Adam's Oliver

Thursday, Adam was given a ferret named Oliver. (pictures to follow.) I think I had an allergic reaction to the musk - but we re-positioned the cage so that it is in site, but I can close the door when the smell gets to me. I think it is releasing the smell because it is scared.... ugh. But then, he has not spent much time in the cage. He has been playing around the house, investigating everything. Adam loves it. Adam follows it around all over. Adam did a ton of typing again last night. He was up to 33 pages until I shrank the font and made it 29. He was upset at the change - but after 5 minutes he said he was smiling. That was cute.

Daddio

We are doing something new. Instead of unbridled use of Adam's time at home. We are setting a bit of a schedule. Our new soft rule is that at 7:50 Adam has to wrap up what he is doing, finish getting ready for school, and spend the rest of the time (20 minutes or so) talking and doing stuff with me (Daddio). Adam is so self-entertaining sometimes that I may be next to him, but we are not interacting. It is good that he is focused on his chosen task, but That should not be to the exclusion of quality time with good-old Daddio.

Over the weekend, Adam printed out 23 pictures of NewsPaper's in 5 of his favorite DVD's. He is choosing today to bring them to school Also, Adam's Script book is now up to 20 pages. I am sure you know how proud he is of these words and sounds he has typed. (I think it is about time to change the font...to something smaller. Well, I have only 8 more minutes with him, so I am going to go...

Rainy nights

Adam came home very happy and started right back into working on his paper. I think he is up to 17 pages now. Impressive. We continued to make up combinations of letters to describe the sounds of Sponge Bob. After his TV time, he and I decided to take a walk in the rain. Now that was fun. We jumped in puddles and held our arms out to feel the rain. Adam directed where we would walk... until he wanted to walk down a busy street without a sidewalk. Adam also found a box with the word free on the outside of it. Adam opened it and Got a Real Estate Guide. This had to keep dry, so we put it under Dad's shirt. It might be the only thing that stayed dry.

For the rest of the night, we looked at Star War's picture book, ate roasted chicken, and then looked at all our old 35mm pictures. It was fun seeing all the cute pictures of Adam. We put a bunch of them into picture books.

At bedtime, Adam was very silly. Dad could not find Adam because Adam was hiding. We said our prayers and tickled a little more. Adam held onto Dad's arms, took my eyes and mouth, and sang me a lullaby so I could not leave. Then he pretended to draw a tattoo on my face until I "woke up." But I could not do anything because he had taken away everything. lol - he is so tricky.

This morning he has been quite cuddly and cute. But I have to go, We still need to eat and shower....

Adam's computer is behind the chair. He is starting and stoping the DVD of Wallace and Grumit , copying the Closed caption and having me spell the other sounds. I am having to get creative - how do you spell the sound of an airplane. What is funny is that he is beginning to disagree with how I spell it these action sounds. I think he will have a few more pages of his script done by monday. The plane is dive bombing - what does it sound like.... iiiieeeeeeerrrrrrraaaaahhh.

Here is the stack of wood and the playful Dog Ruby. 

Adam and I took a ride after sitting around in our jammies all day. We went and visited His uncle and Aunt's graves, then we went and visited Grandma - She was up a ladder painting her house. We helped her by stacking some of her wood. Adam escaped that job after 10 minutes to play with Ruby, the dog. Ruby needed a good chasing :) 

Wallace & Gromit

adam is really into them, you can find a good web pages on them Here and Here

A little fun

Haha - it worked. How do you like that!

And this is one of the all time favorite's Jimmy Neutron 

Here is another of his favorites - The power-puff girls 

This is another of Adam's favorite shows - Osmosis Jones. Last night Adam collected all the movies, that he could remember, that had some sort of NewsPaper in it 

One of Adam's all time favorite shows is Wallace & Gromit. A cute claymation show from England. 

Wed the 21st of sept

Adam came this morning full of hugs and snuggles. Nothing better than having Adam sit next to me and just lean. I better enjoy it while I can :).

I was a little jealous that Adam was scared of telling mom of the sad/straight face he got. I am Dad! He should be scared of me! I think I am tougher than mom! ha-ha - So I teased Adam and we wrestled.

I had a little trouble getting him to drink is drink this morning, until I said, " Adam, I am going to win!" and took a swig of mine. He finished all of his in about 30 seconds - That is an Adam record! He won...

I am trying to get the digital camera fixed so that we can keep putting pictures up. Hopefully I will figure out the problem soon...

was that the last weekend of the summer?

