As a mom, there is one big piece of advice that I pass on to other parents. Don't ever fight a battle that you can't win! Today, I waited Nick out and (huge sigh of relief here) won a major battle in the war on potty training. I told him that it was time to go potty and he immediately started screaming and throwing a fit. I ended up carrying him into the bathroom and putting him on the potty. He tried to get down right away and I just kept putting him on the potty and saying, "no, you need to go potty." He thrashed around, fell off the potty and screamed his little head off. I finally told him, "you cannot get off the potty until you go pee pee." I'll tell you what...this was really hard for me because it was time to eat dinner and we were trying to get out the door to run some errands. Allen and I ended up sitting with Nick for a good 15 minutes before he finally succumbed and went potty. We cheered like crazy and let him have some pepperoni (his new favorite) as a treat. Later in the evening, Nick jumped right up on the potty and went pee without any fight! He stayed on the potty and even pooped a little bit. Yay Nick!!!!
We also had another GIANT success with Nick tonight. We took Max to get his first ever haircut today. We went to a place in Olathe called Shear Madness.....it's a place for kids only. They have tv's that play cartoons in front of each station. They have plastic cars that kids can sit in and pretend to drive while they are getting their hair cut. We figured it would be a cute place for Max to get his first haircut at. So, I make sure that Nick takes notice while Max is getting his hair cut. I also say things like, "maybe one day you can be a big boy and let them cut your hair!"
I should mention that Nick has really huge issues with having his hair cut. He screams and thrashes around and often gets so upset that he vomits :( We have had to resort to cutting his hair at home with clippers. Allen has to hold Nick on his lap and restrain him while I cut his hair. Nick screams at the top of his lungs and cries and thrashes around until he is all sweaty. He tells us, "all done, all done, all done" over and over. As a result, Nick's haircuts are few and far between. We wait until he is really shaggy before finally resolving that we will have to do it again. Grandpa has helped a couple times, but even he refuses to trim Nick's sideburns because it upsets him too much. Hair cutting sessions usually end with tears on the part of both Nick and Mommy :(
Sooooo......hence the big buildup to the story that Nick ALLOWED SOMEONE TO CUT HIS HAIR!!! We told the hairdresser that Nick has Autism and freaks out when someone tries to cut his hair. She said they have lots of kids with Autism come into the shop and she'd give it a try!! So, we had Nick get up into the car and she showed him the clippers (which were super quiet). She let him hold them and pretended to tickle him with them. Then she immediately trimmed his side burns and the back of his neck. She proceeded to wet down his hair (which he did NOT care for) and trimmed the rest of his hair up with scissors. I won't lie and say that it was completely without incident, but what a change from the norm!! Nick did whimper a little and try to pull his head away from the stylist. He also let out a few really loud yells, but he generally handled the whole thing really well! We plan to make another appointment with the same hairdresser in the future. She told us if we mention that Nick has Autism, they will allot her some extra time to work with him. Nick was super excited that he was awarded a sucker for being such a good boy and we went right over to grandpa and grandma's house to show off the new haircuts!!
Sooooo......hence the big buildup to the story that Nick ALLOWED SOMEONE TO CUT HIS HAIR!!! We told the hairdresser that Nick has Autism and freaks out when someone tries to cut his hair. She said they have lots of kids with Autism come into the shop and she'd give it a try!! So, we had Nick get up into the car and she showed him the clippers (which were super quiet). She let him hold them and pretended to tickle him with them. Then she immediately trimmed his side burns and the back of his neck. She proceeded to wet down his hair (which he did NOT care for) and trimmed the rest of his hair up with scissors. I won't lie and say that it was completely without incident, but what a change from the norm!! Nick did whimper a little and try to pull his head away from the stylist. He also let out a few really loud yells, but he generally handled the whole thing really well! We plan to make another appointment with the same hairdresser in the future. She told us if we mention that Nick has Autism, they will allot her some extra time to work with him. Nick was super excited that he was awarded a sucker for being such a good boy and we went right over to grandpa and grandma's house to show off the new haircuts!!
I remember going through many of the same battles with MJ during potty training. We would think we were done and then it would be like starting over again. Then all of a sudden it was like a switch went off and he almost never had accidents after that! Here's hoping this trend continues with Nick!
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