Progress & Peter Pan

After our phone consult with Susan on Friday we are moving on with some things. We are going to continue our spotlighting work but we are also going to go back and work on perspective taking...this time with the peer dyad. When you are doing dyads you go back and work on objectives previously mastered with the family but work on them within the dyad. So, this afternoon we are going to have Jake' s buddy (dyad partner) over and I am going to do some work in this area. I am also going to have them help me make turkey cookies for their class Thanksgiving party tomorrow. I'm not sure that with a 5 and 6 year old helping that they will turn out quite like they are supposed to but that is OK as long as everyone has fun. We are also going to work on presenting more cognitive challenges to Jake and help him work through those. This is tough because that is really the essence of RDI but we've cleaned the house to death (although it doesn't look like it! LOL!). Meaning, we have used household chores to the point where he can literally load the dishwasher, run the dishwasher, empty the dishwasher, wash a load of laundry, dry a load of laundry, mop floors, clean bathrooms, set the dinner table, change lightbulbs, vacuum and make beds all by himself....with the obvious logistics of his size. So, it would entail a lot of pulling chairs around or using stepstools and it would take forever but he CAN do it so that leaves very little challenge in those things. He will definitely make his wife VERY happy someday that his mother has taught him how to clean house and he LOVES it. LOL! So, we have to find other ways to challenge him. And really that will be more fun than cleaning.

Ok, changing the subject. We took the kids to see the play Peter Pan & Wendy at Jake's school Saturday night. Oh my goodness did my kids just LOVE it! They wore their halloween costumes (Peter Pan & Tinkerbell) and everyone who saw them just loved it that they were all decked out. They sat so attentively. Jake got a little excited a few times but the people around us seemed far more humored than annoyed. The junior and senior high kids did a wonderful job performing. We had to have a talk with Jake in the car on the way there that he would NOT get to go up on stage. We heard a lot of, "But, but, but, but..." "But, NO," we told him, "You cannot go up on stage. You'll see." He had never been to a play before and when he saw what was going to happen he didn't even ask to go up on stage. He wanted to know when he could play Peter Pan like the boy who did. We told him when he is in 7th grade he can be in the school play. He wanted to know when 7th grade was. LOL! So, we laid it out for him. After K is 1st, after 1st is 2nd, etc. He seemed a little diappointed that 7th grade wasn't right around the corner. LOL! I do think we have a budding performer on our hands. He would love to act. His singing voice is AMAZING. And, he's got pretty good dancing rhythm. The best part, he isn't really shy. Right now he is a bit shy about singing but not about dressing up in costume and acting the part in public. Halloween is his most favorite day of the year. And ours too....but more because we love to see him so happy and just light up about that day!

We got the kids home way past their bedtime Saturday night. After we got everybody in bed and I was laying down with Jake, he was half asleep and whispered to me, "Mom, that was SO fun! I loved it!" Can anyone say, "Episodic memory encoding?" LOL!