Happy and Compliant

Isaiah has all new teachers, therapists and teacher assistants this year, except for his physical therapist. This group doesn’t know what he is and isn’t capable of which I thought would be a negative thing. The first week of school he had two big falls so I thought I might be right about that. However, I am learning that since they don’t know his limitations they are pushing him to do things that I haven’t and that is turning out to be a very good thing. It just now dawned on me that I limit him too much and automatically say “he can’t” when maybe he could, or at least maybe he could with lots of practice and support. I jump in and do too many things for him, carrying him around, anticipating his every need rather than letting him get frustrated when he can’t tell me what he wants. I’m sure I won’t change overnight, but I’m praying God will remind me to push Isaiah harder with patience.

Yesterday when I picked Isaiah up from school, one of his teachers said “Isaiah is doing so well. He is so happy and compliant all of the time.” I said “Crazy teacher says ‘what’?” Actually, I said “That’s great to hear,” but I’m sure my stupefied look showed my surprise. After school I took him to a speech therapy appointment for electrical stimulation of his facial muscles. My little friend was anything but happy and compliant there and after the first five minutes the therapist and I were both exhausted. He finally calmed down and we decided maybe he had used up all of his happy and compliant vibes to work hard at school that morning.



















Isaiah giving a hug to a tired Micah
Speaking of using up happy and compliant vibes, Micah has kind of hit the wall this week with exhaustion from the transition to middle school. The first two weeks of school they eased the kids into class transitions and homework, but they pulled off their kid gloves this week and the homework started rolling in. We let him goof around a little too much on Tuesday afternoon and evening and he ended up racing to get homework done at the end of the night. Yesterday I told him he had to do 30 minutes of homework and unload the dishwasher before he could have a friend over. From his expression, I’m pretty sure he thought I said he had to read War and Peace and clean the whole house before his friend could come over. He grudgingly plodded through and then called his friend who wasn’t able to come over for an hour. I asked why and Micah sheepishly smiled and said “He has to do homework and chores before he can come over.” I may need to send that child’s parents a fruit basket for parenting awesomeness that helps me not look like such a meanie.