Looong post about the weekend

Henry still seemed extra stimmy and needy and whiny this weekend, maybe still carryover from Thanksgiving.

Bill coaches a 5th grade girls basketball team, and they had practice Friday night at 5:30. When he has a practice like that, before I get home from work, he has been taking Henry with him. It's pretty cute because Henry just kind of hops and dances around at the edge of the gym. He's only there for 15 minutes or so of practice and then Tommy and I pick him up. Anyway, I've told you how Henry says "you miss me" a lot. Well all weekend he kept saying "I missed you while you were at basketball practice." (Like he wanted me to say that back to him- I missed him while he was at basketball practice.) I don't really get this, because he wasn't there that long. Maybe it makes him nervous when he's waiting for me to pick him up there, and he wants to confirm that I missed him???

Henry and I ran some errands Saturday afternoon. The trip started off well, but things slowly went downhill. I should have made these trips in reverse order but, as usual, I wasn't thinking far enough ahead.

Our first stop was the library- always Henry's favorite. Then we went to the grocery store, which was crowded and not-so-pleasant. In an effort to avoid some of the crowds, I inadvertently ducked down the TOY aisle! Ooops. Henry spotted a power ranger that he wanted, and I ended up buying it for him. Mostly because I didn't want him to throw a fit if I told him no, and didn't want to have to abandon the rest of our shopping. I know that this is Bad Parenting 101- giving in to your kid when he wants a toy at the store. But I rationalized with Bill later, and he seemed to agree-- Henry is not like most 6-year-olds. The things he usually asks for are fruit snacks or cereal because they have a Disney character on the box. He likes to go to the library every weekend- never asks to go to the toy store. And, as many of us have experienced with our ASD kids, he doesn't PLAY with many toys.

So, considering all those aspects, I thought it was ok to buy the power ranger. He spent a lot of time looking at the packaging, but he also seemed interested in the "guy" himself, so that makes me hopeful.

Then we went on to the craft store. I am not too crafty myself, but I get the bug at Christmastime. My daughter and I used to make ornaments or other gifts for family members when she was younger, and I am trying to continue the tradition with Henry, although it is more of a challenge. We have a big tub full of pine cones that he collected in the yard this fall and I thought that we could make them into ornaments. So, while at the craft store, Henry found a puzzle (go figure- it's like Henry's own paradise that every store has puzzles.) Again I indulged him and bought the $3 puzzle (Fantastic Four).

By now it was about 6 pm- we were both getting hungry and tired. But the most important stop was still ahead. Our toilet seat is cracked, and pinches one's bottom whenever one sits on it! So I needed to stop at Lowe's and get a new one. Lowe's holds ZERO interest for Henry, but he carried his new puzzle in with him. I asked if he wanted to ride in a cart (knowing he was tired), and he said "these carts are all messed up!" That seems to be his new way of dismissing an idea- saying the thing is "all messed up."

So we wandered all around Lowe's, with Henry getting more and more frustrated. He actually started saying "you don't like this place", "you want to get out of this place". It is really open and cavernous- I don't know if something about the store made him feel uncomfortable, or just the fact that they didn't have puzzles or power ranger stuff.

We finally got the seat and were walking to the checkout. I tried to carry him, but couldn't with the toilet seat under my other arm. When I put him down, he dropped his puzzle. I tried to pick it up, but he took it from me and threw it down on the ground, letting me know he was really fed up. He said "you want to leave it here." We were about 20 feet from the checkout and there weren't many people around, so I just left it there and kept an eye on it, figuring we'd go back and grab it.

Someone who worked at the store came over and picked it up and I could have sworn he took it over to the customer service desk. But, when we went over and asked about it, no one seemed to have any idea what I was talking about. So the puzzle is gone.

It's sort of ok, because I want him to learn the lesson that if he throws something down and says he doesn't want it anymore, it might really be gone. But all the way home and all the next morning we had to talk about the Fantastic Four puzzle. I think maybe Santa will bring him a new one.

In NT kid news, Tommy's language is growing so quickly- it really makes me see the things that Henry wasn't doing at that age (but I didn't really know any better at the time, and every kid is different...) Thomas is only 21 months old, and he is coming to me, holding out his finger, saying "mommy, hurt, me, block." And picking up Bill's hat, saying "daddy wear." He also climbs out of his crib effortlessly- that one I'm not so excited about!