Since Andi has determined she really enjoys the stimulation of the WWE wrestling drops on the couch (standing on the couch then falling to it), I decided to take her over to Catch Air today for some bouncy-house, play-gym fun. Andi was practically running from object to object. She was so excited, she could barely contain it. She was giddy! I think this was the fourth time I've taken her over there. I noticed she's gotten noticeably stronger & more confident. Today, she went down the slide by herself (I went down the slide next to her!). She climbed a lot of structures, she even went to the back of the bouncy castle and jumped, fell backward, climbed over everything. It was pretty impressive. The only real concern I have is not only her social skills, but my social skills as well. Andi gets grabby, tries to hold onto someone's leg or pull off their socks, and I assume it's to get their attention. I told her she needs to keep her hands to herself, 'no touch!' and am working with her to use her words. "Hi, I'm Andi... wanna play?!" Hopefully that will enable her to reach peers easier, with less resistance. However, in noticing Andi's behavior, I also noticed my own. I'm that Mom hovering over her child, laughing and applauding, but I'm hovering & shouting/signing commands!
"careful!"
"keep your socks on!"
"no touch!"
It's fairly annoying. I don't look at, socialize, or make any connections with other parents. And I sit here day after day wondering why the Georgia welcome wagon hasn't stopped at our door. Hmmm... maybe I'm part of that problem.
I guess I should add the thing that's really bothering me. There were these slightly older boys bringing all the padded blocks up onto this fort. Andi went up there and started "cockroaching" -- she was completely excited and stimulated. She reached out to touch a kid and he moved away from her. After a bit, he moved a block and sat on it staring down at her like she was the biggest annoyance. The other boys were busy, until at one point one of the boys looks at Andi and rudely says like a typical little boy, 'ewh, she's a g-i-r-l! He saw me stare at him when he said that and sort of straightened up when he saw that I saw/heard him be so rude. I guess the issue I had was that they weren't engaging Andi at all and it makes me worry about her future and how kids will treat her... I know her personality will win them over, but, at first... are they going to be mean? I suppose so. I suppose all kids go through some sort of harassment at some point... but as a parent, I want to protect her and arm her with every trick I know. We've already started discussing how to engage other kids. She wants friends so bad... I hope she's able to make some friends here soon. Us too. So far, this local welcome wagon has a broken wheel!
No comments:
Post a Comment