Last weekend we went camping with Mom's whole family, aunts and uncles and cousins. D had a lot of fun. We went "swimming" in the river, had fires, rode bikes, slept in the tent, played catch, and Amy and Corey made ladder golf for everybody to play.
On Saturday night, D was riding his bike around and sailing by, PeeWee Herman style, every few minutes to show us his tricks. It started to get a little dark and Mom was going to make ice cream with the kids, and he wasn't coming by anymore. I got on my bike and rode around. Nowhere. Got in the car to look, and still no sign of him. I wasn't panicked, but pretty worried. I finally found him riding with my uncle and cousin. Sometimes it's easy to forget that he needs a lot of explicit rules completely spelled out for him. It is not ok to disappear! Better ask for permission if you're leaving!
Now this weekend, he is just itchin' to fight with me. So yesterday afternoon he had a fit for no reason and was put in his room to calm down and get control of himself. This apparently means throw things around as hard as you can. SMASH!!!! Broke his window. I think it shocked and scared him a little because he calmed down soon after that. Now he has a fifty dollar IOU that he'll have to work off. So far he's paid back 50 cents by spraying the driveway weeds with vinegar.
At therapy on Monday he didn't want to talk to Donna, and she told him he looked like he needed a hug. Does Beth give you hugs? "no" Does your grandma give you hugs? "no" So she called me in at the end of his session and suggested I get him a stuffed animal to cuddle and sleep with and carry with him between both houses. I don't know why I was afraid he might be too cool, since he's never given me any reason to think that. He was thrilled to get a soft cuddly elephant, and carried it down to breakfast with him in the morning. Hopefully he can get a tiny bit of comfort from it. He's having a really rough time, and I feel pretty helpless right now.
