Friday, July 10, 2009

A nice sunny day

Today was a nice sunny day and we've not had too many of those recently. Although we are well into July we've had too much rain and not enough bright sunny days like today.

So there was no daycare for Jake today and therefore no rush to get him out of bed in order to get him to eat breakfast within a certain period of time. Instead I heard him start to move at around at 8.30 am and I just let him carry on in this manner as he gradually got more and more vocal and therefore fully awake ready for the new day.

At 9am I went up to see him and we played on the bed for a few minutes. He was full of smiles. After a while I brought him downstairs, gave him a wash and sat him at the table for breakfast. He ate a complete bowl of bran flakes, drank orange juice but declined any toast. He was very firm about declining the toast but very good at attempting to use a spoon to feed himself the cereal.

He was in a good mood this morning and at around 10.30am I got out the paddling pool for Jake and A. to play in. Along with lots of suncream they enjoyed the water for the best part of a couple of hours. Unless Jake is in a very bad mood water is always one of the most enjoyable things for him to play with.

After lunch he went with N. for a speech therapy session and then came home to play in the garden some more. I think that the sun tired out both him and his sister because although I was out at work N. told me that both of them had been tired and a bit grumpy this evening. Jake settled down to sleep earlier than normal tonight so I'm worrying that he may wake up during the night.

A. got us up last night at around 2am and although she settled back down relatively quickly we are always so anxious that she doesn't end up waking Jake because we know that he just won't go back to sleep once he is disturbed and that normally means that we won't either.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Jake practising with a spoon

The last few days since I posted have been quite good with Jake. After having gone through a period of where he seems to have been permanently unhappy he has moved on to a more contented stage.

His latest thing is to loiter in the kitchen and harass N. by constantly raiding the kitchen draws. He has a liking for some of the utensils and it's meant having to remove to a higher level some of the more dangerous ones. Things that have sharp corners or points on them. We've experimented in the past with child proof locks on the draws but nothing has really worked. They've either been so effective as to stop everybody from getting in or no good whatsoever.

The other difficulty we've faced in having an autistic child is the effect it's had on the upbringing of Jake's younger sister. She was born in 2006.

A. has a strong personality and in order to keep the house quiet at times (her tantrums can upset Jake and cause him to go into melt-down) we're inclined to give in to her far more than we should and she has started to really take advantage of this to get her way. The whole situation is becoming more stress-filled than I could ever have imagined and it's true that it leaves me wiped out and exhausted at times.

Anyway Jake has had a good day today including his time at daycare. He was able to be waked at a reasonable hour and actually ate breakfast before we left with his spoon skills increasing. It's always a thrill to see that although it depends very much on his motivation at the time as to whether he tries or not. He also ate a sandwich at daycare today which is something he never does at home.

Friday, July 3, 2009

Jake Enjoying Water

Yesterday was a full day for Jake. He had daycare in the morning and I had a really hard time trying to get him to wake up. He was no doubt very tired from the previous morning when he'd been awake from 3am so he was playing catch up. I finally roused him from his deep slumbers but I had to call the daycare centre and let them know that we were going to be late.

He was, of course not at all interested in breakfast because he never is first thing in the morning and thats what makes it all so difficult when we are trying to run to a schedule. In the end, to my shame he accepted a cookie and after getting dressed we were on our way but about twenty minutes late.

He had a good time at daycare by all reports. He'd been tired but mellow in attitude so that meant that he was co-operative and that's always a good thing! He'd eaten well and had had three portions of Shepherds Pie topped with cheese and he's even been assigned a job each day which is to help push one of the dinner carts. He's a big strong lad so an easy task for him no doubt.

In the afternoon he and A. played in a pool in the garden. It's an inflatable pool that has provision for a hose to be fixed to it so that the water sprinkles nicely into the pool. Jake, being a boy that is always looking for a sensory fix just loves to push his mouth on where the water is pouring through. I don't think he drinks too much but that he likes to feel the water spurting into his mouth. He uses his mouth a lot to get extra sensory sensations.

So the pool activity as always was a great success and came to an end as the rain closed in and the sun went away as has been typical of the weather for the summer so far this year.

After supper I took Jake for an hour's walk in his wagon in some light rain and when he went to bed at 8pm he was out by around 8.45pm. That's always a bit of a worrying development because if he goes to sleep early sometimes he doesn't sleep through the night. But he did this time and he so far has been in a good mood this morning. If he's in a good mood then so am I!

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Canada Day

It was the 1st of July today and thus it was Canada Day. Jake decided that this was worthy of him waking up at 3am and deciding not to going back to sleep. He banged around in his room, yelled out, screamed a little and the rest of us tried to sleep through it. When Jake wakes early like this he normally is in a good mood so his shouting and screaming is quite cheerful but that doesn't really help the rest of us trying to sleep.

N. got up around 5.30am and took him down stairs as he was getting even more vocal. I got up around 7.15am with all kinds of aches and pains and really felt quite unwell. I'd have liked it if N. could have gone back to sleep but I honestly didn't feel well enough to cope with Jake's ever increasing freaking out bad mood.

At around 10.30am I felt okay enough to get Jake out of the house and into his wagon for a long walk. If Jake is difficult to handle these walks are the perfect thing for him. He settles down in the seat and just watches the world go by. His younger sister A. used to come with us but is less interested these days. So Jake and I walked for around about four miles and then we came back and spent some time in the garden.

He and A. seemed to quite enjoy that time and I pushed A. in her swing which made Jake smile and wander up a couple of times to try pushing her himself. I always find that kind of thing so encouraging and reason for having hope for Jake.

At lunch Jake was also making a valiant effort to use his fork. Again, I just love seeing that because it shows he wants to try some things and for Jake thats been our biggest problem. Just doing everything to get him to try things.

The afternoon wasn't too bad. Jake napped after N. took him to his room with the curtains drawn and surprisingly he woke up in a semi-decent mood. We never know what to expect on the odd occasion when he naps during the day. Sometimes it can be like hell on earth when he wakes up and there's just no consoling him.

So we went through the evening with Jake and peace pretty much reigned throughout the household apart from the off complaint from Jake and the odd tantrum from A.

Jake went to bed at 8pm and finally fell asleep around 10pm. Here's hoping for a full nights sleep and then tomorrow it's a daycare morning for Jake.