The week of March 22; In which we see Pretend Play Progress

The weekend

I finish all my cooking really fast on Saturday and there is  still a lot of the glorious Sunny Saturday left

DH and I have worked like maniacs and ALL our work is complete

OMG how beautiful the sunny neighborhood looks

We simply have a lovely time - lolling about in the trampoline- R and I - playing our silly games

R commanding me to sleep - then I wake up at the count of 10 -  I count all the way to 9  -

Then build up the anticipation ..

R wrigles and squeals and says 10 giggling .

At which point I wake up suddenly  with a lot of drama and tickle him

The games are very childlike- we-have a great time though

Another game is making me sing - he will command me to sing Jingle Bells .. midway through - he will demand I switch to Rudolph the red nose.

He gets a major kick out of this and wil giggle and squeal as I switch songs "on demand"

Then we hold hands and run - till he says STOP ... then he says GO and we run again

The sound of his laughter is like nothing I can describe

So delightful - it fills my heart !

We ride his bike and R does this pretty well . Its a small trike that my friend gave him last summer

He needs the gravity  but does relatively  well

R insists we" back"( bike ) to Ucy's house ( lucy's house )

So we do

Lucy is back after a back breaking day of selling her frig and buying a new one

She is off for more good works and is off to an old lady's house who lives in our neighborhood

She says "Bye darling" to R and to my surprise he replies "Bye dar-ing"

She is looking so tired that while she is off - I go back home and leave a big bowl of Minestrone soup  and Parmesan cheese  for her and Eli's dinner on her porch

I always think Food cheers up people

Later in the night she calls me on the phone and the spring is back in her voice :-)

It really feels lovely to do something nice for someone ( though I feel too goody goody gum drops for words - even typing this )

Sunday

Our Hanen speechie  is to comes home today for a video session

We are supposed to show a game that we play with R -

 this is an impossible task - We pull out this game and try to play with R - the idea is to put the alphabet on the picture that it starts with so to put "m" on the picture of milk

R gets this quickly and finishes off the puzzle...... by himself ( which is not the point AT ALL )

However, when we try to take turns with him... its like pulling teeth

he slumps - his whole body limp  - in an act of passive resistance


Our Hanen speechie  gives us an idea - just to give him the patience to do the game - to keep it really short

We write on a sheet of paper -

1. R's turn ,
2. Mom's turn,
3. Papa's turn
4. R's Turn
5. Mom's turn
6. Papa's turn
7. All done - get 3 Junior Mints

We cross off as each turn is done and we do OUR FIRST TURN TAKING GAME

Yippeee

She also had many other  great tips

While reading a book describe what HE is looking at ( not just read the book as you think it should be read) This is FABULOUS example of the Floortime principle of following the lead and an example of how many of the principles that encourage communication are similar in Hanen Floortime  Sonrise and RDI

DH has made a book  called "My Family " where he has put pictures of R and all the people in his family with a description of each picture - like a picture of him and R with a description of who they are - and some simple things they do together - like eat lunch on Friday at the Mall.

This is a masterful idea

R loves this and I think we will soon have a library of "R books "

Do video modeling - so do a pretend play sequence - with  some dolls - make a video and show it to him
Then see if he can copy the sequence. Her theory is that .. he would start to add his own variations
I am eager to try this out

We also show her what we do with Wii Fit - she loves it and gives me some great ideas

1. Create a disruption - ( example : put the remote on my head instead of in my hand )
2. Put my face right next to the screen
3. Speak less and with HIGH affect

Tuesday

T his therapist is here after many days

R makes a big fuss of her - holding her face, stroking her hair  and kisses her cheeks in that charming way he has - T asks me if she can take him home

DH has found the 100 calories popocorn snack bags - I tell him that the 100 calorie bag is just as satisfying as the 220 calorie bag

This of course reminds me that I could be using the same principes on the dreadful Wii Fit that is ruining my eveining

And so I set the timer for 40 minutes

And we are able to have a lovely time on the trampoline as a result

R still has a lot of something that looks like Separation Anxiety-

 I go off for a quick walk while he is eating his little snack after dinner - when I come back I find R snuggling on the couch with DH tearfully saying Mother mother

He is very reproachful and I have to humbly woo him back.

Wednesday

Today is the one day when we can have a date lunch - DH is in his last Hanen class - and he is late coming back

he tells me to meet him at Bravo's  and order pig for him

its 12.15 by the time I get there and we get a rotten table and I have to sit by myself and order our meals

This is not my idea of a date lunch at all - for I love to chat in a leisurely fashion- not be starving and shoveling the bread in my mouth without regard for calories or grace

Still its better than nothing

I am full of reproach at how late he is but cannot say anything as he is after all, coming from a Hanen  class- "doing all the works" as he tells me righteously

As soon as we get the meal - we  have to ask for a box and the check...

While his therapist is here - the front door opens and shuts ( DH has asked someone to come to estimate new windows )

 R runs down and is very releived to see I am still home.

He simpers at me happily and walks backwards up the stairs with his therapist - so he can look at me till the very last minute 

E smiles and says "was there ever a child who loves his mama more "

Really we are  very very blessed to have R as our  child 

He is the best thing ever 

The great thing i am noticing with Pretend play these days is that R repeats what I did yesterday

So if I had Annie and Leo dolls play "Ring a ring a roses" he will try to do it again

This is wonderful - guess who did bedtime with us today

Yes - its Diego

He does not have an original repertoire but he finally truly gets pretend play

Thank you god

And now I must go to sleep because tomorrow is another long day at work