HALLOWEEN NIGHT
(Photo album located here)

When I arrived today, Tony was gone. He was on a car ride with his mom to pick up “sissy” from school. While they were gone, I started to clean up some. About an hour later, Marlaina pulls up and I go outside to bring Tony inside the house. As soon as he walked through the door, it was turtle, cup and Corpse Bride. The next hour or so was spent preparing for our big night out. As soon as Danielle walked through the door, I started the process of getting ready as a witch. Tony was very scared. He seemed to hate the outfit especially the hat. It got to the point where he was on the ground, with his head buried and telling me to take off my hat and clothes. He doesn’t seem to like black too much. Everyone got dressed and we all took pictures. Around 6:30, we met up with the Bouchers and walked around the neighborhood. Tony sat in his stroller in the beginning, while Danielle tried to manuever it around the obstacle course.

Tony seemed to thoroughly enjoy trick or treating. When we finally allowed him to walk around with us, he was running up to the door with the rest of the kids and saying trick or treat. He was being a little curious too, telling people to open the door and trying to stroll in like it was his own. He liked the pumpkins. He started to get upset when there wasn’t one in front of every house, so the night was cut short. We headed back to the house. He was still upset when we got in, so Marlaina put the new Charlie and the Chocolate factory in. He was hesitant at first, repeatedly asking for Corpse Bride, but Marlaina fast fowarded to the songs and he was immediately intrigued. When I left, he was lying on the couch, paying no attention to anyone else except the movie.

October 30th:
When I arrived today, Tony was taking a nap, so I went into his playroom and tried to make some sense of the chaos. Not too long after, Tony was downstairs with a smile on his face and manding for Corpse Bride. He was in somewhat of a mellow mood, playing with his little people, until he started screaming for the crayon marker store. Anton and I tried to redirect him to something else. After 3-4 minutes, we were able to convince him to go to the blue bus but somewhat hesitantly. He still had tears running down his face. On the way to the door, we ran into Marlaina, who had awaken from her nap because of Tony’s temper tantrum. He ran to her immediately and buried his face in her. She asked him if he wanted to go get some fries, but his mind was already set on the crayon marker store. She grabbed her stuff and we were off to the crayon marker store(Eckards).

When we got there, Marlaina was just going to have me take Tony in but apparently Tony had different plans. As soon as I got him out of the car seat and took two steps away from the car, he started crying for his mom, so Marlaina ended up coming in. We went straight to the crayon isle and we managed to leave the store with only two items(Spongebob Coloring Set and Erasers). We got back in the car and headed to Chick Fil A for some lunch. On the way home, Tony was munching on his “fwies” and looking at his new items. When we finally got home, it was Corpse Bride once again.
After finishing lunch, I persuaded him to go to the blue bus. On the way out, he said “bye bye mommy, bye bye daddy.” While we were in the bus, I took the opportunity to get some ABA done since it seems like the only time when he isn’t distracted with some toy or show. Not too long after, the mail lady came. He opened up the window, and repeatedly said hi and asked how she was doing. After about 20 minutes on the bus, we headed back inside.

He manded for some “blue’s clues” as soon as we got in. He lied on the couch with Turtle and cup and was completely consumed in the movie. While he relaxed on the couch, I started to clean up again. 10 minutes later, Tony came in and started making a mess again. He kept asking to be lifted “up” and saying that something was stuck. There was a few minutes while he stood there and had a look on his face like he was constipated. A minute later and the result of the pushing and red face became obvious. I kept asking if he was Pee-yew stinky but he kept saying no and refused to let me change him. He started getting upset and Marlaina had to convince him to allow her to change his diaper. It was dreadful. The smell became extreme as soon as you took off his pants. After his diaper change, he was in a brighter mood. Not too long after, I finished up cleaning and Tony was taken off to bed.

The first thing that we did when we arrived was get Tony and go to the “crayon marker store”, in other words Publix. Tony had to be coaxed to get into the car by his mom and even then he was in tears when we pulled out of the parking lot. When we got to Publix, he got into his usual cart vehicle and pretended to drive the cart while we pushed. He only chose one item. We went to Chick Fil A afterwards and then went back home. He manded to use his new painting item immediately. After a little while of painting, we decided to head to the aquarium. This was Tony’s first time at the aquarium.

