Routine

After a lot of time being out of routine, we are finally getting back to our normal.  We had a few steps forward, and then two back.  The little guy thrives on routine and structure...we give him that.  I am getting myself organized with his learning this summer - getting a game plan together for each day so that we have a very set routine that involves a lot of play, but also keep our "schooling" up.  Thanks to Kelly, she sent me a link this morning to an incredible website...it's called Playful Learning Spaces and I can't wait to dig into the site!

We are still not sleeping at night...we had the stretch of 3 nights in a row - but then, we had an interruption in our routine.  We are working hard to get to a 'sleep through the night' night, but we take it as it comes and try again the next night.  Here's how we do things and we were having success...We have set a routine to help the sleep...we run around outside before dinner with a lot of active play.  Come in, have dinner. After dinner, light play before a bath. After bath, we do compression exercises, massage, read books, say our prayers and go to bed at the set bedtime.  The little guy loves this - he knows exactly what each night is going to be like. Deviation from the bedtime...not a good thing. It impacts the next day and being overtired is not good. At all.  For some kids it's a "treat" to stay up past bedtime...for us, it's just not a good idea. We also don't let the little guy fall asleep watching TV. For us, that's too much stress and if he's falling asleep on the couch, he's over-tired.  Overtired affects behavior. Just the same as not enough food and hydration.

We have been seeing the OT - she has GREAT things to report.  We do have some SPD, but it's manageable and we are doing a good job at how we are helping (so the OT says).  Some things are behavioral. He is doing fantastic as far as his developmental skills.  He is right on track and ahead in some things. The OT told us he is very smart, he has good problem solving skills, fine motor skills are really good and he doesn't have any issues with his development.  This was great to hear.  We knew it, but it was great to hear it from her.  We will continue to work through the rest of the sensory processing testing and then go from there. The OT said he's doing really well - and with some techniques and tips, we should be good to help him heal the sensory issues.

We know that there is emotional healing that has to take place.  We are well aware of that.  I got my first glimpse, if you will, of that this morning.  We had read a children's book that talks about adoption.  A cute story about a dog family that adopted a puppy.  A little while later, he came up to me with sad eyes and tears rolling down his cheeks, he said, "mommy, Cera lost her mommy!"  (He was talking about a dinosaur from the movie The Land Before Time).  His bottom lip was quivering and he was extremely upset.  He said as he was reaching up to me, "I want my mommy!" I picked him up, and just held him. He squeezed me and said, "I love you mommy".  I said, "I love you too. More than anything. I am here for you. Always."  He just held on.  I will never let go of you, precious, precious son of mine.  There are these things that come up that we work through and parent through "therapeutic parenting".  Security is big right now.  And we nurture the need for security how ever it may look.

Speaking of look...I snapped this real quick this morning.  This is a common look each morning as we get breakfast.

The green rubber boots... a MUST.