Brain gym and empathy

Bright Eyes has begun a thing called Brain Gym which is kinesiology or something like this. Personally, I'm not completely up on how it works - only that the muscles of your body connect to your brain, and somehow by working specific muscles in particular exercises you can help your brain make connections which will help you.

That's all fine and dandy, but the thing I really want to share with you is that Bright Eyes has progressed in 3 sessions from not wanting to go in, not talking to the lady, not doing anything she asks, and not even letting her come near him, to being able to hop up on the table, let her touch him and follow her instructions such as 'push your feet', 'pull your toes', 'breathe in and bring your head up', 'no, not so much, just a little bit' etc.

It was amazing to watch him cooperate with her and even enjoy her company this week. I'm delighted.

His little friendship at preschool has continued. This morning when I arrived his buddy said, "Oh, you brought your Thomas again. I asked my mum for a Thomas and she said No no no. That's not fair." Bright Eyes agreed. "No, that's not fair."

Not ready yet

We tried to beat the heat today by riding in our airconditioned car to the airconditioned Powerhouse Museum where we thought we could have a few good hours of exploration.

Unfortunately, however, we realised Bright Eyes is not ready to hit a venue so full of stimulating sounds and sights. We could literally see him getting flooded. He turned bossy, controlling, anxious and loud. After a reasonable attempt for the rest of the family, we left for icecreams and headed home.

Maybe we'll try again next year.

Bushwalk resilience

During his big sister's harp lesson today, Bright Eyes and I went on a short bush walk. I enjoyed it. He didn't!

"Can we go back to the car now? We have to go home now. It's finished. I'm not going on a walk. It's not walk time. etc" He frequently tried to stop, turn around and run away.

I kept my mouth shut and stood close to him, offering my hand. At one stage I squatted next to him, held him close and just pointed in the direction we were intending to go.

He fought verbally, but didn't resist too much physically, so we did make it down the track a little ways and then back.

Half way down I stopped and said, "Hey, if we close our eyes we can listen to all sorts of sounds." He stopped for a bit, listened and said, "I can hear an eagle."

It was a good exercise in resilience for me (making it happen with guidance rather than force or entertainment) and competence for him (doing something he didn't feel confident about and succeeding.)