Adam arrived at my house early this morning. He was very animated about something. After a few questions, I realized that we are back on SPONGE BOB. It is a good thing we have a couple of sponge bob movies and season DVDs. He immediately turned on his computer and and began adding the sound effects to his previously copied script of the Closed Caption dialogue. (he repeats a sound that was in the movie and I make up letters that would approximate it) The scene he worked on most of the morning: Where the princess gives Sponge bob and Patrick a boost of confidence by giving them Seaweed mustaches. They promptly leap into this huge cavern full of monsters and march right through, singing, "Now that we're men, we can do anything." It is one of Adam's favorite parts. LOL - He just stood up in the middle of the room, punched his fist into the air and said the line, "We are invincible!" .... You really should see the movie - It would explain a lot...

Ahhhh It is fun being Adam's Dad.

HAHA - Adam just argued with me about how to spell a sound - That's a first :) That is great!

9-16-05

At home he was very excited about going to Dad's house - asked 3 or 4 times where we were going so he could hear it. He was very happy. He watched the cartoon "Kids-next-door" and "Ed, Edd, and Eddie" He also played the corresponding game on the computer. For dinner we had Salmon. We went to the grocery store for breakfast supplies, he pushed the cart.

Adam and I have a thing we do were Adam pretends to suck my brain out with his finger, then he put either Angel" (our cat's) or a T-Rex's or a Gorilla's brain. Then I usually act like that character while I tickle him. He also continually sings me a lullaby to put me to sleep (fake sleep :). Then he draws on my face with his finger till I wake up - he then laughs and points and says tattoo - I, of course, have to tickle him till he sings the lullaby (Ask Adam about singing Dad to sleep and about the tattoo's on my face - you will get a laugh) He also, If I am not physical enough - says (all the time), "The T-rex/Dog/monster/gorilla is MAD."

Yesterday we also took the Dog we are sitting for a long walk. They both found a toad which the both chased.....

This morning we were very silly. I gave Adam a chiropractic adjustment (yes, I was taught), We had our drink (Adam won - Motivated because he wanted to use the computer) then we printed up All of Adam's typing and stapled them all together.

Note - The paper's are Adam's typing of the closed captions of his many favorite movies/cartoons. I am not entirely happy with all the words and phrases - but Adam really works to make them as complete as possible. And, within the context of the cartoon, they are mostly appropriate. (the front page is from Sponge Bob - where the nemesis says "Stupid Kid" and they are always talking about underwear and Butts and Burps and other Bathroom humor - but it is innocent.

Sniffle: He isn't with me this weekend - Am missing him already.....

notes from school on the Ides

Notes from school: From Adam: "Today is Thursday, Sept 15, 2005. I had art this morning. I was silly and teased Mrs.. M. I took her chair and sat on it."

He was Bribed into eating a cinnamon & sugar apple (tough life). Did great on his spelling words. Had a couple of coughs and sneezes. He played a game with the other kids. He Won (He is a little competitive...) And he scammed some extra chocolate milk and applesauce. Sounds like he had a good day at school :)

The Ides of September

Adam came over a little late this morning, so we had to rush to get in all the fun things we had planned. Like practicing his reading sheets - Then we discovered that he needed to re-do his homework (Adam said he fooled mom when I asked him if he did his homework - he was please... wanted some wrestling :) (His punishment was doing the homework - the wrestling was the reward when it was done ;)

After completing all the sheets, Adam turned on his favorite dance music - the "Men in Black" theme songs by Will Smith. We were bopping around the house, drinking our morning drink - having a blast.

Note - slight cough when he had to read out-loud - I will be picking him up today - so if the cough interferes with his school work, just call me and I will pick him up early.

Adam has been asking me 5 and 6 times who's house he will be going to after school. The last few morning he was in tears as I put him on the bus (I was not giving him the answer that he wanted). It is hard not to be happy that he wants to be at my home, but I am staying very positive about Mom's home - hopefully, for her sake, this is just a stage, and it won't get worse. She seems to be being very interactive with his schooling over the last year - and that is so welcome. ]

Please email me if you have any thoughts or suggestions or concerns - loanbug@galaxy.net

 

Tuesday 9/13

Adam left his spelling homework on the table... well, I left it - I guess I can't blame it on him

He watched pokemon last night - took a ton of notes - you will see 3 new pages in his book.

This morning he watched Jimmy Neutron and copied a message from the alien chickens - that is also with his papers.

It says:

"DEAR SON/DAUGHTER,

WE HAVE GONE TO FLORIDA FOR AN EXTENDED VACATION.

LOVE,

YOUR PARENTS"

I am going to beg his teacher's here, please respond to these posts with at least emails -loanbug@gmail.com or loanbug@galaxy.net . I am trying to open a dialogue between us, I understand that you question whether-or-not you can anonymously post things - but an email will make this less like a monologue...

The second weekend of September

Adam got to go to Grandpa's house on Saturday and spend the night. While at grandpa's, he went for a long canoe ride around the lake. Adam spent the whole time dragging his hands in the water and pulling up lilies. They also visited an abandoned island in the middle where Adam did some exploring. Adam went to Grandpa's church with his step-uncles, Frank and Tyler, and his aunt, Shalom.

