When I miss posting for a few days, the list of things to write becomes too big and I procrastinae, which of course makes it even harder to initiate. Where can begin? In the past week, we've done family portrait, another church visit, pulled out Christmas tree, dentist, some Christmas shopping, celebrated Grandpa's birthday, another ABA doctor visit etc... My calender is full and I am practically a Mom/personal manager taking kids to appointments everyday. Sean calls my minivan "Mommy Bus" and it really is!
Today, Sean's class had a gingerbread decoration party and both Mike and I went to see him at school. When I walked into the room, he was quietly playing with a toy and I snuk up behind him and gave him a kiss on his head. He did this face, drawing his chin in, smiling, and was very happy to see me there. After a while, Daddy came and gave him a big hug from behind. He was sooo happy to see Daddy at school. He burried his face on Daddy's sweater and was smiling big. We decorated a small gingerbread house using white icing and candies. It was interesting because most children in his class did not go nuts seeing all those candies there. I expected that many children would just shove candies in their mouth but most children didn't! We had a good time. Sean was concentrating very hard and very careful when spreading the icing. He put minimal decorations on the house, so I helped a little with that. At the circle time, they sang and danced. He knew all the moves and it was really cute to see him having so much fun with his friends and teacher.
On church hunting - Mike and I have decided that it would be nice to introduce children to the world of faith. We don't have a preference to what sect or religion, so we randomly visit the churches nearby. We went to The Unity of Bellevue two weeks ago and we liked it. It is a dinky looking church from the outside, but it actually is spacious and beautiful inside. What we liked about the church is that they are open to different beliefs - like they had a Ravi preach there on the day we went. They also emphasize on meditation and that we could really use. We liked the calm and welcoming atomosphere and we have decided that we'll go back to it this week. Last church we went to was a little Baptist church and it was a wee bit too traditional for us. The people seemed nice, but it was pretty much a classic church lady galore and the average attendees' age would have been above 70. We sort of felt like we could suffocate there so left before the paster began his sarmon thanks to Alyson (she cried at the nursery and the lady brought her out). We are excited to have found the church we like and looking forward to going back this Sunday!
Saya is sitting up very well now and can last a very long time without falling. She has developed stranger anxiety and you should have seen her today with the ABA doctor! She was terrified! She puts her arms out to the side when she wants to be picked up. It's so cute to see her lean all these new skills. She still hates tummy time and wonder when she'll learn to crawl.
The ABA doctor visit went well. One line he told us taught me all that I was missing. "You are working so hard running around giving him feedbacks when he's acting badly and quiet and unengaged when he is behaving nicely!" Well, I get it now. I have to change the way I think and work the opposit way than I am used to. I feel better about this method. The doctor said the fact that he is behaving nicely elsewhere means there is something wrong at home. I feel bad that I was reinforcing bad behaviors by giving him attention, even it being negative. This ABA thing will take a while to succeed but I owe it to Sean for all the wrong messages I was sending.
The discovery of the week: Sean can do almost anything by himself!! Let the kid do it himself and reward him with a sticker!
