Finding calm in a turbulent moment is a focus for me. Breathing, stretching, voicing your emotions when life continues to spin. It was the calmest ride to church that we have had in a very long time. I woke up numerous times last night, so did Owen, but thankfully he didn’t get out of bed and immediately went back to sleep. I heard him laughing at about six. He had turned on his tablet before even coming to talk to me. He completely understands the difference between weekdays and the weekend. I got up and walked to the bathroom. He walked in front of me, stopping my forward progress. He wanted to show me something on his tablet and then he said, “hi mommy.” I said hi back as I kept trying to move forward. His young bladder and the fact that he really doesn’t care about the bathroom kept him standing in front of me when I had to go. The morning went smoothly, but I didn’t try to do anything extra with him. I know he needs his time as much as I need my own time. Once I went to the bathroom, I got my coffee and he didn’t follow me to the bedroom. Occasionally he would run in and say something, but I could see he was sitting at his computer playing his games. I fixed our breakfast and drank more coffee. On Sundays, he wants to go to church, but it always seems like it’s a hard day to get him going. But today he was very calm and quickly changed his clothes to get ready for church. When we got to church, he had a great morning and then he wanted to go ride his bike when we left. He wanted to ride down the bigger hills and I know he’s getting it. Each week I see him getting braver on his bike and trying new things. When we left there, he wanted to get some chicken nuggets from the “big Donald’s” and then we came home. He asked to go by the “green stop sign” and the “red stop sign” but he started screaming at me while we were in the drive-thru. I want him to understand that he has to respect people and you can’t scream at them. I tell him all the time that his emotions and feelings are valid but he cannot allow that to translate into screaming at people. This is a hard concept for him and it’s hard for me to keep him from screaming. I hope that by taking something away that he likes he will learn that screaming and other behaviors will result in his actions being reprimanded. It is hard to get him to understand actions and reactions to behaviors . A meltdown is completely different than a behavioral issue. Sometimes in the moment, it’s hard to tell which is which but each time I try to go over the steps with him as to what just happened. I also want him to understand my correcting him is strictly about how he handled a situation. The older he gets the more I want to work on these behaviors with him before they are complete outburst. It doesn’t seem like he ever eats his meals right away but he ate all of it. The afternoon quickly turned into evening, and thankfully he was calm through most of it. He wanted to take a “quick bath” so that he could go back to playing with his tablet. Sleep was almost instant it seemed. He is ready to start his school week ahead. I’m thankful for his laughter and his bright smile. Find joy in the little things and know that they will change your world. Smiles to all and donut daze!
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