Camping Experience

My wonderful husband took our son camping for one night. The last time he took him camping, so many things truly interfered with both of them having a good time. I am happy to report that both of my men came back refreshed and happy. Here is what my dh has to report:
* Our ds did not have melt downs. The last time he melted down especially about movies. Since our removal of shows and movies, it didn't even phase him that the six hour car ride would be without a movie.
* Ds was present to the people and his surroundings. The last time he was almost completely lost in his imagination.
* He was cooperative
* He played with the other children
What more can a parent ask for.

in between

Ds just spent another Friday morning at his school before our journey to bb. Due to time, I couldn't really have a long discussion about his morning, but one thing did come up: His conversation about movies/shows has lessoned. This is great! I know that most kids have a sense of relatedness when discussing these topic, but this was my ds's obsession/forte. It was so bad that most people who didn't know how limited we are about the television thought he watched it everyday for hours.
The most interesting thing happened on our way home from bb. I was facing heavy traffic and a very emotional kid (he wasn't his best at the center). Ds calmed down and we talked about the issues. After a mile of silence, I realized he was falling asleep. He was out for the rest of the ride home. The last time he fell asleep in the car was after a 12 hr car ride home from visiting relatives. It was a tough day and my boy worked very hard.
Another interesting thing is that we are starting to see our conversations about behavior is starting to sink in. Before I felt like our coaching was going nowhere. Now, at least at home, he seems to see himself and his behavior. He is also recognizing his accomplishments more.
The joy in his eyes are more about a shared experience, and that is simply wonderful.

Cream Puffs vs Carrots

Now let me start with the fact that I am a sugar FREAK! Yes, I'll admit it. For most of us the access and excess to junk food is our biggest downfall when it comes to living a healthy lifestyle. Now as an adult, I realize that some of my tendencies that I believed that i could "control" are more in control of me. How did i come up to this conclusion, well my children have followed my lead. Granted my ds has aspergers, he took my lead of the love of media and ran a muck with it. I essentially let him have a choice between "junk" activities (watching television/playing on the computer) and nurturing activities. As much as we read to him EVERY NIGHT, the exposure to media unraveled any benefits that the former had created. The one thing that we always gave into was the love of books and reading stories. With the amount of books that we have and borrowed, you would think the our ds was a prolific reader. Well until a 1 1/2 months ago he was not.
NOW, I can honestly say that with the removal of ALL media exposure, my ds is well on his way to becoming a prolific reader. Does he struggle with reading? Yes. More importantly, has he become a better reader and enjoys it? YES!!! (I hope that you get my drift). This is HUGE! My ds is running around with either a book in his hand or trying to read things around him to figure out what is going on or trying to write about what is going on in his drawings. Granted his resistance to doing his chores/exercises has made things very difficult, the ends results of this new love far out way any obstacle that we have faced as of yet.
Looking back, he had a hard time concentrating, being present, and then of course when he was present he over-reacted to things. NOW, all of his beautiful attributes that glimmered before are now shining. I wish that I had removed the exposure to media sooner. It's truly a wonderful gift.
So cream puffs (television/computers) vs carrots (books) were both on his plate. For this aspie kid, it wasn't until the removal of the junk that he could choose and flourish with what is good for him.

Little things

We've beefed up our bb exercises at home and ds is following through with things he resisted at the center. He's doing very well with the diet as well. One thing that I did notice is that he may have a sensitivity to apple juice. The other day I gave him a cup of apple juice then drank it in one gulp right before we did our bb exercises. His ears got real red and he started to complain so much that it interfered with his performance. True, true and unrelated or is this something more. Needless to say, apple juice was not on my grocery list this week.
Over all I believe that he is coming out of the fantasy world of television. He hasn't really mentioned the tube much. He's been very busy playing, drawing and reading. YES, reading! Somehow we started this reading agenda that goes along with our weekly bribery book. We've always had the magic treehouse books in our house, and we've read the ones we have to him; but this is the first time he realized that it was a collection. I told him that I would be more than happy to continue to collect them if we read them in order. Now ds is requesting to read our latest Magic Treehouse books multiple times a day so he can be done before the next bookstore run.
Another interesting thing we noticed is that without asking or reminding, he occasionally walks down the stairs alternating his feet.
Our biggest battle to date is transitioning from one activity to the next. One day it may be very easy for him, the next is met with resistance. The sour face, the "I don't want to", the whining and complaining could drive anyone over the edge. So what do you do? Well I'm just trying to keep my cool and make it so that he has to move on with me.
This week I will make a valiant effort to have more academic structure. This has been very hard for me to do, but now that my mother is with us, I am very optimistic that we can accomplish a lot. I am looking forward to see what comes up when we return to learning full time.