I want to add that last night I was able to eat dinner with my family again! When my older son started to act silly, I moved so I wasn't sitting across from him, calmly explained why, and told him I would try to sit across from him the next time we were at the table. His behaviors trigger the scared child(ren) inside of me a lot which is why I don't usually eat with them.
But that's not all. After dinner my boys started their usual run-around-the-house (inside) game. This also triggers me because it's loud and noisy, however, I don't mind them running to get energy out. I usually just leave and let them keep going. But last night, I decided to try to stay with my family. I told them we were going to do puzzles instead (we have a huge variety- floor puzzles and wooden kids' puzzles), so after some reluctance by my older son, we were all on the floor doing puzzles. The younger one did his own puzzles and helped us with the bigger floor puzzles by the end everyone was working together. The last one we did was "Fox in Socks" and my older one read us the quotes from the book. I can't believe he's old enough to be reading on his own, but I am loving it every time I hear it.
I helped my older one clean his room. Then, after both were ready for bed, I read to my youngest. He has one of his books memorized word for word and "read" it to me. The stages of learning to read are so fun to watch. I wish all days could be this good. Today my husband and kids go back to school and I have plenty to do. I hope that the evenings can keep going well like this and while they do I shall enjoy them. And when they don't, I shall try not to beat myself up about it too much. Anyway, thanks to those of you have been listening and celebrating with me this weekend.
