Milestones

I’ve been noticing some changes in Girlie’s behavior lately.  When I noticed this particular event I put it down to a rare occurrence that has been repeated a few times over the years.  When I saw it a second time within several days, I wondered if something new was happening.  The third time, I decided it’s a trend.

Girlie has reached a milestone in her maturity that has given her the ability to be patient and tolerant enough to play with her niece for more than just a few minutes at a time.  Of course, it also has to do with the niece’s maturity level, too, because she’s five years old now.  Madee’s speech is much easier to understand than even a year ago, so that helps, but she still has a big imagination and makes up stories that her Aunt Girlie just didn’t have the patience for even a few months ago.

Over the past several weeks, Girlie has colored with Madee, offered pictures from her favorite coloring books, allowed Madee to play as an equal when Girlie had a friend visiting, and asked her older sister for permission to brush Madee’s hair – which she then proceeded to do very thoroughly and neatly.

Now I’ll go back to the month before I noticed these things.  Girlie’s OT and I have discussed an interesting phenomenon a few times over the years; we’ve noticed that when a breakthrough is made it is usually preceded by difficulty with behaviors that had previously been overcome.  Remember back in November and early December when I mentioned some particularly violent meltdowns?  Unfortunately, this doesn’t mean I can predict which things will be mastered according to which setbacks Girlie is having; there has never been a discernible connection.  It’s all happening inside her brain where we can’t see and possibly, or probably, even Girlie wouldn’t be able to articulate what’s going on.  It doesn’t matter, after the fact; we’re all just happy when progress is made.

Does this mean Girlie will always be able to tolerate being around the younger kids, now?  No; in fact there were a few times during the power outage when folks came over to get warm and Girlie disappeared.  That’s another sign of maturity, though – removing herself from a situation before it stresses her out.  That’s a milestone anyone could be happy about!

Not a milestone I aspire to, but one by which I am very much impressed! This group of folks knitted enough fabric to cover the entire mile-long maze in Saffron Walden, Essex, UK.  Wish I could have seen it in person!