Confessions and Milestones

So, I have been trying to have a new attitude when people stare or make comments about Nick while out in public. He has still been engaging in his random yelling while out in public, which tends to cause some pointed looks in our direction. One day we went to Burger King to have lunch with my BFF and her son, Blake. Nick had a great time and played endlessly in the play area. He was not too happy when it was time to leave and he let me know it! As we were walking through the (very crowded) dining area he let out a super loud scream. A large table full of people flinched because it frightened them and they immediately turned to get a good look at us. I smiled politely, shrugged my shoulders and said, “I guess sometimes you just have to let it out!” The group chuckled and turned right back around! So, I have now decided that humor is generally a good way to deal with staring. Just last week, we had another incident at Toys ‘R Us while out with my BFF and Blake again! We tried to make a quick pass through the store to look for one toy (first mistake). Nick REALLY wanted to play with the table of wooden trains that was set us in the store. I told him that he needed to use his words to tell me what he wanted, but he was being stubborn and refused. So….we continued walking through the store. He screamed louder than I thought possible, threw himself on the floor kicking and screaming and generally throwing a fit. I ended up half carrying and half dragging him out of the store, screaming and kicking the entire way. As we neared the exit, I saw a man standing with his son (who looked about Nick’s age) staring at us with eyes as wide as saucers. I know he was thinking, “what a spoiled kid! Or I’m glad my kid is well behaved” or something similar. I glanced at him and smiled through the screaming and just said, “We’re having a little bit of a bad day.” He giggled and said, “It appears so!” Anyway, humor is my new tool and will continue to be so, until someone gets snarky with me…then WATCH OUT because Super Bitch mommy will appear! LOL

Nick has had a couple of mini-milestones lately. First, he stayed dry all day at school on Thursday!! He has been doing a good job of staying dry most of the school days this week. He has had some poop accidents, but that’s pretty normal from what I understand. He even did a good job at home and had very few outbursts when his timer went off for him to go potty! Second, Nick and I had what I consider to be our first ever phone conversation on Wednesday night. I called home after Max and I had to take a trip to Children’s Mercy (long story) and Nick got on the phone. He said, “Hi” and I said “Hi” then he said “I had baff.” I said, “What?” again, “I had baff” me again, “What?” Finally I heard daddy saying in the background, “bath!” So, I said, “oh, you had a bath?” Again, “I had bath.” I said, “All by yourself, without your brother?” Nick says, “Myself.” I said, “Did you get bubbles?” Nick ignored that, so I said, “I love you Nick.” “Love you Mama.” As I hung up the phone, I realized that Nick and I just had a real conversation with actual give and take! Granted, he mostly just repeated exactly what I said to him, but it’s a start! He understands the general concept, which is amazing!!

Now, I have a confession to make. Last night, I let Nick cheat on his Gluten Free, Casein Free diet. We ordered pizza last night and started eating it in front of Nick. Now, normally I would make Nick his own GFCF pizza, so he didn’t feel left out. Lately, however, he has refused to eat his pizza at all and doesn’t seem the least bit interested when we eat something he can’t have. Now, last night, Nick immediately started pointing at our pizza. Allen said, “what Nick?” Nick says (in a super quiet quivering little voice), “I want pizza.” Allen looked at me like, “what should I do?” I felt so darn bad for the kid, that I just told Allen to let him have a piece. I cut up an entire piece of pizza and Nick scarfed it right down! This is absolutely not going to become a habit….I have not knowingly allowed Nick to cheat on the diet since we started him on it last June! I feel pretty guilty, but not half as guilty as I would feel if he’d had to watch us eat something he wanted so badly. Lesson learned…..make special pizza for Nick or risk the trembling lip :)