Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Jake Waking Up

Yesterday was a fairly tough day with Jake. He didn't wake up at all happy and sometimes we suspect that the problem is because we were all home.

There's not been much to suggest that Jake is disturbed by a change of routine but he's so often used to having either one parent or the other out at work that we sometimes think that having us both at home causes him anxiety. There's always one of us at home with him but not normally both of us especially in the mornings.

It took a couple of hours for Jake to start to relax and this was mainly due to the hard work of N. who applied herself to trying to distract Jake from his bad state of mind. Later on in the morning we went out to do more shopping and in the afternoon I took Jake out for a 45 minute walk in his wagon before I went to work. Sometimes work is a welcome relief although I can honestly say that I don't ever really look forward to going but then who ever does?

This morning Jake has gone to daycare. We send him there three mornings a week to try and help him socialise with other children. We think there's been some benefit to this but progress is slow and we can never be confident as to what kind of morning he's going to have.

He was tough to wake up this morning but thankfully he did with lots of smiles (a marked contrast to yesterday) but declined all normal forms of breakfast before out of desperation I was able to persuade him to eat a couple of cookies just before we left. Not exactly breakfast food but I felt better getting him to daycare with at least something in his stomach!

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Family Day Off

Today was Sunday and no one was working. I quite often work weekends but not today so we had nice potential for a family day.

We were aware of Jake being awake at 5am this morning but we don't know how long before that time that he was actually awake. It was typical that here was a morning with a chance of a lie-in and it wasn't to be. My wife, N. got up with Jake at 5.30am because he was being so vocal and we didn't want him to wake up his two year old sister, A. I stayed in bed until 7.15am and then got up while N. went back to bed for a couple of hours.

Jake, who is 5 was happy enough but I had quite the tussel with him to keep him downstairs as he wanted to go and play in the bathroom which we don't allow. But he soon settled down and was cheerful enough until around 10am. He started to complain a lot by then (he cannot speak but certainly can moan!) and so I took him and A. out to buy a locking handle so that we could keep him locked out of the bathroom from now on. Because it was within walking distance he sits in a pull-a-long wagon that keeps him very happy. He likes going out like that and watching the world go by.

After we got back N. and I decided to go and do more shopping and we loaded Jake and A. into the car. Again, Jake enjoys a car trip so this normally leads to a contented time. He is less contented when we walk around the store and it's a horrid combination of letting him walk where he often collapses to the ground, carrying him or pushing him in a store cart. None of these things keeps him happy for long so it's quite a chore.

After we shopped we went for a 40 minute drive and then had fast food. This is always tricky with Jake because we just don't know how he's going to behave. If he's good then we are able to stay in the restaurant but if he goes into melt down then we have to pack up our food and leave.
Today was a good day and we finished our meal in relative peace although we are careful to not take too long over eating.

This afternoon back home we put the hosepipe on mist because Jake and A. love running about on the deck getting thoroughly soaked. It was a warm and sunny afternoon and perfect for the water. The water focuses Jakes mind for a bit and is often great therapy for getting him out of a negative rut that he might be in.

It wasn't a bad day with Jake today. He wouldn't eat much supper this evening but later on ate some crackers before bed. He went to sleep within about twenty minutes because he was up so early this morning but that might just mean he'll be up early again tomorrow and early could be as early as 2am.