Humbled

As a child therapist and mother of a feisty toddler, you would think that I might have a knack for certain things like, say, getting a child to behave or engaging a child in play. Well, today, I was put to the test... not once, but twice... by two different children. 

The first humbling encounter was with a child who I have had difficulty with engaging her joint attention. I have worked with her for several weeks and have taken good mental notes regarding her interests and sensory needs. During our last session, she was all about dumping whatever she could find into water bottles, so today, I brought along a plethora of water bottles and items to stash in them. She explored the heck out of those water bottles and stirred the heck out of the water in them. She was so occupied and enamored with them that she did not look up once from them... no matter how hard I tried to find a way in to her interest. After 20 minutes, not once did our eyes meet. And I was making some very interesting noises and sound effects to try to elicit her eye contact. In desperation, taking another route, I started singing "twinkle twinkle" and massaged her legs and arms to the rhythm of the song. She didn't try to escape. So I kept singing and massaging. She sunk into a relaxed position and offered her feet for me to rub them. I kept singing, and kept rubbing. She offered her whole leg. I sang some more and then stopped. She looked at me. The first time in 30 minutes that our eyes connected. I kept singing. She kept looking. I took her feet and pressed them against my cheeks. She giggled, still looking in my eyes. I backed away playfully. She drew her feet up against my hands and pushed, still smiling. We were now playing a game- her game. We did this several times, back and forth. Our eyes connected for several minutes. She could care less about the water bottles. All she wanted was some good ole' fashioned human touch. And that was the way in.

I felt good leaving that session as I drove to pick my child up from church daycare, where I was confronted with my second humbling episode of the day. Prior to today, my child, at a whoppin' 18 months old, has been issued 3 incidents reports there, twice for biting (the pastor's child), and once for scratching (after I prep'd her not to bite... guess she listened). Today, to my disgruntlement, my child, who must know what I do for a living, was issued not one but TWO incident reports for scratching two different children. Gulp. You could imagine how my "feelin' good" bubble instantly deflated when I saw two yellow slips waiting for me at the counter. Just as I thought I found the ticket of engagement through human touch, my own child took that human touch to a whole new level- scratching the pastor's kid. Why does it always have to be the pastor's kid? Hope I can turn this around before the pastor learns what I do for a living!