Answering Mickey Mouse

Today my son answered Mickey mouse for the first time and I cried.

We've been watching Mickey Mouse since he was 6 months old.

 *I know I know!*

 and this is the first time that Mickey Mouse has asked a question and my son has answered him within the allotted time frame.

 That is a huge step for us. 

That's massive. 

That means his speech processing is leaps and bounds from where it was 6 months ago and that my failures with therapy and learning to balance life really haven't been failures.

I've been looking for these huge steps because outcomes are what keep me motivated. 

Results let me know that I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing, the way I'm supposed to be doing it. 

I have to be honest though, those big moments haven't been happening. I've felt like I was failing and I just knew that Big was going to start reverting soon.

I've struggled more than I anticipated with adjusting to a new baby. He's a great baby and he's happy and we're happy but before I got to my 3rd trimester I had a system. 

A strict system with 15 minute activity allotments and 1 hour meals and 2 hour naps and dinner prep time slots. 

It was borderline OCD. 

It's what kept me on track and it's what kept me going.

Then when my 9lb baby got too much for my 5 ft frame, I couldn't sit for table time. I couldn't sing our songs and I couldn't run and play. I felt like Little had put me on bed rest and I started to worry that I couldn't handle it.

I worried and still worried and kept worrying and here we are 7 months later and I realize that I have been worrying and reaching for new organizers and making new schedules and creating new templates and none of it mattered. 

We have been doing what our family needed to do, in the time frame we needed to do it in and it is working out just fine.

Maybe for this first year, we just need to learn about each other and just... live. 

Maybe we can survive without the schedules and specified play times. What if he doesn't need sensory bin time at 3:30 or Action recognition practice at 4 everyday?

Obviously, it's good to have a schedule. Kids need consistency and an understanding of what to expect but I think I'm comfortable now with loosening the schedule a little. I think I can let go of the every 15 minute template.

 I've seen the big step and notice some big changes without it so I think I can just let us "be" .

I don't know how I never added "Answers Mickey mouse " to our IEP goals list J but now I know.