"A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2015."
Roan: four months old on the 15th! But I only managed to snap this photo within the last week. He is gaining more and more strength and learning, with much concentration, to move his hands toward desired objects and back again in the vague direction of his mouth.
Afon: he is whittling me down to my sour old core, revealing every ugly sin, every deeply-engrained and selfish luxury. God delights in breaking us down, little by the little, and I would all but despair if I didn't know that His promise is to put us back together again, better than before.
I took no portraits last week: a combination of visitors, excursions, and having my hands full with Afon.
On Wednesday, we had Afon's IEP meeting, and he will be starting school in a special needs class on the 24th of August. I am so relieved. It's like seeing the end of the desert after creeping from oasis to oasis. The end is in sight! We'll get help; he'll improve; the worst is over (I hope!).
And I mean the worst. He has been biting; rage biting. I'm scared for Roan and scared of what happens when he bites the dog in the face, and the dog decides to bite him right back. I'm bewildered, wondering what has happened to my sweet little boy.
I'm keeping you guys in my prayers.
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of time kids his age have lots of frustration. Yarrow's been frustrated, but she can say "I don't think I like you right now." and "I just need some alone time." ...she can also kick her little legs and sob her heart out. :p Afon can't communicate as clearly..he's had a crazy year. Lots of moves, a new baby, a sick mama, a faraway-daddy..and especially his own interior isolation. As sucky as it is, it kind of makes sense that he's biting..I think his classes will help a ton! It might take a month or two, or it might be right away, but they'll help. So will him knowing that his mama can love him through this -even if she doesn't like him very much right now ;).
ReplyDeleteIf he bites the dog, he'll probably either get bit (not necessarily a bad thing!) or scared by a big mean snarl. If the dog's used to kids, and patient, it probably won't be a bad bite, just enough to 'punish' him. If the dog doesn't do well with kids, I'd try to keep him away as much as possible..it seems unfair to punish a dog for defending itself, but Afon does need to survive this rough year!
Yarrow and Luba play "the biting game" where they run around screaming snarling at each other, and Luba grabs Yarrow's arm in her mouth and pulls her around. She only puts the minimal amount of pressure on Yarrow, despite the abuse Y heaps on Luba.
You guys are all very much in our prayers!
Oh that does sound like a tough and scary time, I'm so glad for you that the oasis is in sight!
ReplyDelete