I can't remember where i left off on my beautiful dragon saga BUT this is where we stand now...a much better place, with much better prospects on the horizon. Yes Layla Rose still has a speech delay, and yes she still has sensory deficits, and no it will not fix itself over night. but with the interventions we have been doing there has been so much progress. Lets begin with the fact that Layla Rose has the BEST an I mean BEST daycare educator in the world ( for her), under her guidance and incredible patience Layla has been able to learn coping skills for stressful situations. Her speech therapist is a godsend. We tried a few , but Stacey Knect is just the best for her, she has kids of her own, and she is a young mom who gets it. She never makes me feel like a failure as a mom and she just LOVES Layla Rose. Ann Zilderbrant is her Occupation therapist and has given us so much hope. She thinks that the sensory deficit is only temporary and will pass, that with calming techniques and as her vocabulary increases she will be able to better vocalise what is bothering her and when she has had enough. and Alexandra Rothstein is her Behavior Therapist who helps Eric and I to better teach and cope with the behaviours associated with a speech delay and sensory deficit. PHEW! That's a lot and you think it would be enough but it hasn't been. Let me explain...all of these interventions have been fabulous and helpful in many ways; and the TEAM of people helping us to raise our precious and beautiful daughter are fantastic, but as parents we were failing our daughter. It was all being worked on and fixed etc...but our objective was to "fix" her and something was missing. But in the last 10 days we have had a revelation in our home that has changed everything. Have you ever heard of Dr. Shefali Tsabary? No? well let me tell you folks, if you have not had the chance to read her book "The Conscious Parent: transforming ourselves,empowering our children" Then do it, if you can attend her seminar, do it. If you can do anything that has her theory and philosophy then do it. This woman has changed our lives for the better. Now you may be saying ...ya ya another book, who needs that. but I swear if you read it and GET IT you will change everything you know about yourself and your parenting. DO the seminar and within days of her plan you will see EPIC change. Dr. Tsabary philosophy is about connecting with your child on a profound level...in ways you never knew you could connect with a little person. I am not even going to try and explain it, but she opened my eyes to a world with my daughter i never even knew I was missing. Layla Rose has been home with us now for 10 days and we have both been implementing her philosophy and techniques and we have never cried so many tears of joy. We have been able to do things and enjoy it together, things we dreaded before, things we hated doing...like going to people's houses and crowds, playing with other kids etc. We have had moments of love and joy that I thought we would miss out because Layla Can't express them but I was wrong. We have connected to our little spirit and we will encourage her to be her own person, to let her spirit be what it wants to and to just be happy she is with us.
Don't get me wrong, this technique and philosophy is hard, first they make you work on YOU, analyse your upbringing and how it affects you. That's hard, They help you to give up the picture in your head that you think your child will become and replace it with the joy of the mystery of who they will grow into ( that was really hard, its hard to give up the dream you have for your kid and let the unknown take its place) It teaches us to connect, be quiet together, and to just be. its emotional, overwhelming and quite frankly not for the faint of heart or for those who don't want to put in the work. But Holy...Holy...Holy. I don't even know how to explain it. But if this work like this on a child with special needs, I can only imagine what it does for the normally developing child. Anyways ...Mom's get the book, do the work, and live in a calm and joy you never knew you could have.
Chapter 2 LOL...
In doing this with the Dragon, it has helped to change me as well, I must say that I have had to put running on the back burner and zumba because it was time to do an all Layla Rose all the time moment. But today I went back to Zumba, my knees still hurt like hell...but since I have been working out on the elliptical I was at least able to keep up cardiowise. I haven't been losing as much weight as I want ( only 4lbs in three weeks). But this is long term, I don't have the freedom to go to the gym as much as I would like but that's ok, because i accept that I am int his for the long haul...6 years to get my bachelors LOl..I am all about the long haul. Having said that though there is only 46 days until the race and I better get going!! so back to running, ibuprophen and k-t tape..oh yes!!
I will do this...I will get there...slow and steady my friends!
I just want to end this blog with a special shout out to my parents...especially my Mom...as I read this book, do the seminars and the inner evaluation, I realise that there is so much you did by instinct! So much of this theory seems to be natural to you and I just want to say a big old THANK YOU for doing your best. There is no such thing as the perfect parent, lord knows as a Mom I know we are just figuring it out day by day and hope that our kids don't hold it against us. I think the perfect parent is one who doesn't give up on us and loves us either way. So THANKS and I LOVE YOU!!
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| SO..in keeping with letting your kids spirit develop...it was either let her get soaking wet in the sprinkler.....or be sad. Sprinkler it is!!! |
