Thomas has started to go, "Eh, eh, eh, ehhhh..." sometimes. It seems like he does it when he's irritated. He had done it before, but it seems like he had stopped for six months. Now he's starting up again. It either has to do with his new school environment and feeling stress as he adjusts, or it has to do with another reason. He might have randomly started up again because of, perhaps, reading a book, hearing a sound somewhere, or just remembering he used to do it.

One really great rather peaceful method I have found to get Thomas to comply or stop undesired behaviour, besides offering him something he really wants (i.e. bribing), is giving him a bear hug. I hold him with my arms, body, and legs, so he becomes immobile, I tell him to fix his behaviour, and if he doesn't say, "Yes, Daddy" right away, I say, "Say, 'Yes, Daddy,'" until he says it. After two or three times of this, I've noticed he does not do the unacceptable behaviour.

So this morning, I gave him two big bear hugs and since then he has not made the sound. We will see if this sticks!

Christine and I both firmly believe that Thomas is adjusting to school much better than we expected. He is getting thumbs up from his teacher on the way out the door at hometime, and we are hearing that teachers are enjoying him in class. Wonderful!

Keep it up, Thomas! :D
 

Thomas likes the anticpated.

That’s why he prefers media. After listening to or watching something repeatedly, he knows what to expect. This makes him comfortable. It could be why he doesn’t like conversation. He doesn’t know what to expect. 

During dinner to get Thomas to sit down and eat fish, we sometimes play the audio of a show through external speakers and hide the video. He listens for a while, we stop it so he does what we want, and then we resume playing. He sometimes forgets that the music has stopped and we enjoy a conversation at the table as family of four, and when he stands up, we go back to using the audio as a reward.

  

So when this one song ended, I stopped the speaker and said, “Let’s sing the song together!” I had understandably gotten to know how the song went, but Thomas said, “No!” We realised, Thomas likes the original version. He doesn’t want to hear my screwed up take on it. We really love his conversation, and several times every day we get to talk together. Those are beautiful moments!