School next week

The kids are starting school next week. I'm really excited for them. Molly is starting high school and Parker will be starting a new school. I hope he likes it. The teacher seems really fun and he will get to be with some of his old friends. He says he's nervous about it. He says he will miss his old school. I think he will be ok once he starts. They have less aides in this class and it seems like an older kid class, so I really don't know how it will go. I will hope for the best but keep a good eye on things. Macey has been saying that she wants to go to school. I keep telling her, maybe after you turn 3. We have to wait and see if there is room after her birthday. First we have to work on taking the bottle away and potty training. I will enjoy some quiet but I have a feeling Macey will be lonely without her brother. We are going to have to go to alot of playgroups or Mom groups. Here's hoping next week goes well for all the kids.

Some new issues

Lately Parker has been more stubborn and upset than usual. Not a lot, but some for sure. Maybe it's because school is out, maybe it's he's not getting enough time away from his sister or maybe it's because he needs more sleep or is maturing some. I just don't know. He has been quicker to anger and quicker to say no to us. Lately when we've told him to do something he doesn't want to do, if he's in any kind of bad mood he'll say no and stand his ground. Sometimes we need to be more patient with him and say things a different way. I really think we are keeping him up to late because it's mostly at night when it happens. Sometimes he'll refuse to brush his teeth or get angry if the wrong person is reading to him at night. One night I told him we needed to change his underwear because I thought they were dirty. He insisted they weren't and would not take them off. I could see that they were and told him he had to. He said no for a long time. Finally he did it but he was mad and said he wanted to hit me. Poor guy. He seems happy most of the time at home. I'm going to try getting him to bed earlier and spending more one on one time with him and see if that helps. I'm also going to talk to his behaviorists on how I should handle it when he says no. Today I bought him some new books and he was really happy. I read them all to him tonight and he told me to come visit him in a little while. I'm really thinking he needs a little extra attention right now. Well, I guess I'll end this post. Someone needs visiting. :)

Play!

Parker has really been playing with Macey lately! It's such a great thing. She is becoming a good playmate to him and really teaching him things. They are both learning from eachother and Macey loves him so much. They are so cute together. Who knew they would want to play together with such an age gap. Also, having autism, Parker doesn't like to play that much. He prefers the computer, books and talking about firefighters. It makes me really happy. Parker is also learning to say no to her. He wouldn't and would always give her what she wanted. Now he is toying with saying no and even sticking to his guns. I praise him for it because he used to be afraid to say no or not give her something. He didn't want her to cry. Even when I would tell him not to give her something he would. Or when she would tell him no he would listen even if I said yes. It's a step in the right direction.

Firefighter games

Yesterday Parker and I went to a neighboring town to watch the, "Firefighter games". The firefightes from the county come and have races and relays. Since Parker's obsession is firefighters, we had to go. Now of course I wasn't sure of what Parker's expectations were. I assumed he thought he would get to talk to lots of them and have a great time. I hoped they would have more time for him this year. Last year most of them were so busy they didn't have time to talk. I warned him ahead of time that they might be busy a lot but that we would still have fun. We talked about what he would say and how he could just say Hi instead of just blurting out a bunch of random questions. Lucky enough right away he met a really nice firefighter that talked to him for a while. His wife was an office lady at his old school. They were so nice to him and he had a great time. When he is really happy he hops up and down and kind of snaps his fingers. He was doing that yesterday. He was in heaven. We watched the games, walked around to stalk firefighters and talked about what they were doing a whole bunch. We didn't stay for all of it, which I felt bad about. We stayed for an hour but I was getting tired. He got to talk to at least one person from each firestation so he was happy. When we were leaving we ran into a nice firefighter that let him get in the truck. He was a content boy. We didn't bring the other kids with us, this was just a Parker and I thing. He needs that sometimes. All in all I was happy about how things went and it did live up to his expectations.

Great expectations

That is what I had today. Great expectations. I planned to take the kids to the neighboring towns Rodeo Week events. Today was the penny scramble, stick horse races, bounce houses, rock wall climbing, dunk tanks, and other fun events. I thought for sure Macey would love the penny scramble. I talked it up to her and she seemed all ready to do it. Parker wanted to watch, since he was too old to do it, and also check out the firefighters booth. Molly wanted to check out the boys... When we got there Macey got so excited about the bounce house and snow cone machine that she said she didn't want to do the penny scramble. I took her over by the penny scramble and talked it up again. I got her excited about it and then the announcer says they are doing the stick race first. That did not go over well. She whined and trampled flowers. Parker cringed because Macey was upset. He buried his head and said he wanted to go. I tried to distract her but it wasn't helping. I asked Molly to take her to get a snow cone while we waited. That sounded good to her. They went to get them and they weren't ready to sell yet. Uggg! She came back even more cranky and only wanted to play on the bounce houses. With Parker getting upset about her being upset, and getting annoyed with people saying Hi to him, I decided to just go. I let them bounce a minute but it was obvious that no one was going to have much of a good time with all the crankiness. Molly wanted to leave also because the cranky kids were embarrasing her. Ah, the problems of a teen. When we got home you would have thought they had a blast. They were so happy. Macey even took the time to unravel a whole pack of dental floss. I had expectations of fun but I guess my expectations are not usually going to be met with 3 very different kids and ages. Next time I'm just going to think and say, "We'll see what happens". We'll try again next year. I added to pics from the evening. One is of the 3 kids waiting for the penny scramble and the second is Macey picking up leaves and putting them in her bag as she waited, lol.

My funny girl

You think she has a pacifier problem? (We call them suckys) I just love this girl! She is always doing something to make us laugh. Even Parker thinks she's funny. And would you look at the color of those pacifiers, all boy colors. I so wanted her to pick pink. I even saw pink cammo. No, her favorite color is blue and only blue will do. It's funny, that was Mollys favorite color when she was little. She's girly, but blue wins every time. Now if we could just break her from the bottle, potty train her and those suckys will be the last to go........ Ahhhh, wishful thinking.

My firefighter boy

Dreary days...

Lately the weather has been so dreary and cold. It makes you just want to stay in the house and mope. I guess I shouldn't complain, it's been super hot in other places in the country. I know the sun will come out eventually. My poor boy has a cold or allergies right now. He keeps sneezing and it's really bothering him. I hope he feels well enough to go to excel tomorrow. Even if he does go, he may not like it. They are taking a really long walk. I hope he's up for it. He would probably do anything to get a break from Macey, lol. I think Parker's favorite time of day is when we just get to spend one on one with him. He is relaxed and happy. I will be so glad when Macey is older and Parker is more used to her. He is happy most of the day, but ready to run when she cries or gets upset. The funny thing is, is that you can tell he loves her. He plays with her sometimes or holds her hand. He can be really sweet with her and she loves him to death. I think it will all work out in the end and they will be the best of friends.