All is well.

My next day WAS better. I raided my kids toys to find some new and novel reinforcers. Out of them all he liked the thing that turns into a gremlin. The cute furry one. I made sillier noises, and made more of a sing song out of things, and I had chips to offer. I felt like we made more progress. I got some more data of his pretend play, which had me a little stumped before. I found a toy clothes dryer, and pretended to wash his shorts. I sung a song while they "washed" then took them out again. Yay he copied. Imitation is one of the first skills we work on in a program, as children with autism don't always pay attention to the world around them to learn things, until we teach them that it is worthwhile. I have an extra long session with him on Monday until his babysitter gets there to take over, so I am going to take my swimmers and have a longer break after lunch with him. Try to get some words out of him. Hope he likes splashing. Or maybe if I play drown, or blow bubbles or something.
I was worried about emailing Nina also, and I think I needn't have worried. I did my research and sent her a "found it" email shortly after. She was at a funeral so didn't get either till she got back and was happy that I had worked it out. She said he can be a little bugger sometimes but don't underestimate him. Why do I think everyone expects me to be perfect straight off? I usually make a good impression, and I am my own biggest critic. I have more hours than I need based on their comfort with my level of competence. So why the second guessing? Just my nature I guess. I am having a weekend off without worrying about Autism. I got lots of cleaning and shopping done today. I bought a new vacuum head that was my favourite purchase, the carpets are looking great. Plus if I didn't go back to the shops again I would be ok now just topping up at the local till after Christmas. All is good, now off to watch the carols by candle light on tv.