I kept my calm with Nikko for most of the day. If he started whining about something I got down on his level and tried to give him hugs. It was Ronin that was pushing my buttons today. This afternoon we went to my mom's house to hang out until it was dinnertime for my brother's 30th, my sister's 40th, and my niece's 5th. The weather was much cooler than yesterday, but I still wanted to take the boys to the park at the school half a block up. Luckily, Audrey went down for a nap around 5:15p so my sister kept an eye on her as we joined my bro and nieces at the park. I'm so glad we went! Nikko was running everywhere at first, but he got interested in the ramps of the big wooden apparatus. After he ran across the wobbly bridge a few times, he discovered the curved slide and went down it. He must have enjoyed it immensely because he hopped off and ran all the way around the apparatus to enter it via a ramp, over the wobbly bridge, and over other platforms to get to the top of the slide. I tried to show him there were ladders nearby for shortcuts, but Nikko hasn't mastered using a ladder yet. He doesn't understand how to climb it. So, he hightailed it back to the ramp. He would run at full speed and as quickly as his legs would churn. I almost dreaded having to leave the park, but luckily after giving him fair warning I scooped him up after a few last slides and he didn't fight me to get strapped into the stroller. He was breathing hard, but seemed happy. Back at mom's house he pretty much sat in front of the TV watching Hi-5 and eating. I wonder if his running back to the beginning of the course was because he had to, or did it contribute to a stim behavior. I've seen it in OT when Nikko would be doing something obstacle-related, but he would start doing it automatically so it didn't seem as challenging as it had. But running and climbing and teetering on the wobbl bridge seemed like it was challenging each time because he did have to think about what he was doing to get to the next level. I'll have to ask Shelly about it tomorrow.
It was such a balancing act to get the kids bathed and out of the house into the Pilot headed home, but my family helped since Denis wasn't there. Nikko was tired all right, but didn't fall asleep right away. Tomorrow will be another busy day for us with playgroup, then meeting the new DT at noon, and finally going to OT in the afternoon. I might try to make a Costco/Jewel run if necessary. I will have to skip chiro tomorrow and possibly next Thursday until I can fit it in.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot to write about this: Ronin was really challenging my patience today, so much that I had to sit down on the floor and put my head in my hands. I sat there looking really, really sad because I felt like a failure for not being able to get my 1 year old to follow me. Nikko came up to me and was worried that I was angry at him. I could tell because he sported a worried look on his face and started to whine a little. I told him I wasn't mad at him, and gave him some hugs. My point is that while I sat on the floor looking despondent, Nikko seemed to try to give me some comfort, or was at least aware that I felt sad or some kind of downer emotion. He acted sympathetic. That's my point.
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