Sometimes I have to laugh. WINK's anxiety waxes and wanes and, right now, we are in high tide territory, indeed. Our night-time routine consists of three stories, tickles, 110 kisses, and at least one question ("Do I feed my fish tonight?") asked three different ways. Very often, DAD and I will send the little tyke to bed only to hear a knock on our door a few minutes later. Why? So he can ask the same question again, or make sure he did, in fact, get 26 kisses from DAD. Or maybe he will just have a string of questions he needs to get out or a series of statements he has to say. Needless to say, WINK is a tired little boy in the morning because it takes so long for him to turn the volume down in his brain.
A good friend just recommended a simple hypnosis technique to me. She instructed me to give WINK a small ball to hold in his hand and have him toss it to the other hand, back and forth. The idea is that the activity stimulates both sides of the brain and, therefore, reduces anxiety. GREAT! I rushed home, gave him a ball, and waited for the magic to happen.
Well, he liked the ball. And he did seem less anxious. He went to bed smiling, in fact. Unfortunately, he didn't go to bed before asking me every question he could think of about the ball's color, construction, physics, environmental science, the origin of myth, the secret of life, on and on. Really, I'm only exaggerating slightly.
WINK just poked his head in my room. "Mommy, I just realized I didn't tell you good night." (YES HE DID!!!!!!)
"Good night, WINK."
"I love you." (Yep, we covered that, too).
"I love you, too"
"I wanted to see if you were still working." (Yes, he's still going...)
"Yes, honey. I'm still working."
"Well, you don't have to tell me that because my eyes already told me." (@#^&#%!)
"Goodnight, sweetheart."
"Goodnight. I love you.... (Yeah...this goes on for a bit....)
I will have him try the ball trick again soon. As soon as I'm ready to relinquish the ball.
No comments:
Post a Comment