The Little Things

When we brought Alex home eleven months ago Daryl struggled with it a bit. We had probably waited about a year too long to have a second child but hind sight is 20/20. When we noticed that the sibling jealousy wasn't going away we took him to a child counselor. BEST IDEA EVER
He graduated from counseling this month. Ms. Erin taught him a lot of tools and trick that he can use to calm himself down and they have all helped.
One of those tricks was his puffy jar. It is just a mason jar that we filled with Pom Poms every time he was using his best behavior. We never took puffy's away and when he fills his jar he gets a treat. It takes him about a month to fill it so it is not a really big expense and it is a visible reminder to him to be polite and try to avoid tantrums.
He still has tantrums, he still gets time outs but he is also four and they are not as bad as they were 11 months ago.
This last time he filled his puffy jar he wanted to get a bicycle helmet! He is so funny sometimes! So we went to two stores to find the perfect helmet. He has a big head so a lot of the cartoon ones did not fit him. He didn't melt down and just picked the one he liked the best that fit. He wore it ALL WEEKEND. He even wore it in the house and in the car! Every time I asked him if he wanted to take it off he would tell me "No, I'm being safe!"

 Daryl is his own child and while some times he makes me want to scream, most of the time he is a goofy, loving, sweet sweet boy. Just this morning he told me I was his angel. I asked him why and he said "Because you help me breathe." Heart melted!

I was one toe away from finishing my pair o socks! So instead of finishing them I started a sweater. It is like my body is allergic to finishing things. It literally hurts to finish. But starting a new something feels soooooo good!!!!!!