Christmas, New Years, and half of January!

Hey heys!! Miss me?? I'm still here. Christmas was amazing.. so fun to watch it through the eyes of a 4.5yr old. A little sad news, we had to put our dog down the night before Christmas Eve :( He took sick the Sunday, and had some bad spells on Thursday. It was really hard (still is). Nathan handled it well, we went to the vet together as a family, I told him that Fenris was sick and had to stay at the vets. He gave him a big hug and kiss, got a little emotional with trembling bottom lip, then went out with the receptionist while Jason and I were with Fenris when he was put to sleep. His head was in my lap. I feel better knowing that we made the right decision for Fenris, and didnt' keep him suffering JUST because it was Christmas.. But, man, it was hard!!

Once in awhile Nathan brings up Fenris. Even still.. we'll come home and he'll call out "Fenris, we're home!" Or, randomly say, I miss Fenris.. He said he hears him barking at night. We're still playing it by ear on how to handle it. OH, Nathan wants to be a vet when he grows up now.

Ok.. that said let's get back to Christmas :) My parents came up Christmas day for a feast of Chinese food and the excitement of Christmas Eve. We put out the cookies and milk for santa and a carrot for Rudolf. The excitement in Nathan was contagious, we laughed and played.. no problems going to bed this night!!! In the morning I had Santa leave a colour by number and markers in his room to wake up and play.. that worked all of.. oh about 5 minutes then he had to go Pee. I tried to not let him see the tree.. I failed!

Jason set up a hot wheels cool toy infront of the tree, so he played with that a good half hour or so while everyone woke up and got coffees / snacks then onto opening stockings and presents. Nathan gets so excited and his expressions are worth anything in the world ( we had them all that day!)

New years was a bust. I was asleep on the couch by 10PM.. Jason was so mad at me.. nothing else to report on that night.. hahaha!

Back to preschool.. and playgroup. He's been rough at transitioning again. We're trying to figure out why.. leaving preschool, getting out of the pool, leaving friends house. He didn't even want to go to playgroup Friday morning, then once there, he didn't want to leave. He's been so good about leaving places lately that we don't know where this is coming from. I wish he could just tell us!!

The soother faery came and took away his soothers after a 5 day countdown and social stories. So far so good! Good Job, Nathan!! The faery left behind a Transformer comforter with Bumblebee and Optimus Prime logos. He hasn't mentioned them at all, except to say that the soother faery came and left a surprise!

As for his programs with his workers, he's progressing and probing right out of them. Nicole is almost at a lost since he's so advanced accedemically. His struggles right now are rhyming words, pronouns (still says he, when its a she, or vice versa), who/what/wheres in story books or answering questions about what is being read. He is reading, and wants to read. He guesses alot, or makes up words.. but I think that is normal. I'm just thrilled that he is trying and can break down words.

Our struggles continue to be patterns. omg. only other parents can truely know what this is about! I was at the mall the other day and Nathan wasn't walking properly, melting into an I HAVE TO about his walking on squares.. or avoiding lines.. something along those lines. I sat him in a time out and said I will carry him out if he doesn't walk properly.. anyways.. and older woman sitting on a bench was watching, giving me these looks I can't quite figure out. I don't care. But, I can imagine her thinking.. he's just playing a game. It's not a game. and if it is.. it's HARD!

I hope that catches you all up. I'm here. Things are well. Bloody hell cold outside and dont' know what to do today. Maybe a trip to fabricville before my membership expires end of the month :)

Challenging day

Nathan is being very challenging lately. Getting rigid again, trying so hard to hold onto his patterns. He's upstairs working with Liz, having a mini meltdown over a puzzle. And, I hear him calling MOMMY!! I just have to say, No. He wants his control back, and over different things trying to control his play, walking, even his therapy work. He's purposely leaving things out, acting his foolishness and being whiney, bossy and crying. None of us are having it, which is making him try the harder.

This morning he got very mad at me at a colouring page before Liz came over. Normally, when I don't colour the way he wants to, and gets mad at me I say, fine.. I dont' want to colour with you and pack it all up to put away. This morning, he said to me that he didn't want to colour with me, and went to get a toy to play with his cars. Of course, he demanded I play with him. I told him no, I am going to finish colouring this picture. I wouldn't play with him until I coloured the picture. And, if he continued to be bossy I won't play cars with him after. He focused up, and waited for me to finish, then I played with him.

All morning he's been challenging Liz.. she even confessed to me she's never seen him act like this. She also goes to his preschool, so has gotten to know him quite well. Now, I have to confess I like it when he acts like this infront of his workers, as he does this to me all the time. But, it is getting rather frusterating and hard. He got really upset the other day when I had a friend come over with her 2 girls and they coloured 'messy' in his book. So, I took the page out of the book and said they can colour how they want to. It will be OK, cause its not in your book. After, he got really upset cause the girls left toys on his chair in his room. No big.. just put them away. He's normally really good about things like this, which makes me wonder if I shouldn't just go in his room and totally rearrange his toys.

I think something is happening at preschool that is bringing out these behaviors. But, we don't know what. Something he sees or hears, that we aren't catching. I don't know. It's the only thing I can think of. For a good couple of weeks he wouldn't kiss his dad when he left or came home from work.. or before bed, a good morning.. etc. Boys don't kiss boys.. Hmmpfff. And attitude stance, oh my! We've been working on this that it's ok to kiss your daddies, grampa's, and hug your uncles and aunts. Expressing deeply how important his father is, and it's ok to show love with a kiss. And for friends, and at preschool a 'high five' is the cool way to show you like them. This upsets Jason greatly, but he won't let Nathan get away with it. Even if he has to hold him down.. he's getting his hello and good night kisses. We mentioned this to Laura, who chose her words similar to what we were saying and explained to him it's ok to kiss your daddies, etc. Yesterday, he gave Jason a big hug and kiss. Sometimes he just has to hear it from someone else.

I am SOOO proud of the way he handled a scuttle situation at preschool. One of the boys pinned Nathan against the wall with his throat. Nathan USED HIS WORDS!!!!! (WOW) and said Stop it! It hurts, Not nice!! No pushing!! The teachers seperated them, made the other boy not play with anything until he apologized to Nathan. Next they were playing fine with each other. But, I know it scared and hurt Nathan, he talked about it a couple of times. What do I say? I tell him how proud I am how he handled it so well, and that it was mean for him to do that, and to remember how that feels and not do it to anyone else.

I know things have been crazy here. And still getting into the swing of preschool and his workers, plus us, and company. The company and traveling are all done with for now, so I thought things would start acting normal again. We'll just have to wait and see. Maybe he is just still tired.