To see an album of images from the trip, click here.

Tony seemed a little reluctant to go to the aquarium at first, but when we told him we were going to see big fish he was immediately excited. When we first arrived, Tony was being pushed around in his stroller. After a few minutes of being in the stoller, he immediately said “out”. So we took him out of the stoller and he immediately ran from tank to tank looking at all of the fish. He always asked to be picked up so he could get a better view. The only thing that seemed to scare him were the scuba divers, especially when they waved at him.

When he was finished looking at all the fish, we took Tony to the the play area. It was set up to look like a ship. There were a lot of other kids there and Tony just joined them in running around and going up and down the slide. We also took some really cute pictures…hopefully Anton will post some of them.

On the way out of the aquarium, we took Tony around the perimeter so he could look at the water. Then it was off to the Children’s Museum. When we arrived there, they had just got done with the carnival. There was a party going on, so there were a lot of kids there.

We started out in the center room with all the golf balls. There were different contraptions, that would deal with the circular movements of the ball. After we left this room, we went into a water room. There was an area where you could paint the wall and Tony went immediately to it. We tried to persuade him to put on a coat to prevent him from getting wet, but he wasn’t having it. We then got him to go to the next room. This was a play grocery store. It was actually a minature Publix. It had the produce aisles, meat section, frozen food section and more. The kids can get a cart and check out at the register when they’re done. Tony went and got a few items but quickly moved on to the next room. Were hoping that maybe pretend shopping will get him more interested in trying new foods. The next room was a huge boat. There were a lot of kids and Tony seemed to enjoy interacting with them, running around in circles with them. The next area we went to was the toddler play area. Tony liked running around on all the equipment but then informed us that he needed a diaper change.

After we changed his diaper, we went back to other side of the Musuem to check out the castle. The upper level of the castle had costumes that the kids can put over their clothes but Tony wasn’t interested in trying any of them on. While we were running after him on the top level Danielle hit her head on one of the boards hanging from the ceiling. So Jennifer played with Tony in the castle for the rest of the time. Then it was on to the last room. This was the arts and crafts room. Tony immediately for the markers and tried several colors out and then they were closing so we headed home.

On the car ride home, Tony was asking to go night night. So when we got inside, we made a bed for him on the couch and put Corpse Bride in. Tony kept saying night night upstairs and tried to run towards the stairs, he was getting upset when we said he had to go night night on the couch. So we suggested a trip to the park. We were only at the park for about 15 minutes when Tony was so tired he said night night in the bed and home. So we headed back home and he was again upset when couldn’t go to sleep in his bed. So Jennifer got him distracted by playing Wiggles games on the computer. Then Anton and Marlaina arrived back home and Tony went upstairs to bed.

10/25/06
Danielle

Today when I arrived Tony was full of energy. He had stayed up pretty late and then slept till late morning. He was watching a movie but was ready to head into the playroom to paint. Once we were done painting we went into the bathroom to wash our hands then headed out to the bus.

Since it was a cold day I grabbed Tony’s vest for him to put on. He didn’t like the way it felt on him and kept trying to take it off. Marlaina and I told him that if he wanted to go out on the bus he had to keep it on. Since Tony’s vest was blue and the shirt I happened to be wearing was blue, I tried to persuade him to keep it on by telling him that we needed to wear blue in order to go on the blue bus. It seemed to be working, but as soon as we got on the bus he was trying to pull it off.

When we got on the bus Tony immediately went for the carseat and wanted to sit in it. After a minute of that he headed to the driver’s seat. He pretended he was driving for awhile and then unrolled the windows to sing out of. After he finished driving, he started to play with the hawaiin girl on the table. Since we had been basically outside for awhile (Tony likes to keep all the doors and windows open), I persuaded him to go back inside the house. I told him lets go see what Jack and Sally are doing (referring to his favorite movie Nightmare before Christmas).

Once we were back inside I went to put Nightmare before Christmas in the DVD player when Tony handed me Corpse Bride. We watched this for a few minutes and then Tony wanted to watch Bob the Builder. While he was watching Bob, I got his Wiggles bag ready for his OT session with Brittany.

