It's the Little Things, Again

James had a great day yesterday - he made the van pickup, had a great day at school, and (after initial resistance) had a great ABA session. We took a victory trip for chocolate chip cookies and Little Caesar's pizza. He had his down time. He was a good sport and powered through the group Kinesiology exercise activity, even though it was a physical challenge for him (walking on all fours - at over 6 feet and in our cramped house - yeah, this was tough).  

The only downside - he did not want to go to sleep. I finally pulled the plug on the internet shortly before midnight. Even then, he kept popping out of his room to the bathroom and back for another 10-15 minutes. After a night of my sleeping in the living room (to keep an eye out for any residual behaviours), it was time to get up. 

James did a good job getting up and following along with our morning routine. What helped was communicating over walkie talkies that he won at school for earning points and ... being allowed to discover how the frother worked. 

Oh my, that smile! He was really tickled to try it out. I think I see a lot more frothed morning coffee in my future.

Fri. Yay. Go!

 It's taken six months to fine tune, but James and I now have a morning routine that supports him and his hygiene goals. Also our collective sanity.

After several trials, I found this is our winning schedule:

• 7:00 - First wake-up check
• 7:10 - Second wake-up, with lights (if needed) and hygiene kit and clean clothes
• Check, clean and trim all digits
• Fresh clothes
• Wipes
• Pleasant, calm conversation
• 7:25 - Out in the breakfast area, eating set out meal
• Can check phone for text messages
• Take meds
• Put on shoes and jacket
• I prep his bag lunch and we prep his backpack with mask, water, & homework as needed
• 7:50 - Ready for school van pickup

Needless to say, it rarely goes like clockwork. That's not the goal. The goal is a routine to chart our morning course for a good start to the day. There is Wiggle Room built in, because: life, teens, autism.

When the morning routine hits all its beats on time (like this morning) I feel like bursting out into song.

Falling Back, and Back, and Back

So, have you set your clock back yet, all you Daylight Savers? Oh how I look forward to this: Reclaiming some lost sleep. In theory. I have learned to temper my hopes.

This year, recalling past early morning halls of OMG fame, James woke me up at 3:something, 4:30am, 5:15am, 5:35am .... and then I lost count.

The first time, he merely announced he was awake. Second time, I heard his stomach growling as he prowled the hallway. I directed him to go make himself some waffles, and he did.

Interlude.

One of the next times, I was roused to the sound of someone jumping on his bed, which has no frame. A quick knock-knock quieted that fun.

Then the pacing and marathon of door opening and shutting. I forget what time that was. Provided clear direction to go to his room and use his Kindle quietly and STAY there for at least an hour.

Turned over to try and rest some more.

Then the neighbour with the horribly effective subwoofers turned on his TV.

OMG.

The apartment is still throbbing as I type.

Sleep deprivation: always fun. Not.

Foghorn Morning

We're back in the City again. Lots of fog everywhere, beginning with a dense ground fog coming off the fields around our house. Then came the river fogs off the Russian and Petaluma rivers. Finally, the ocean fog found us in Marin County.

Down at Baker Beach, dense mist swirled slowly over the water. Fishing boats signalled each other with their horns as they passed each other while the Golden Gate Bridge fog horns blared and boomed in the background. The sound of the waves crashing on the shore seemed unnaturally loud in the muffled air.

James was fascinated. He's never been in a thick fog near the Bay before like this. He said the foghorns sounded like they they were talking with each other, and we had fun trying to imitate their hooting conversations.

This week, James is writing and solving math problems for himself in my notebook (up to five pages so far). He elected to leave his iPad in the car. He likes seeing all the children here in Starbucks. I actually forgot to bring his shoes, but luckily I found a spare pair of mine in the car, so we're sharing.

This week we are going to try James going by himself to the therapy session. I will be sitting in the waiting room, finishing my coffee, and enjoying the foggy morning.

Imaginary Matches

James does a lot of vocal scripting of things he's heard or watched repeatedly, usually from games or childrens' tv shows. His aide at school really worked his ability to take things in visually and give him some key phrases to use in social and school situations.

This morning, his more recent love of the Memory Game and scripting blended together in an unusual wakeup. Normally, James exits his bedroom and announces his intent to use the bathroom or ask to play on his iPad. This morning, he casually draped himself over the arm of the sofa and started matching imaginary cards, prompting me to play with "Your Turn."

We enjoyed flipping over nonexistent cards and naming really random things, occasionally matching things. It was a fun way to start our morning. Happy Friday!

Who Needs an Alarm Clock?

Between the neighbours who gun their cars at 5:00am, and their cars' noisy engines, which in turn wake James, I will never need an alarm clock again.

Fortunately, I have had a constant presence of cats in my life. Over time, they trained me to early morning wakings and corrected my habit of sleeping in.

Even more fortunately, James wakes up happy. He is infectiously gleeful, almost instantaneously upon waking. There are worse ways to start the day.

