Abound Saturday

Owen had a great night once he fell asleep. He struggled for sleep to come but he is still putting himself to bed. He woke up and went right to the bathroom on his own. I love these little victories. He was hyper and wanted everything right away but otherwise, he did great. He was very calm about not seeing grandma today. He asked a couple of times but then moved forward. He wanted to go to the “big slides” and some of our church friends asked us to go to breakfast so I asked him as soon as we got up if he wanted to go to breakfast with them. I talked to him about it last night but sometimes he needs to process it. It’s not always easy for him to make decisions or to say how he feels about something. I want him to understand sometimes we have choices and sometimes we have to do things we don’t always want to do. This is hard for him because going places can be sensory-related, a timing issue, or numerous other factors that can cause it to be hard on him. Also, if I then push him to go someplace he doesn’t want to or can’t process he won’t be able to handle it and generally has meltdowns over this. When I asked him the first time he said, “no” so I started to walk away. He almost immediately said, “yes go to breakfast.” This was big because he answered and then changed his mind but the key was his words. He wasn’t just saying no to yes he was processing it. There are many times he says the opposite of what he means and goes back and forth laughing about it. As the morning went on I asked him a couple more times because I wanted to solidify those connections with him. Each time he answered after that it was with a “yes.” I also knew not to rush our morning. He kept telling me to go to the “white bed” and this means he needs more time to process the morning. We went to breakfast with our friends and he did amazing. He ate everything in sight and then asked to go to “big Donald’s” after we left. I’m not sure why he stopped calling them all McDonald’s except maybe that it is based on their location names now. We went home for a little while and then went to the big slides after they opened. He spent most of his time jumping on the trampoline, running away from the trampoline, looking for Santa in all the closets that he wasn’t supposed to be in, and laying at the top of one of the platforms. He did well in general however he told one person to leave because of their pants. He fell when getting out of the trampoline area and then he decided to practice falling so he did that multiple times. He then said, “did you fall I’m ok” and he would get up and run off. He wanted his BeatBo robot to be there so he searched for it while he was looking for Santa and then when we left he told me he was going to read to it when he got home. He’s always filled with tidbits of information and he randomly said, “that’s not a monkey that’s a chimpanzee.” God sings a song in me and I rejoice in knowing I’m saved. Through our challenges our victories are that much sweeter and today felt like a lot of victories. Take time for yourself, celebrate your victories, and know that both are important. Smiles to all and donut daze!