January 21, 2010 - Brotherly Love

It's been almost 4 years in the making but I think the boys are really starting to care about eachother. Tyler is definetly more interested in what Ben is up to than he used to and also initiates play with him a bit more. Ben on the other hand even though he doesn't come out and say he loves Ty Ty, he says a lot of things that shows just how much he cares. For example, a week or so ago, I asked Ben if he'd help me when I get older and it's harder for me to do things on my own. I asked if he'd help me fix appliaces and take care of me if I'm sick, etc. He said, "I can't, I'll be taking care of Ty-Ty, I'll need to make sure he doesn't get hurt!"... aweee....... That's a pretty mature response from a 3 year old, mind you we've never ever talked to ben about having to take care of Tyler or anything like that. Then this morning, I checked Tyler's diaper to see if he had pooped before we were gettign in the car to head to school. Ben says, if he did poop, we have to take money out of my jar? (bens reward system) I didn't answer. THen Ben said, if he's dry, to we add money to the jar? He goes, hey, I want to share my money and my toys with Ty-Ty. He earns money for going potty to buy toys. we tried to rationalize with him that we would have more money for toys if we didn't have to buy so many diapers. Ok, more on potty training later. The point is, he's really starting to say things that show me how much he cares about Tyler. Even when he talks about Star wars characters and who will be what, he gives Tyler a character name. Oh and yesterday, they held hands on the way into daycare :) Oh my goodness, my heart is totally gonna melt when they actually start laughing and playing together on a daily basis. I guess I should be thankful that they weren't that way from the beginning.. because now I will know just how beautiful it erally is since I've waited so long. Sometimes experiencing both sides of any situation makes you appreciate life a little more.

Ok, on the potty training front. yeah, carrie! Oh how we love miss carrie and wish she was a permanent resident in our home! Her expertise is helping us in our year long quest for Ben to be potty trained. She said diapers were his biggest reinforcer and it wouldn't matter what else I did reward system wise, the diaper would win as long as he had it on. So we switched him to underwear over the weekend so the messy days would be at home and not daycare. By the time he went to daycare on monday he was doing much better and yesterday he only had one accident all day and he caught himself, it wasn't even enough to get his pants wet :) Finanlly!... and it comes just in time, our flex spending runs out this month so we have to find an extra $80 a week to pay for speech.. not buying so many diapers will definetly help!

As for Ty, he's becoming more social on his own (without prompts) meaning he's starting to say hi (wave not really say it) and greet people (hug) or say bye (wave) all on his own and really seeming to enjoy the interaction. Last night I did tell him to say good night to Steve na dBen (it as family movie night and they were watching the movie but Ty was tired) and he waved and I said give them kisses and he blew them kisses. So sweet and so smart. Last night he ran over to the couch cause he got excited about the tv but there was still pizza sauce on his hands from dinner so I said Tyler dont' you dare touch that couch. Of course he understood me. he really understands so much of what we say to him now, it's just awesome. He's donig so well.. I was mentioning to Steve last night how I'd really like to know what has helped and what hasn't. If I could go back in time and see his future if we hadn't done anything extra to help him or if we hadn't done teh biomed or if we hadn't done the study, etc. Where would he be now. How much of his abilities are coming naturally and hjow much are coming becuas we are intervening.. Any wya about it.. he is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much better than he used to be and we are really excited about the future of our whole family.

xoxoxoxo