After Tony was finished watching Bob the Builder, we headed to Chesterbrook for his OT session. When we got there Tony had a lot of energy so Brittany showed me what they do to get them more calm so they will be able to stay on task. Tony had an overall good OT session. He cut paper all the way across for the first time without any help!

After we left OT, Tony and I drove to the park. When we arrived, there were cars everywhere and too many people so we headed home. When we got home Tony and I painted some and watched some more shows.

10/26/06
Danielle
Before I came over today, I stopped at Chick-Fil-A to pick up Tony and I some fries. When I came in I noticed that Tony had already got fries a little earlier. When I sat the bag down to pull the fries out, Tony kept saying loudly “two fries”! He seemed excited that he had more fries now.

Not too long after I arrived Tony started manding for the crayon and marker store. Instead of making a trip I tried to find a box that looked relatively new to see if that would appease him. I found a box of colored pencils that seemed to work for a short while. I gave Tony the box and went to find some paper. I then had him try to different color circles on the paper. (This is something OT is working with him on.) At first Tony would draw a circle but continue drawing them and would not stop to complete it. So I used hand over hand to show him when to stop. After a few times trying this, he would draw the circle and stop!

After we were finished drawing circles, Tony seemed to be getting a little upset so I suggested we go to the park. This usually seems to cheer him up immediately. He was excited and went to get his shoes but as we were leaving started asking for his mom to come. Marlaina said she would walk him out to the car but when we got to the car, he didn’t want to leave his mom and again began asking for the crayon and marker store. So we headed to Marlaina’s car to go to Publix. At Publix, Tony picked out a new set of paint and crayons.

When we got home he immediately wanted to try out his new paint set. He had me open the colors and then wanted to mix them to make new colors. He also decided to do a little fingerpainting, so headed to the bathroom afterwards to wash our hands. After Tony washed his hands, he wanted to brush his teeth as well. I figured this would be a perfect opportunity to get him comfortable with the potty. I put the Blue’s Clues toliet seat over the toliet and then took his clothes off and put him on. He sat on it for about a minute and then was ready to get off.

We headed back into the living room when Tony manded for Wiggles Dance Party. I put it in and we watched that for a little while and then Tony started to get upset again. I suggested the park and this time he left with me.

When we got to the park there was another little boy there as well. They both seemed really interested in one another. Tony and I would go down the slide together after the other little boy, and then the other boy would wait at the steps until Tony and I got up there. I told Tony to say ” Hi, I’m Tony”. He repeated and the other little boy just smiled and said he was Thomas. We stayed at the park for about an hour and then headed home because it was evident Tony was completely worn out.

When we got back home, I changed his diaper and then Tony was off to bed. After he went to sleep I cleaned up the living room and his playroom. I also went through all the empty crayon and marker boxes and filled them up. So hopefully now when Tony wants new crayons we can pull these out and “convince” him that these are new crayons.

10/23-24
When I came in yesterday, the playroom was in utter chaos. Tony had torn it apart, looking for something that apparently he had trouble finding. Toys were all over the place. He had been up late the night before, so I was watching him for about 5 minutes and then he wanted to go to bed. This was not a long nap though. I went to the grocery store while he slept. When I had finally got back and put everything away, Tony woke up. He was crying very loudly. 5 minutes later, I saw him climbing down the stairs. We went into his room and watched Corpse Bride. This movie has been on constant replay for the past week. After a little while of this, he started asking for his mom. Unfortunately, his mom was upstairs sleeping. His dad had to help me out and redirect him. We went back to his room and watched some more corpse bride. 10 minutes later, he was asking for the crayon and marker store. We couldn’t take him at the time, and so we tried to persuade him to go out to the tennis courts and play with his ball. He wasn’t going to have this. Instead as soon as Anton left to go get his ball outside, he started getting upset again. When I telling him that we would go out to the bus, he started crying for his mom and repeatedly screaming crayon and marker store. He continued to get upset for the next 5 minutes and threw things around the room. Eventually Marlaina had to come downstairs and he was taken to the crayon and marker store. While he was gone, I tried to tidy up some. When he got back, we went out to the bus and colored. I persuaded him to go out to the tennis courts. We were halfway there when he decided that he wanted to go back to his mother, so we headed back home. We got there and he started asking for his mom but she was in bed, so we went to his room and watched some more corpse bride and played with his train set. When his mom finally came downstairs, he went straight to her. Marlaina kept him busy with the Wiggles website, while I cleaned up his room. After a little while of this he was tired again, so he was taken up to bed.