Sleepy Saturday

My first weekend morning after my first week back at work started about the same time as usual, but with a sweet twist. James woke up and found me asleep. He woke me up with "Mommy! You're here. Is it the weekend?" "Yes," I told him. He then proceeded to lay down across me sideways, so I could not get up, and announced "I need to stay with you."

 This tall guy is 2 inches shy of 5 feet tall and will turn 9 in January. Somehow, he turned himself into a small cuddlebug, and I sat there loving it.

"What are we doing today?" he asked. "Not a lot this morning. Maybe later we'll go to the county fair," I replied. If James had more mainstream communication, he'd have shouted something like "Yay!!" Instead, he wriggled with delight, hummed happily, and gave off waves of contentedness. We stayed that way for almost 15 minutes.

June Mornings

James has summer school for a month. At first, he was not very happy about this. Now, however, we've found an incentive to make going to school a fun affair -- after dropping Daddy off at work, we head down the road to the airport, to look at the planes taking off and see if the REACH helicopters are out on the tarmac.

One of several craft being fixed up by the Air Museum.

Score! They are both there.

On our driving tour of the airfield, we get to pass by all the wonderful aircraft on display at the Pacific Coast Air Museum. It's been a while since we stopped by. We'll add that to our list of summer activities.

Toward the end of next week, we'll see the hot air balloons practicing for the big annual hot air balloon festival. What a lift for summer school!

Mothers' Day: Priceless

I am typing this from the backyard, listening to the birds twitter and call, smelling the approach of summer and retreat of this morning's fog, savouring my coffee (French roast from Trader Joe's and Peets' Anniversary Blend). I've just picked the first cherries off our tree and popped them in my mouth; they are delicious. Sometimes moments happen and some you just need to make yourself.

I am not a food bowl!!

The cat woke me shortly before 7, prowling for food and a playmate. I was so tired, I poured his kibbles on the nearest flat surface, a MagnaDoodle. My reprieve was short-lived. I heard James stirring, which was my signal to use the bathroom before he announced his waking state to the house and started a loud search for me.

I had been promised breakfast in bed. Unfortunately, my kitchen crew was still sleeping in and catching up on some much-needed rest (curse you, allergies!). I was hungry, so James and I hopped in the car and drove through the low-lying fog to Trader Joe's, where the flowers are gorgeous, the blueberry muffins plentiful, and prices are extraordinarily reasonable. First, though, I had to shut the cat in the garage, as he can't be trusted to not raid the garbage can.

We returned triumphant to a still-sleeping house. James graciously shared his muffins with me and I made coffee. Mmmmmm, liquid ambrosia!

I called my mom to wish her a happy Mothers' Day. We did our usual cell-phone shuffle and my cheek hung up on her once, but we connected. She is such an awesome mom. Every year I appreciate her more, and feel the least I can do is hand her some "Ah-HA!" moments of maternal payback when I talk about how my kids are doing. Kidding! Sometimes.

Meanwhile, coffee in one hand, cell phone in another, I am being presented with a DVD disc (dripping with hand cleaner) by James, who is urging me to clean it, because "it's dirty, Mommy." I finish my call and coffee prep, turn and find he has already inserted the dripping object into the DVD player and started to howl because "it's not woooorkinggggg!"

I whisk out the DVD, wipe it, and shut down the player and TV before telling James to NEVER put something wet into a machine. I explained we needed to let the DVD player dry out now and he had to find something else to do. He picked up the MagnaDoodle and dumped the kibble off it, while telling the cat he was bad, using his angry Dinosaur Voice.

Hello, chickens, so nice of you to return home. Like that roost, eh?

I took several deep breaths and directed James in the cleanup of said kibble. We then got to a more peaceful state by taking turns at playing Angry Birds Star Wars and "getting the piggies."

The Girl Child awoke somewhere around 9:15, disappointed that breakfast was behind me. She presented me with a slightly whacky plant and container from school, a Mothers' Day greeting sign taped to her back, a pink poodle & child diorama (complete with the note that "every mom [instead of 'dog'] has its day"), heart magnet, and a coupon for a free makeover (courtesy of Girl Child -- her manicures are divine).

She also presented me with a delightful concoction of her own design: apple cinnamon toast. It was so good with my coffee! Our daughter has a strong sense of whimsy -- she cut and arranged the apple slices into a smiley face on the toast. When I bit into it, we got the giggles, because now it resembled zombie toast.

My day is looking up.

How He Makes Me Smile

Exhibit A: Hurt Waffle

6:50 this morning, from inside James' room: "Mommy? Can I come out?"

Me: "No, kiddo. Ten more minutes."
(It's part of my strategy to curb his early morning wanderings.)

Note: I'd already made him toasted blueberry waffles and given him some milk and had him eat so he would not be ravenous.

From depths of bedroom: "Ten? Ohhhhh nooo!"
Thud, as he topples back into his car bed. Then, "Help! I hurt my waffle!"

