Our Christmas

‘Twas the night before Christmas and the creatures were all stirring.

But Santa came to our house anyway.

And Christmas morning brought excitement.

Kai was really good. He didn’t get up too early (unlike some dogs), and helped come up with plans to alternate between opening presents and taking the dogs for a walk, half at a time.

When it came to opening presents, he chose the ones for everyone to open. Some of his he ripped open.

And some he took peek first as if to confirm that it was what he was hoping it would be.

But he enjoyed all of it, as all of his Santas were very generous.

And then it came time to play with his new presents.

He took time our for dinner.

And by the end of the evening, all of the creatures were worn out, not stirring at all.

Hope your holiday was just as delightful.

Holiday Fun

It has been a busy few weeks with numerous holiday activities.

We had two family get-togethers for Hanukkah so Kai has already enjoyed opening and playing with several presents.

We went to get our Christmas tree.

We baked and decorated gingerbread cookies.

And several of our holiday houseguests have arrived (with more yet to come).

Merry Christmas, everyone!

More Shredded Clothing

Kai has had a long history of ripping his shirts to shreds when he gets upset at school. He hasn't done that too much lately, though. But this past week he expanded his repertoire. This time he totally shredded his pants.

In case you can't tell from the picture, both pant legs are ripped from top to bottom, plus there's smaller tears in the waistband.

Frankly, I was impressed with his strength as these were rather thick sweat pants. And they were almost new, by the way. As with his shirts, Kai seems to rip only the clothing that is new and in good condition.

Our understanding is that he got upset when one of the classroom staff was going to read a story to the class. Originally the students were told that they could sit at their desks, but then they were instructed to sit in the back of the classroom. For some reason, this seemingly minor change in plans got Kai upset, and he could not control his anger.

Earlier in the week he got upset by a similar change in plans. That time the prompt was when the class had to unexpectedly eat their lunch in the common area instead of in the classroom when another student was having some issues in the classroom.

While Kai has made progress in many ways, his inability to control his anger remains a big issue, and one that will keep him from realizing his potential.

The one good thing was that he accepted the consequences much better this time. He had a good weekend, despite losing the use of the iPad for much of the time.

He spent some time playing with Legos, making his own creation - a Lego mini golf course.

In the past he has mostly just followed the instructions that come with the sets, so it is good to see him going beyond the sets and being creative.

So, we had some good to go with the bad. I guess that's par for the course.

Thanksgiving Weekend

We made our annual trek out east to visit my sister and her family.

For Kai, one of the things he most looks forward to is getting to play with his cousins’ Nerf guns.

He also bonded with his cousin over a Pokemon game on the Nintendo 3DS.

Kai has had his own 3DS for many months now but rarely plays with it. But after getting several tips from his cousin, he couldn’t wait to try it himself when he got home.

Of course, the Thanksgiving meal with everyone is always a highlight as well.

Everything was just as delicious as it looks.

This year, for the first time, we took a day trip into Washington D.C. to see the main sights.

We started at the Capitol building.

Kai enjoyed the visitor center where they had an exhibition that gave a brief history of the country.

From there, we walked over to the Air and Space Museum. Kai did not seem all that interested in the famous aircraft on display (including the Apollo 11 lunar lander, and The Spirit of St. Louis), but he loved looking at the more scientific displays that explained space exploration and planets.

I was feeling great about how well Kai was doing in a crowded museum.

After that we took a trolley tour that would take us around all of the sights. After doing so well at the museum, he had a harder time during what I thought would be the easier part of the day. He obsessed over how many stops the trolley would make and how much time the whole tour was.

He was in a bad mood when we got off the trolley to see the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument, though we did manage to get him to pose for a decent picture.

By the time we got to the White House, he was more content knowing that the tour was almost over.

But I don’t think he was really happy until we got back to my sister’s house and he could use the iPad with his beloved uncle napping next to him.

Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving as well.