Missing the roughhousing

I cancelled our playgroup outing this morning because Ronin and Audrey are still illin', as well as myself. I didn't want to leave a cranky-pants Ronin with Chinny because he could very well have cried the entire time we'd be gone and maybe have a relapse. As for Audrey, yesterday her nose was like a faucet and if she would continue this way at playgroup it wouldn't be an appetizing sight to the moms. Figured it wasn't fair to the other kiddies, because I wouldn't want that to happen to me. We had an easy morning that flew quickly. Bo came for DT at noon, as did Chinny to feed Ronin and take him downstairs. He cried just about the whole time, probably because he was in need of a nap. When we came into the living room, Nikko ran to the corner and started taking out the Thomas chairs to make space for us. He didn't have any escape behaviors the entire session. I don't remember every toy he played with, but I do know that his session was pretty good. He worked on an animal sounds puzzle, a peg board, an Elmo figure, and a sea puzzle. Bo was able to start and end the activities and Nikko helped clean up each toy into their prospective bags. I noticed that when he played with the Elmo, Nikko was jargoning which means he was pretty contented. After DT, I fed Nikko lunch and put Ronin down for a nap. Then we all started getting geared up to go to OT at the clinic. Chinny came along and it was the first time she met Shelly. Nikko was pretty happy to be at the clinic as he madly began crashing from the slide to the wall. He eventually took part in Shelly's obstacle course, played with foam soap and blocks (thank you, Shelly for not using shaving cream!), and Shelly even put his feet in the foam and put his feet on the mirror. Nikko is really watching himself in the mirror. He was fascinated with watching his feet. Shelly chalks it all up to body awareness. Nikko also played in the foam-lined tunnel (lined with some of that soundproof foam again, which I think made me itchy) and a collapsible tent. It must have reminded him of the parachute, which he also loves. Shelly thought Nikko did really well in OT today and I agree. When I said it was time for socks and shoes he even went straight to the stroller and sat down. One more thing Shelly told me, however, was that it was possible that Nikko has increased his crashing because he's not getting enough roughhousing. When Shelly said that, it made me realize that I have slacked on the roughhousing over the past few weeks. I haven't been as physical with Nikko lately, and I wonder how I forgot to be. Denis also needs to jumpstart roughhousing with Nikko, even though Shelly said not to do it too close to bedtime. That's really the only time Denis can do it with Nikko. I think that my impression of going into the basement almost daily was a way for Nikko to satisfy his need to be physical, and he does run around the mats and sometimes climbs over the foof chairs. But I think we'll need to step this all up, because I have noticed his crashing has definitely increased over the past few weeks and maybe he really isn't getting the input he needs from roughhousing. I feel guilty. But now that I've been made aware of it, I'll act upon it. That's all anyone can do!

The rest of the evening was calm. It was a late dinner so there was no basement venture for Nikko, who notably did not have a nap today. He was my little shadow as I got Ronin and Audrey ready for bed.