The Nutcracker Suite

We have mentioned before that having two boys "on the spectrum" opens our home to various interesting attachments and fears. So here are the Miller family challenges for this week:

Stephen is suddenly very attached to his shoes. Last week, he could have cared less about his shoes. But this week, he won't let us take them off. So when Keith and I got home from his work Christmas party Saturday night, our sweet babysitter informed us that he was under the covers sound asleep still wearing his shoes. He refused to take them off and pitched such a fit that she gave up. Smart girl!

After she left, I went to give goodnight kisses. Apparently, I temporarily lost my mind and decided to remove the shoes. Seriously...he had been asleep for over 2 hours. Surely he won't notice.....WRONG! Not only did he notice, but he woke up screaming (which woke up his brother) and order was not restored until both socks AND shoes were safely reattached.

Sam is very interested/concerned about nutcrackers. At some point, someone gave us 3 nutcracker ornaments for our Christmas tree. (I can't remember who, so my apologies if it was you.) There is a fireman, a policeman and a Spiderman.

Since Sam has issues with fire lately, he is particulary concerned with the fireman nutcracker, which he calls a "snapcracker." The others are nutcrackers, but this one is a "snapcracker." Why, you ask? Good question. I have no idea.

At some point, a few nights ago, Sam had a dream about nutcrackers (and Guapo?) trying to bite his face. We talked about it and I asked him if it was time for the nutcrackers to go back in the box. He said, "I think it will be okay." We looked at the nutcrackers and talked about what they were used for. I even showed him that it's too small to "eat" his fingers. He then decided that nutcrackers, even "snapcrackers," were not so scary and quickly moved on to stealing toys from his brother. Everything was clearly back to normal.

Then tonight, while I was cooking dinner, Sam came in and asked me for help. He wanted me to follow him to the bathroom, just in case there were nutcrackers in there. We checked the shower, the drawers, the linen closet...anywhere your standard scary nutcracker might be hiding.

"Nope, sweetie. No nutcrackers here. You are safe to go." I said in my best reassuring mommy voice and turned quickly back to the kitchen to clean up whatever had boiled over.

"MOMMY! I need you to stay with me!" he cried. "There are scary nutcrackers in my poop and they will bite my bottom!"

And the sun sets on yet another ordinary day at the Miller's. : )