I seem to remember promising to post some of Viggo's renditions of a Curious George episode. It is the one where Curious George travels in through his own mouth, down his throat and into his own stomach. Viggo loves this!
Curious George and his friend Hundley (the dog) standing in George's mouth. . .
Going down Curious George's throat.
In the stomach (the circle on the right represents the lungs).
Curious George coughs and they fly out of his mouth with a gust of wind.
About a week and a half ago we had another snow fall (our last?). All of us enjoyed two terrific days of sledding. Viggo took the opportunity to enjoy the snow in every way.
building snow castles
rebuilding the snow man that had already melted once.
Viggo and I decided that we wanted to see what happens to snow once it is brought indoors. . .
. . . and the snow informed the next batch of drawings. . .
The way I see it is, because it's been so long since we were last ill, we had to do a little extra time this season. We are slowly coming back from a couple of rounds of the flu : ) Viggo has a new routine of homework every day. He has settled into this perfectly well. Yesterday we did extra work as Viggo wanted to have his Valentine's Day cards ready. One card for each friend in his first grade. He wrote the names of all of his classmates and added his own name at the bottom. He was beaming as we put the cards in an envelope for him to bring to school!
I think we are all ready for a change of season. Last weekend we had a blizzard and were snowed in. We weren't extremely prepared but had just enough to get us through until we were able to skid up the driveway. More snow tonight? 90% chance . . .
Viggo ran outside the day after the blizzard with a carrot in his fist. Result: snowman
The snow was beautiful but it broke several trees (including the apple tree)
Angry Birds are still going strong in our household, but they have some serious competition: Curious George AND Spongebob Squarepants. I think Curious George might be headed for first place on the charts. Viggo's favorite story is about Curious George getting sick and finding out about germs. He takes a trip into his own mouth, throat, and belly where he meets blues singing germs that make him cough and sneeze. Exciting stuff! The result has again been some wonderful drawings. I can't find Viggo's drawings of mouths right now but will post them later if they reappear. For now. Viggo's cut out of Spongebob and Squidward (?):
Honestly. Who wants to blog about having the flu? Not me. What I can say is when you're home sick there is plenty of time to draw. This is a fraction of Viggo's "flu" series:
car was
car wash
a planet
house lifted by balloons (like in the movie "UP")
planet earth with a space ship taking off
rain, sun, and rainbow
blue sun and two rainbows
planet earth with space ship taking off
planet earth with space ship taking off
car wash
New York: antennas on the roofs and traffic lights down below
As I predicted Viggo had no issues spending the holidays with mom and dad. He used this opportunity of having us to himself in a wonderful way. He acted more grown up and insisted on helping with clean up and baking. His table manners were better than usual. During most of our time together Viggo was very responsible. Not asking for help getting dressed. Not asking us to get the ketchup (home made of course). Not asking us to fetch the paper and drawing utensils. No, Viggo just enjoyed having our attention. We played, talked, joked, went sledding and much much more. John and Mikko came back from Sweden yesterday. Lets see if Viggo can continue being a big boy. . .
1-100! (a little difficult to fit all the numbers. . . )
Drawing of Earth and a red space ship on the lower left.
Just the other week Viggo had finished his math unit and was presented with a standard test for that unit. In other words it was not a test specially developed for kids with autism. It was just a standard math test. He did a great job!
At home Viggo continues to use the black board for drawing and playing with numbers. This week Viggo's first grade class performed a "Doubles Rap" in front of the school. He took the opportunity to become a little teacher at home, showing us just how well he could double:
Today Viggo's older brothers fly to Sweden to spend Christmas with their grandparents. I thought Viggo would be furious to be left behind with mom and dad, but "No", Viggo is apparently looking forward to being an only child. I'm sure the next two weeks will be an adventure. Surely Viggo will steal my phone more times than I will be able to count so that he can continue his ongoing photo project.
