Getting a lot older really quickly

Pookie managed to get a lot older really quickly. It’s not really little things this time.

Here are some of the new changes:

• Night time potty trained – virtually overnight and with virtually no help from us. We are now going to have to start remembering to change his sheets once in a while instead of being forced to do it daily. But the big thing here in my mind is that he pretty much did it on his own.
• Playing with others – He is constantly running around wrestling with Geetle and doing headstands with her on the couch (which he taught her how to do) and putting on her slippers and making her chase him around the house to get them back. At Kyuki-Do, he is very adamant about shaking everybody’s hand at the end of class. A few weeks back we watched him play with a classmate at McDonalds. This could be the biggest development ever. Learning to play with other kids is insanely important for child development and one of the biggest social obstacles that teachers work on with children with autism.
• More engaged in conversation – We still get a lot of one word answers but we are getting them a lot more often on our first question. And we are starting to get times where he answers questions with questions of his own or makes statements of his own after answering. This might be the most subtle change, but for me and BAGM, it is probably the most shocking. Pookie doesn’t seem to gradually learn things. He plateaus for a while and then launches ahead to the next level. And his language skills have definitely taken a neat leap.
• Less yelling – We are starting to get issues resolved by talking about them instead of first resorting to yelling. BAGM has done a great job of getting Pookie to ask for help with Giggles instead of yelling when she gets into his space. I think he might be starting to realize that there are other ways to handle problems besides yelling first. The only thing worse then going through the yelly, tantrumy phase of the terrible twos (which really happens when they are 3) is when it happens when they are 5 1/2 and can yell a lot louder.
• Kyuki-Do – Pookie and I are testing for our next belt in a couple weeks. He’s not ready to do it on his own yet, but he is getting closer. Because of my cold, I took the kids yesterday but did not participate. I sat near Pookie and provided very minimal support and he did a great job of following the directions of the instructor instead of needing me to constantly tell him what to do.

One of the coolest consequences has been watching how much more Geetle just walks up to him and tries to get him to play now that she is starting to expect that he will want to. She also seems to want to sit next to him more on the couch when watching TV and ask him little questions and repeat them until he answers. They’re really starting to take their friendship to a whole new level recently.

Related posts:

1. A fresh start at parenting
2. Twin Friends
3. Why Language Delays Are A Big Problem
4. Autism and Getting Help In Unexpected Places
5. Two Word Sentences