B graffiti...

This was B's comment on life this morning :) I was really surprised to see him writing on the little, magnetic white boards I keep on the fridge, since B avoids writing whenever he can... I was also very gratified that he added the "home rocks" bit. Outside of this unusual & mild protest, B was pretty mellow this morning. When we got to school he was eager to show me the progress that they've made on his "safe space", a former broom closet (without a door) outside the special ed. office on B's floor. All of the tables, brooms, & other detritus have been moved out, unearthing some very nice bookshelves (mostly filled with books, but with a little extra space for B's stuff) with an air-conditioner perched on top. I teased him that he didn't have a light yet, but he has an air conditioner (but no window :) & he grinned. (Later in the day they discovered that there is a light in there, much to everyone's delight.) The next goal was to find a small desk or table that he could use to work on, since he'll be using this space mostly when he's too overwhelmed to be in his classroom. I kissed him goodbye as he was setting up a chess game with a friend & went to see if I was needed to greet at the door, finding Paula & another friend, Kim, there already. After we had caught up for a while, & greeted parents & kids coming in to school, B came down looking for Paula to ask her assistance on the table hunt, so they happily went off to scour the school for something suitable leaving Kim & me to continue chatting, which was very nice :)

It was laundry day, but I decided to treat myself to a trip to the asian food store in between loads. I bought more tofu (of course :) & finally found some tobiko- the little orange fish roe that B & I adore. It was a chore-ish day mostly, but the house is better for it. I went to get B at 2:00 as he'd requested, but he was doing so well that I could have come later. It was a lovely change. B said that he & Paula had found a little table, so his room is all set up. He said that today was the first day he's felt safe at school since moving upstairs & I could tell it was so because he was so calm & undistressed. He said he'd had an up & down day, with some tics, but nothing too overwhelming. Such joy!

I had bought a ramune snack for us at the asian food store, so we re-watched some old episodes of InuYasha while drinking it & called out words we recognised in Japanese in the dialogue. B then went to lego for quite a while, then we watched a couple Fruits Basket episodes in japanese before dinner. We had rice, tofu, salad, & tobiko & really enjoyed it. C had an office meeting so he got home after dinner, teasing us that he'd narrowly missed the tofu :) B requested an o-bento (japanese-style lunch) for lunch tomorrow (I have little bento lunchboxes that can be microwaved & B occasionally takes one to school) so I put some leftover rice on the bottom & slabs of tofu on top, with soy sauce sprinkled over all. As he was putting together the rest of B's lunch, C mentioned to me that he's so happy that B's finally settled on a protein source, in the wake of swearing off meat. We've worked very hard not to make a big deal out of food & eating, particularly since we've had to keep such a close eye on B's diet with the weight-gain side-effect of the seroquel. It's been hard not to fuss at him about the lack of protein in his diet for the past few months, but the low-key approach is now paying off in B's enthusiasm with his "discovery" of tofu. I suspect that he'd reject pretty much anything we suggested if we'd pressured him at all about it. Next we'll try tempe! (fingers crossed :)