Viggo's picture of tired mom (me) on her way to the kitchen
Viggo's picture of mom telling him not to leave the store without him
I don't think I can blog about Viggo's progress today. That will have to wait a little. I just want to make a wish. A wish that this will be a turning point. A turning point for how we approach mental health. A turning point for how we deal with gun control. A true turning point. Otherwise this backwards trend will just continue and the teacher's of our children will also have to become their bodyguards.
One of Viggo's many photos. I don't know if this one is from the TV or the computer.
Back in Sweden the snow is creating chaos. Trains aren't running according to schedule and today they closed the Arlanda airport. Here it is warm. Yesterday I took the dogs for a walk wearing only my t-shirt! I feel like Viggo has softened a little this past week. He still has bad moments and tantrums but in general he has been more willing to hear me out. Most of all I feel Viggo is doing incredible work at school. Yesterday he walked from his Special Ed classroom to his 1st grade classroom all by himself. Apparently he was very proud and he did well in his 1st grade classroom. So much has happened with this young man. His ability to learn math far exceeds any hopes or expectations I ever had. His English and Swedish verbal skills continue to develop. One example: This morning as we were waiting for the school bus I turned to Viggo and asked: "And Viggo, when you get on the bus, what are you supposed to do?" "Sit down and put on my seat belt" was his response. A year ago if I had asked Viggo the same question differently: "When you get on the bus, do you have to put on your seat belt?" Viggo would not even have been able to answer me with a simple "yes".
Viggo has taken many pictures and filmed numerous videos this fall. Perhaps I will post some of them soon.
Viggo made a drawing of a storm with thunder and rain and trees falling in the wind (memories of Sandy?)
Working away at the alphabet. It's hard to write it out like this: Aa Bb Cc . . . The results keep getting better
The good news is that turkey is allowed on the Gaps diet : ) We had lots of it.
Thanksgiving was really nice and the weather was beautiful. We went to the play ground, the dog run, the boys jumped on the trampoline and we walked and ran on the beach. I'm just finding it a little hard to keep any routines going with so many little holidays and other breaks from school. I think this last month before Christmas is going to be crucial. Viggo needs all the help he can get to maintain momentum in his work. He has been doing a little more writing at home. Yes, he is working on a Christmas wish list. I hear his math skills are impressive! Did I mention that he has been adding double digits?! In May when we moved to Springs Viggo didn't speak English. Now he counts to 100 by himself! He also drew his own weekly plan on the black board. He is keeping track of his own schedule and ours.
Part of the ever expanding wish list. . .
Viggo's schedule is still a little confusing although much more layered and appealing than mine. But he is working on writing the days of the week: Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs, etc.
Viggo and I took Mikko to swim class Saturday morning. Viggo took the initiative of showing me his math skills while we waited for Mikko to finish.
We are in the middle of another long weekend. Monday is Veteran's day and the boys will be home. Thankfully the weather has been beautiful! Viggo is a few days into his new regime of drinking chicken stock in the middle of the day, every day. He makes a stink about it but so far it's working!. Viggo does get very noisy, on and off, but we're also managing more activities. On Friday night I took all three boys to a local gallery from 8.30-10 PM and listened to live music! (yes Viggo finally did have to borrow my iPhone to keep the peace but still...). Today Viggo helped me at the dump, came with me to the vet's to weigh our puppy and give him his heart worm pill, visited a farm stand, stopped by a gallery, took the car to the car wash to clean it from the hurricane, and did our food shopping. Viggo jumped on the trampoline and later joined his brothers in taking the dogs to the dog run. It is too easy for Viggo to just attach himself to a computer on the weekends so I'm really very pleased with all of the above. Another very exciting thing was our visit to Hampshire Farm after school on Friday. Viggo got to try horse back riding there. He was so happy. I hope we can find a schedule so that he can go riding once or twice a week. . . That would really make my day - and Viggo's (to be continued)
Viggo helped brush "Sugar" at Hampshire Farm on Shelter Island.