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Saturday, July 21, 2012

It's the Little Things

To some of you tonight's musings and thoughts might seem insignificant, but that is one of the things that happened when we had Abby, the little things became huge. We've learned to not take things for granted.

I've talked before how we are trying to give her a bit more independence - a little more freedom, but we are also trying to encourage her to learn to do things for herself. As many of you know, Abby isn't the most patient person. She also doesn't have much endurance when it comes to a task that she finds difficult. Too often she is quick to ask for help, sometimes without even giving it a go. Whether it is trying to find things, setting up her play area just the way she wants it, or even just getting the iPad to do what she wants, she often needs a helping hand. Today though, she did a great job of doing things for herself.

She has this toy that plugs into the TV and allows her to see herself on the screen while it plays music she can dance to. As you can imagine she loves "Abby TV", but to save battery life, after about 15 minutes the camera will turn off. This usually will illicit cries from Abby for help. Today I noticed that when it popped out she went up to the machine and pushed the red button all on her own - and got it working. That was huge, but it wasn't enough. She wanted to hear the music and so she called for help, but instead of coming to her rescue I simply told her to press the green button. With an, "Oh, okay, Mom," she turned around and found that lovely green button and magically produced music. She proudly exclaimed, "I did it, Mama!" and proceeded to grove and laugh at herself on the TV. I can't tell you how proud I was of her.

There were other moments during the day when she did for herself, like when she followed my directions and found her superhero mask all on her own, or when she was watching her iPad and she changed programs - without a peep.

I love watching her accomplish things all on her own because she's not only learning how to do things herself, she's learning that she can do things herself - and that is even better.

A big bowl of popcorn and coloring while wearing a bathing suit -
yep, it was a good day!

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