Change of Plans

Its been about 15 days since my last post and I honestly can't tell you WHAT I have been doing but I can tell you that I have been busy. It's not a big secret or anything like that. I have been working and I was preparing for the Thanksgiving holiday. I put up our Christmas tree. But other than those measurable things, I have no clue. I think that's the life of a Mom. You are so busy with the raising of children...but most days there are no measurable outcomes. I can't point to a specific thing that James can now miraculously do that he couldn't do yesterday. BUT, I can tell you, for example, that I have been focusing on teaching him the act of asking for something he wants rather than demanding it. It takes diligence which can be exhausting! Add to that the needs of a family like someone to do the laundry, cooking, cleaning and paying bills and I am spent. I have even let our daily lessons go to the wayside. And I had a realization today: When we do school in the mornings, it is the only time of the day when James has my undivided attention. I don't know whether to laugh or cry about that. I am now wondering if that is why he has been so, hmm, spirited lately. I must get us on track again and to do that I must set limits for myself. My biggest distraction is the cleaning that needs to be done at home. I get to straightening the living room and the next thing you know I have started more laundry, folded a load out of the dryer, emptied the dishwasher, threw something in the crockpot, rearranged some knick knacks and messed around on Facebook...while James is watching yet another episode of Dinosaur Train. Yep, I gotta set limits for myself so that I giving some of that energy to James each day.


We had a very nice Thanksgiving and one of the things I am most grateful for is the visit we had from Lisa DeMarco and her son Jonah the day before Thanksgiving. She is a homeschool Mom and a physical therapist who works part time. She had emailed me that she wanted to meet James and I was happy to have her come over. She was wonderful and gave me her opinions about the toe walking. She thought it seemed like a rather unusual case of toe walking because most kids have some other issue that causes it like sensory issues or muscle tone issues. But not James. Prior to her visit, I had cancelled our appointment with James' occupational therapist. I just couldn't justify going when all they would do was an evaluation. Well, I know the outcome of that- he still walks on his toes! Lisa thought that daily stretches and possibly braces would help. The braces would be worn at night to encourage muscle stretching. We agreed that some yoga would be a great thing to add to our weekly activities. She was going to do some checking around and get back to me. James liked Jonah and they ended up outside playing baseball for a while. I love me some homeschooled kids!