Ithe meantime, I've been doing as much as I can from a chair. Joshua knows most of his letters and can count from one through three, and six through thirteen. I can't convince him that he should acknowledge numbers four and five. He's got impressive fine motor skills and absorbs things like a sponge, as most kids do! So I started writing down words so he understands that letters actually mean something when they are put together. What better way than to start with his name? Then I had him trace each letter. He was really good for his first try! I really wish I had a camera!! I'll try and take a picture later on John's cell. At least I have a whole whack of pictures already stored on the computer. I'll have to make use of them. A blog without pictures is...well, a blog without pictures. And I prefer visual enhancement. ;-)
Yesterday I got to feeling guilty about Joshua being cooped up so much during the week, so I asked him what he wanted to do and decided that I'd do whatever he said. I can afford to over-do it on Wednesday nights because John's off on Thursday so I can recover. He said "outside!" It was the answer I dreaded, but guilt can drive a person to do crazy things, sometimes. The guilt was unmerited, I suppose...after all, I need to get better. Our life will improve tremendously when I do. But I struggle with guilt often, because there's so much I want to do NOW.
Well, we found our shoes and sandals and were out the door in five minutes. No sooner did we leave then I realized Joshua had a dirty diaper. I decided I wasn't going to spoil his fun by making him go back in the house, so I just hoped nobody would be disturbed by the mildly offensive odor. I looked around for something fun for Joshua and easy for myself. I scanned the neighborhood. The baseball game! We live kitty-corner to a baseball field and as on most summer nights, there was a game. We headed over and I held Joshua on the top of the tiered seats and he watched in fascination for a long time, occassionally yelling out with excitement.
For myself, I was rather disappointed, listening to a group of angry fathers complaining about the game and being poor losers (in 'honor' of their sons) in general, yelling out to their kids to try harder, stay focused, etc. in threatening voices. I was grateful they didn't use profanities. Joshua is such a parrot these days.
After a while, Joshua turned to me and said "no baseball," so we meandered over to the tennis courts, then basketball. The park across the street is a great place to take Joshua. When he isn't fascinated by the sports (and there is ALWAYS a group of guys playing basketball, from sun-up to sundown), he can run around in the trees and grass, finding acorns, sticks, and chasing squirrels. Here's a picture I took of the park last summer- it's the view from our front lawn:
By the time we reached the middle of the park, I realized we were pretty close to the library, so we went in and read a few books. I tried to explain to Joshua that he needed to be quiet, but this seemed to make him louder. "Library quiet!" he shouted excitedly. I started to feel bad for all the noise, especially when one lady's cell phone rang and she even left the building to answer it. It was close to bedtime anyway, so we left after reading through a few books. It gave me a chance to sit and rest.
A hundred feet from home, my right leg started to malfunction and I forced the panic back. Twenty feet and both legs were malfunctioning. I started scolding myself for going so far, but really it wasn't so far at all. Just in my world. I let go of Joshua's hand and asked him to stay close to me, and I dug my fingers into a few trigger points. It got me to the front door.
We got inside and Joshua phoned John at work to tell him about our walk and to request sound effects from John's audio board. Firetrucks, ambulances, police cars and animals. John is great about it, playing as many sounds as he has time for during a call. Joshua requests one after another, and when he runs out of ideas, he starts all over again.
When Joshua was ready for sleep, I put him in his "big boy bed." I tried a few months ago but he wasn't digging it. I couldn't blame him- the bed is in a different room, where the walls are painted bright green, decorated with Thomas the Tank Engine decals and brightly comforter, curtains and accessories- it's altogether lovely. But also very strange and unfamiliar to him. So I spent a lot of time with him in his new room over the last few days, reading books on the bed and getting familiar with the space. I think the wall decals helped the most- he loves to go in and look at them. I ask him what their names are. He knows them all.
While Joshua was eating dinner earlier in the day, I went upstairs and moved his favoured stuffed animals, pillows and blankie into the bed, set up a side rail using two white shelf pieces that do the job perfectly- and asked Joshua if he wanted to sleep in the crib or the "big boy bed." He chose the bed and to my surprise, he fell asleep almost right away and stayed there the whole night. He hasn't napped there yet- his nap today was in the van on the way home from an appointment. I think that might be a little trickier, since he fights naptime tooth and nail most days. We'll see.
When I'm able, I'll post pictures of his room.
No comments:
Post a Comment