Afternoon fussiness is back with a vengeance in our home. In the mornings, my sweet little Doodlebug wakes up smiling, giggling and excited to be awake. By afternoon, he is a fussy, nothing-will-console-me-but-keeping-trying-mama crazy man! Kid, you're supposed to feel refreshed after a 2 hour nap!
The other day we were cuddling in Mama and Dada's "big bed" post mid-day nap. Doodlebug's big eyes were staring right into mine. After 20 minutes, I thought we should get up. The conversation went like this:
Mama: Should we go downstairs and get a snack? Something to eat?
Doodlebug: No, no eat.
Mama: We can get an apple.
Doodlebug: No, no apple.
Mama: We can watch a Daniel Tiger.
Doodlebug: No, no Tiger.
Mama: We could play with our blocks.
Doodlebug: No, no play.
By this point, I'm losing my gentle mommy patience. I'm thinking about the dinner that needs prepping and laundry needs to go into the dryer.
Mama: Well, baby what DO you want?
Doodlebug: MAMAAA!
Heart MELT! You can bet we stayed in bed cuddling for another 20 minutes.
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Friday, March 7, 2014
Going Out with a Bang at Speech Therapy
Well yesterday was a rough day for Doodlebug and me. We had our last speech therapy session (that insurance would cover) and I was hoping to end on a high note since the last session went so well.
But that is not what happened. At all.
Doodlebug never really "took to" this therapist in the three sessions that we've had with her. She's very knowledgable and I respect her observations on Doodlebug's language development. But she has been kind of rigid (ha! Yep, using that word against THEM now) in her therapy with him - insisting for 15-20 minutes that he play with one specific toy even when he has shown no interest in it, telling me not to look at him or comfort him unless he is interacting with us productively, or with the toy with which she's trying to encourage play, etc.
The therapist kept commenting on how long he was continuing to be upset. She has noted in the past that no other children have taken this long to warm up to her. That felt like a huge judgement, like there's something wrong with my kid because he doesn't like her. He wanted mama and my ignoring him only made it worse. One touch or stroke of his head and he would have calmed down in seconds.
I get that he needs to learn self-soothing strategies for himself, but SERIOUSLY, he's two years old and we were in an unfamiliar place with someone he didn't trust. I don't think his behavior was odd. And I'm SO MAD at myself for listening to the therapist, ignoring my kid for 20 minutes and putting him through such an upsetting ordeal. She may be a speech expert, but I am an expert on my kid. Yesterday was a huge lesson for me. Wherever this road takes us, I will never let someone tell me to ignore my kid. NEVER AGAIN.
But that is not what happened. At all.
Doodlebug never really "took to" this therapist in the three sessions that we've had with her. She's very knowledgable and I respect her observations on Doodlebug's language development. But she has been kind of rigid (ha! Yep, using that word against THEM now) in her therapy with him - insisting for 15-20 minutes that he play with one specific toy even when he has shown no interest in it, telling me not to look at him or comfort him unless he is interacting with us productively, or with the toy with which she's trying to encourage play, etc.
The therapist kept commenting on how long he was continuing to be upset. She has noted in the past that no other children have taken this long to warm up to her. That felt like a huge judgement, like there's something wrong with my kid because he doesn't like her. He wanted mama and my ignoring him only made it worse. One touch or stroke of his head and he would have calmed down in seconds.
I get that he needs to learn self-soothing strategies for himself, but SERIOUSLY, he's two years old and we were in an unfamiliar place with someone he didn't trust. I don't think his behavior was odd. And I'm SO MAD at myself for listening to the therapist, ignoring my kid for 20 minutes and putting him through such an upsetting ordeal. She may be a speech expert, but I am an expert on my kid. Yesterday was a huge lesson for me. Wherever this road takes us, I will never let someone tell me to ignore my kid. NEVER AGAIN.
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
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