Things have been pretty good with Jonah lately. We had some rough days before Christmas and we're starting to feel pretty defeated. One of the struggles is realizing that no matter what we do or say there are going to be some bad moments. When people would ask us about Asperger's we would say we just have to figure out how to talk to him. We knew we were wrong, but we were believing that if we just got it right then everything would be okay. Our dr. reassured us at our last appointment that it's not going away, not something that we did wrong, or can make better with better parenting. That's so hard to accept when his problems are manifested in behavioral issues.

I'm not sure why but it seems like he has less anxiety right now. He's not resisting us so much. Much more open to suggestion and willing to try to tell us what he's thinking. We still have moments where he becomes incoherent with his frustration but we can usually get him to use words. I think somehow things are just not as frustrating for me right now too. On New Years Day we picked Jonah up from my parents house and told him that Nama and Pop were in town and we were going to go bowling with them. Well when we arrived at a restuarant for breakfast instead of the bowling alley he was not happy. I started to realize why he was upset then but he adjusted and it wasn't a huge deal. Then we needed to run home before going out again and Nama and Pop had to drop their dogs off at their hotel and again he was not happy when they showed up at the house. It was then that it really hit me that his problem was that he was stuck on the thought that we were supposed to be going bowling with Nama and Pop, not all the other stuff. He can't see past that original idea and we were messing it all up by adding other things into the day. Once we went to the bowling alley the rest of the day was great and there were no more problems.

Yesterday was a big test for him because we had Lisa and Andrew, Matthew and Katie over to play. I was a little worried beforehand because he is mighty territorial with his things, but all in all it was a great time. One thing I realized is that he can handle playing with one child really well, if more get added to the mix he starts getting anxious and upset. We managed to keep everyone occupied and relatively happy and Lisa and I even got in some good conversation.

Another plus was Katie and I got to try out her Easy Bake Oven for the first time. I always wanted one of those growing up and so I was excited to get one for her for Christmas this year. She had been patiently waiting since Christmas to use it for the first time with me. It was a special treat for me. Never mind the fact that the "cake" came out as hard as a hockey puck. There was chocolate frosting to spread on top and where there's chocolate there's happy kids. They all pronounced their tiny wedges yummy as Lisa and I chuckled. Hopefully the next treat will come out a little better.