Days like today always blow me away. I know that it probably shouldn't be so surprising when my kid has such an awesome day, but when it comes down to it, 90% of our interactions involve me telling him that he has to do something he doesn't want to do. You see, I have Johnny from Sunday night until I drop him at school on Friday. This means that I spend the majority of the time I have him telling him to wake up, get dressed, eat his breakfast, prepare to go to school, (a transition he doesn't do well with) do homework when he has it, eat dinner -- which is rarely the peanut butter and jelly sandwich he begs for, get a bath, (water is a trigger) brush his teeth, and go to bed. His dad has mentioned that he doesn't have a lot of the issues with him over the weekend that I see throughout the school week, but I think it is because none of the "fun" stuff happens on weekdays. The days I've had him this past week when there was no school were some of the most fun I've had with him in a very long time. I'm getting to see a side of my son that I'm not used to. I've been able to see him relax, have fun, and to a certain extent, learn to roll with the punches. I got to keep him this weekend while his dad went out of town.
Today started off nice and lazy, just hanging out and cuddling while watching a movie. My friend Corinne then joined us this morning and into the afternoon as all three of us worked on different painting projects. I pushed for Johnny to stretch beyond his typical paintings by asking him to include a background. He seemed frustrated with me, but he tried it anyway. The result was wonderful! He also worked on some homework that we had been avoiding, and after a little bit of lip about not knowing how to do it, he successfully finished the task. When it came time for lunch, he ate everything I set in front of him. Then we went to get his hair cut, which is a task I absolutely dread. (Note: here was one of the hardest times I had cutting his hair!) Not only did he sit extremely still for his hair to be cut, he even allowed the girl to use a very small pair of clippers to trim his neckline and around his ears. Our agreement before even showing up was that no clippers would go anywhere near him, but when she talked to him about it and let him listen to them, (they were tiny, I think for facial hair) he acquiesced and I was floored!
After his haircut, we went to my cousin's kid's birthday party. Johnny was older than the majority of the kids present, and he usually has a hard time understanding that younger kids can't be held to the same standards that he knows and is expected to adhere to. While I was anticipating to have to field endless problems with him, I barely had to say a word to him all day. We arrived around 3:00 and didn't leave until almost 8:00! My cousin's husband even reported to me that when he checked in on the kids, (something the parents were taking sifts doing with the older ones who were playing outside) Johnny was managing to keep it together when he usually would be melting down about various things. He handed out all of the candy he got from the pinata game to the other kids (and my aunt) because he can't have sugar. When it came time for dinner, he was polite about asking for what he wanted and even drank a good bit of water with his meal, something we've been working very hard at doing since he hates water. Usually getting him to even take a sip of water is a fight and a half. To top it all off, when it was time to leave, he didn't fight me at all! He just said goodbye to the kids he was playing with, then hopped in the car and buckled himself in.
While I spent the entire day praising his good choices in the moment, I was so impressed with the decisions he made that when we got home, I made a huge fuss. I sat him down, walked him through our day and pointed out all of the moments where he made me proud and talked about how awesome his choices were. Since I don't have the usual worry of school in the morning, I told him that he was allowed to stay up late and even watch an entire episode of his show before bed, in my room (his favorite place to be in the house) while eating a special treat to make up for the candy he couldn't have. He was in heaven, and I got to cuddle with my favorite person in the whole world! What an awesome day!
Today started off nice and lazy, just hanging out and cuddling while watching a movie. My friend Corinne then joined us this morning and into the afternoon as all three of us worked on different painting projects. I pushed for Johnny to stretch beyond his typical paintings by asking him to include a background. He seemed frustrated with me, but he tried it anyway. The result was wonderful! He also worked on some homework that we had been avoiding, and after a little bit of lip about not knowing how to do it, he successfully finished the task. When it came time for lunch, he ate everything I set in front of him. Then we went to get his hair cut, which is a task I absolutely dread. (Note: here was one of the hardest times I had cutting his hair!) Not only did he sit extremely still for his hair to be cut, he even allowed the girl to use a very small pair of clippers to trim his neckline and around his ears. Our agreement before even showing up was that no clippers would go anywhere near him, but when she talked to him about it and let him listen to them, (they were tiny, I think for facial hair) he acquiesced and I was floored!
After his haircut, we went to my cousin's kid's birthday party. Johnny was older than the majority of the kids present, and he usually has a hard time understanding that younger kids can't be held to the same standards that he knows and is expected to adhere to. While I was anticipating to have to field endless problems with him, I barely had to say a word to him all day. We arrived around 3:00 and didn't leave until almost 8:00! My cousin's husband even reported to me that when he checked in on the kids, (something the parents were taking sifts doing with the older ones who were playing outside) Johnny was managing to keep it together when he usually would be melting down about various things. He handed out all of the candy he got from the pinata game to the other kids (and my aunt) because he can't have sugar. When it came time for dinner, he was polite about asking for what he wanted and even drank a good bit of water with his meal, something we've been working very hard at doing since he hates water. Usually getting him to even take a sip of water is a fight and a half. To top it all off, when it was time to leave, he didn't fight me at all! He just said goodbye to the kids he was playing with, then hopped in the car and buckled himself in.
While I spent the entire day praising his good choices in the moment, I was so impressed with the decisions he made that when we got home, I made a huge fuss. I sat him down, walked him through our day and pointed out all of the moments where he made me proud and talked about how awesome his choices were. Since I don't have the usual worry of school in the morning, I told him that he was allowed to stay up late and even watch an entire episode of his show before bed, in my room (his favorite place to be in the house) while eating a special treat to make up for the candy he couldn't have. He was in heaven, and I got to cuddle with my favorite person in the whole world! What an awesome day!
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