The week is over! I have to say, this was a really relaxing week.
The kids were well, Edda had a short days at school and Vince had no
school, so there was almost no rushing in the mornings, we got to
take our time and make it to school, no problem. Today was the last
day of Edda’s 2-week intensive therapy at her school and on this last
day, Vince fully participated. We had slowly encroached on Edda’s
school activities until Vince finally realized that hanging out with
Edda’s class was more fun than anything I could offer.
Here’s Edda with her teacher Ms. Eden before class started.
Then there was occupational therapy with Alan, balloon grabbing
and kicking and tossing.
The best part of the class was the finger painting part. Oh what
a mess. You see Vince making the mess too? Vince is great at Edda’s
school. Most of the kids in Edda’s class are not verbal and some of
the kids are a bit odd with their unusual behaviors, but Vince take
it all in stride. Today he sat next to J. (the blonde kid between
Edda and Vince) and for most of the class and J. would be tapping or
grabbing Vince’s shoulder or arm over and over again and Vince would
calmly take J’s hand in his own hand and hold it for a while until
his hand calmed down and then let it go gently – all without
looking away from the story that Ms. Eden was telling.
In the afternoon, we went to our therapy center for a session,
Edda had a nice time and Vince joined in at the end. Sometimes when
I go to this therapy place and I wait in the waiting room, I listen
to the other moms talk about their kids and I can just hear the worry
about their kids and I usually want to tell them to put it all in
perspective and that it isn’t all bad. Many kids who go to this
therapy place seem to have no visible problems. They seem to
walk/talk/play well while they wait in the waiting room. I know
that some problems are invisible and a few minutes with a kid won’t
tell you everything that it complicated with their lives. Today
there was a mom there who was worried that her daughter liked playing
by herself alone in her room and that, even though she’s completely
affectionate with her parents, it takes her 2 or 3 visits with a
person before she feels comfortable enough to open up to the new
person. Her daughter is very bright, just likes keeping to herself
(an engineer perhaps?). The mother was actually so concerned about
this behavior that she could not consider having another child
because she isn’t courageous enough. The other mom was concerned
because her son goes up to other kids on the playground and yells
obscene words at the other kids, but can’t figure out why no one will
be his friend. I know that everyone’s problems do fill up the space
in their heads so even if you have a small problem but it’s your only
one, you can brood about it forever. I’m still hoping that someday
Edda will be able to climb stairs and say a few words, or if she
can’t say anything, I’m hoping that we’ll be able to figure out a way
to understand each other. Maybe somehow indicating a yes or a no to
a question. That would be great.
