NSA Parent 3

Wednesday, June 26, 2013 - Next Step Day

Today has been another great day! God has taken the doubts of yesterday and lovingly reminded me why we are doing this and how POWERFUL HE IS!

Today Joshua was very excited to be at Next Step when we arrived, so excited that he was jumping up and down with shallow breathing. However, as soon as he was asked to hang up his backpack, he was very upset. I wondered about how his day would go. I thought about how big of a change this is for him and how confusing it must be to work in the summer, to work with a school one day, mom the next, to work in a space that has always been church to him and a place for fun and free play. Wondering about the day, I left him alone with his precious therapist Reyna, preparing to come back later for my training session.

When I came back, I found a different child! Joshua seemed much more settled, relaxed, and happy when I got there in the afternoon. He was happy to see me and not anxious about me being there, which was a change. During our time together with Ms. Reyna, I got to see several things…

• I got to watch Joshua pick up a weighted ball over his head and giggle with sounds of up and down.
  
• I got to help “make a hamburger” on Joshua and watch him look at me in the eyes and giggle while we pushed on him, tickled him, made swishing motions on him, etc. He loved it and he was very engaged!
  
• Then Joshua wanted the rice. Immediately, he started trying to climb in!!! He put his foot in, but while he actually climbed on top of the tub, he never got the nerve to climb all the way in. I can’t wait to see the change in this area! We ended up making lazy eights in the rice with both hands and giggling while we did it.
  
• Joshua was able to have art therapy, where he made a self portrait of himself and cut out hair. We experimented with mirrors, drew circles on paper, and sang songs together. The cutting blew me away!
  

As I was sitting there watching Reyna work with Joshua on cutting, I was both studying what she was doing and watching Joshua in amazement. He has already developed a love for that sweet woman. He was leaning into her today in the sweetest way! He definitely had to have hand over hand help to do the cutting with regular scissors, but at one point Reyna let go and he CUT TWO TIMES BY HIMSELF! As he did that, I found myself both excited and a bit sad. How many years of work have gone into those two cutting motions? How much work have his past teachers done with him on cutting? Is that something he has done before? Or even every school day? I remembered hearing about adaptive scissors when he was younger, but I can’t remember any mention of cutting in the past several years. I am sad that I have no idea whether that was a big accomplishment or not. It hit me at that moment how very little I know about the last 9 years of Joshua’s life. It hit me how segmented his life has been – with skills he has learned at school and different skills he has learned at home. It hit me again just how BEAUTIFUL this year would be with us bridging that gap between home and school by working together. Oh, I am getting excited again!!

And just as if to confirm that excitement, God gave us a big moment this evening at home to celebrate together. Joshua came downstairs with one shoe on, so I have no idea whether he took one of or if it fell of accidentally. However, I saw him limping and told him to take of his other shoe. At first, he started trying to pull down his pants, so I pointed at his shoe until he looked down, and then I told him gently to take it of. The next moment was THE BEST! I WALKED AWAY TO DO SOMETHING AND JOSHUA TOOK OFF HIS SHOE ALL BY HIMSELF!!!!! undid the strap and pulled the shoe of without me being next to him forcing him to do it! And what was really cool? As in REALLY REALLY COOL? I did a very big victorious hands up in the air with a “trying to be quiet so as not to scare you scream”, and Joshua looked up into my eyes with a very proud look on his face including a big, genuine smile from ear to ear and PUT HIS HANDS UP TO GET A HIGH FIVE.

At that moment, I was hooked yet again. I will do anything I need to do to make this work. I wouldn’t trade that moment and that look on his face for ANYTHING in the entire world. Joshua was genuinely excited, and I am SO PROUD of him!

Now, I am looking forward to the days ahead with an incredible anticipation… ….when Joshua takes both his shoes AND socks of by himself He actually ….when Joshua climbs into the rice and plays without any hesitation ….when Joshua cuts paper by himself

Suddenly, the possibilities which were once very limited for his future are now limitless to me. Suddenly, I see that Joshua can indeed learn and can indeed experience that sense of accomplishment that comes with hard work. Suddenly, I am praising God again for “his power at work within us” and within our son. Thank you, Next Step, for believing in our son and for giving him this opportunity to learn. Thank you for listening to God’s leading and taking this leap of faith with us. Thank you for teaching me how to be a mom to my son. Thank you for giving us moments to learn and to celebrate as we grow and play together.

Looking forward to tomorrow and the days ahead! 