Taking the Scenic Route

I have used the term ’scripting’ to describe how Zane is talking.  I found a really good essay written by somebody further down the road than we are and I can see Zane following along the path.  Zane is at the point now where he is just starting to modify scripts, and we are seeing it more and more as he gains more insight into how language is used.

Dr. Strangetalk or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Echolalia

On a related note, I realized about an hour ago that this is the first time he has gotten sick and not regressed to being nonverbal.  Every time before this, which, granted, isn’t really a lot in the scheme of things, one of the things that tells us he is sick is that he stops using language at all, even basic language. 

This time he is not only using language, but an hour ago (when I had the realization) he sat on my lap telling me the story of the three little pigs using a sequence of pictures he constructed at preschool.  It was very sweet.  I heard some “..Huff, Puff, blow your house down” (and the action of blowing) and the 1st house (hay) and 2nd house (sticks) both elicited a ‘no’ after the huffing and puffing and the brick house elicited a resounding “YES!”, followed by something with the words “pan” and “fire” mixed in, then an “ouchie” while pointing at the wolf leaving with his tail smoking.  It is the first time he has even attempted to tell me a story.  I will treasure it as long as I live.  I am so amazed and proud of him, especially since the story was accompanied by the coughs and sniffles that usually signal a regression.

*I made a protected photo post, so sign in if you want to see them*

We stopped by the book store yesterday in search of a book about teeth.  We are still struggling to get Zane to let us brush his teeth like they need to be brushed.  We are thinking that a book about brushing teeth, combined with the efforts of the OT will help that along a bit. 

Now, we almost never go into a brick and mortar bookstore because Amazon is usually cheaper, we have the free shipping membership from Amazon, and frankly, it is a crapshoot as to how the bookstore is going to go and I am guaranteed to not get more than a few minutes to really look at the books even on good days with the kids in tow.  It actually went pretty well yesterday.

Now, I should explain my definition of “pretty well” means “no major screaming flailing for at least 10 minutes”  lol.  This time it was Zora that determined our time to leave.  She wasn’t screaming, but her vocalizing was starting to get into the ear shattering range. 

Zane was a bit on the stimmy side all day, but it was more that he was phasing out than anything else.  (as it turns out, he was getting sick, we just didn’t know it yet).  When we made our way to the children’s section he promptly laid on the floor on the little stage thing where they, presumably, read to kids who can actually sit still.  (we have not attempted to do this because we like our hair in our head as much as possible)  A girl, probably a bit older than Zane came up to him and started talking to him.  He replied in pure Zane-ese, which promptly freaked out the girl.  Not long after that, Zach came across a large copy of “Goodnight Moon” and showed it to Zane, who ‘woke up’ and ran over to the book with a huge smile.  He returned to the stage area, laid down, and started reading the book out loud.  The girl was not sure what to think of that.  lol. 

Meanwhile, Zach and I are trying to keep all the books within a 3 foot radius of Zora on the actual shelves.  The same girl kept coming up to Zora and asking if she could pick her up…could she please please please pick her up.  Uh, no, really, not a good idea.  You can talk to her, she would like that, but she wants to walk around right now.  Finally little girl’s mom showed up and little girl left.  Now that we could finally really look at books, Zora decided it was time to sing in that increasingly loud monotone that babies are so good at.  Time to go. 

Disadvantage of not being able to look at the books really closely…the book we got talked about how dogs don’t need to brush their teeth in the beginning of the book, and then shows a dog getting his teeth brushed later on.  Stupid authors. 

 <—-click there

We have the sniffles and the whines here.  Both of the kids have colds, the parents are just in denial about colds…we have ‘allergies’ and sleep deprivation and I am near tears from too much nursing.  We cranked the heater so the ‘one who won’t wear clothes’ doesn’t get too cold.  He actually had started keepng clothes on at home, so we are suspecting a low grade fever is behind the relapse.  Fun day. 

Yesterday we went outside for a bit (70ish degrees) and got a few pictures of Zora.  Although she was cute as ever, we were a bit frustrated with the quality of photos when we uploaded them.  We have noticed that our camera was taking really grainy pictures lately and suspected that they would be much better in sunlight, but they were bad in the outside shots too.  The camera is less than a year old, so it was really distressing. 

