A few firsts this Friday

Eight wore different clothes to school! If you don't know him, it may not seem like a big deal. It is. We've been struggling with clothing with Eight for many years. He has a hard time with change. He likes clothes to fit tight for security and self soothing. For this entire school year, I've been trying to get him to wear the new clothing he picked out before school started. It's not like I want him to dress up in khakis and button down shirts. I gave up on dress clothing a long time ago. The clothing I am talking about are things he wants to wear. Ninjago shirts, angry birds, Mario bros. etc. I even found pants that one would think should meet his approval. I struggle and try so very hard to accommodate him. This morning, all of his clean laundry was downstairs, in my room. He had very little time. It was time to get on shoes and coats, the bus would be here any minute. Finally, he comes out of his room wearing clothing he's never worn before. I was so happy. We've been taking him to OT weekly. This is the first result I've seen. At his last apt. she introduced us to brushing. It's where you use a surgical brush on the child. She demonstrated on his arms, legs, back, etc. Brushing on skin is the most effective method, but you can do it over clothing. It's to help the child build a tolerance to textures. As soon as we walked out of the appointment, Eight made it perfectly clear he was not doing that. Great. Her other suggestion was trying to wear something new at home for 15 minutes. I told him if we weren't going to try the brushing, we were going to try the new clothing for 15 minutes. He said that would be alright. It was a huge jump in a new direction when he came down the stairs all on his own in new clothing. I was so proud and told him so. The second first we had today was Nine getting upset from something that happened in school. He never has issues at school. Poor boy. He was so upset. He really struggled to get out his story. Every night we sign his planner. Every night he asks us and makes sure it is signed. Somehow, last night it didn't get signed. Rule is he had to stay in for 5 minutes of recess. This wasn't the problem. Apparently someone told the teacher another student didn't have her planner signed. When Nines five minutes was up, the teacher asked him to find the girl and tell her to return to the classroom. Turns out this information was false, the girls planner was signed. The teacher outside then tried to teach Nine a lesson. He sent him all the way across the playground to fetch a ball that turned out to not be there. When Nine returned without a ball, the teacher tells Nine that's how the girl felt having to go back to the classroom when her planner was signed. Lord help me. Nine was so upset. He doesn't get into trouble. He was just doing what his teacher asked. Why the teacher could not have checked the girls planner before putting Nine in the middle of all this, I do not know. I felt bad for him. I did email the teacher so she knows how upset he was by the situation. We'll see how next week goes. He won't forget to have his planner signed I am certain. It surprised me, he's usually so on top of that task. I know I asked him to bring it to me last night. Christmas prep is going well. We have nearly a week until departure. I've got a great start to holiday baking and will be able to deliver next week. I hope to get it done in the middle of the week. We will then be able to enjoy the weekend getting ready. We've been enjoying our new Advent activities, too. I never make ginger bread houses. Thankfully, my people were easy and willing to compromise. We used plastic containers for a base and layered frosting with graham crackers. I pulled out what little candy I had and they were happy. The icing on the house was I gave them each a star cut out cookie to use. I had just made cut outs that morning. Six wasn't too thrilled with me. Her exact words were "How dare you bake without me!" Oh boy. Just trying to knock some of these tasks out. I wanted her to be able to participate in icing. We're doing well and will be happy when we drive out of town. We always love the journey to Gmas house. The littlest one is requesting cereal. Time is up.