January 22, 2013

:-)  This picture is a little old and he's 13 now, not 10 (or 11?)  but this is my "sweet" child playing his Nintendo DS game.  A game that he can no longer have because he turns into a monster when he gets it.  I finally started to only allow it when we went shopping at the mall because he HATES shopping.

Anyway, this week was pretty good.  He has done really well maintaining his temper and staying polite.  We still have much to work on, though.  I have noticed a couple of times where he started to get really upset but he was able to stifle it and work through it.  He's earned some stars and even got to go to a few places he wanted to go.  So far, he's gotten to watch Frankenweenie,  he earned an hour of play on his Nintendo DS, he earned a favorite game to be played and he earned a trip to CiCi's Pizza which we will never, EVER do again!  EVER!  God that place is nasty!  Just nasty!  There was sticky goo on the edge of the seat, no clean tables and the pizza tasted like dogshit, I'm not kidding!  BAD!  I looked over at Ross at one point and he's just munching away, happy as can be, LOL.  I told him to enjoy it now because we won't ever be back!  ;-)  One interesting tidbit:  while we were standing in line, there were 3 girls in front of us and all of them were dressed very skate-punk.  They had piercings in their faces and colored hair, the works!  Ross didn't want to stand in line or be patient and wait for his turn to get pizza and he got very vocal about it.  People were staring and the girls kept looking over at Ross.  I apologized for his rudeness and I made Ross sit down at a table and wait for me.  Then one of the girls turned to me and said "If it makes you feel any better, I have autism."  She knew right away what I was dealing with.  She seemed nice and she had friends and she tried to make me feel better.  I thought that was so sweet of her.  She told me she has Asperger's, too.  Maybe one day, Ross will be able to have friends to go eat with and hang out with....I pray every day for that.

 We are now working towards a trip to McDonald's where he wishes to be "super-sized", lol.  We watched the movie Super Size Me and ever since, he can't stop thinking about it.

There have been a few close calls but for the most part, he's done well.  His behaviorist, Lauren, will be over tonight going over some new rules and new ideas for unwanted behavior outside of the home.  I would love it if she could make him a friendly shopper.  ;-)  Yeah, not gonna happen.  I seem to be calming down some myself and letting the plan do its thing.  It's been better in the house.  Not as much loudness, not as much yelling, although it is hard to change certain behaviors ( of mine) but I'm sure trying.

Tomorrow, Ross starts his Social Thinking Class at 6pm.   He will be in with other kids like himself and I will be in parent training.  I can't wait - I am actually looking forward to this.  :-)

We shall see how it goes.  Peace!

Jen