Learning Self Control

Last Friday my parents brought my two nieces down for a weekend of kid-filled chaos. Four children, all under the age of seven, three of them girls. The bitchiness was unbelievable!

Ian made me so proud. When play time escalated to loud arguments over a toy, he calmly took his LeapPad and headphones to another room and did his own thing. He did not participate in many arguments or get caught up in the doldrums of competitive attention-seeking. He regulated his emotions and his sensory needs extremely well. An outsider would call his escapist behavior rude; my husband and I wanted to stand up and cheer.

On Sunday, after my family departed, he asked to play on the computer. On one hand, I wanted to let him as a reward for doing so well with a house full of guests. On the other hand, he needed to spend some quality time with our wonderful new Boxer who was adopted into our family on Saturday. I suggested he take her for a walk. To my surprise, he jumped at the chance and completely forgot about the computer for the rest of the day.

On Monday, I waited for the explosion. We had friends over to play in the afternoon, went to the pool for an hour, then rushed to eat dinner and head to Kung Fu. He was exhausted when we finally got home and went to bed with great delight, as the dog climbed in bed with him.

This morning, I walked gingerly to his room to awaken him, only to be surprised with another great mood. He hesitated to go to school, wanting instead to stay home and watch t.v. After I probed a little, he admitted that he really wanted to spend some time with me. Awwwwww.

As a special treat I am picking him up from school for a lunch date at his favorite restaurant. Then, at his request, we will spend the afternoon playing checkers.

Have we passed the meltdown stage? Has he really learned how to monitor his feelings well enough to avoid becoming overwhelmed? Time will tell, but all of my fingers are crossed, whjmic is uhy i annm hvg trbl tyypppinng!


Bedtime: I'm glad I wasn't holding my breath, too. The meltdown has occurred, only this time it was not nearly as bad as expected. It's still progress. He says he doesn't want to live with us any longer because Steve made him end his bath early. Except for the growling while curled in a fetal position under a towel, I'd say it was more of a typical 6 year-old throwing a tantrum for not getting his way. Not bad.