Saturday, March 10, 2007
An *a-HA* Moment from a "seasoned" mom
It is interesting how time and distance makes you forget things. Parker was most definitely a high needs child, but with time, and with reassurance, he has become a very independent child, to a point that I don't think of him as still high needs. Ironically, as I just shared with some friends a list of high needs child traits, I STILL saw Parker in them. And he's 5!
For example, supersensitive -- just Wednesday at the Homeschool meeting/Gardening party, he was finally able to be convinced to try and dig in the dirt, and was able to enjoy it until .... he saw his hands were dirty. We had to immediately go in and scrub-scrub-scrub the sap from the roots off of his hands so he wouldn't melt down. At five years of age.
And intense -- Thursday evening, as the night routine was getting prepared, he was watching Animal Planet's Funniest Animals and laughing SOOOOO loud. When I told him it was time for it to be turned off (the show ended, and it was time to eat, clean, read, etc.), he cried and carried on, even saying "I'll never watch TV again!!" This is NOT an isolated event solely about the television or the time of day. This can happen first thing in the morning over which cereal I suggest he eat or if I tell him he cannot have a lollipop as his breakfast.
Jumping down to constantly feeding, he is always snacking, and probably has about 6 or 7 mini-meals a day. Maybe even 9.
Some of the others ones aren't as noticeable to me anymore or no longer even an issue, but the above three still manage to bug me some days more than they should, because I've forgotten that he will always be "high needs" or "spirited". I'm really glad to have gotten a wake up call, and a validation that he's NOT doing this to make me crazy!!!
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