May Time Capsule

A Moment in Time...

JP

What is your favorite...

COLOR:

My favorite color is black like Mickey. I like Mickey with his magic clothes on and his magic hat on. Where do you see Mickey? I see him right here in this book. Is he also on your V.Smile? Well, you're right but I'll check in this book. (flips through book for Mickey Mouse). Oh I'll find...that's the Mickey! (He's flipping through his new favorite book--Disney Storybook Collection Volume 2)

BOOK :

My favorite book is the Disney story book. Do you have a favorite story in that book? My favorite story is that movie. My favorite story is the Mickey Mouse magic movie. I haven't seen that movie, have you? Nope. I sure haven't. Maybe it will be at the library? I'll have to check! Good thinking Mommy!

MOVIE:

My favorite movie is Nick Jr and Disney channel and Playhouse Disney of Disney channel. Do you a favorite show on one of those? My favorite movie is Rollie Pollie Ollie. Cool! Have you seen that on the TV or the computer? Computer. Do you have a favorite movie on the TV? Well, yes. But my favorite movie is the Backyardigan's Racing Adventure. Hmm. I think that is on the computer too. Maybe I haven't seen that movie before. Do you? Nope. But I'll show you how. No, we're not going to play on the Nick Jr website right now. But I want to play it! But I'll show you how to spell nickjr.com. Just click here. But I'll show you how... Ha Ha! Silly old Mommy! I'll show you how to spell www.nickjr.com.

FOOD:

Well, my favorite food is ice cream! Cool ! Ice cream! I like vanilla ice cream. I like to eat some at a restaurant. Did you eat some recently? Yes, I did. I went to the ice cream shop with Grandma and her friend Daddy and T too. Was there anyone else? Well sure... (no answer) Was Mommy there? Yeah. (ouch! I see how I rate!)

DRINK:

My favorite drink is juice. Oh, what kind of juice? Ice cream juice or strawberry limeade juice when we go at the strawberry limeade shop with Daddy! (i.e. Sonic's Strawberry Limeade...mom's ice cream juice is a Reeces sonic blast)

TOY:

My favorite toy is the new Superman. What's the "new Superman"? Tomorrow I'm going to get that at the store. And I'll get my new costume. What costume is that? It was from Walmart that morning. What does the costume look like. The costume looks like that Superman. (points(!!) to a Superman book from the newest movie) Tomorrow I can try that costume on. (I think we have seen costumes with the "built in muscles".) Oh, I don't know buddy. I like the Superman costume you already have. But tomorrow I can wear that in the next morning?

LETTER:

My favorite letter...hum. Hey! How about we make words. Yes, we are. But it isn't crooked. We better get different...this piece of paper to get that. What is you favorite letter, buddy? My favorite letter is a "A". Why A? Because I like to get the "a" for apple. Do you like apples? Oh, but we do have ice cream at the restaurant and the next morning we'll get some ice cream. Oh, I don't think ice cream is a morning food. But it's good. Maybe we can try it in the next morning!

NUMBER:

But my favorite number is 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Any more? 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. Oh! I hear the Backyardigans! I got to go watch my movie! (T is still finishing lunch while we answer our questions on the computer and Nick Jr is on the TV. JP heard the Backyardigans music in the background. I guess that means we are done for now!)

SONG:

Well, my favorite song is...like the Bob the Builder theme song. Oh, that is new a favorite song. It was on the TV when I was watching Bob the Builder Teamwork. Is Bob a nice guy? Yes. He's a builder and he fixes anything like Handy Manny. (Handy Manny is a Playhouse Disney series about a guy who fixes things) Cool! I like Lofty. Lofty? What does Lofty do? He rolls the gate and Bob's boots. (????)

My additions:

JP has really had a great month. Of course he still has his "topics" of interest. Lion King has faded. Cars is a distant memory. Pooh has even faded. However, he did ask to read a Pooh book last night and I did just check out Lion King 1 1/2 and Lion King 2 from the library. We'll see if these kick his fixation back into over drive.

He is really into Superman right now. Most of our video viewing has been geared more towards T's preferences. We've watched a lot of Baby Einstein videos and Wiggles. Personally I don't mind the Einstein videos because JP "narrates" the whole time and uses pretty good sentence structures to tell me what is happening on the screen. Plus his modeling of the words is enjoyed by T who is fascinated by everything big brother can do! I've enlisted JP in helping teach T to talk. JP seems to take this task serious but doesn't go out of his way to practice with T.

Both boys particularly like Baby Newton Discovering Shapes and Baby's Favorite Places First Words Around Town and Baby Wordsworth First Words Around the House. Today in the van T said "cat" when they showed the cat picture! JP excitedly exclaimed, "T talked Mom! T can talk now!" It was so cute. And I swear JP said it with a sense of pride like he made it happen!

JP's biggest fixation has been using Mommy's computer to play on the Nick Jr website. When forced to play on his computer he will complain that the computer is broken because it is so much slower. He claims something is "crooked" but we aren't sure what he means. Now that morning preschool is over he can actually watch some of these shows. Many of the shows (like the Backyardigans) he has only seen on the computer. I 'm not sure that he realized that they really were TV shows.

