Progress {TBT}

Originally posted 2 years ago in June of 2012…thought I’d share again for TBT while my baby has progressed all the way to kindergarten…

__________________________________________________

God has a way of moving at just the right time, doesn’t He?

Just as we started our course to teach the Empowered to Connect parenting material to other parents, Lydia stepped it up.

The yelling. The hitting. The going from 0-60 in seconds. Throw in a bite or two, and that’s been our world for the last month.

Plenty of opportunities to practice what we’re learning. And, that we have.
Giving her the words to use (“I can see you are mad. That makes you super mad, doesn’t it?”… “You don’t like when I do that, do you? You can tell me that.”).

Giving her the redos (“Wait a minute. What don’t you try that again.”).

And, giving her a stop sign when warranted (“Lydia, you need to stop that right now, and use words that we can understand!”

We have so much to learn.

A few days ago, my invitation to get in the bath wasn’t accepted, and she was angry. She looked right into my eyes, bent over with her arms flung back, and yelled out, “I…want…to…hit you!”

“Thank you for using your words! Good job!”

She still had to get in the bath. But, she got some praise and a hug first which unnerved her enough that the anger dissipated.

And, yesterday, she snagged something right out of Mark’s hands with a “Let I have dat!” Mark simply looked at her with a message she clearly got, and she handed it back and said, “Let I try that again,” and then asked for it.

Progress.

And, today, as Mama went out to breakfast with some other adoptive mamas (a breakfast that didn’t bring me home until 2pm), she soaked up time with Daddy, asking to be held “like a baby” and falling asleep in his arms for 25 minutes. Tonight, she wanted him to feed her her bottle, and she laid close to his chest while he held it for her.

Learning to use words. Redos.

Progress.