Reflections

So much has been happening. White Chocolate Beetroot cake is a bad idea but that is about the worst that has happened so far this week (touch wood).

Annie and hubby had a wonderful time away together in the city.  I linked to his comments in my last entry.

While they’ve been away Heidi and I have been enjoying our time together also.

At the doctors surgery Heidi walked up to me and said “I love you too”, I responded “I love you” and she said “TOO!”  very firmly   It was such a gorgeous moment, all unprompted and unasked for.

We went to ALDI and had a great time.  Heidi did not try to run away or scream or meltdown.  Admittedly we went during a quiet time but that planning made for an outstanding success of grocery shopping.  Heidi helped me put things in the trolley and helped me unpack it onto the checkout belt.

After ALDI we went and got our hair cut.

So much in one day I expected meltdowns, haircuts are a very stressful experience for both of us.  Heidi got her fringe trimmed with no fuss at all.  Then it was my turn and much to my amazement Heidi sat happily on the floor beside me and coloured in while I got my hair cut.  I pushed my luck and went for an eyebrow wax and we had no problems.  Heidi sat on the chair and watched in wonder as the eyebrow hair was ripped from my head.

I’ve given Heidi a little backpack to keep her snow hat, chewy tube and sunglasses (to protect her eyes from overstimulating Christmas decorations which are already up!).  Having her own bag has given Heidi much more ownership of her special things that help her to feel safe and calm, she can pull them out when she needs them and put them away when done.  So far it has been very successful.

Both girls helped me hang out washing yesterday.  Heidi calls the pegs ‘clips’ and has great fun putting the clothing out to dry – I have a couple of clothes airers that the girls can easily reach to hang things on.

Today Heidi stood on a chair beside me as I washed the dishes.  I gave her a tea towel and passed things to her to dry.  Very quickly she had worked out what was going on and was picking and choosing things to dry from the dish rack.

So proud of her.

Also makes me realise how much I’ve been letting past bad experiences limit what we do.   I have to start pushing my boundaries again and Heidis also.

I’m also figuring out this backward chaining thing to make a successful experience.

Backward chaining is where you complete most of the steps and let the child do the last thing themselves, thus successfully completing the task.  For example I still dress Heidi each morning but I let her put on her own socks – thus success.  Next step will be to let her pull up her pants and put on her socks.

I’m going to apply backward chaining to Pre-School which we’ve been having trouble with ever since the sessions increased from 2 hours to 2.5 hours. Instead of picking Heidi up early from now on I’m going to drop her off late.  That way she stays until the end of the session and it is a successful finish.

In Annie news.  We were using some public toilets recently and the hot and cold taps were not marked with red and blue dots. Instead they had ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ written on them.  Annie looked at them both and then said “Kh is cold” and turned on the cold tap.  She looked at the other tap and said “Hh is hot”!  I’m so excited watching this next stage of language develop.

Pictures

From September 08

Annie back from city with new sunglasses and Hello Kitty doll that hubby got her.

From September 08

Heidi with new sunglasses and “My Neighbour Totoro” tissue box cover that Hubby got her. She wears the tissue box cover as a hat

From September 08

T-Shirt hubby got for me. Hell Boy Shirt he got for himself. Generation Kill book, Metallica Skull Candy Headphones and Dexter Season 2 DVDs I got for him.

From September 08

Me in my new shirt!