A lot of good stuff!

There have been so many good things this week, where to begin.

And in those same 24 hour periods, some how we've also endured some very difficult times!

For example yesterday, woke up with a stressed little boy whom I love beyond words

hitting me (it's 6:50AM... what could possibly upset him this much already???)

So not a good start to the day, by any means.

And then the day continued on, and well, was a pretty awesome day. In fact, he simply said at 8:00am "I"m bored" which is his catch phrase for all things... and he simply can't stop his mind from circling around and around enough to just exist

and so I reminded him about earning money (a system we set up a few weeks ago)... and he can go rake the front yard for 75 cents.

A value he and I agreed on

And this is the part that still floors my mind

(because you know I"ve never ever asked him to rake the leaves or give any suggestion of what he could do when he claims he's bored, nope never!!!)

And yes I"m being very sarcastic, because this is the world we live in where what we do and say which is always the same works wonderfully, we are the best parents in the entire world one moment, one day, and the very next moment or day

well, it's bad and unpredictable and well, nothing we say, don't say, do, don't do is right!

This is Autism!

Anyway, so he happily goes out and begins raking the leaves.... WHAT!!!!

Are we really seeing what we are seeing... and yes we watched him through the window.. because well, these are the things that fascinate us... and make us so proud.. and we don't want to miss it!

He rakes the leaves, into a pile, then he throws the rake, and then proceeds to get the leave picker uppers.. you know the leaf scoops!!

Then he uses them to put the leaves in the street gutter for yard waste pick up

then

he throws the leaf scoops on the ground and goes and gets the push broom!

Yeah, he's doing all of this on his own!!!

And then sweeps the leaves in the street into the pile, and then even goes and sweeps neighbors areas into nice piles

He created 8 piles... going to neighbors houses on both sides of us and down a few houses

(I am usually the leaf sweeper... and yes I commonly will sweep neighbors side walks, walks ways, and clear gutter of leaves and put into piles.. it's just something I have always done to be one. neighborly, two I"m already sweeping so, yeah.. and three it's good exercise, right!

And he did this too!

He raked, swept, and worked so hard out there!

How amazing!

And not only did I pay him his 75 cents, but he got a 25 cent tip!

Definitely so proud of him..... and he continued for the most part to have a good day, we all had a pretty good day!

Until bedtime..... and then he started to hit again!

ugh

He was becoming a bit obsessed with watching a show, and watching it for a good part of the day "Boy Meets world"

My friend had dropped off some new videos her kids had outgrown and Ty was very excited

But like many things, it's his entire focus!

Could be worse, yes!

But this is where the problem came in... it's 10:30pm and we did stay up a bit late to watch a Movie as a family- it was nice

But then he say's he's not tired and is going to watch a video in bed!

oh no!!!!

We have worked so hard to get him off videos in bed, and only allow books.... he will get into the habit of literally not going to bed until 1 or 2am when watching a video, where as reading a book with daddy (that is daddy reading to him), well, it's a good thing on many levels!

But it has taken a long time to get this expectation established with him

and tonight he runs into my room yelling Daddy won't let me watch a video, and proceeds to hit me!

really, here we are again just like the morning time- ugh

And it's been such a good calm day

It's amazing how quickly his mood can switch, and his obsession to watch this video at bedtime is absolutely ruling his being!

Well, eventually all ended, and luckily this morning, it's the first morning in 4 days he hasn't come running into my room, upset over something in his mind that is important, and hitting me

yeah....... this is why we don't miss the moments... because if we didn't pay attention and appreciate the moments, we would probably only remember being hit in the morning and being hit at bedtime!

But there was a whole lotta good stuff happening bet ween those 14 hours... a lot of good stuff!