Awwwww!!
That little charmer was yours-truly in 1968, at the age of not-quite-one. Look at all those lovely little icicles on the Christmas tree! So ridiculously tempting! My parents obviously didn't quite trust me not to be too enthusiastic too close to the tree... hence the artificial boundary. (If you look closely, you can see that I managed to snag an icicle or two anyway.)
I didn't exactly imagine that we'd still putting our Christmas tree out of reach with a four-and-a-half year old, but such is the way of things around here. The "safe" place for the little artificial tree (as safe as it gets, anyway) is on top of the stereo cabinet. No glass ornaments, just in case.
And yet, Joy's gotten so much better about boundaries in the past few months, starting with the oft-mentioned fence. It's gotten to the point that we are able to leave doors open to the rooms on the back hallway where she's not supposed to go, and she just... doesn't go there. Her therapists have commented on how Joy has even started to treat the square carpet in the living room as a boundary to be respected:
Maybe if things are going well next December, and Joy's dimmer switch for boundaries hasn't slammed in the opposite direction, we might consider a real tree. It's nice to be able to imagine that from here.
Meanwhile, Rose has been setting some boundaries of her own. Check out their bedroom door: Girls Club! Keep Out! Do not disturb, do not disturb! Stay out! Do not come in!
6 comments:
1968 nwas an awesome year!
So, the only one in the family that is not allowed in to the "Girls Club" would be JoyDad? Rose's cousin, KJ, also has similar signs on his door! I do think that Rose would be allowed into his room to play, despite the "keep out" signs! LOL!
I do like the arrangement of your tree. We will hope that you will get to go back to your big, beautiful, real trees in the near future, because they always looked so cool in your front window!
It is interesting to me that, ever since you put in the fence, Joy has made such a dramatic upswing in respecting boundaries. I sure can't explain it, but it is very interesting. And I am glad for all of you, for however long it lasts, that you have been able to reduce your mad dashes after Joy, both inside and outside!
-AuntieS
Boundaries are such an interesting issue, aren't they? I always wonder with Foster - who tends to wander off - what the real issue is. Is it really behavioral? Sensory? He does quite well at home, but just this past weekend wandered out of a friend's house in the middle of nowhere. Thankfully, he left the door wide open, so we knew he was gone right away. Apparently getting 7 kids together is not ideal. Who knew?
Oh dear heaven. If someone figures out the whole boundary thing with kids would you please pass it on to me? I'm afraid to even put up our tree this year. In years past, Nik was kind of oblivious. This year I'm afraid he's going to want to reverse engineer all those little lights...
Those "keep out" signs are so awesome, I've got them as the background on my desktop. :)
i love that rose has formed some boundaries of her own .. well earned no doubt
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