After Grandpa's, Adam went shopping and got a Pokemon video (hurray for sales) at Toy's R  Us. When we got home, there was a little pug dog waiting for us. We are dog sitting this week. Adam had a great time taking him for a walk through the cemetery. One of the neighborhood dogs came out to visit and run - Adam thought it was great. He sure loves Dogs.

Adam was a little upset when the printer didn't work this morning, and I didn't want him crying on the bus, so he is getting a ride from Dad today.

9/8/05

This morning was a little bit crazy, Adam spilled his morning drink on the couch. We cleaned it up, changed clothes, and got back into the morning routine without Adam beating him self up - he started to, but, thankfully, I was able to redirect him and keep him positive.

Interesting, perhaps OT can look at this. He spilled it when I placed it on his left side (reaching for it with his right hand. When I look at the couch, I realize that most spills happen when he is reaching across his body to pick something up. I remember a teacher of his mentioning that this quirk is often true of children who have suffered a stroke or other such damage. That aside, what is the assessment of Adam's motor abilities when Adam reaches to another quadrant. Mrs.. M, I believe this is an OT question, could you please have them hop on and leave a comment about this?

Adam wrapped up the morning by printing out his typing again. He has included another 15 lines or so from the Jimmy Neutron movie.

Things we would like added to the Springboard

We are going to be trying a new speech augmentation device with the school. I don't know much about it, except that it is called a Springboard. His teacher has sent home an info-request sheet.

Requested info

1) games he likes to play - shoots & ladders, connect four, tag, tickles, Jumanji, Gameboy, Playstation,

2)Movies/TV shows he enjoys - Pokemon, Jimmy Neutron, Yu Gi Oh, Power Rangers, Lilo & Stitch, Chicken Run (keep an eye on these posts - you will see more)

3) Any Sports he plays/ watches - Soccer, football, baseball, trampoline

4)People/pets in Mom's house - Bob, Ben, Spencer

5)Activities particular to mom's house -

6)People/pets in Dad's house - Grandma - Grandpa -  Angel the cat

7)activities particular to Dad's house

9-7

Adam was smelling like he had some perfume on - I guess he was loving on his mom this morning ;).

Adam had me cut out about 60 numbered pods that he had drawn out Monday night - those are from lilo and Stitch - the movie (see previous post)

This morning he was all about Jimmy Neutron - he came in and got the sound track and danced around the house to it for about 15 minutes - :) Then He found the Jimmy Neutron Movie http://www.nick.com/all_nick/movies/jimmy_neutron/   and watched it  - taking notes - Please see the last page of his typing that we printed out. It would be good to have him read them - he should get nice and animated :) - It starts with the line "invention needs a test run.

OH NO - we left his homework folder on the floor! - We were rushing out the door...

 

long weekend

Not all that sure what happened over mom's house, but when I picked up Adam Monday evening, he was fresh from a trip to the Spencer fair. Mom was looking a little - um - unhealthy... apparently the fair rides were a little rough on her constitution. But, Adam got some good sun and had a good time.

He watched some more Lilo and Stitch (and a little bit of the Incredibles) - He pulled out almost all the scrap wood and made new numbered experiment pods - He was a little mad this morning when he realized Dad could not cut them out before school... I guess this is a lesson in patience ;)

Silly

Adam and I had a quiet night - he gave up on Me (I was watching the news about the disaster in New Orleans) and he took his food upstairs. He came down 40 minutes later with about 5 small boards filled with circles that have number's in the middle. They, again, are from the Lilo and Stitch movies. http://psc.disney.go.com/disneychannel/liloandstitch/experiments/index.html. This morning, he was very silly and wanted to wrestle, get raspberries, and generally hang all over me - It is so great being Adam's Dad :)

 

This morning

Adam came at his usual time. (around 6:30ish) He was quite excited about something - I could tell he was saying something about my motorcycle (in the driveway). I asked him to show me, then I understood - He had seen a "froggy" close to the motorcycle and was telling me how the froggy needed to stay away from the motorcycle. We looked around for it, but it had already hopped away.

We had our normal morning drink. While I was making it, he fed the Angel, the cat. Then we sat and watched Lilo & Stitch II http://disney.go.com/disneyvideos/animatedfilms/liloandstitch2/

He was quite calm this morning. Very cuddly :)

Important - The numbers on the sheet he is bringing in are from this web page -http://psc.disney.go.com/disneychannel/liloandstitch/experiments/index.html

It should be a good source for discussion. (he didn't finish the second copy of all the numbers - I think he wanted it neater - but didn't finish before Al-the-bus-driver arrived.