Where on earth did Christmas and New Year's Day go!? They went by in such a flash and I feel like I barely got to savor any of it! In spite of the rushed feeling, however, we had a great time. The kids and I took a much-needed two week break from school work. It has been a few years since I have "officially" done this. Having time to devote to baking, cookie decorating, and even some ornament making was so much nicer than trying to cram it in between lessons.
Samuel, in his "life is all about DVDs and VHS tapes" style, is refusing to acknowledge the new year as 2010, but instead is calling it "The Remake of 2009." As he looked at his calendar last week he said things like, "The original 2009 is ending. January 1st is the start of the Remake of 2009!"
One of a few nice surprises that have come up with Samuel recently are that we have been able to take him to different masses at church with mostly nice results. For a while I only felt comfortable taking him to one particular mass that did not have music. In the past month he has been able to endure not only music, but also the priest who he had been quite afraid of. I still have to take him out for a "break" during the homily so it is hard for me to ever get to hear it. It seems that he can take the noise in the church when it is in the form of prayers and readings he is familiar with, but when a priest gets up and talks more freely during the homily (sometimes with very heartfelt emotion), it is more than he can handle. He is even more sensitive in the vestibule area, where the speaker volume is often very high, so we usually have to retreat to the stairwell of the church building. It's all a part of the long road we're travelling on to teach Samuel the importance of God and of his faith in his life. Samuel will be making his First Penance and First Communion this year, and I am so grateful that for going on three years now I have been able to take him into the church and sit with him for a good portion of mass each week.
An even more recent surprise with Samuel is that he has become much more accepting of eating the foods I prepare for the entire family at dinner time. For years I had to have a back-up dinner for Samuel, and often for his younger siblings as well. This past year I tried to have the kids eat what I prepared instead of having to make another meal, it just got to be too much to have to make 2 and sometimes 3 entrees. The rest of the kids went along quite well, but it was always tough with Samuel. In the last few weeks however there were some days I just didn't feel like going through the trouble of preparing anything else and I just put a plate in front of Samuel. Much to my surprise he actually ate what I served! I have found that casserole-type entrees go over the best for him. He does not seem to like eating meat. He is tolerating pasta much better now as well.
Best wishes for a terrific 2010!
4 comments:
remake - i love it! happy new year!
I love "remake"--our kids are so creative with language! Congratulations on first penance and communion! That's a big milestone!
Pamela is a good eating who had been falling into teenager eating habits lately. I took advantage of the slow cooker my mom gave me and announced to Pamela that we are going to eat more healthy now. She cried for about 15 minutes, but that was it. She still gets her junk food fix on Wednesday and Sunday and has been fine with the casseroles, soups, and stews . . . all gf/cf, of course.
You're right Tammy, our kids are creative with language! What I love is that Samuel seems to understand that his wording is humorous too, I guess because of how we react to what he says. That makes him get into it all the more and he gets this sly smile on his face as he talks about it! I can tell from the video clips that you have posted that Pamela and Samuel have a similar sense of humor.
Best wishes with your healthier eating, I like the idea of saving the junk food fixes for one or two times a week! Samuel snacks frequently during the dayand some of them are labelled on his schedule as "healthy snack."
Wanting to let you know that I have changed my website address. It is now at autismandtheworldaroundme.blogspot.com Please continue to visit me here. Thank you!
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