So I just had to post today, because a lot of things have been going on in the Jackson arena. For the past 2-3 weeks, JW and I have really been struggling with Jackson's behavior. He was getting out of control, not listening at all, and we were getting complaints from his other care providers. So we decided we had to make a change. We stopped spanking, which was only making our home more violent; we re-instituted time outs (4 minutes now); and we re-started a reward system. We promised each other to be consistent with the reward system for at least 30 days, not to give up too soon as we were in the habit of doing before. Sure enough, on the first day, JW said, "This is NOT going to work, I think we need to do something else," but he agreed to press on. Now, we both agree that there has been SUCH a positive change! He listens so much more, does things more independently (we are so excited that he pulls up his own undies and pants before coming out of the bathroom) like getting dressed and cleaning up, and there is a lot less yelling (on my part). He sits on the chair for timeouts without getting up. We changed bedtime so that he no longer can go to bed with a book (see previous post), and for the past week he has been asleep by 9pm!!!! (before, it would be 10 or 11pm before he would be asleep) Sleep has also made a big positive change in his behavior. The only lingering issue is dinner time; he still usually will not touch what I make for him, but we've decided to pick our battles. 2 out of 3 meals isn't bad, and we were recently reassured at his well child visit that he's not even slightly anemic!
So I just had to write because I have been very stressed out about Jackson and feeling like a really bad parent doing a really bad job, and I am really encouraged to see changes and God's work and answers to my prayers. Thank you God for listening and for helping me out!
Now to get Savannah from standing up in the middle of the train table...
