Last night my daughters dressed up in princess costumes and began making up dances. Tanner joined in and began dancing with Amanda, saying "Princess and Prince dancing!" At one point Amanda fell to the ground and pretended to be asleep. Tanner got down by her side and kissed her, saying "Sleeping Beauty!" When she "awoke" he took her hands and helped her up to continue dancing!
Amanda came to get me to show me this and Tanner was willing to do it again for me. Amanda was too warm in the dress, though, and had taken it off. She had put it on over her clothes. Before Tanner would dance with her though he disappeared upstairs and returned with her dress clearly insisting that she must put it on before they danced by holding it out to her and saying "Princess!"
It is so fun watching him play pretend and interact with his sisters. It gives me hope that some day he will play games with other kids, have friends! And I love that Amanda is so excited by Tanner's efforts, too. I could see how proud she was of him and how much she adores him. It gives me so much hope for his future knowing that she and Emily will be there for him even after I'm gone.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
A Quiet Simple Life makes for a Stressful Day
I was given the opportunity to be a guest blogger on aquietsimplelife.com by a fellow suite101 writer. My post was on the challenges of taking Tanner in public. Here's a link to the post: A Quiet Simple Life Blog Post
The post lead to a discussion at suite101 which included this comment:
The post lead to a discussion at suite101 which included this comment:
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Getting on the Bus
Just thought I would record a typical morning of getting Tanner on the bus. It is a mixture of frustration an adorable.
The bus pulls up outside the house and I tell Tanner to get his backpack because his bus is here. He says "Yeah, OK!" and grabs his backpack. We head out the door and hit the porch before he remembers that he doesn't want to go to school. This is where he plops down on his rump with a whine and declares "I'm mad!" I acknowledge this fact, but insist he needs to go to school.
I take his backpack and head for his bus without him. By the time I'm boarding his bus, he is following me with a steady, whiney cry. He doesn't stop his run into he is in Marilyn's (the busdriver's) open arms where he receives his morning hug. At this point, I sneak off the bus with a "I love you, have a good day!" over my shoulder. Marilyn tells him to say "Bye, Mom." and Tanner promptly obeys. I respond in kind and the bus doors shut.
Once I'm out of the picture, he becomes quite cooperative, buckles himself into his seat and they are off.
My little devil.
The bus pulls up outside the house and I tell Tanner to get his backpack because his bus is here. He says "Yeah, OK!" and grabs his backpack. We head out the door and hit the porch before he remembers that he doesn't want to go to school. This is where he plops down on his rump with a whine and declares "I'm mad!" I acknowledge this fact, but insist he needs to go to school.
I take his backpack and head for his bus without him. By the time I'm boarding his bus, he is following me with a steady, whiney cry. He doesn't stop his run into he is in Marilyn's (the busdriver's) open arms where he receives his morning hug. At this point, I sneak off the bus with a "I love you, have a good day!" over my shoulder. Marilyn tells him to say "Bye, Mom." and Tanner promptly obeys. I respond in kind and the bus doors shut.
Once I'm out of the picture, he becomes quite cooperative, buckles himself into his seat and they are off.
My little devil.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
An apology to Tanner's teachers
Tanner came off the bus from school today with an extra heavy backpack. Inside were two full bags of wet clothing including shirts, pants, underwear and even socks. There was also a note from his teacher explaining that Tanner had quite an accident today.
Apparently Tanner entered the abdominal indescretionary portion of the H1N1 flu and the resulting river caused in the the classroom lead to Tanner's receiving a shower in the nurse's room. Poor Tanner would have had no idea to give anyone a head's up that something evil was that was going, and the onslaught was so quick the teachers were taken completely off guard.
As consolation to the teacher and para-educators, I have promised to keep him home tomorrow lest there be any repeat performances. Thank goodness for our wonderful educators, at times their's truly is a $hitty job!
Apparently Tanner entered the abdominal indescretionary portion of the H1N1 flu and the resulting river caused in the the classroom lead to Tanner's receiving a shower in the nurse's room. Poor Tanner would have had no idea to give anyone a head's up that something evil was that was going, and the onslaught was so quick the teachers were taken completely off guard.
As consolation to the teacher and para-educators, I have promised to keep him home tomorrow lest there be any repeat performances. Thank goodness for our wonderful educators, at times their's truly is a $hitty job!
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Good morning 4:00 am
Tanner has had the unfortunate habit of falling asleep in the mid-afternoon the last couple of days and waking in the early morning hours ready to start the day. Yesterday morning, it was 1:00 am. That was actually better than this morning's 4:00 am, because even his wacky body clock couldn't deny the "dead of the night" feel in the air and he went back off to sleep until a decent hour.
This morning, however, 4:00 am seemed a perfectly reasonable hour to rise in his mind, and that was the end of my night's sleep. So this afternoon it was a group effort to stop him from dozing off! We were able to keep him awake until 6:45 pm and I can only hope that that was late enough to keep him sleeping until 7 am.
It's not even 8 pm and I'm wiped. The flu is slowly leaving the house, but nobody's energy has really been fully recovered yet. So I think I'll follow Tanner's lead and turn in early tonight.
This morning, however, 4:00 am seemed a perfectly reasonable hour to rise in his mind, and that was the end of my night's sleep. So this afternoon it was a group effort to stop him from dozing off! We were able to keep him awake until 6:45 pm and I can only hope that that was late enough to keep him sleeping until 7 am.
It's not even 8 pm and I'm wiped. The flu is slowly leaving the house, but nobody's energy has really been fully recovered yet. So I think I'll follow Tanner's lead and turn in early tonight.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
H1N1 and Autism
The whole family, our family of five, is down with the flu. The girls are predictably whiney and demanding, Daddy and I are doing our best to chug along, and then there is Tanner.
Tanner sick is always interesting to see. He has no concept of "milking" it, he doesn't take advantage of being sick to avoid school or getting up to retrieve the remote control for himself. He just attempts to keep on going, stopping only as his body demands.
One minute he was sitting on the floor playing with blocks, and the next time I saw him he had tipped over and fallen asleep. Later in the day, I was laying down and suddenly he climbed into bed next to me and fell to sleep. I cuddled him close and kissed his hot forehead and thought how, in a way, I like it when he's sick. It's the only time he will actually cuddle with me.
But that was yesterday. He's feeling better today. He's already destroyed my bathroom, ransacked the kitchen, and shows no sign of slowing....wait, there he goes with his blanket, he just murmured something about going "nigh-nigh." I suddenly feel like a nap! :)
Tanner sick is always interesting to see. He has no concept of "milking" it, he doesn't take advantage of being sick to avoid school or getting up to retrieve the remote control for himself. He just attempts to keep on going, stopping only as his body demands.
One minute he was sitting on the floor playing with blocks, and the next time I saw him he had tipped over and fallen asleep. Later in the day, I was laying down and suddenly he climbed into bed next to me and fell to sleep. I cuddled him close and kissed his hot forehead and thought how, in a way, I like it when he's sick. It's the only time he will actually cuddle with me.
But that was yesterday. He's feeling better today. He's already destroyed my bathroom, ransacked the kitchen, and shows no sign of slowing....wait, there he goes with his blanket, he just murmured something about going "nigh-nigh." I suddenly feel like a nap! :)
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