Mikey and Foxy

Earlier this week (I was at the boys' house, math tutoring), as I went to leave, Mom said, "Wait! I have something for Aunt Evie." It turns out that Mikey made a likeness of Foxy! in ceramics. He said it was Foxy and it was for Aunt Evie! The likeness was astonishingly good (if I can figure out how to post a pic, I will).

As it happened Evie was on the list of "to-do"s that day. She took off the bubble wrap, her curiosity piqued. I had already explained that it was a gift from Mikey. When she saw it, she gasped, "Foxy? He made FOXY?" and she was near tears. Even the stolid Uncle Jim was impressed.

Tidbits

Mikey says ..

Mikey has limited verbal skills and issues with things like time and tense. He does know his phone number. He will dial the number but does not like to "wait" for ringing and answering, so he'll hand you the phone. If you hand it back, he will hang on.

On the days the boys are with us, we always have one of them call Mom right before we leave to let her know we're on our way. Mikey has learned some patterns: "Hi, How are you." etc. On the call-to-let-Mom-know-we're-on-our-way, he often adds, "Are you coming home?" I think Mom will repeat the question back, and then he'll say, "Yes."

Similarly, when Mom drops them off, there is a "leaving" routine - hugs, and something on the order of, "Bye-bye. I love you. See you tonight." Yesterday, Mikey added, "No smoking!"

Must be something he is learning in school - Mom hasn't for a while and Grandma and Grandpa never did. I don't think any of the aides/therapists do around Mikey (even if they do elsewhere).

In addition to that, Mikey is growing up - there are signs AND he has taken a great deal of interest in anatomy - his, and other people's. Last night, at bath time, he announced, "Shrek has a green [named male anatomy part]." I don't know for sure but my guess is, he's right!

David and Math and Attitude

We still don't know - even though David is much for advanced than Mikey - what really sets him off sometimes. Friday, he was totally Mr. Attitude and didn't want to buckle down to do math. Part of it was there are some hard concepts that are just a struggle for him; part is impatience. Both Mom and I came down pretty hard: She told him that if he didn't fix his attitude, he'd lose both his favorite video game and Mac privileges for the day. And after she went to the store some of it continued until Grandma said, "David, we are going to stay here and do this until it's done, even if it takes hours."

Things improved after a while. I did try to probe what the issues were but David was not able to verbalize them (not sure he could identify them either).

Friday he had an assessment and did reasonably well; Saturday we started new material. If you had seen him Saturday v. Friday, you would have thought you were looking at a different kid. Cooperative, happy and he GOT it. Bunches of stuff. Multiplying monomials, factoring quadratics, perfect squares, etc. It just worked.

After our Saturday session, I create his assignment for the week. He is expected to do some math every day. I had been assigning review items. For a change, I've assigned him NEW pie pieces (ALEKS math program) instead of review. And I think he's going to do just fine with them. There is one that is a bit of a challenge ... we shall see!

Banal

So David was watching on Cartoon Network. He announced to his Mom, "This show is banal and uninteresting." His vocabulary is extraordinary for a 13 year old. The more amusing side of it was the conversation between Grandpa, Grandma and Mom.

"BAY-nal" said Grandpa. Grandma said, "Beh NALL" and Mom said it differently. So then we had to look it up - Dictionary.com says all 3 pronounciations were correct.

Do you understand?

Mikey has difficulty understanding things, and he has a very deliberate idea about what he does and does not want to do. Recently, people at school, apparently, have been asking him, "Do you understand?" Mikey has started to respond to this - with "I don't want, 'Do you understand?'"

Haircut

The boys both have very thick hair and it grows very quickly. Grandpa started taking them (one at a time) to the barbershop. There is a woman there who works with them. Last time Mikey had a haircut, he was good with all the electric clippers - these used to be senory issues for both boys - but this time, when she got close to his ears, Mikey said, "Tickles!!" She had to finish with scissors this time - we'll see what happens next time.

Happy New Year

January 2

We had the boys the first Saturday of the New Year. Although Mom reported a lot of behavior issues the past few days, they were very good for us. (There was a minor and unexplained Mikey-episode at bath time: he didn't want his hair washed.) Mikey and Grandpa did chores at 1:00 p.m., as usual. Grandma and David did math, as usual. David got through 5 pie pieces (in ALEKS)! We normally strive for 2-3 and settle for 1 if it's a really hard lesson. Math is, of course, cummulative. And, per David, "Grandma's explanations are better than ALEK's." (The real difference between Grandma and ALEKS is that Grandma is PRESENT and can see which parts of explanations are not cutting it, and also see what kinds of errors David is making that reveal what he's thinking.)

Many weekends, we take the boys to a local park in the afternoon; sometimes we "go" somewhere like the Aquarium or Zoo. This week, we asked them if they would like to go to Bolsa Chica Wetlands for a hike. They enthusiastically agreed! (You can see pictures of Bolsa Chica on my Shutterfly account, under "Southern California" http://travelsofmarcdonna.shutterfly.com/.)

It was a beautiful day - over 70 F. at our house. We took jackets; Bolsa Chica is next to the ocean and in a breezeway. The hiking is not rigorous - clear paths and very little elevation gain - but it is a migratory path for birds, and they are out in force right now. We saw nesting herons, terns, lots of ducks. Grandma also pointed out a "motorized flying bird"; to which David, once he spotted it, responded, "That's an AIRPLANE!"

Further down the path, where it gets very close to the water, there was a sign that I had Mikey read: "Only birds beyond this point." Grandpa asked the boys if they thought the birds could read the sign.

The other notable moment was when David observed, "This is my first hike of the new decade!"

We went to a local pizza joint for dinner. They boys like going there because a) they do like the food and b) there are video games they can look at. We had the "family dinner" which has salad, pizza and spaghetti. The salad came first. Mikey said, "May I have dinner, please?" We told him, "Salad first, then dinner." I guess he doesn't see salad as a part of dinner.

De-decking the halls

This is not really an autism-related post. Today, I started taking down Christmas. I came from the East Coast, where the changing seasons provided a spiritual cycle to life. Southern California, where I love living, does not provide that same cycle. Life goes on endlessly blending itself from "season" to "season." There is no clear death/cleansing time when the world is purified by the white snow (well, except in the local mountain resorts). Taking down the decorations is the closest thing I get to it here - the end result is bleak and bare, compared to the warmth and festiveness of lights and decorations. I decorate everything downstairs, even the bathroom; and I have an LED/USB Christmas Tree that plugs into my laptop.

As an earlier blog noted, this has been a strange year for me, with Christmas very impacted. But taking down the decorations is also my time of reflection and personal dedication to the new year. This year, it is not as clear as it has been in the past; but I know I am on my way. Changes there will be; older I shall be. Live has a way of leveling and balancing out eventually. "May you live in interesting times" is, IMHO, a curse. I hope this year will hold very few "interesting times."

Cheers and Happy New Year!