Time for more coffee. He gets out at 7.

Aloha Morning

Yes, it's February in inland Northern California. Mornings are cold and crispish, days have been mostly sunny and mild. Spring is just around the corner, but we'd still enjoy a tropical break, or at least pretend we're on one.

Enter Bad Ass Coffee. Yes, it's a naughty name, but their donkey is cute.  Have you been to one? It's like a visit to the islands. The interior features mock tropical trees and plants, grass and bamboo mock roofs, and there are plenty of island tunes to be had.

When we're on our early morning drop-off schedule, the kids and I like to kill our spare 30 minutes hanging out in the wicker furniture with tropically-inspired upholstery. I get my Kona blend coffee and the kids split a croissant and snuggle with me for a bit.

James either takes pictures with my camera or cozies up with his iPad while I brush Big Sister's long hair and style it for the day. Not only are we a bit earlier than usual for our school arrival, we are usually more relaxed as well.

Some day, I hope we can all take a vacation to Hawaii. I admit, getting James through the lines and airport security is my first worry. Getting him to take a plane ride calmly is another. For right now, this is a nice slice of the tropics in the morning. Aloha!

Early Morning Coffee Stop

Our early schedule is crazy, but it works. We're getting our system down and it gets us all where we need to be on time or even (gasp) early!

Schedule revolves around needing to get James' Dad to a commute bus stop 20 minutes away (closest bus that does not leave at 4 or 5 am) by about 7:15 and getting both kids to school (back up to where we started) before 8:30. After trial and error, here's what I've hammered out. Pack lunches the night before (for my husband, that's packing lunch and dinner the night before). Send daughter to bed in school clothes for the next day. Bedtime strictly enforced.

I get up a little earlier than usual, make coffee, breakfasts, preheat the van, and wake the troops. Load backpacks into van when I go out to warm it. Make sure they're warmly dressed. Kids take their brekkies out to the van. Watch sunrise start to happen behind mountains as we race down the highway (yay, carpool!) Drop Daddy at bus station and wave. Head back up as sun rises.

Hang out at coffee shop near daughter's school, feasting on coffee, ice water, and a croissants. Finish eating, brush out daughter's long hair and style for the day. Keep kids from getting on each others' nerves. Tried the iPad and my smart phone with James to divert him and keep him from messing with the furniture, but it throws him off his morning I think. So I've settled on to a book or toy instead. Seems to work better.

This morning's toy? My camera. Here's what it looks like for us in the coffee shop on an early morning:

Mom's pic.

James, in a cosy corner chair.

James likes the neon.

What a neat shot - he got the neon's reflection on the tabletop!

This is where he starts to annoy his sister. Gleefully, I might add.

Big sister's turn at the camera.

She frames her pictures nicely. Unfortunately, James has
touched the lens again, so we get a universal halo effect.

One of our favourite places to supplement breakfast and hang. Righteous!

SOOC Saturday: Morning Glory

definition - glory: resplendent beauty or magnificence

Morning after a huge rain storm (front, SOOC)

SOOC: wish the camera phone captured nuances better

Sunrise out back: glorious, even in SOOC

I look up overhead and watch layers of differently lit clouds waft by

sigh

And here are the same photos, boosted and/or cropped a little:

It feels good to be participating again in the SOOC action at Marvelous Mommy's blog. Come on over to see more or join in!

Car Tracks

We have new tunes for the morning trek around Sonoma County as I drop the kids off at their schools.

#1: The Swisskapolka. I kid you not. It could be worse, and on a good day, it makes me want to polka.

#2: The soundtrack for King Arthur's carousel. If you don't know where it is, never mind.

#3: Theme to Tarzan, wild animals and all!

#4: Ride sound system for California Screamin'. Best if I can time the countdown part to finish just as I hit a hill.

Just around this bend is The BEST rollercoaster hill!

And when the kids are gone? I put on Soarin' Over California.

Good thing we love Disney.

SOOC: Saturday Snippets

What could be more appropriate to Straight Out of Camera (SOOC) than snippets straight out of our Saturday so far? Caveat -- these are all from my Droid phone.

Sunrise over the back fence.

Morning coffee and relaxation.
Kids have their breakfasts and are watching "Corpse Bride."

After coffee, back inside, KJS School in action.
It's reading time.

Skeletor smackdown.
Go, Pokey (and your weird yoga victory pose)!
One of the best things about having kids is walking into a room and seeing things like this.

Speaking of Victory ...
our fridge has never been so decorated.

Found this little present on the floor.
The dominoes are never used as a game.

Put my Droid phone down to get at the kitchen.
Someone decided to capture the blanket.

 

And this one? Is just a mystery.
Actually, I know it's James' fingers over the lens,
but it's a nice little abstract that unexpectedly appeared on my screen.

Falling into another week of participating in the SOOC action at Marvelous Mommy's blog. Come on over to see more or join in!