Nautical Bedroom

Josiah finally has his (read my) dream kid's bedroom!  I've wanted this bed from Pottery Barn since I did Josiah's nautical bedroom when Asher was born.  I've been looking on Craigslist for years and finally one popped up last week.  It must have been destiny as it turned out to be Josiah's dentist in LAX who also has a son with Autism.  The bed was Jonah's and they took REALLY good care so the bed is in great shape.  It came with both the double mattress and the twin trundle mattress. 

Once we heard the story as to why they have to give up this great bed, we felt grateful.  When spring comes, apparently Jonah only sleeps a few hours every night and they have to sleep with him.  They had to buy a larger bed so they could be in the bed with him.  We are really lucky how easily Josiah goes to sleep and stays asleep.

Len borrowed a truck yesterday and went to pick it up.  We had the boys sleep in Asher's room last night so that we could put the boat bed in Jo's room after Len got back.  The frame is solid wood and extremely heavy.  He put it together easily and we put the room all together.  It looks SO perfect!

This morning the boys were excited to see "the surprise."  Josiah was so cute about it.  He said things like "now we have our very own boat!" and "my room is SO fun!" "we can show my room to all my friends!"  We only had Joyce here for 2 hours this evening, otherwise we played in his room most of the day.  We played pirates and  boat ride and school.  He was much more expressive about the bed than I expected him to be so that was really fun.  Asher was thrilled even though it wasn't even really for him.  He pulled the trundle out and that was his space (except for when Josiah was pretending it was his potty, but that's another story).

Eventually we'll take the bed to the cabin as it we could put both boys in one room and it would be the perfect "lake house" bed.

Spring Flowers

Every month Josiah has been going to "craft night" which is a program that the library ran throughout the winter.  They listen to stories and then do some kind of craft which corresponds (usually to the season).  Today Josiah came home with these adorable flowers.  I love how they brighten up the table, and the cats won't even nibble on them!!  This was a very clever project - they are made out of painted egg cartons, tissue paper and pipe cleaners.  He is very proud of them!

Spelling

Asher has suddenly learned all of his letters numbers and is interested in spelling.  I was getting worried that he wasn't picking them up.  When I looked at Josiah's notes he was recognizing letters by 10 months so I was trying to work with Asher more.  He still wasn't learning them very well so I thought maybe he wasn't ready.  Then as soon as I dropped it, he got interested and started learning them very quickly and is now spelling some simple words.  He is very proud of himself!!  The videos in order are him spelling Asher, Josiah, truck and stop.

Wrestling

The last couple of days Josiah and Asher have been wrestling.  Someone usually gets hurt, but while it lasts it is great.  They are about the same strength right now, although Asher is much more aggressive.  Josiah likes to play the victim, but you can tell he really enjoys the contact.

bloated cow's udder

Although everyone who sees Josiah's new ball chair thinks it looks like an obscene cow's udder, he loves it!

He even sat through an entire supper on top of it, on top of a chair.

Today we had to cancel SS and church because there is so much sleet/snow.  We were going to go up to the cabin today/tomorrow since tomorrow there is no school.  The plows haven't even been by yet so we don't know when we'll be able to get up there.  I guess it's a family day today since no PCAs have cars that could drive in this!

Sleeping buddy

Usually Asher doesn't like the cats in his room when he is trying to go to sleep  About 9 o'clock I walked past Asher's room and found Ole sound asleep next to a sleeping boy.  It was pretty sweet.

Therapeutic Listening

We've started a therapeutic listening program with Josiah (http://www.vitalsounds.com/).  At first he wouldn't tolerate the headphones because they are way too big and just fall off.  Len figured out to put a headband around his head and now he loves his "music medicine."  We have to wake him up 20 minutes earlier so we have enough time to get in a half-hour in the morning.  He gets another half-hour in the evening and really looks forward to it.  I'm so relieved as I thought it would be difficult to get him to do this program.  He's very calm while the headphones are on.  Other than that one hour of calmness, we haven't noticed any other changes.  He is still really impulsive and physical.  We can't figure out what to do with his meds either as we now have two "experiments" going on.

He is pretty darn cute with the earphones on.  He mostly swings during his sessions and looks at his favorite "lutheran prayerbooks!!"