Sensory Update

I was just thinking about how great Jake did on our vacation this weekend.  We drove up Saturday -- and he played and read books in the car.  It took like 7 hours, and I didn't even bring the DVD player -- when he didn't feel like reading, he just looked out the window and watched the world.  Very cool.  The drive back on Monday was fine, too.

We stopped at McD's three times over the weekend to let Jake play on the playground and get a little exercise.  He used to be scared to death of playing with other kids, and would take like a half hour to get warmed up enough to actually play.  But each time this weekend he went straight for the playground, tolerated the children around him, and even talked to and made friends with some.  This is such a huge improvement and it really gives me hope that his social anxieties aren't hopeless.  (He DID get upset a few times and tell me that other children "hit" him, when really they just were going by him and bumped him.  I guess his bubble of personal space is still too big.  LOL.)

Jake also did really good playing with my cousin Kim's kids.  And when we visited my Uncle Steve, Jake played with my cousin Caleb (who is . . . 11?).  Last time we visited, Jake didn't want to play with him at all.  Jake ALSO sat at the table and played cars and legos with my uncle, and usually Jake does NOT warm up easily to men.  Although Uncle Steve is just 11 months younger than my mom, and there's a definite resemblance -- so maybe Jake sensed that and felt comfortable because of that.

There WERE some things over the weekend that upset Jake.  He missed his Lucy dog.  He did tell me a lot that he wanted to go home, but it wasn't as bad as last August.  He wavered between hating the Super 8 we were staying in, and thinking it was a lot of fun.  The messiness and clutter of my uncle's house really bothered Jake (but somehow having all his toys in our living room floor doesn't bother him?) 

Oh, and he ate CONSTANTLY and slept a lot, which leads me to believe he's about to hit another growth spurt.  (yikes.)