Sick of bad news? Me too. So I'm taking a different angle.
Lately, I've noticed my seven-year-old Rooster hitting the kind of milestones you might not be able to appreciate fully unless you love a child with special needs. So, I bring these jewels to you, hoping to find an audience who will understand the unabated joy in some of these less-than-typical milestones. Give us a shout out, will ya'?
- While out of town for a reunion, Roo tells me, "I miss my Iron Man costume. Where is it? I have not seen it. It's LOST..." I say, as I often do, that it's not lost, it's just not here with us. It's at home. Then, he floors me. "What part of the house is it in? Maybe we can find it later."
- While visiting with his infant cousins, he patted them on their heads and told them they were beautiful. Then, he looked at his toddler cousin whose hair has grown long and lighter than it used to be. "Do you remember when her hair was dark, mommy? I miss her dark hair."
- A few times a week I ask my little guy how much two and two make. Almost every time he counts on his fingers. This has gone on for about 14 months or so. Last week I asked, and he kept his hands in his lap. "Still four!" He beamed at me.
- My boy started to read in first grade, but about 20 times slower than his teacher would like. He. Sounds. Things. Out. At. His. Own. Roostery. Pace. An "I Can Read" Book at Level 1 could take all night. In the past few weeks, he's sprinting along at a new pace. And forget just sounding things out, he read "laughed" and "peace" without pause. He read about 6 books before bed and still went to sleep at a reasonable hour.
- Monkey bars represent an enormous obstacle to my low-tone boy, but he made it across three rungs the other day for the very first time!
Maybe only some of these make any sense to you, so let me just say my boy is showing signs of developing temporal understanding, better abstract reasoning, more ability to plan, more interest in others, improved strength, and improved academic skills. We feel like his most recent eye surgery has helped his vision and his visual perception. And he's getting cuter all the time, reaching a level of almost impossible cuteness.
So isn't that awesome? Much better headlines than you are going to find elsewhere this week, if you ask me.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Those are awesome headlines! I especially related to the one about monkey bars. C has NEVER been able to do those without help and all of a sudden a few weeks ago I watched from afar as he did them. I have NO idea how or when that happened. I was stunned.
And awesome one the reading. Just AWESOME! Go Rooster!
This.is.all.kinds.of.awesome! YAAAAAAY ROOSTER!!
It definitely is, indeed, awesome! When my daughter complained a while back about the extreme heat here and stated she was "melting" the little guy ended up coming over to her and touching her arm, then her legs and looking at her, quizzically, as he asked her "Is you kidding me, Mama? Is you jes kidding?" So, confused, she asked what he meant and he said "You is not melting." So, now we know he understands the meaning of the word "melting." Little tiny steps to most people but those those of us dealing with kids who understand things differently, it's huge and also so wonderful to see when these things happen. Thanks for writing this as maybe it helps others understand better the challenges you and others face and it also shows so many of the joys at the same time. We are blessed, ya know, truly blessed, to be part of their growth.
Post a Comment