Day 73 and 74

Yesterday, Day 73, was a really good day! Gramma and Boompah kidsat in the a.m. - I was expecting a client call so had to be at the office. I wound up leaving the office at around 1:00 or so, and stopped to get school supplies and other stuff. I got home around 2:30. Mom and Dad said he was great all morning - even went to pee a couple of times. Interesting, they said usually he asks Gramma to come to the bathroom with him, but yesterday he asked Boompah - hhmmm... maybe a guy thing!?! They did say they were in the living room (I think) and Josh was on the floor. They were just talking and, all of a sudden and without any apparent reason, he just went into a PNES - they couldn't figure out what might have precipitated it.

When I got home, he was just eating lunch so we sat and talked while he ate - we talked about what happened with Stephanie on Tuesday. As soon as I started the conversation, he reached over to knock his food around but stopped himself. I told him he didn't need to be angry, and he didn't need to throw his food, we were just talking and I wanted to tell him that Stephanie was feeling much better (she had called me) and was concerned about him. We talked some more about not using his hands when people are too close but using words instead - we practiced what to say, and then he finished lunch. We played with toys, we had both of his remote control toys out, set up a ramp/track thing, and were running them over the ramp and crashing them into each other. Even Boompah was having fun with it all!

The site director from camp called while we were playing, and said that they were unable to find anyone that Josh knew who could be his aide for the last two days of camp. Since it would be pretty much stressful for him, and the other campers and counselors, they suggested I find other arrangements for him for the last two days. Oh well, it was worth the try, I guess, for the therapeutic riding. He did like the horses and apparently showed no fear of them - enough to have petted the one horse - so I think I'll look into it for the school year with me going with him. They wanted to make sure I understood that they by no means were looking at this as something behavioral or something that was purposefully done by Josh, and they really hoped that I would sign him up for other things during the year (Bravehearts?). I will. I'm not happy with the Special Olympics situation through them - they have much higher functioning teams so I'm going to need to find some other SO place for Josh - he really wants to go to the "big gym with the garage doors!" Anyhow, I will be working from home the next few days.

Aunt Shirley and Rosie came for dinner - pizza party! Josh wound up having grilled cheese and then went to watch a movie while we sat around and talked. He fell asleep on the couch and, when it was time to go up, went up without any problem.

This morning, Day 74, we were both up early - normal time but early. Since neither one of us was going anywhere, I figured we could sleep some more. So I got Josh up to pee, and then we both went back to sleep - until 8:00! Whoo hoo!! Josh was taking his time getting up so I had my coffee and then went back up to get him up and going. He wanted me to read him a book so I started to read to him and the phone rang - Stephanie, to say she was feeling much better and that she wanted to come by to make sure Josh understood she was OK, not mad, and they were still buds. After the call, I went back to tell Josh, and the minute I mentioned that Stephanie was feeling better and wanted to come over, he went into a PNES - very interesting. After it ended (and it was a longer one), he was just sobbing and saying he was sorry, that he was sad, and that "Stephanie OK?" We were just hugging and I was telling him she was fine and he would see she was fine when she came over. He went into the bathroom to pee, but he was still just sobbing about "I sorry" and "Stephanie OK?" I've never seen him react this way to incidents when he has hit someone - clearly understanding he caused "a hurt" and was obviously feeling guilty - something new since on NV. He always, I think, understood he shouldn't do the hitting, but this was something more. I know that on our vacation, when he threw the milk in the car, he was clearly repentent - he was holding Gramma's hand and staying silent. But even this was more - much more emotionally.

He finally calmed down and actually took a shower. Stephanie got here around noon and she played with him - making sure she got as close as he could stand, asking if she was too close, etc. Josh asked that Stephanie help him with his lunch, and then they played more. We all put the ABC floor puzzle together, and Josh was just talking up a storm. At one point, Stephanie told me that, after the hitting incident, he kept leaning in to give her kisses and hugs, and held her hand the whole ride back to the pick-up site. She also said she thinks the camp folks were mostly at fault - they should have never put that many campers (with the needs they all had) in the van they were riding - it should have been a bus, not a van, and she said no one helped her with Josh - they saw that she was having a rough moment with him but no one helped her or tried to hold Josh's hands. She said she was wrong for moving in too close without warning him, especially when he was so tired, hot, not feeling well, etc., but someone should have helped her. She, in no way, blames Josh for any of it, understands what and how it happened, and really wants to kidsit more for him, hopefully having him in camp next year also. She also said her mother, who is a head nurse at some schools in the county, knows the behavioral psychologist we're seeing and she said he is fantastic - so Stephanie hopes (as do I) that things will be much, much better by next summer (if not long before then!).

In addition to all that, Josh has earned four stickers today - going to pee in the little bathroom all on his own, no prompting for two of the times! Whoo hoo!!

Funny thing happened (hhhmm... might not be so funny in the future!) - this has happened twice now in the last three days. Josh has never liked to talk on the telephone - he will push the phone away from his ear (as I hold it) after saying maybe two things to whoever is on the other end of the line. Two times now, though, he has picked up the phone and just started pressing numbers! The first time, he said he was calling Gramma to ask her to come over. Today, he was pressing numbers to call Francis to find out if she will be coming over or if he could go to her house. Someday I'm going to look at my phone bill and wonder who was called in Irkutsk or something!! LOL! Anyhow, we called Francis and he left a message for her on her voicemail. We also did an email to Aunt Cathy, and got an email back from the one he sent two days ago to his old teacher down in Ottawa, Amy.

He's falling asleep on the couch in the family room now. I'm debating whether to just let him sleep down here tonight or wake him in a bit and get him upstairs - I want to watch some of the meteor shower and, with the skylights in the family room, I could have a fairly good view just by laying on the floor! I don't know, we'll see - I could see some of the meteor shower from my bedroom window, too!

So, lots of emotions, actually asking for me to read a book to him, making phone calls and talking on the phone, and earning seven or eight stickers just in the last two days! Very interesting couple of days!