Thankful Friday

Today I'm thankful for movies. Specifically kid's movies. I've always been fond of them personally, but over the last year and a half movies have created a language for Owen and me use to communicate. Movies have taught Owen empathy, emotions, how to dance, and most importantly - words. He's learned words consistently from watching movies beginning with Toy Story (the only thing I really forgot to include in that collage up there). He laughs, he copies them, - he straight up acts out the movie as it happens. He gets obsessed with movies and we watch them 84,000 times for as long as he's in love with them and then we move on to the next adding the former favorite to our collection for roadtrips to be revisited and loved all over again.

I know, I know, TV is bad, he shouldn't watch that much, I shouldn't let him get obsessed with things, blah blah blah. Listen, I personally - and by extension this blog - believe that parenting strategies are good for the people they work for. There is no one right answer. One family may excel and love co-sleeping, or letting their kid's pick out their own meals - another may have the baby sleeping in their crib from night one, or the kid's only eat what is served to them as a family with no exceptions. I believe you do what's right for you. That's the winning strategy and advice in my opinion. It's the only advice I ever give to friends that are becoming parents. You do what works for you. If you know in your gut that something is right for your family and you have some naysayer lecturing you on how horrible it is - laugh in the face of danger and do it anyway (yes, I just referenced Lion King). And don't judge others simply because you have different ways of parenting. If both people's kids are living a healthy and good life - nothing. else. matters.

Back to the movies and the TV shaming - I let Owen and Mac watch movies and TV. Some days none at all, other days they'll have something or other playing most of the day. Deal with it. They play outside, they color and fingerpaint - they do normal kid things all the time. But they also watch movies. Owen has always focused in on movies like nothing else was happening in the world (he apparently gets that from his mama). We've gone through a hundred different favorites and obsessions and at the end of the day, I don't see him watching a lot of TV. I see him playing with it in the background some days, safely knowing his favorite thing is there with him, and other days cuddling with me when he needs to calm down and watching a princess movie or Mary Poppins, learning to speak when nothing else could get him to talk. Having watched other kids quickly surpass him vocally, I was and am happy to put on a movie that gets him to try new words (or any words in general). And when it's over, we'll go play with pipe cleaners or make brownies together. It's what works for us. And that's all that matters.

I'm grateful for those movies forming a connection with my son that didn't before exist. I'm grateful they have taught him how to speak Whale, how to make ambulance sounds ("bee bo, bee bo.."), how to hold your breath at the exciting or stressful parts, and how to dance while a creepy voodoo man sings incantations. I'm grateful for the things that he doesn't even know he's learning but is ingesting none the less. Like going after the life that you were made for, committing to be there for your family and friends no matter the obstacle, that his Mama and Daddy will ALWAYS come for him, that having what you need is far more important than having what you want, to be kind to everyone, and a little imagination can go a long way. For all the lessons he's learned so far and will learn in the future - I'm grateful for them.

Thankful Friday

Today I'm thankful for having had the opportunity to begin a new year of my life with a new perspective. I (like everyone) spend so much of my time thinking about what I need to do for me, my sons, and our life as a family - that I rarely if ever think about what I can do to make the lives of others better. After my birthday this week, I've decided to make that a bigger part of my life and incorporate it whenever I can. I have already told you that I plan to make food to take to the homeless once a week, but I'll also continue to tell people compliments whenever I think of one - because who doesn't like hearing they look really pretty? Or having a stranger second and support your clothing decision in the dressing room? I'll be trying to do what I can to think of others whenever I can.

Mind you, this is not to say that I won't also spend time focusing on myself or my family. Doing too much of a good thing can lead to bad things if you aren't trying to keep a healthy balance. Moderation and all that, yes? I also don't want you all to think that I write about these things to tell you how amazing I am or how you should all spend every minute of every day thinking about how you can do acts of kindness. My goal with this is to make myself a better person. To be more - and do more. This isn't about thanks or recognition. I want to do these things because I know I can, and that I should. I hope that if you start doing acts of kindness or charity that you will do them for the right reasons as well. 

I hope you all have a great weekend, I'll be spending the rest of today getting things ready for my son's birthday party and the weekend enjoying time with him, my other little one, and my newly returned husband. Until Monday, here are a couple things for you to enjoy and fiddle with:

The Perfect Paper Airplane

The Good News About Cancer

Einstein Didn't Fail Math

15 Things Worth Knowing About Coffee

Thankful Friday

This week I've been thankful for the immense progress Owen has made in recent months. Only about six months ago we were really concerned he may be autistic (which we could still find out is the case one day) but he has made so many steps in the right direction that it makes my heart leap. Even as recently as September Owen never had showed interest in other kids or played with them (he was periodically curious about his brother but even when they played in the same area it wasn't together), his vocabulary was then still not more than 40-50 words, and he was having on average 2-6 major meltdowns a day (we're talking inconsolable for at least 15 minutes and sometimes for over an hour, all over not being given the correct cup or the pink fork, etc.).

Now his meltdowns are few and far between, having been replaced by truly minor temper tantrums compared to what I had been dealing with. His vocabulary is over 200 words at this point and while he still hasn't quite learned how to create sentences, I can see he's starting to grasp it slowly (lately he tells me, "Cape on," and has me put on his little superhero cape from the dollar store). He plays with his brother and his cousins now for the first time ever - which basically makes me want to watch in wonder for hours at a time as well as cry just from the pure joy of seeing him finally enjoy this milestone that so many others experienced so long ago.

He's still incredibly picky with food, and has his rough days when things get too intense for him or we break too far from his routine, but seeing him make these strides is still so fulfilling I can't help but repeatedly say "thank you" every time I see him do something I've been working on with him for the better part of a year. We're on a break from his speech and occupational therapies right now but soon it'll be back on track and I look forward to seeing him continue to show us how amazing he really is. :)