Hugs, kisses...and toys makes it all better

When I got to the school to pick up the kids today, I was greeted by a tearful Benjamin whose eyes were swollen from crying. He was tugging on his ear and saying, " OUCH OUCH OUCH!!! It hurts mommy, it hurts!" His teacher said he'd been doing this for the last 10-15 minutes of school.
When his autism kicks in, he will mimic verbatim what others say and/or their behaviors. We call it "Echolalia". During my volunteer time in his classroom that morning, one of his classmates started to cry and complain about her ear. I had helped to make sure she went to the nurse and later she went home early. I needed to make sure that this was more then him mimicking the girl in his class.  After examining him for a minute, I could tell that he was definitely in pain. Ben has an extremely high pain tolerance which means that if he's saying ouch...he really means ouch!
His doctor wasn't in today but Mommy's intuition told me that I couldn't wait and to get him somewhere right away. He was inconsolable. It's hard to keep him calm during transitions and times of uncertainty since I can't just explain things to him like I would to another child. It's something we've been working on a lot but this time...I couldn't blame him. There was no time to go home and try to calm him.
I took him to the walk-in at Walgreen's.

 The poor little boy wouldn't let go of me and kept asking where the doctor was and when they would make it better. I just kept repeating over and over that it was ok, mommy had him and that soon the doctor will come and the ear would be better.

We finally got in to be seen. He had a serious ear infection and a fever.
It took a dose of Tylenol (that was bought while waiting for the doctor), the examination and 2 stickers,to help and calm him.

We were then directed to the Pharmacy for the medication and antibiotics. The Pharmacists informed us it would be at least a 30-35 minute wait.

So, off we went to the toy isle to play away the time.

Walgreens had an amazing sale! Lots of their toys were 50-55% off. Wow, great toys for really cheap!
 It was so much fun to finally be able to let my kids pick out a toy for their good behavior while waiting.  I'll definitely go there during birthdays.

The loot- they still have to earn some of it.

Ben chose a stuffed ladybug to snuggle with. The lady bug made it ALL better.

The ladybugs name? Mrs. Ladybug.

James chose a bumble bee. He named it Mr. Fuzzbee because he's " a ball of fuzz".

James with Mr. Fuzzbee

Daniel chose Pixos. They're little beads that you put together in any kind of design you want and then you spray it with water and they kinda "melt" together.

Daniel says this is  a "Kuppa" from Mario Bros. 3

It was worth it, knowing I had done all I could for Ben. He slept well that night, and so did I. :)

Lunch for two

 What do you do when you need some quality time with your best friend but haven't been able to lately?

 Why go to your favorite Restaurant for lunch of course!

 Where? The Shere-e-Punjab. It's serves the most amazing homestyle Indian food.

Steve's best Shere (lion) impression

Chicken, Lamb, Beef, and Potatoes with rice and Nan bread, filled our bellies to the bursting point.

Saffron, Cardamom, Cinnamon, Cloves and other spices teased our taste buds and filled our senses.

Dessert was ripe watermelon and a creamy rice pudding we swear is laced with coke, because it's so good!

Don't forget to top it all off with a Dum-dum sucker!

The ulimate highlight of my Tuesday!

Learning to jump rope.

The boys were so very good at school today! It was welcome news since Ben has had a few hard days this past week,trying out his new medication.
I promised all of them that after homework and chores, their choice for free time could be a movie- GASP! A rare choice on weekdays,they were in shock and very excited. I was excited too because new meds made it a more then usually exhausting weekend, especially without a respite or hab. worker to help me keep them on track. So, relaxing while they watched a movie would be a welcome break.
I worked with them through most of the chores and sat down at the computer to check a few things while waiting for them to finish.
Suddenly, I heard a tiny knock on my bedroom door and saw Ben's little head peek in at me. He smiled and stepped into my room with a shiny new jump rope I had just bought a couple of weeks ago and placed among their toys. Apparently he had found it.
I asked, " What ya got there Ben?" Quietly has asks, " Mommy, will you come play with me?"
How can you refuse that? I was secretly relieved and pleased that he had already finished all that I had asked him to do so I didn't have to tell him no.
 Up I jumped, eager to build the memory with my sweet boy, and headed outside to play with him.
This is the sweet site I was greeted with, when I got to the front porch...

Hi Mom!

 He had the rope in front of him at first ...

 and tried to throw it over himself backwards while he jumped.

 It was hilarious to watch.

Hmmm...Why can't I jump?...darn thing must be broken.

 So, I showed him what to do.

Me trying to remember how to jump rope- compliments of  "James Photography".

30 seconds later...

Ben giving me pointers on how to do it.

He was eager to try again.

and again

and again

and again

Finally, he got it!!!

Ta-dah!

 Big brother comes to join in.

James wants a turn

Prepping for awesomeness

James being embarrassed by missing on his first attempt at awesomeness

 There was laughter, giggles and lots of funny faces made.

Here are some pictures of our awesome "tricks" ...

The sneeze

Marie Antoinette

The Rock Star

Invisible Magic Carpet

Twist and shake the Boot-eh. ( Named after Ben since he loves to say, "shake the Booty")

Invisible Granny Walker

Definitely better then a movie and the highlight of the day!

Weekend fun: M&M's and Marios

The weekend is here, it's time to play! We'll pop some corn and snack away.

Popcorn sprinkled with chocolate chips and M&M's

 

We won't do homework. We won't do chores.We won't do anything that'll be a bore.

 Let's pick a movie, what will it be?.. I know! Toy Story 2...not 3.

And so we ate our special treat and watched the movie we thought was neat and when it was over, we weren't done. Mom said, "Hey boys, lets have some fun!"  ..Wait what's that you say?...Another movie instead of play? Ok, you pick and let me see...wait, you want what??? Mario Brothers 3!??

This is one of the things that is nearly banned from our home and only allowed on rare occasions due to Daniel and Ben's  inclination to over obsess. ...I gave in due to their previous good behavior. One thing led to another and well, the rest is history...

After watching the movie, the boys sat down to draw. I decided to join them and much to my surprise, I was actually able to draw a decent picture to keep with theirs. No seriously, growing up I'd watch my talented siblings amaze with their skilled drawings and I stuck to things like flowers and swirls. I'd had enough of being traumatized by the fact that my people always ended up looking like a mix between pixies and pigs... not a pretty sight.

Can you tell which picture belongs to who?

Our drawings of Mario and the gang

Let's see if you guessed right...

Mine

Daniel- Luigi in a Frog suit

Daniel

James

While James and I were finishing, Daniel decided to take it to the next level...

He put his costume on.

and was SO very happy about it

Iron man joined us at the table to color.

There you are Ben! Hard at work on a Luigi paper hat.

 Then Daniel decided to show off with his fine motor skills he'd been tweaking during his many O.T. sessions...

This little guy puts my picture to shame...What's that? Toad in the background you say?

Yep he's here too...

and Luigi...

and Princess Peach. Poor lady. Heheh.

The gangs all here.

Yes, this was ALL Daniel's doing. He's constantly amazing us with his skills when he gets his hands on a piece of clay, or Play-Doh in this case. It was all a lot of fun. I can't wait for our next weekend together! However next time... Mario won't be invited.