Mikey’s November Recap

This has been an up and down November for our beloved Mr. Mikes.  He’s making some impressive progress in some areas and he is struggling in others.

On the positive side, he’s so independent these days. He is doing lots of little things for himself without even being asked, like washing his hands if they get messy or letting us know that he is heading up to bed for the night. He’s expressing his wants and needs so clearly and he’s making some solid progress on being patient and handling small changes in his day.

That said, he’s also been refusing to take the bus to school, trying everything in his power to get to stay home with us.  In fairness, home is a relatively low-demand environment. It is very predictable and safe, by design, but that does make it less appealing to go to school where they will challenge him and ask him to step outside his comfort zone much more often.

One morning, the two of us arrived at school, in my car  – BOTH of us in our pajamas.  Luckily, Mikey’s school is designed to help kids get through tough phases like this. Despite my minor embarrassment (my major embarrassment is reserved for stuff way worse than pajamas), they just walked him inside, carrying his backpack and a bag with actual clothes for the day and off he went.  He came home in his day clothes, so…let’s call that a win? 

But

As is so often the case, you can be having a really tough run and then your kid does that one thing…the thing you secretly hope for, but don’t push too hard because it is really their choice.

He sat with us at the Thanksgiving table for 20 MINUTES AND he ate foods that were already there as part of the family meal (accompanied by raw baby carrots, freeze dried strawberries and craisins).

With Will home from college and Mikey joining us at the table, this was my favorite Thanksgiving so far. I will treasure the memories of this day.  

Wish me luck getting him on the bus tomorrow as we kick off a whole new month of craziness!