did it TOGETHER". I'm supposed to be emphasizing the togetherishness of our activities so that he can see how much fun it is to have another person around. LOL So that Emotion Sharing becomes important to him.

I think the resistance to activity is still from a basic lack of competence. I know he has many memories of not being able to (or his perception is that he hasn't been able to) participate well in many things in the past. He doesn't want to try and not get it right the first time. He's much happier looking at books about ships and subs, drawing pictures of said ships and subs and giving a commentary on ships and subs. He actually made up his own Reading Rainbow show today as he was talking about subs. Complete with the part where it shows the kids recommending what books to read. So, of course, the books he recommended were the library books he had checked out on WWII subs. It's funny and yet at the same time, sad. It's also incredibly annoying.

The one relief i have in sight is that once he's done with one obsession, he's onto a new one. Before the ships and subs, it was planes--supersonic jets, WWII planes etc. Occasionally, even i learn a thing or too. Although, i try to stay out of it. I don't like being sucked into the vortex.

His capacity for learning this stuff is pretty amazing for a kid that isn't reading yet. But that's a blog for another time.

Do Not Try This At Home

Okay, to explain the whole Poison Control phone call. So i'm talking with our consultant on monday and she suggests an activity that sounds just great for simultaneous rcr pattern. Soapy water and straws. Need I say more?? The whole thing was caught on tape too, since i was videoing for this weeks mailing. (We mail our vhs's to the consultant). It was Tigger of course, that ended up with a very clean stomach. Especially after the vomiting. Do you think it was better because it was castile soap?? I don't know. Tigger has a very negative episodic memory of the whole thing. "Mommy, i don't want to play that game anymore. That's not a very good game." I agree whole heartedly. At least for this house.

And just in case you were wondering. The whole point was for Pooh to be following my lead and blowing bubbles with the straw at the same time i was. Of course, my little Tigger couldn't be left out of all the fun. And yes, i did explain about not sucking it up. Note: If you let go of the straw with your hands, and your mouth is still holding the straw, you might suck up liquid whether you're trying to or not. Maybe it's following the whole yoga theory of arms extended=in breath.

Ok, now i'm just being silly. It's late though so "suck it up".

Where We're At

The last month has been just crazy. We had our end of the year homeschool bash which entailed a bible drama (directed by yours truly) and a talent show. So with props, practice, costumes and more practicing it's been too busy to keep up here. The kids did great though. The show went off without a hitch (for the most ;D). The main part that Pooh played was Moses. Everyone was amazed by how well he did. I have to admit that I, as the director and chooser of the parts (yikes!), had my moments of doubt as to whether he'd pull it off, but he came thru. Even with all the bible language he had to memorize. "But against any of the sons of Israel will no dog move eagerly it's tongue" was a bit of a mouthfull for him. LOL Tigger nicely played the part of an Israelite and the sheep on Noah's Arc. Tigger also participated in the talent show with an idea all his own--he sang Old MacDonald. He had Pooh help him though as he's a bit shy. They were very cute in their cowboy costumes with the stuffed horse, pig and cow.

We also had what i like to refer to as my niece's Graduation Gala. I got her a tiara to wear for it as she's now graduated to princess status. My sister had to graduate to be the Queen now. hehehehe Big time family joke!

So that, amongst other things has put us behind on our RCR blitzing. I'm even a week past what i would be because i sent a vhs to our consultant, then received an email that the only thing on there was Sesame Street and Wishbone. How that happened i don't know. I'm assuming someone sat on the controller because they haven't figured out how to tape shows. Yet.

This week we're doing the last of the RCR patterns. Simultaneous. Which basically is doing things at the same time. Pooh has to wait for me to do things and follow my lead if i do something weird. Which is a common occurance for me. Yes, in the last month i have done the second RCR pattern, Reciprocal (ie turn taking). I'll have to blog more about these patterns soon. And maybe if i ever get around to it again, make a list of activities we've used in doing these patters. My deleted list was just soooo good! I still can't believe i didn't save it.

In between everything else, i'm still reading about child development and homeschooling philosophies which i'll also try to blog about soon.

Oh, and my dishwasher is on the fritz. sigh
I think poison control will be on a first-name basis with me soon. (one RDI activity we will not be repeating--i'll blog the warning soon)
Homeopathy is a wonderful thing.
Tigger is bouncy, bouncy and still in diapers!
RDIos will be unavailable for those of us who still are running on Windows 98se!!!

blllllppppppffffftttttt!!!!!!!!