Andy and the baby

Sometimes, Andy is okay with the baby playing with his toys. We have to watch that he doesn't reach out and grab her and squeeze her. He likes to do this to people or objects. He reaches out and starts squeezing really hard. If the baby starts squealing, Andy will not tolerate this. He will have an immediate meltdown. He just had one in the kitchen. I was trying to feed him dinner, and she walked up in her walker. She only made a few small noises, but he lost it. My husband was able to calm him, but I think it took ten full minutes. He had immediate tears falling from his eyes, and he was trying to wipe them away, while fully screaming. We took the baby to a different room to play.

Andy always wants the toy that the baby is playing with. It's nice to see them playing together. The baby cries sometimes now when Andy makes his high-pitched squealing noises. When she gets upset, we take her to a different room. She is trying to figure him out. They both smile at each other, but they can both also upset each other pretty quickly too.

Thanksgiving break ahead

Andy's been enjoying school, but Thanksgiving break is just ahead. He will have three days off of school, including the weekend, it's five days of no school. This is usually pretty tough for Andy. He gets pretty bored with staying home all day. We don't take him out, due to meltdowns in public, and where to change his diapers? We might take him up north for a couple of nights to break up the monotony of being home for several days with no school. I hope it helps.

It's been tough to study for exams, and care for the baby. My husband does most of the caring for Andy lately. I feed him and play with him too, but most of the heavy lifting has been done by my husband. He is also working hard on doing everything that needs to be done for the new handicapped-accessible house build. There are a lot of details that have to be figured out.

I'm also hoping we can be free of viruses this Thanksgiving. It seems someone is always sick during the holidays. We've been trying to take extra vitamin C, and I'm using fish oil to help my memory. I am also going to start giving Andy more kids health supplements as well. He puts everything in his mouth, so this makes him more susceptible to illnesses.

Having Andy chew on the babies receiving blankets

We are trying to have Andy not chew on his shirts and use the babies receiving blankets instead. We ask him not to chew on his shirts, and don't put the bibs around his neck anymore. The bibs on his neck, just promote him chewing his clothing, and they get his shirt soaking wet underneath. Since we are using burp cloths less and less for the baby now, we are letting Andy have them. He was keeping himself busy with a cloth while we were closing up our camper for the winter.

We are building a handicapped accessible ranch house

We are building a new house that will be completely handicapped accessible for Andy. There will be a handicapped ramp on the front of the house. There will be wider hallways and doorways. Andy's bathroom will be like a wet room with a roll in shower and tub next to it. We will have an open concept kitchen and living room, and a playroom/office over to the side. We are building a garage big enough and tall enough to hold a tall full sized handicapped accessible van, plus other cars.

We've been picking out building materials, and I've also been trying to organize and consolidate things here at home, and study when I can. It's been busy. I'm definitely worn out.