Nathan is such a little nerd these days! He loves things on his head and face (hence the pictures with Lynsey's helmet and headband - he was pretty proud of the headband:)) and Brian got some great video of him walking around with the potato head glasses the other day:). I know I'm biased, but his little smile is just the absolute cutest! He always wants to know what I'm doing when I'm cooking, which is a bit of an inconvenience, but at least he's curious! He still doesn't say a lot of words, mostly "that" still, but the other day he did say "cloth" when we were by the sink and he wanted to bite on the cloth (he is getting eye teeth still - two down, two to go!). He has started to love the swing at the park, and loves to climb on the equipment as well (this makes me pretty nervous, but I'm trying to let him be as much as I can).
All of last week, we had no home program. It was such a nice change, I have to say. I know it seems like having an aide is supposed to help me, but as I've mentioned previously, it has only added to my burden of late. The other night, Brian was recounting Adam's day to him, and he actually joined in with Brian! Brian said, "And we played outside, and planted some trees" and Adam pipes up, "and you played in the mud, and you opened the back door, and you went inside and played in the rice, and you opened the gate and went in the front yard". He was talking about himself, but he still really struggles with using "I" and tends to say it as though we were saying it. This is different than what he's done before, because he was not directly repeating what Brian was saying, but actually recounting his own day and during a time when Brian brought it up, so completely appropriately! He has also been pointing to things and saying, "this" a lot more, being specific about choices which is also good to see. We just feel like ironically, last week without therapy has been his best week in a while! Now that doesn't mean that this isn't a manifestation of the therapy that he's had, I am not ready to completely write off his home program, I just think it's been good for him to have some time off to process and not feel such a large amount of stress on a daily basis. Our aide was back on Monday, and yesterday and today have not been good. The only way we've been able to make it through the days is by getting in the wagon and going for walks. He seems to tolerate her okay if we're outside, although she still can't push him on the swing or be anywhere near him when he's climbing anywhere. Sigh - if only I knew whether or not him being so pushed out of his comfort zone was doing him any good at all. I tend to think if it doesn't improve soon then we will have to reevaluate. Our entire family got to join him at preschool on Monday for a picnic! It was really nice to see him in his class environment again, and he even got to be the Special Helper:). His preschool teachers really love him and have done such a great job with him. He even let Kyla ride on the teeter totter with him when I was standing right there - I don't think I've ever seen him let anyone do anything like that with him when I've been around before. Oh and he pedaled the tricycle when he was there that day! He just got on and decided to try it, and like with so many things, when he cared enough to try it, he could do it! I just know there are many more things out there that he is so capable of, but the struggle is getting him to care enough to try them instead of just shaking his bubble stick!
Lynsey has been so emotional lately - I feel like this is all I ever write about her! But it's such a big part of where we're at with her! She cries and cries and it can be so hard to deal with sometimes. I have been doing a lot of reading about big emotions in kids, and all the positive parenting advice leads in the direction of letting her have her feelings. Don't tell her to stop crying, to get over it, etc. because that will only teach her to cover up her feelings and that she's not safe to express them, and hence will not pay off in the end. This is a lot harder than it sounds. After the 10th outburst in one day, my empathy is really being stretched to the limit. However, I completely buy into positive parenting and am committed to it, even when all I want to do is scream at her to just stop it and get over it! Getting to that point usually has more to do with me and my own issues, so it's not fair for me to project that onto her anyway. She is just a very emotional 5 year old that still has a lot of learning to do when it comes to dealing with these huge, overwhelming emotions. I will continue to try my best to be patient and empathetic! She is such a wonderful kid, she just needs some help sometimes. Don't we all?:)
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