I've been so busy with having two kids home and just life in general, that I really haven't been posting much about Ayden. Since the focus of this IS about him...well, here's my update for the summer thus far.
Summer-time Adjustments - Ayden has been out of school a few weeks now, and is starting to adjust a bit. The first week was pretty terrible with a lot of whining and crying. I wish we had time for him to grasp social stories a little before school was out so I could have helped him in that aspect; however, we can only work with what we have. We have the usual problems between him and Issac amplified which really just amounts to more fighting and in Ayden's case, pushing. We are very consistent with discipline when Ayden pushes Issac, but nothing is starting to click. I am hoping that it will just fall into place one day but until then we keep on doing what we're doing and avoiding letting them anywhere near steps/stairs/drop-offs etc. I am extremely thankful that this pushing does not extend to anyone else.
PECS - We have consistently had Ayden at Phase II of PECS for a few weeks, and will be starting to implement Phase III this coming week. I'm so excited about this as we really get into the "meat" in Phase III where he now should be able to distinguish between the different cards. I am hoping to be through Phase III by August - so by the time school starts we will have been working in Phase IV for at least a month.
Eating: - Always a tough spot with Ayden. He loves eating, but is pretty picky about what and how he eats. He still pretty much refuses to use silverware, which does make our life a bit more difficult. He can use it, but not very well, which is why I think he prefers not to. Right now, his hands are much more efficient at stuffing food into his mouth. We have introduced two new meals in the past week for lunch times, which is very exciting in our house! I started out by trying mac&cheese with hot dogs, and it was a huge hit. I was very surprised Ayden ate it, he's never really touched it when I've tried before. The other meal I successfully introduced was Spaghettios. Ayden rarely eats anything with tomatoes, so the fact he chowed this stuff down was a pretty big deal. We've had each meal twice since our first introduction, and each time has been a success. Of course, we are still continuing to have the kids eating the same thing as us for dinner, but the addition of two new meals to their normal waffles/pancakes/sandwiches for their lunches make my life a lot easier.
Potty Training - I think this is my own personal nightmare with Ayden. We are trying again this week, and it has been a failure so far (we are only on day 2). He is showing interest since little brother is now potty trained, but he is very adamant about not going on the potty to the point where I put him on there, ask him if he can go pee and he vehemently shakes his head no. He drank three cups of liquid and held it for about 5 hours until I put his diaper on for nap time. I'll keep working this week, and see where we are then. If he just isn't getting it, we'll be putting it on pause until after our camping trip in mid-July. I would really like to see him potty trained by the time school starts, but realize that it may not be possible.
Traveling - We have done a fair amount of traveling already this summer, and thankfully Ayden has handled it well. It's always a bit disorienting for him at first, but he is doing much better than he did last summer. Over the coming weeks we will have multiple out-of-town trips, including one to a place he has never been with a decent amount of people he doesn't know. It should be interesting to see how he handles it; though I will be doing my best to help explain to him what is happening - it is just the type of situation he normally melts down in.
Well, that is everything for now. I will be doing my best to keep updating over the next few weeks even with our vacations and such. We will have the iPad sometime this week - so it may be a little easier for me to update away from home!
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