Bed time books:

Baby T

FOOD: donuts, fruit snacks, cheese, applesauce, yogurt, chicken fingers, ramen noodles, green beans, oranges, peaches, macaroni and cheese, Hamburger Helper Cheesy Beef Taco, pickles, popcorn, potato chips, summer sausage, ham, crackers, E.L Fudge cookies -- VIRTUALLY ANYTHING YOU PUT IN FRONT OF HIM!

DRINK: I got him to drink strawberry milk for a few days (only because JP was)but that seems to have faded. Essentially he is a juice guy. I am working on watering it down to the point that he'll agree to drink plain water. He still loves straws and essentially wants whatever big brother is drinking.

MOVIES: #1 Any Wiggles, #2 Any Baby Einstein video.

TOYS:
-Climbing is better but that is possibly because we no longer have anything climbable.
-Grabbing at anything within reach: curtain pullies, light switches, door handles.
-The real phone...not interested in the fake kiddie phones. (Even says hello...blah blah blah)
-Loves the shape sorter.
-Fascinated by paper and any sort of writing utensil
-Loves the slide. More of a fan of the slide on the play set. Seems to think the stand alone baby slide is beneath him.
-Is almost able to climb up the net ladder on the play set by himself!
-Is a natural with the baseball tee in the backyard. Any ball works--football, basketball, baseball...shoe.
-Loves to drop the basketball through the hoop.
-Loves to jump on the trampoline with JP.
-Loves swimming at the Y.
-Love anything to do with the bathtub!
-Is fascinated by the toilet. Have caught him sitting on the toilet with his feet IN the toilet twice. Yuck!

T will push the buttons and dance to the music. He is not really using it to hear the animal sounds yet.

This also has more advanced modes but we spend most of our time popping the ball in and watching it roll down the ramps. He likes the music but JP tends to turn the volume off.


T loves to scribble and draw. Any pencil or paper found is fair game. He loves to use the Doodle Pro and scribble all over it. He will even use the shapes to make designs.

BOOKS:
T is showing more interest in books. However we just don't get us much reading time in as I did with JP. It is so much harder to carve out that quality time for him. Dad is starting to build a bedtime story into their routine so that should build up his literary time a little more. I've also started reading to both of them during lunch while we all sit at the table.





WORDS/ACTIONS:
(against my better judgement I will include these...I'll try not to over analyze)

Daddy, BaBa (bottle), ball, I did it!, Bye Bye(with a finger wiggle), baby, straw, bath, puppy/dog, all done, Mama, head, backpack, car, duck, cup, more, peek a boo, noisy/sloppy kisses, blows noisy kisses, touches head during "monkey jumping on the bed", wags finger no during the "no jumping on the bed" part, bike, banana, 1..2.."3", ready, set "go".

Will grabs your nose, eyes, mouth, ears if you name the items.
Will pounce on JP if we say "Dog Pile".
Will chase JP if you yell "get him!".
Will head to the stairs if you say it is time for a bath. Has gotten in himself.
Will head to the refrigerator if you ask if he wants juice.
Will wave bye bye and/or grab shoes if you so much as mention the word "Go". Often will bring you the closest shoes he can find(Mom's, JP's, anyone's).
Will give you his feet if you have his socks and shoes to put on. (unless he is in the mood to run away). May even try to put socks and shoes on himself.
Will bring food from the pantry to Mom. Usually goldfish or fruit snacks.
Will run from you (with the naughty item) when you tell him no.
May say "moo" if you ask him what a cow says. May say "baa" for the sheep. May say "roar" for the bear. May say "roar" if you call him T-bear which seems to be a common nickname for him.



Shamefully I will include these...I hope they are nothing but collective moments of paranoia but I need to document them for reference.

Fear of the parachute at YMCA class (now will sit on it. Has been under it-under protest)
Fear of the tunnels and forts at the YMCA class. I put him inside them and he just stood there screaming. (now will climb through the little tunnel at home. Did finally do one tunnel at Y)
Fear of the plastic bubble wrap all the other kids were jumping on at the YMCA class
Huge tears during JP's OT when he tried the "flying apparatus". It is very noisy.
Fear of the trampoline in our backyard. (NOW HE LOVES THE TRAMPOLINE!!!)
Won't look in the sky when I point at an airplane. They are very noisy yet he is oblivious. (still oblivious...it is the weirdest thing! These planes are LOUD and yet he still won't look up into the sky.)
Seems really bashful around other people. (Yet will interact and play along side other kids)

However, every time I mention any concerns to a fellow autism parent, he will show off around them. He has had great eye contact and babbles with one friend and just yesterday he gave me a long burst of words when I said it was almost time to leave speech. It sounded like...garble garble babble babble outside. And he proceeded to walk over and climb into his stroller. Today I believe that I am being paranoid. I think he is doing fine. Of course he is not an early communicator but I don't think I am specific warning signs.