Sometimes though for Hank…well, he’s my sensory kid. He gets overwhelmed pretty quickly by noises and chaos in general – it can all be a little much for him. So, all this extra noise and lack of space has been an adjustment for him. I needed him to have a way to tell me when he needs some quiet. He needs something to say besides ‘all these people are driving me crazy.‘
So, I told him to tell me that his elbow hurts. I told him ‘when everything gets to be too much just let tell me that your elbow hurts and I’ll know you need some space.’ Ingenious right?
I also used this idea when the boys were toddlers to get them to keep their hands off of their business. You know how toddler boys are.
Really Mom?
We took the kids to Gatlinburg the week after our foster kids moved in. It was pretty ambitious. Maybe a wee bit too ambitious. After the stupid long car ride the last thing we wanted to was to look for a restaurant without a big wait for eight people. Luckily, No Way Jose’s – this fun Mexican joint right on the river – could take us immediately. We gratefully sat down with the knowledge that churros were in our immediate future.
After that car ride though Henry’s ‘elbow’ was really hurting. Like, this kid needed elbow surgery his elbow was hurting so bad. I took him outside and we looked at the river for awhile.
I told him ‘It’s pretty loud in there, isn’t it buddy? I know this is hard on you. You can tell me anytime things are getting squirelly and you want to talk about it. I mean, really baby, what do you think about all these HUGE changes going on in your life?’
He sat for a couple minutes and thought about it and said ‘Yeah, it’s hard sometimes but at least there are Churros.’
Well, we’ll always have those won’t we. It’s his depth and mindfulness I enjoy the most.