Owen slept all night in his bed but immediately wanted that tooth out as soon as he woke. There were some screams too. He couldn’t quite shake the sleepiness. He followed me to my bed after our morning routine. The tooth was not going anywhere at that point but he wanted it out. I asked him if he wanted to stay home or go to school. He said, “school first and then dentist.” He also said he wanted to see his teacher. I was able to distract him and we laughed a lot before we got ready. We stood outside working on different exercises. I took the exercise that the eye specialist gave us and adapted it by using the hood of my jacket. I had him look at my face and we counted to five with the hood of my jacket up and then repeated the exercise with the hood down. This helped him to concentrate on my face and that even with the hood up I was still mommy. We went back and forth with this several times and him breathing in between. I want him to be aware of his body and how he can calm himself during the day by breathing and redirecting his own energy. When the bus turned the corner he reminded me that he wanted to go to school and “mommy pick me up” so he could go to the dentist. I told him I was going to call the dentist to see if we could get an appointment today. I saw he was talking to the aide on the bus as she buckled him in. I wondered what they talked about. I thought perhaps it was his tooth. I let his teacher know that the tooth was still not out but I was going to try to get an appointment and I would let her know if I was going to pick him up. And I told her he wanted to make sure I let her know that he wanted to go to the dentist. I called his dentist but she was out sick today but they were going to work us in when she got back. Fortunately, his teacher let me know that his tooth came out at school and it was in his backpack. He let me know it was in there as soon as he got off the bus. He also told me that it was “tractor Wednesday” and that boy was determined to go. He told me he wanted to go to the dentist still but I told him he didn’t need to go now. He also was very interested in making a gingerbread house. I told him I thought that was pretty cool and that we would make one soon. We got a snack and then set off to see the tractors. We spent several minutes there but then he set his sights on going to the park. I told him we could go but only for a few minutes since it was so cold. He said, “it’s the park with the telescope I’m a pirate.” He was upset about the equipment being wet but I am trying to let him work through it. It’s hard to hear him scream over the swings and slides being wet but I need him to understand that it will dry. I gave him a tissue to wipe the few raindrops off and he kept squealing but he will learn it is all part of nature. I pray it will become something he can handle. He said he wanted nuggets and I said not today because I don’t want him to think every time we go someplace he gets food. He then said he wanted fish. I told him if he didn’t talk about blue pants tomorrow with his therapists we could go to the same places and then get fish. We did the “fairy” before he went to bed so he wouldn’t worry about it again all night. He hid his tooth numerous times before he was happy and then told me “the fairy was coming.” I waited a little bit and then fairy switched it to a coin and lollipop. This time he only wanted one lick and was done. We worked on more of his eye exercises. This one is clapping and similar to how I do the hand exercises with him so it’s a good transition for him. The night went quickly and I was thankful he was eating more now that his tooth was out. He was ready for his Thursday and I’m hoping it is a great day for him on his favorite day. Let happiness wash over you and fill your heart with gladness. Smiles to all and donut daze!
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