Today when I arrived, Tony had just gotten back from his speech classes. He was in a good mood and having a good day. He immediately asked for his “fwies” when he came in and Corpse Bride. When I had finally put Corpse Bride in, he made sure to cling onto me so I couldn’t press play. He likes the song in the beginning. While he was watching this, he was eating on his fries. He manded for me to open his new box of crayons. I did this for him, and he was persuaded to go outside to the bus. He played with the little hawaiian girl and colored on his notepad. We’ve been trying to teach him how to draw a circle correctly, so I took this opportunity to try again. He seems to still have a little trouble with it. After a little while on the bus, we went to the basketball courts. He likes to kick the ball around. I would kick the ball for him, and he would chase it. There was a drawing for hopscotch so I took the opportunity to ask him to point to certain numbers. He did this well. After a little while of this, he was running around the court again. He eventually got tired. He grabbed Turtle and cup and proceeded to the door. We headed back home. When we got in, he watched Corpse Bride and fell asleep on the couch.

Today was a long day. I kept Tony company while his parents and Danielle interviewed the new prospects for the nanny job. He had completely destroyed the playroom to the point that it looked like a hurricane had went through there. He manded for Corpse Bride when I arrived. It seems to be his current favorite movie, since he’s been requesting everyday for the past week. He likes the menu of the movie. I knew this because he would hold down my hands to make sure I wouldn’t press play. After about 5 minutes of the menu, the movie automatically started to play. While he watched the movie, he played with his train set. I made a circle with the train tracks and this seemed to amuse him greatly. I took the opportunity to work on some ABA. He seems to be catching on to recognizing specific pieces of clothing and parts of the body pretty quickly. He was repeatedly distracted by the girls coming in. He’s a little ladies’ man.

During the interview session, he manded to go out on the bus. When we got out there, he went straight to his car seat and climbed in. I buckled him like we were fixing to go somewhere. After a little while of sitting there, I took him out of the seat and he started to yell out the window “Helloooo!” When he got tired of the bus, we went to the back and played stop-go. He was having fun. He would tell me to stop and when to go. He made sure that I completely stopped each time. When he got a little tired, we headed back to the house. Later, Danielle and I took Tony to Chick Fil A and got him some fries.

Once we got back from Chick Fil A, we tried to get Tony to play some games on the computer. The only ones he seemed to be interested in had to do with the Wiggles.

Later on before Marlaina and Anton were getting ready to leave, we decided to take Tony to the store so they could get out of the house unnoticed. We took him to Publix to pick out some new crayons and markers. After Publix, we headed to Chick Fil A to get him some more fries. While we were in the line, he kept saying “night night in bed”. On the way back to the house, Tony fell asleep in the car.

Once we got home, he continued to say “night night in bed”. We put him on the couch and put a movie in trying to persuade him to sleep on the couch. He got up and ran towards the steps continuously saying “night night in bed”. We both tried to get him to lay down on the couch with us but he couldn’t be persuaded. Each time he wanted to go upstairs and we tried to get him to go to sleep on the couch he would start screaming. We would get him calmed down for a few minutes and then it would start all over again. So we called Marlaina and she came home early.

Once Marlaina arrived, we took a trip to the crayon and marker store, then we went back home and Tony went to sleep.

When I arrived today, the first thing Tony asked for was Bob the builder. Markers had been thrown everywhere and he was in the process of taking the caps off and lining them up. Not too long after, he requested Corpse Bride. I was able to persuade him to go into his playroom to watch it. He kept saying press play when I got the TV going, but he seemed to be a little confused when I didn’t touch the TV. I had used the remote to work the DVD player instead. While he was amused with Corpse Bride, I took the opportunity to try and get some ABA done. He was somewhat hesitant at first, but I managed to get him to answer a few things for me here and there.

