Posts Tagged "little victories"

Unexpected Awesomeness

Posted by wendy on Jul 26, 2010 | 0 comments

If you’ll recall, we called a cease-fire in the potty-training war during the moving process.  Moving has been stressful enough, additional pressure on both Jack and the rest of us wasn’t worth it.  Instead, Jack has been wearing diapers.  All the time.  Like potty training never happened.

I can hardly blame him.  Jack only liked going potty in “his” potty at home, and home as he knew it is no longer.  His one area of control evaporated, so he adjusted the only way he knew how. 

We’ve been living in my husband’s brother’s basement for almost a month now while we get settled in our new country. We have a space to ourselves, with bedrooms for us and the boys.  We have our own bathroom, too. 

For the first few weeks nothing happened.  And then, out of the blue, Jack asked to go potty.  We busted out the prize box and dangled a few delights under his nose.  At the prospect of a new parachute man, Jack went potty.  And there was much rejoicing. 

Jack was so enthusiastic we had to institute a two-prize daily limit. 

On a hike through Vancouver’s Endowment Lands, Lennon had to go.  He’s a big fan of peeing in the great outdoors, and pomptly picked a nice moss-covered tree.  Not to be outdone, Jack decided it would be a good time to start peeing outside, too.  And so he went.

And then he went at Vancouver Place.  Twice.  And at the restaurant where we had dinner.  And he’s used the potty every time, both at home and out in the world, ever since. 

We’re still dealing with nighttimes (both boys), but all in due time. 

Miracles happen when you least expect them.  Or when a little boy decides to expand his definition of control.

Give Me A Second

Posted by wendy on May 3, 2010 | 3 comments

We live in Southern California, so of course we hardly ever go to the beach.  There are a lot of beaches we never visit, all within an hour of us, some as close as 20 minutes.  However, when our friends from San Diego came up for a visit this weekend (where they also rarely go to the beach that is 5 miles from their home), we all decided the beach was just the ticket for an outing.  It was, after all, going to be nice and cool.  Which, in SoCal, means it’s going to start off nice and cool in the morning and get all hot by the time you get anywhere.

In the interest of having the house to himself for a few hours, my husband was extremely helpful getting the children ready for our adventure.  He dressed them (in long pants, because it was a cold day of course) and packed a lunch.  Which turned out to be three apples, a handful of goldfish crackers, a baggie of swiss cheese and approximately two and a half pieces of turkey.  For myself and three children.  I grabbed some shorts for everyone just in case, and headed down to Hermosa Beach to meet up with our friends.

We keep sand toys and kites in the back of our van just in case the mood strikes us to visit the beach, as it has exactly three times in four years, so we were prepared.  Our friends were already there and set up, their combined five children frolicking in the sand and surf.   Lennon ran and joined them, Jack set himself up safely away from even accidently seeing the water, let alone touching it. 

I pulled out the kites, knowing Jack wouldn’t go anywhere near the water.  He is a kite-flying fool.  Lennon, Kieran and I walked around the surf, collecting seashells and seaweed. 

I found an awesome shell and gave it to Jack, who promptly put it down and lost it in his kite-flying fervor.  Later, in the interest of finding another, he did it.  He followed me down to the water. 

Fingers shoved firmly in his ears, he pointed at shells with his elbows and had me pick them up to put in his pockets.

After watching the baby and Lennon laughing and darting away from the surging waves, Jack couldn’t resist it any longer.  He dipped his toes in and shrieked with delight.

“I did it!! I touched the water all by myself!!!”

Every victory deserves a reward, so I promised them ice cream cones when we got home.   After a long day of chasing children all over the beach in the hot sun (on a cool SoCal day) and driving almost an hour home, I needed a moment on the couch before embarking on the ice cream adventure (if you have a 4 1/2 year old, a 3 year old and a 17 month old, anything involving ice cream is an adventure).  Jack wasn’t having it.

“Could you get off the couch and get our cones?”

“Baby, I need to relax.  Just give me a second.”  Jack looked at me for a moment, then held out his hand.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“It’s a second.  I’m giving it to you.  Could you get our ice cream cones now?”

Absolutely, baby.  Absolutely.

I Wonder

Posted by wendy on Apr 24, 2010 | 2 comments

I wonder how many other families who attended the autism walk today brought home photos like this one:

Jack had fun, but of course, he was on sensory overload.

Am I the only one who thinks it’s just this side of hilarious that they planned a whole bunch of really loud entertainment at a walk attended by a crowd of autistic individuals? 

We had fun today, but didn’t stay long.  It was a lot to take in, and to be honest, I was on overload myself. 

Big props to Jack for enjoying the “big party with the bouncy houses and the airplane,” though.  That kid is amazing.

Just Blow

Posted by wendy on Mar 18, 2010 | 2 comments

Can you tell someone how to blow?  Think about that one. How do you explain it? It’s a stumper, that’s for sure. I tried for several years to teach Jack, but every time he “blew” on something, he breathed in.

Until a few months ago.

Out of the blue, the child knew how to blow. He blew into paper party favors, little pinwheels, and bubble wands.

And for the very first time, on his fourth birthday, he blew out the candles on his birthday cake.

Yesterday I taught him how to blow on dandelions.

Who says magic isn’t real?

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Has your child mastered something you never thought possible?