Bright and early start to Mother's Day

I guess Hunter could not wait to wish me a happy mother's day this morning...since he was up at 5 AM.  He didn't like his pull-up- and I couldn't get him back to sleep.  He is typically potty trained at night, but I haven't been brave enough to switch over to the underwear.  Tonight, I want to sleep...so I am trying it out!  He typically will get up early or in the middle of the night if Peter is traveling- he can't handle the change.  I'm hoping for at least 6 AM tomorrow.  We went to breakfast at Le Peep (they have GF pancakes!) and I was quite pleased with how all three of my children did, without daddy there to help.  I did, however, have the ipad for Hunter, because I knew the wait would be long and I wasn't sure how loud the restaurant would be.  As we were leaving, I heard a woman say to her husband, in front of her two children, "Wow, lucky boy gets to play a game during breakfast??"  Keep on walking, Erika- it's not worth it.  We played outside the rest of the early afternoon and then headed to the ABC park again.  We hit three parks in three days this weekend- record for us!

Not sure if the early start threw him off, but we had several fits and more aggression than I have seen in awhile.  The weekends have been hard over the last few weeks.  My hypothesis is that he is so good during the week for school and structured activities, that the weekend he lets his shoulders down and releases the energy that has been building up all week.  Even as adults, I know sometimes when we have had a hard day at work, we need that time at night to center our bodies.  We have figured out how to channel that energy into something else- for me, training and exercising fulfill my stress release.  Peter loves to watch a movie or see the highlights on ESPN.  For children on the Autism spectrum, they resort to hitting, throwing, tantruming, screaming, etc.  We have been training him to say, "Mommy, I am angry," as opposed to throwing things on the ground. 

Another tactic we have used for Hunter, when he demands or inappropriately asks for an item of desire, is to say, "Use your nice speech."  He automatically uses a sweet tone of voice and says, "Mommy, may I please have__?"  We praise and reinforce the tone and content of his message, teaching him the social skills that most typical children already have learned.

We have a big week ahead- school, social skills dyad, OT, swim lessons- and my much anticipated visit with Dr. Rao on Thursday to review test results.  I am anxious to view the results and see if there is another course of treatment that we will follow.

Had to include this video from today- we were talking about the weather today and he said, Mommy, I have a weather song.  Love our teachers at school!