Another good day today.  The kids had a lot of fun, starting in the morning. AJ wore her new Valentines dress with hearts all over it. My mom got it for her from Gymborie with even a head band and baretts to match. I secured the headband with the heart barretts so it didn't slip off and it was still in place when I picked her up in the afternoon. Owen also had a new red shirt to wear with guitars on it and we called it his rock-n-roll Valentine shirt. He liked that. AJ's aid called me this afternoon and told me that AJ had a really great day and she did lots of talking and made lots of eye contact. She said that she made sure that at the food party, that AJ only took fruits and meat and veggies and that there was so much of that, that AJ didn't have less on her plate than the other kids. She said she also made a sandwich out of the GFCF bread I sent, and diluted her juice. Wow, it is like having a nanny in class with her! She said that AJ played with a preschooler girl on the playground who was wearing the same dress as she.

When I picked up Owen he was very happy although he has a bit of a cold which is making him tired. I went through his bag and removed all candy except for a few pieces, so he could go through it at home and not know I had taken half of his stuff!

After getting AJ we just came home. We went through her bag of Valentines and I was amazed at how many parents had opted out of candy and did pencils and tiny activity books instead. I only had to take away one little packet of mnm's and AJ gave them to me and I traded them for some cookies my mom had made for her. She was very happy with that.  I turned on some music and cleaned the kitchen, then made DH some Toll House cookies for V day tomorrow. 

When the the cookies were cooled I took some big ones and put white icing on them in heart shapes and wrote a letter of his name on each heart with tiny chocolate chips. I would have liked to have done this with the kids but they would have begged for the icing at least and I just didn't want them to have any more sugar at all today. Owen typed fake names on the computer while I made the cookies, and called it his party list. AJ played with dolls in her room. Her play was interesting, very different from Monday and Tuesday. Today she had the dolls talking to each other but on Monday and Tuesday she was just lining them up and having them all say their age, one by one. I don't know why she had such autistic behavior on those days, and lots of typical behavior today. My guess is that she had too much sugar in her system, not enough protein...something was triggering sensory dysfunction. I have been strict about the diet (except for the cream cheese icing on yesterday's school cupcake, but the cupcake had no gluten and no soy) doing the Epsom Salts baths and keeping up well with the b12 shots, that she seems to not mind at all these days for some reason. I have been slacking on the probiotics.

The past 3 nights she has been going to sleep well. I started a strict bedtime routine. It is, get in bed at 7:30 and they can play or I can read them books or both. Then at 8:00 (and they have a clock in there to look at and I show them the time) it is lights out an they put their toys and books away. They can have teddy bears. They seem to have become used to this routine after only a few days of it and accept that this is how it is. In fact, tonight Owen called me in there when the clock turned 8:00 so that I could turn out the light. I thought that was pretty interesting. These kids like routine more than I realized. It is easier since they are both in the same room and see each other following the routine. I thought it would be harder with them in the same room but it weirdly seems to have worked well the past few nights. Owen still comes into our bed every night though and last night I was sleeping and didn't hear him get into bed, usually I sent him off to pee first. But not last night, and yes he did pee in my bed. I think he wakes up because he has to go to the bathroom then just comes into our room.

DH was saying that he wants Owen to stop coming into our bed before the baby is born. But I think that I can have the baby in the co sleeper and Owen in bed with us. I will see. If it doesn't work then I will change it, but I want to have as little change as possible at this point and I like having Owen there too. I know it won't last forever. He is not going to want to snuggle with mommy and daddy his whole life. So for now, we will see. Maybe it isn't the best idea since the baby will probably wake him up with crying for feeds. Maybe I will just have DH take Owen back to bed after 5 minutes of hugs, when he is starting to settle back to sleep. We will see. I am really glad that AJ hasn't been coming in our room until the morning. When she is up at night she stays up for hours and keeps me up too. So I am very happy that she is not doing that these days. That phase of hers seems to have passed for now.

I have finally had a few Braxton hicks contractions. It is so weird that I got them all the time with the first two pregnancies and am only starting to get mild ones now with this pregnancy. I kind of wish I could just have the baby now. I know I am not far enough along and I need to be wishing for the due date, no earlier no later. But  I am no good with anticipation, the house is clean, it would solve some scheduling issues with work. I don't know. I just want the waiting to stop. But then again....DH and I are planning on going to see a movie tomorrow night while my parents watch the kids. That won't happen for a long time after the baby is born.

Oh! I almost forgot. AJ got her doll tonight for being good the whole rest of the week and not hitting. DH and I went in together to her room and DH gave it to her while I explained that here was the doll we promised on Friday as her reward for no hitting, and for her good behavior. She was so excited, more so than I realized she would be. She came and found me a half hour later and showed me that she had put tiny flower stickers all over the dolls shirt and how pretty it looked! I was excited that she brought something to show me...another typical behavior. Then tonight when she got stroppy about going to bed I told her that if she was a good listener all week again, that she would get another surprise next Friday.

I know it doesn't seem fair that Owen isn't in on this. But he is perfectly happy playing Rock Band whenever I let him (only at night when Daddy gets home.) And I just bribe him with that, or tell him he can't play Rock Band tomorrow if he doesn't clean up his toys. Then he gets a big high five when the cleaning is done. He seems happy with it and I am not completely comfortable with using material things/dolls/toys as bribes. But I needed something for AJ and this seems to be working well for now. I have a feeling that she views this doll as a symbol of her good behavior. She wanted that to be one of her sleep teddy bears tonight. She is very proud of it.

Goodnight for now,

me.