Auntie is visiting!

My sister-in-law has been here for the past few days. She has lots of experience working with special needs children, and of course, she loves her nephews and niece! Out of all my relatives she has been the most direct help to me and my family over the past few years. Not to minimize the tremendous help and support that other family members have been, she is just in a position to be able to visit us more frequently. She has stayed with our children the 2 other times I have gone in the hospital to have babies since Samuel came along.

Today we took all the kids to the library and then we went out to lunch. We have been using a visual schedule (which has been implemented and refined with the help of in-home services staff members) for almost 2 years with Samuel and now we are at a point where short trips to the library, a fast food restaurant, a family restaurant, the grocery store, the movies are "do-able." I have a "portable" visual schedule that I carry with us when we go out. The biggest challenge is finding optimal times to take Samuel and have the other children cared for. Having my sister-in-law here is a big help!

It was tough today because I couldn't find our library cards, so we could only get a reduced number of videotapes. Samuel had a hard time accepting that, but we had several conversations about it before we got in the library so that helped. He almost had a melt-down in the library, but I was able to calm him down by talking to him. A few years ago it was impossible to take him to the library because he only wanted to play on the computer. He would hit other children and scream when it was time to leave.

Now we use the visual schedule. When we go in the library he has to read a book to us or with us, then he gets a bit of time to look at the videos/DVDs and then he goes up to check them out. He likes to tell the librarians how to open the videos to scan them, and how they should give them to him when they are done! We don't even give him time to play on the computer at the library anymore (because now he gets to play more frequently at home) and he accepts that just fine!

My husband and I will have the luxury of going out for dinner together tonight while my sister-in-law watches the kids. This is the first "date" we will have gone on since before the baby was born 15 months ago!