The Little One

Day 14: Wedding Band

Since I already used Michael's wedding band for an assignment, here is mine.  The hand it's on spends a lot of time tickling tummies!

Before I get to the little one, let me just tell a quick story.

True story- The moment after I flushed the toilet the other day I knocked a toothbrush into the toilet.  We of course hoped that it just went down, but indeed it did not.  It's just that kind of week.  

Since I can't put up photos of his face- I took some others.  

His Feet

I forgot the name of this character- created using marble track parts.  

His Hands

Well- the little one.  A positive- his tantrums are subsiding.  He is starting to respond to structure/discipline.  The first week he would throw himself on the ground every time we said no or wouldn't let him do something i.e. walking off big toys at the park.  Yesterday I took him to the park and I of course wouldn't let him walk of ledges.  Instead of throwing a tantrum he actually just started whimpering a little- woo hoo!  We are down to probably 2 or 3 on the ground tantrums a day- previously it was probably 20 to 30.  

He is also smiling and laughing a lot.  He started that after a couple days here, but I'm glad it's continuing.  Maybe I'm being hopeful but I think I've heard a few new syllables out of him in the past few days- hoping those turn into words soon.  I may not have mentioned before but at 17 months old he only has 3 clear words- hello, goodbye, and yeah.  He seems to understand a lot of what we say, so I'm hoping he progresses in speech quickly.  He also has been sitting to read books with us over the past couple days- yay!  That is a big step for him- so I am pleased.  I almost punched the pediatrician when he told me that if I wanted the little one to start talking more I should read to him and then he gave me a book to get me started.  Uhhh- have you seen our place?- we have three bookshelves full of kids books.  Believe me we want to read to him.  Now if you can figure out how to get him to sit down and read a book without throwing a tantrum or throwing the book- let me know!

The negatives.  Although he sleeps for at least one nap a day and mostly through the night it is still a struggle getting him down.  He almost always screams in anger for a minute or so before lying down.  I know that's not very long, but I feel like I'm torturing him every time.  And on Monday he spent  half of the night screaming at the top of his lungs- our poor neighbors.  We were hoping it was because he was sick not because he was finally showing more emotional trauma.  Thankfully last night he slept through the night so I'm hoping for the best.  

  

We will hopefully be meeting with the social worker next week so we can get more details about the case- we know almost nothing right now.  I would really appreciate prayers for patience.  I don't have that and I really need it.  It's a real struggle with Tristan right now- he never listens (literally never) and has been doing a lot of misbehaving.  Some is a result of the little one because Tristan thinks it's his job to constantly tell him no, yell at him, take things away, etc. and some is behaviors that were developing prior to his placement.  I have not had my finest mom moments over the past week.  And Michael of course is out of town for a couple days again and let's just say I am not a good single parent.  I am going to pray for patience for myself and really work on setting more boundaries for Tristan.