I had been asking him to help me on the bug puzzle all morning but he was so caught up in his movie that he was uninterested. He eventually asked to paint. While I was in the kitchen getting water to paint with, he did part of the puzzle by himself. I came back to a puzzle that was basically completed. We painted for a little bit. His favorite color seems to be purple these days. He requested for it over and over again. He helped with cleaning up. I asked him to put things in the trash can for me and he would. When we were all done, he manded to draw. I took this opportunity to help him with his motor skills, since he doesn’t seem to be able to draw a circle efficiently. I drew letters of the alphabet for him, and asked him what letter it was. He did this well.

Later in the day, we went out onto the blue bus. He still refers to it as the green bus though. He always seems to be easily amused by the bus. When we got in there, he went straight to the driving seat. He wanted me to put his seat belt on and everything, and he pretended to drive the bus. He made sure to roll down the windows, and yell hello when there was absolutely no one outside. A little while of this and it was back inside and more Bob the Builder.

Sometime during the day, he went up to his Dad and recognized his carbonated water as “bubble water”. When his parents offered to give him some, he got really excited. While they were getting it for him, he was running around the living room, saying “bubble water” over and over again. He pretty much chugged it down. We went back into his play room and watched Corpse Bride. we did some more ABA like putting your feet together and putting them apart. He seemed to enjoy this. When we were all done, he went and crashed on the couch. He manded for turtle, milk and blanket. He was given another diaper change and it was off to bed.

Today when I arrived Tony seemed excited to see me. Marlaina and Anton informed me that it had been a long night with Tony only sleeping about 3 hours. This seems to have become a normal routine for him latley. But nonethless, he was full or energy and ready to head into the playroom.

We started out painting. He told me everything I needed as usual and asked for his new paint set. This paint set had the three primary colors yellow, blue and red. He then began to mix them to make different colors. He was excited everytime he made a new one and would happily say its name. When we were all done painting we went into the bathroom to wash our hands. Tony told me what we needed to do and then dried his hands off by himself without my prompting him.

Then we headed out to the bus. Tony and I played in the bus for about 15 minutes before we headed back into the house. Once back in the house we packed the Wiggles bag for our trip to see Brittany for his OT session.

On the way to the OT session we stopped at CVS to get some crayons and markers. I told Tony to pick 1 crayon box and 1 marker box. He was so excited that he grabbed about 8 different things. I tried to get him to narrow it down but it made him start to get upset. I didn’t want him to get upset since we were going to his OT session so I gave in and let him have 4 things.

When we arrived at the school, we sat on the benches outside waiting for Brittany. There were other kids coming in and out and Tony was excited to see them all. He greeted them all with a high pitched “hiii” and got really excited when he saw one with a Sponge Bob bookbag. Once Brittany arrived, we headed inside for Tony’s session.

Tony had a really good OT session. Brittany and Tony made things out of clay, drew circles, put beads on a string and replicated block designs.

After the OT session we headed home. On the way home Tony fell asleep in the car. When we got home, Tony immediately went upstairs to bed. So I cleaned up the playroom and ran to the grocery store. When I was leaving Tony had woke up. He has been teething and its causing him discomfort. Hopefully he will feel better tomorrow!

When I arrived this afternoon Tony was full or energy despite having a late night. He greeted me excitedly and then we headed into his room. When we got in the room, Tony immediately went over to his playhouses and pulled some of the people out. We started playing with them and then when he was all done with them he decided he wanted to look in the mystery bag.

He pulled out a bottle of brown paint from the mystery bag and immediately said “paint yes”. So we headed over to his table to paint. As usual I asked him what we needed and he answered correctly. He also manded for a bottle of purple paint. Lately, it seems Tony is more interested in mixing paint to make new colors than actually the painting itself. When we mixed the brown and purple paint it looked sort of like burgundy. So, I told Tony this is burgundy and he repeated me two times excited that he had made a new color. Then when we were all done painting we headed to the living room to watch a show.

