My son ate (a piece of) an orange!

I know it's been a while since I last posted but today I was told a lunch time story I just had to share. Some of you may know that Jack & many ASD kiddos can be very picky eaters. ASD children can have hypersensitivity to certain smells & texture which can make eating foods with strong odors, flavors & different textures challenging. So when his teacher Lynn told me that at lunch Jack took a piece of her orange & ate it and then asked for more, I was floored!

Last year and even at the beginning of this school year the most Jack would do when Lynn got her fruit out for lunch would be to pick it up and move it as far away from him as possible. We aren't really sure of the reason behind this behavior, and since his verbal skills are still developing the only thing we can do for now is assume it has something to do with the smell &/or look of certain fruit. Before winter break he started to show more interest in the fruit she brought for lunch, especially the oranges. He made some progress by wanted to explore the oranges and even went so far as to lick them (which was huge) but it never went any further. I started to send the occasional orange to school so he had more opportunities to explore, but in true Jack fashion disinterest can happen as quickly as the interest developed. Getting him to eat fruit & vegetables is a struggle & on good day he will eat a Dole fruit cup of either peaches or pears. Which might not be the ideal choice of fruit, but is better then nothing.

Jack has made some good progress the past few months & we are very excited to say he is potty trained! Getting him to expand his foods choices will be something we continue to work on and encourage, but for today I am a very proud mom and exited to share the news that:
My son ate a piece of an orange!

Back to school

Yesterday was Jack's first day back to school after his long winter break.  I feel a little guilty about how excited I was for him to go back to school but long breaks come with there own set of challenges.  I am very grateful for the 5 days he was able to attend his social group, but that still left us a lot of free days.  Jack tends to get very stir crazy when we spend a lot of time at home, and since this break required more stay at home time then usual with starting to potty train and illness it was a little more exhausting.  We did enjoyed seeing our family for Christmas but even that feels like it happened a life time ago.  I posted on Monday when we found out Jack had Strep but when I started writing I realized I was just to tired so I kept the post short and sweet.  Jack has been having a hard time sleeping this past week due to his persistent cough and his change in routine.  Luckily, the medicine he received for the strep seems to be working and I think he is started to feel better.   I am very happy to report that last night he finally got a good night's sleep and it didn't include a 3 hour middle of the night play session (which had started to become a very bad habit the past 4 or 5 nights), yeah!!! The potty training is going well but still requires a lot of energy and dedication on our part.  He still doesn't always make it to the potty when he has to go poop, but we have finally had some successful poop's on the potty.  Last night I heard in in the bathroom and went in to find him on the potty going poop all by himself.  I think he is finally starting to make the connection about when he has to go and getting to the potty.  His accidents have become much less frequent so we are moving in the right direction.  He had one accident yesterday at school, but did manage to successfully pee in the potty twice.  He still has a little to much fun playing in the bathroom, this weeks obsession is turning on the water in the sink and plugging the drain to watch the water fill up in the sink.  I'm getting some extra exercise because every time I hear the bathroom door open I have to run down the hall so that I can make sure he doesn't flood the bathroom and redirect this behavior so he can learn the bathroom is for potty time only not play. There hasn't been a single dull moment since we started our potty training adventure, but all this hard work is worth it.  No more diapers!!!  The question now is, when will it be time to potty train Peyton? :-)

Little Lady update:

We are really hoping Peyton doesn't catch Jack's Strep but we will be keeping a close eye on her the rest of this week.  She is such a funny little girl and has a very big personality.  She doing great when it come to her development.  Her verbal skills are amazing she repeating everything we say.  It's so exciting and amazing watching her little mind work,  learn new things, and tell you what she is thinking.  Her favorite word right now is
"no" and if she doesn't want to do something she will let you know.  She is beginning to enter the terrible two's and I am not sure if Justin and I are ready for this to happen yet, but I guess we don't really have a choice.   She still loves to play with the cats and now insists that they come with her while she nap.  She loves to copy our actions and its so much fun to watching her pretend play.  She will play with her baby dolls and put them down for naps, give them kisses and say "nite, nite."  She love to play with her little people barn and has a great time playing cars with Jack.  One of the cutest things that has happened over winter break is that Peyton and Jack have started to play with each other.  Peyton has always been more interested in Jack then he was with her, but we have finally started to see him try and engage her in play.  He started off his break very excited about chasing the cat's around the house (which is also a new development).  This then transitioned into him wanting to chase Peyton around the house.  One evening I noticed him standing next to her give her a little push (which is what he would do to the cat's to get them to run off)  Once I noticed what his intentions were I told her that Jack wanted to play chase and she ok and took off running and he took off after her.  It is so sweet watching them interact with each other and Peyton had a blast!  She would have like for the game to last forever and was very sad when he decided chase time was over.  I am happy to report this wasn't an isolated event and is starting to play chase more often.  It's so exciting watching them laugh and run around the house playing chase, and hopefully this will lead to a lot more brother-sister fun in the future. 

I hope that everyone is has a great week and I will post again next week!

Happy New Year!

Is everyone enjoying the start of 2013? Sorry I haven't posted in a while potty training has kept me very busy not to mention has been very tiring. Jack has also been fighting a cold which unfortunately we found out today was really strep :-(. He was treated with a shot & the dr said he is good when school starts back up tomorrow. Winter break feels like it has lasted for ever. I know I'm ready to get back into our regular routine.

I will try & post again soon when I am less tired. I hope everyone has a great night!