Wed. March 31st

Frankie bit again at school and told a group of kids to "shut up!" He said the boy pushed him, but Devin said that someone ran into him and it was an accident - she did witness the entire thing. We talked at length about how to deal with the problem. Because he didn't seem too opposed to missing dessert, I spoke about taking away his balloons and he started crying. Both Devin and I talked to him about how his actions make us and the kids he hurts "sad" and talked again about walking away and using words to describe feelings, not teeth.

We drove home a different way past Balcones Woods Park (off Amherst and Duval) and he wanted to stop and play, so I pulled over and we played for about an hour and a half on the playground and went down a few trails (it's very nature-y there). We got home and he played with his toys while I made dinner. I cut a bunch of strawberries and they were on the counter and he kept coming up and taking one and laughing. I kept telling him "Don't steal my strawberries!" every time he took one which he thought was hilarious. We had chicken fajitas for dinner. He was very excited because I bought chips and mild salsa just for him. During dinner, we saw a hawk in the backyard...Frankie has been very interested in all the new wildlife we've been seeing.

After dinner, I put together a mini soccer goal I bought for him the other day and we practiced our soccer skills and played in the yard until 7:30. We took a bath in the big bathtub with balls, of course. While I was in another room, Frankie pooped all by himself without the potty seat and wiped his butt (not very well, but the effort was duly noted). After the bath he decided he needed a snack and ate watermelon and cheese.

At some point he said "I love you" and said "You don't love it when I bite people". I explained that yes, I love HIM but not some of his actions. And that no matter what he does we will love him, but we might not always love the things he does. it was a good conversation.

He's been sleeping half in his bed and half in mine, but this night, he stayed in his room the entire night and came to cuddle with me in the morning. He's still intimidated by the distance between our rooms, but he's slowly getting more used to the set up.