After looking up some things on the internet, Zach realized that the ISO settings might be off.  It was on 400, which certainly would be an issue with this camera.  He reset them to were they should be and took Zane out to test the camera.  Instead of the two minutes he was expecting to stay outside, he was out for over an hour as he and Zane had fun in the sun and gale force winds.  They were gone long enough for me to find out about the fire and find out if our friends needed any help getting the kids out of school.  (they often have vehicle problems and she never watches the news, but since everybody knows this, they had several people calling to let them know the kids were being evacuated.  lol).  When the guys got back, we uploaded the pictures and discovered our old camera back.  Apparently, the batteries ran out shortly after they went out there, but he was able to get some good shots before that. 

it was so windy daddy had to stay close because the wind would knock her over a few times

she kept heading to the curb and wanting to step off

Zane loved the wind, as usual.  They ran around, watched a low flying plane, and went to the playground.

Grandma and Grandpa stop by and the kids were thrilled.  They brought food and gifts.  Both of the kids loved the little cooking set they brought and immediatly set to work cooking with it on our little stove.  Zane just started doing pretend play like that within the last year or so, so imagine my shock when Zora stired a pot and then brought is to us, dipped the spoon into the pot, and ‘fed’ us.  I about fell over.  He also did some ‘cooking’ with it.  It was an extension of the play they were doing earlier, which was so cute.  Earlier, Zora had been ’shopping’ in our pantry and Zane pulled out the cash register he got last Christmas and scanned the items for her.  I can not tell you how amazing it is to see your kids playing like that.  Makes me giddy.

One of the other things they brought was bubble bath, and it took a lot of convincing to get Zane back out of the (empty) bathtub and explain that we would take a bath later.  lol.  He loves bubble baths.  They also brought some bubble instruments and Zane saw the picture on it was of a kid in a bathtub, so we had a second round of ‘we will take a bath later’ and he just played the flutes the way they were.  (they are meant to be filled with water to create different pitches, but still play without water).

Zora also wanted to put the dress on that Grandma brought her and kept putting it on her head.  lol.  I just can’t believe one so little likes dresses so much, but she sure seems to have an opinion on clothes already.  It is going to be a whole different experience having a child who actually wants to have clothes on and has an opinion of what she wants to wear (beyond ‘no way am I wearing that).  She also showed Grandma her progress on “Patty cake”  (has the clapping and a cute version of ‘rolling’ down, but doesn’t quite do the ‘throw it in a pan’ yet)

Another heartwarming moment was when Zach gave Zane the valentine card he made for grandma, with only the comment to ‘give grandma the card you made for her’.  He went running over to her, exclaiming “I love you!  I love you!” and showed her that he had written that on the card.  I think grandma was holding back tears at that point.  He was so excited.

It was a fantastic evening.  We had a great time playing with the kids and looking at some of the old photos I had archived.  Mom brought some more baby pictures of herself and their wedding album for me to do, so I will have some more neat pictures to share at some point.  We were having so much fun, we kept forgetting to grab the camera.  lol.  I did get one picture though, of Zane showing Grandma the missing tooth.  It was very sweet.

showing grandma the toothless gap

At the end of the visit, when it was time for them to head back home, Zane came up to grandma, snuggled in, and told her: 

We are getting a call here and there asking if we are ok because there was a 6 alarm fire near us.  Since it is such a big fire, it might make the national news, so I wanted to let people know we are fine.  Our friend’s kids were evacuated from their school, but their mom picked them up and they are home. 

Much of the success of your project will depend on blocking. All the hats can be blocked over an inverted kitchen mixing or storage bowl of the right general size and shape. (I use a small, stainless steel mixing bowl that measures 20″ circumference at its top.) Use a spray bottle to thoroughly wet the hat and form it with your hands. Do not be afraid to pull it into shape. Allow fabric to dry completely. Tip: For a crisp, slightly soil-resistant finish, mix one part liquid starch to three parts water in the spray bottle and use this solution for blocking. (Be sure to rinse the spray bottle well before next use!)

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