This weekend we celebrated Theo's 4th birthday!
When Theo came to us he was a tiny little 2 year old. He was scared of everything - from a ride in our swing to standing independently. He would cry and throw a tantrum in an attempt to get whatever he wanted. I remember one of the first days with us he asked for a toy that was next to him just inches out of his reach. When we told him to get it himself he sat there throwing a tantrum, refusing to move. He soon realized that wouldn't do him any good in this house though ;)
Now Theo is 4 years old! He has grown up so much since those first days. He has conquered his fear of walking and is now walking well! He is very steady on his feet and can now walk all around the house barefoot, without the help of his AFOs and shoes. In fact, we just bought him his first pair of tennis shoes that are his size, not 2 sizes bigger to go over his AFOs as his foot position has improved so much he no longer even needs the AFOs!
He is also so independent now, insisting on doing everything on his own. He is a very well behaved child who listens well and only gets into trouble on accident or when he lets Louise lead him into scrapes! Once he realizes he was doing something wrong, he feels terrible and is quick to say sorry.
Theo is such a perfectionist and always wants everything to be just right. Things that are out of place bother him and he has to make sure everything is straight and in order at all times. He will join in messy games but as soon as the playing is finished he will not be content until he is clean again. One time we let the kids finger paint in just their diapers. Theo loved it, rubbing the paint all over himself, but the second he was done painting he had to have a bath. A little later he came up to me totally distraught that he still had a tiny spot of paint on one of his legs. He kept whining and pointing at it till I washed it off for him!
His perfectionism is great in some ways and really hinders him in others. For example, he is horribly afraid of getting anything wrong in school and stresses himself out whenever he's unsure of something. Nikki does school with Louise and Theo together each day and whenever Louise does better than him, he shuts down and starts crying. We are working on that and have found it is a lot less scary for him when it's in the form of a game. Nikki is integrating more of that type of thing in school and slowly easing him into it and he is responding well to that. He is learning his letters, how to spell simple words, and basic writing skills. He is starting to grasp the concept of letters and is getting so good at writing them!
In my school time with Theo, I focus more on the auditory/verbal side of things. He is making very steady progress in that area and understands so much now. He follows almost all of the common commands we use around the house and is starting to understand sentences with two ideas strung together (such as, "Go get the ball and give it to Louise" or "Show me the dog and cat"). We recently got an action word puzzle and when I describe one of the pictures in a full sentence, he can almost always give me the right card. Only on a few of the harder ones does he sometimes get any wrong.
While his receptive communication is great and he understands a ton, he still doesn't really answer questions or talk much without prompting. He is getting better about it with me and will randomly say things that remind me how much he understands and knows, but outside of our class or with other people he tends to be very timid and quiet. I am trying to get him more used to talking to different people so right now we are working on basic conversational skills. I'm having different volunteers come in, say hi, and ask him basic questions which he has to answer - such as how he's doing, how old he is, and what his name is. He does it pretty well with me but so far every time a volunteer comes in he freezes up and won't say anything without me prompting it - and even then gets all fidgety and nervous. I think it's something that for him will just take a lot of time and practice.
The moments that he does open up and speak on his own are the best for me though. Every time he says something I understand, it blows me away because I realize how much he does know. The other day I was holding up pictures of different items to see what he could label. He was doing well until I got to the backpack. He couldn't seem to remember the name for it but then all of the sudden his face lit up and he said, "School. Going." He couldn't remember what it was called but he made sure I understood that he knew what it was!
Another one of my favorite Theo stories was a day in school a few weeks ago. We were going to each draw a house for an activity I had planned. I drew the square part of the house and asked him to do the same. Instead he drew an oval like shape and said something I couldn't understand. I told him that wasn't right and to try again. He then drew another oval and repeated the word. I still didn't understand so he put his hands to his mouth, started blowing, and repeated the word, clearer this time - "Balloon!" I couldn't get upset that he didn't listen to what I had told him because I was so proud that he had purposefully drawn something and communicated to me clearly what it was! We then got a new piece of paper and he drew the house like I had asked - he just wanted to try his hand at balloons first! ;) Here is his balloon masterpiece!
Theo's speech is getting more and more clear but he still has a hard time stringing sentences together. When he does, his words jumble together and he doesn't enunciate so besides the amount of syllables, there isn't much that I'm able to understand. He's slowly getting a little better though and it's coming.
Another big milestone Theo has hit recently is beginning to count! He can count to 4 consistently and 5 sometimes. He will count objects and if I hold up a certain number of fingers will say how many. He doesn't really understand the concept of counting out only a certain number of objects from a larger group yet though. It's a work in progress but he is doing really well with it so far!
Shortly after Theo came to us we took him and a few other kids to a 4D movie at the mall. He was incredibly scared and cried and screamed the entire time. He has changed so much since then (and can now hear) so we thought for his birthday we'd take him to the mall for dinner and to try the movie again. When the big announcement voice came on at the very beginning he got scared and started crying a little bit. I put him up on my lap for the rest of it and he did quite well. He was tense and still a little scared but didn't cry or whine anymore and sat through the entire thing. We were so proud of him!
While he could have done without the movie, Theo loved the rest of his birthday outing. When he realized Nikki and I were going out with just him, his face lit up. All the way out the door, downstairs, and out the gate he giggled and yelled "bye!" to everyone we passed. He was giddy the whole drive, as we walked around the mall, and during dinner. He especially loved getting to pick out his new shoes and watching the "gish" in the giant fish tank!
Here he is being hyper while walking around the mall and going up the escalator - isn't he just the cutest?!
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When we got home we gave him his gifts and had cake with the family. Once again he was so excited to be the center of attention and was all smiles and giggles. He shrieked when he saw the cake and blew out the 4 candles all by himself.
I loved getting to watch Theo enjoy his day and feel so special and loved.
I also love the fact that his birthday fell on Mother's Day this year. It reminded me how blessed I am to be a mom to Theo until his forever mommy comes for him.
As much as I love being Theo's mommy though, it is my biggest prayer that he will get to spend his 5th birthday with his forever family and next Mother's Day with the special woman who will care for him and love him long after I am just a memory. I pray for them every day. And I prayed just a little harder this weekend.
I love you so much, Theo and I pray you know how very special and loved you are.
Happy birthday.
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