The Good and the Really NOT so Good

Yesterday, the Special Olympics of NJ hosted their annual Jingle all the Way Race which had been rescheduled from December due to inclement weather.  The race consists of a competitive 1.8 mile race or a fun run of the same length and typically in years past, I would participate in the competitive race.  However this year, Colin and I participated in the fun run together (Kailey was sidelined due to excessive  crying from an earlier fall which thankfully she regrouped from and Chris was traveling for work).  

 

 

I was SO PROUD of Colin because he ran/walk at LEAST one mile all by himself and for the rest of the time he rode on my back as I ran/walk carrying him.  He would only stay on my back for short periods of time and then ask to get back down and run again.  The poor thing was quite winded though!  He finished the race all by himself and ran across the finish line!  It was really exciting to watch!



 

 

 

 

My dad, my sister and her boyfriend participated too

We are also seeing some really nice progress in the past week in potty training (*gasp*, I can't believe I am saying that!).  Colin was dry all weekend long, even including the fact we were busy traveling all weekend to different events and had to use a lot of different bathrooms.  He is even increasing in the amount of times he is telling me he has to go which has been really encouraging. 

However, despite the fact we have seen some really great things this weekend, we have also been seeing some really NOT so good things.  Colin's behaviors have been challenging lately in that my frustration level is soaring because I feel like we are working hard on them, but still seeing them.   Colin is still pushing/hitting but it seems to only be in certain scenarios.  On one hand, I still feel it is primarily due to a lack of communication (can't effectively tell others when he doesn't want something, to stop doing something, or simply that he just doesn't want IT, whatever that may be) but I also thing it's because he's testing in some way.  I am trying to stay in constant communication with both schools and have not seen these behaviors at school much lately (just a minor pushing incident).  However, we found out today that Colin hit a friend on the bus both on Friday and today and according to the bus driver, was unprovoked. 

What's upsetting to me is that it's clear that Colin understands what he is doing is wrong.  Before I was made aware of the incident, Colin kept saying his friend's name that he hit when I got to school to pick him up.  After I knew what happened, I was able to more specifically ask questions and key words were coming out from him like "sad", "hit", "sorry".  His teacher put him in time out at school after getting off of the bus and when we got home, I put him in his room after talking to him about what he did and kept him there for awhile.  He was also not allowed to watch a show which is typically routine (when he asked for one I explained why he wasn't allowed to watch).  He helped me write an apology note and we talked about it again.  When Chris came home from work and we were sitting at the dinner table, Colin brought up the friend's name again (unprompted by either of us) which brought on another discussion from Daddy.  Because of this, we know he knows it's wrong, but can't understand why he is doing it. 

What upsets me the most is that it's ok for myself when we know Colin is going through a phase that we just have to deal with but it's harder when we have to worry about a behavior affecting someone else.  We will continue to push through and find ways to manage this (for example, putting Colin in his own seat on the bus) but it's still frustrating!