A Monday bright spot
Yesterday was quite a Monday, being the first day back after a week long break. The words, "Pull it together, or we may never have another break again," may or may not have come out of my mouth. They did pull it together, and the day's punctuation lesson was conquered.
There was one bright spot in yesterday's otherwise rocky entry back to our schedule... and it came from R.
It was her turn to work with me, and so I got out the bag in order for her to draw for the day's activity. She drew stepping stones. I admit to my heart sinking just a little bit. These are a physical therapy toy that I bought to use with her. We hadn't used them in a while, because the last time we tried it, it quickly became a screeching fest, because I had asked her to stand on one of them, and step to the next one. I wasn't sure I was up to that on such a Monday-ish Monday.
But I got them out and set them up, acting all excited about what she got to do that day. It had been long enough from our last fiasco using them, that she didn't seem to remember them. R. happily stepped up on the first one, and immediately attempted to step to the next. She did it, so I asked if she could step with the other foot first the next time. She has some weakness on one side of her body, so starting with the weaker leg is a little tougher. She agreed to try, and actually did it. I was thrilled when she walked on the stepping stones all the way to the end, and then was willing to walk all the way back, alternating which foot she started with.
That went well, so I asked her to hold her arms straight out from her body for the next time. She was able to do that as well, though her weaker arm kept wanting to come down, but R. was able to lift it again when I reminded her. Still no shrieking.
R. still seemed interested and able to keep going, so the next time I asked her to walk on the stepping stones with her hands on her head.
Watching her figure out how to balance with her hands on her head, plus still walk from stepping stone to stepping stone, was a little more challenging for her, but she kept at it, and eventually did it. I was so proud of her. Not only did she not shriek, but she was willing to try something that was a little uncomfortable for her. Best of all, to me, though, was her efforts to steady herself when she felt herself starting to fall. For two years now, we have been amazed at R.'s complete lack of any sense of self-preservation. If she starts to fall, she usually makes no attempt what so ever at saving herself, either by counter balancing or grabbing onto something. She will just let herself keep falling over. Today there were a few times when she started to fall, yet she was able to catch herself.
This is progress. I know it's the type of progress that most children make over the course of months rather than years, but it is still progress. As I've mentioned before, when you have long periods where you wonder if you will ever see evidence of progress again, concrete evidence of it actually happening is cause to rejoice.
There was one bright spot in yesterday's otherwise rocky entry back to our schedule... and it came from R.
It was her turn to work with me, and so I got out the bag in order for her to draw for the day's activity. She drew stepping stones. I admit to my heart sinking just a little bit. These are a physical therapy toy that I bought to use with her. We hadn't used them in a while, because the last time we tried it, it quickly became a screeching fest, because I had asked her to stand on one of them, and step to the next one. I wasn't sure I was up to that on such a Monday-ish Monday.
But I got them out and set them up, acting all excited about what she got to do that day. It had been long enough from our last fiasco using them, that she didn't seem to remember them. R. happily stepped up on the first one, and immediately attempted to step to the next. She did it, so I asked if she could step with the other foot first the next time. She has some weakness on one side of her body, so starting with the weaker leg is a little tougher. She agreed to try, and actually did it. I was thrilled when she walked on the stepping stones all the way to the end, and then was willing to walk all the way back, alternating which foot she started with.
That went well, so I asked her to hold her arms straight out from her body for the next time. She was able to do that as well, though her weaker arm kept wanting to come down, but R. was able to lift it again when I reminded her. Still no shrieking.
R. still seemed interested and able to keep going, so the next time I asked her to walk on the stepping stones with her hands on her head.
Watching her figure out how to balance with her hands on her head, plus still walk from stepping stone to stepping stone, was a little more challenging for her, but she kept at it, and eventually did it. I was so proud of her. Not only did she not shriek, but she was willing to try something that was a little uncomfortable for her. Best of all, to me, though, was her efforts to steady herself when she felt herself starting to fall. For two years now, we have been amazed at R.'s complete lack of any sense of self-preservation. If she starts to fall, she usually makes no attempt what so ever at saving herself, either by counter balancing or grabbing onto something. She will just let herself keep falling over. Today there were a few times when she started to fall, yet she was able to catch herself.
This is progress. I know it's the type of progress that most children make over the course of months rather than years, but it is still progress. As I've mentioned before, when you have long periods where you wonder if you will ever see evidence of progress again, concrete evidence of it actually happening is cause to rejoice.
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