As most of you know, we have started Infant Stimulation, Vision and Physical therapies. Still waiting on Occupational and Speech. The processes are long. It’s a good exercise in patience.
Yesterday was a particularly tough one. We had VT at 8:30 and PT at 11.
Stevie was having none of it. Not interested, crying the whole time, protesting everything we tried. I know he’s at an age where fits are the norm, but these therapy sessions are packed with fun stuff that he just couldn’t care less about. His attention span is that of a fly and his stubbornness is that of a mule. His patience is non-existent. (Wonder where he gets that from?)
So we are working on that. I was told I need to stop “rescuing” him too. When the therapist said that, I felt my defenses rising, but I took a deep breath and completely understood why she said that. So I agreed. And I will make a conscious effort to do it.
It’s hard. When babies cry, you want to help them. Subconsciously, I probably do it even more because I feel bad for all he has to deal with. Mostly I just want him to stop crying! In the long run, I’m not actually helping though. He’s not an infant anymore and the only way he will learn is to do some things for himself. It will build his confidence too. I am realistic about what he is capable of and I don’t expect him to dress himself or feed himself, but if he wants something, he can crawl over and get it instead of screaming for me to do it. I expect this will make him angry that I’m not doing things for him. Well, such is life little Stevie! I always swore I’d never make excuses for him, so this will be a test for both of us.
has something to hang onto while he watches Sesame Street. No more lounging around for this guy!
Stevie is not learning by leaps and bounds as I secretly hoped he would, but little bitty progress is what we get excited about around here. And we are seeing little bitty progress here and there.
We have an appointment in 2 weeks with an orthotics specialist too. We are anticipating that he will get little walking booties or ankle braces, his feet are so flat and his ankles or so unstable. So we’ll see how that goes. When I first heard he needed these, I was like “Great! Let’s do this! The sooner the better!” Totally gung-ho. But I honestly wish he didn’t have one more thing like that to worry about. It’s been making me anxious the last couple days. I’m trying to remind myself it will all be for the best! Everything we’ve done thus far has been.
I know it will.