Grandma is 93!

On Sunday my family celebrated my Grandma Peterson's 93rd birthday. We try to celebrate with her as much as we can because we are not sure how many more birthdays we will get with her. This birthday was special because her younger sister, Lois Jean (in the back with the pink shirt and black blazer) came to join us. She is 80 years young! It was great to be with family on this day! front row: Becky, Andrew, Jarod, Grandma Peterson, Trent, Sharie, Kylie

back row: Mom, Dad, Lois Jean, Uncle Fred, Ursula, Mitch

chicken for dinner

Last night Drew was just out of sorts. He had a nap in the afternoon, which is rare these days. But I thought after a busy week he probably needed one. Naps usually help with attitudes, right? Well, it didn't really seem to help at all last night. Drew was hungry all afternoon. He had a snack but then i cut him off around 4:00. We were eating around 5 so I wanted to him to eat dinner. We had stir fry chicken and I set aside some chicken without sauce so he would be more likely to eat it. When it came time to eat, he refused to sit at the table and started throwing a royal fit. He was it time out twice.

We have a rule in our house that if you are not hungry for dinner when it's ready, you don't have to eat it right then, but you do have to eat it before you have anything else to eat. So, that was the plan with Drew. Well, chicken was obviously not what he wanted to eat. We wouldn't let him watch Wheel of Fortune either until he ate some of his chicken. Drew kept taking the plate of chicken to the sink. We would say no and put it back on the table. After several attempts, he made it to the sink and all the chicken fell into the sink of dirty dishes. I was not happy. So, Drew got spanked. He cried and cried.

We haven't spanked Drew much because we haven't felt that it made an impact. Time out has been pretty effective for him. I also have felt that sometimes Drew acts out because he just needs sensory imput and setting him in time out to calm down is what he needs most. But last night was definately an act of disobedience. Tossing the chicken in the sink because he really didn't want to eat it because we said he had to had nothing to do with autism or sensory imput. He was being a typical 3 year old boy who really didn't want to eat chicken.

He ended up sitting at the table and eating some leftover ham. And he did watch Wheel of Fortune while snuggling with mom. I think he understood. That was a blessing.

update

I know it's been a while since I wrote. I didn't think I had much to write about anyway. I have been sick for almost two weeks now. I am really getting tired of it! It started out with strep throat (I think) and now I've got a nasty sinus thing going on. I went to Redi Med 2 Saturdays ago. I really hate going to Redi Med. You wait forever to see a doc and then they come in for 2 minutes and tell you that you have an infection. duh. The doc didn't do a strep test. So, i'm not sure if I really had strep or not. Anyway, what can you do on a Saturday when you can't swallow?

The boys remain healthy, which I am very thankful for! Jarod is doing well in school and has enjoyed playing out in the snow with the neigbors. Andrew is currently obsessed with Wheel of Fortune. We made the mistake of recording a couple of shows and now he watches them all the time. He even has them memorized right down to the order of letters on a puzzle.

I've also joined face book. I'm still not exactly sure what I do there, but it should be fun to catch up with friends.

So, I guess that's it for now.