First, Tony wanted me to put in the Corpse Bride. We watched that for a little while and then I asked Tony if he wanted to watch the turtle show. He said yes, and so I put in Leap Frogs Word Factory. While we were watching the show, Tony asked for more milk. He already had enough milk in his cup but now prefers goats milk to his rice milk. So I made a trip to the store to pick up his milk and a few other things.

When I returned he had just finished watching the Word Factory and was asking for his Boohbah interactive CD-ROM. So we put it in the laptop and proceeded to play some of the games. Tony seemed to enjoy learning on the computer a lot more than in a traditional ways. I discussed this with Marliana and we are going to see what kind of online or CD learning exercises we can find.

The rest of the night was spent watching movies and painting and then Tony was off to bed. It was overall a really good day. Normally, when Tony doesn’t sleep a lot the night before he seems to be cranky and easily upset but that was not the case today.

Today was a long and exciting day for Tony. Anton had a family reunion in Camden so we drove up to spend time with the family.

When we arrived Tony seemed excited to see all the people and was all smiles. When he saw grandma and grandpa, he greeted grandma with “hi Mazzie!”. In the backyard there was an inflatable jump house and Tony got right in there and started playing with everyone. He is very social and seems to enjoy being with other kids. The majority of the time we were there Tony was playing with his cousins in the jump house, but when he got tired of that he decided he wanted to color. He had me draw different color circles and then he colored them in.

Then we set off back to Charleston. Tony took a nap on the way home, so he was full of energy when we got back. I put in a movie for him while he painted and he was still awake when I left.

Today was a short day. I came in with chick fil a and Tony got all excited. His first word was “fwies!” I went and picked him up and he gave me a kiss. We went into his room and painted for a little while. He asked me to make orange and purple for him, saying please at the right times. He told me what colors I needed to make purple and he started making it himself after he got the hang of it. It seemed to amuse him, since he kept doing it over and over again on different spots of the plate.

After we finished with painting, he immediately manded for a clothes and diaper change. When I had finished up with that, he started to say “duckie”, so I took him to the pond. He loves the ducks. The first thing he said was “hi duckie, how are you?” He chased them around. He was laughing a lot. When we were leaving, he made sure to tell the ducks “bye”. On the way home, he stuck his hand in his mouth. This turned out to be problematic since the residue from the seeds ended up burning his mouth. He got upset and could only be calmed down by a car ride.

When I arrived I was informed by Anton that was Tony was taking a nap. Apparently, he had been up since 4 AM. So I started cleaning up his playroom and the living room. As soon as I was finishing up Tony woke up from his nap.

He woke up full of energy and was ready to head into his playroom. As soon as we got in there he wanted to play with his clay. Since there was no purple clay he asked me to get the red and blue to make purple. I did this for him and then he kept saying “make purple”. Every time I handed him more purple clay he would say “thank you Danielle”. (When Tony says my name it sounds more like “Dan-now”.)

After we were all done with the clay, Tony decided he wanted to paint. I asked him what all we needed and correctly answered with paintshirt, water, paper and paintbrushes. Although, we had purple paint Tony prefers to make his own and asked for red and blue to make his purple. When Tony was finished creating his masterpiece..lol we headed into the living room.

He then asked for his crayons, markers and paper. While he was busy coloring he wanted me to put in Blue’s Clues. We then switched back and forth between Blue’s Clues, Corpse Bride and another “turtle”movie. This was a new leap frog movie about math.

Later on Tony was hungry and was asking for pizza. At first Marlaina and I were wondering what he was asking for because Tony is very reluctant to eat new things and usually sticks with his chicken, hot dogs, chips and fries. But he kept saying pizza, unfortunately we didn’t have any pizza that was gluten free. So Marlaina persuaded him into some fries. While we were waiting for the fries to cook, Tony was playing with the letter magnets on the fridge. I then proceeded to ask him to identify various letter for me. He answered them all correctly!

Tony’s fries were not the usual ones he eats. These were actually sweet potato fries. He noticed immediately that the color was different and would not eat them. So, I picked one up and ate it saying “yummy yummy” hoping he would then try one, but he still wouldn’t. So Tony ended up eating more of his blue chips, while I put it another movie. Later on when it was time for me to go, Tony was still up content watching his movie.