24-Hour Turnaround

It's too soon to call it a trend, but Sunny's behavior has improved remarkably after the first day of school.

This morning, I was careful to list the things he did right, and congratulate him on good behavior:

- He walked out the bedroom not dressed correctly, I reminded him to change, and he accepted it
- I told him he couldn't have breakfast at school instead of home, and he accepted it
- I told him we didn't have time to put another Lego in his bag, and he accepted it

He didn't use any of these things as an excuse to start an argument or scream or throw himself on the ground. He was happy and excited to get to school and start his day.

His behavior was great last night as well. This morning, I put up four stars on his chart for Monday. He got all the stars except for "no backtalk". I encouraged him to try hard for five out of five today.

I'm also reminding myself to correct him with a smile on my face and a cheerful tone instead of a peevish tone.

And in response to Johannah... thanks. I actually get enough time to myself. I don't complain much in that area because I'm very lucky. My husband really spends more time with Sunny than I do; in fact, sometimes I worry that I don't spend enough time with Sunny. But Guy really loves to do some of the same things as Sunny, such as skateboarding and biking and going to the water park.

My mother gives us frequent breaks. Sunny has a sleepover at her house once every two weeks, sometimes once a week. Sunny also spends a lot of time over at the neighbors... the ones with the older son with Asperger's syndrome. Sometimes we have to be careful that he doesn't intrude on the neighbors' time too much, because Sunny can be very pushy, but they're happy to have him over almost any time because he helps their son with socialization. We joke with each other that Sunny has the opposite of Asperger's.

So although Sunny is very demanding in some ways, such as his inability to be alone, we've got a good routine built up where either one of us can take a break when we need to.