Last night when Owen went to sleep he was hyper-focused on his days ahead. I was praying he could work through it but sleep was not in the cards for us last night. He woke by two, concerned about when he was going to see his grandma, and there was no convincing him to go back to sleep. Distracting him didn’t help and the more I talked to him about it the more upset he got. I told him to go back to his bed, but he just kept coming back to me. Nights like this are hard and emotional. I don’t want to focus on the not sleeping, but it affects the entire day. Thankfully, he was in a great mood. He wanted to read books with me. We ended up reading three books together and then he ran off to read by himself. He doesn’t like it as much when I read with him because I make him slow down. He did great with it though and I’m so impressed with how much he loves to read. He kept asking to make sentences. It makes my day with that great progress. We got ready to leave and shorts won again for him. I’m trying to emphasize to him that every time he gets in the car he needs to put his seatbelt on. It’s not something he always pays attention to. He’s starting to get it clicked more often but he’s still not doing it on his own. It’s a process for him to remember. When he is learning new skills sometimes it can take hundreds of times for him to understand the concept. He will get it though. It’s closer every time. He had a great time with his grandma. She took him on a ride and she said that he was a little emotional about the places they went but for the most part handled it all. The ride home was a little more emotional. The meltdown was right there ready to spill over so I tried everything to keep him calm. I kept asking Siri to say math equations in all the languages. As long as I asked her to translate them Owen was calm but as soon as I stopped he was ready to scream. How could driving around town become so complicated for him and make him so upset? I want to cry every time we get in the car. It’s a chore to keep him calm. This is my baby, my world. “Pinch,” he said as soon as I stopped asking for math problems. I immediately started again because the goal was always to keep him calm. It’s that fine line. He needs to learn about emotions but meltdowns are so incredibly hard. A few blocks from our house I talked to him about getting out of the car when we got home. Sometimes he stays in the car and yells out all the places he wanted to go even though he never asked until we got home. “Sure go get you some bridge flags,” referencing to the bridge that crosses over the train tracks and then continues yelling out other places. I pray each time we go somewhere that he will enjoy it and it won’t be difficult for him. Thankfully he got right out of the car, went up the steps, and even helped me with the key. I’m trying to teach him that we lock our doors and need the key to get inside. Each step we take leads to learning independent life skills. He was full of energy and excitement the rest of the night. He told me to order him a “pet giraffe.” I’m not sure how he will react when it doesn’t come in one of the boxes he always requests. He didn’t want to go to sleep once again but instead wanted to talk about church. “Church tomorrow church church church,” was his mantra as he kept running back and forth from his bed to mine screaming about going. I hold onto the progress and the inspiration that tomorrow will be a great day. Never give up on the miracle yet to come. Focus on the good stuff. Smiles to all and donut daze!
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