Sunday, March 4, 2012

Turning 5 and the birthday party to come

At the end of the month Alvin turns 5 years old. It’s going to be a pretty big deal to us but I’m not sure if it will be to him.

We have family making the trip from AL to NW Washington to spend a few days with us see the kids and see what he has accomplished in the gym.

Wednesday night when I was talking to one of the parents they asked if Alvin was excited about his upcoming birthday party and that’s when reality came crashing down on me again.

I’ve talked to him about it and will let him go and pick out the decorations (plates, napkins, ect) with what ever theme he wants but I have to wonder does he get it? If you ask him what he wants for his birthday he doesn’t answer and just continues with what ever he was doing at the time.

With all the progress he is making sometimes I just wish he could/would tell me things. I would love appropriate answers to questions.

He did however tell me he wanted chocolate cake last night. Baby steps but I can take that!

In so many ways he and Elliot are at the same level socially. I can ask Elliot the same questions and she just looks at me and smiles or laughs. Even when they play they do things very similar. Their play time normally involves playing tag and laughing at each other or playing peek-a-boo under a blanket where the laughing never stops. There isn’t much speaking other than the occasional “NO”!

So even though Alvin turns 5 years old, I am reminded every day that he still has a long way to go to catch up. He is around 2.5 socially and 5 years old physically. I know this is completely normal and should get better as he gets older, but  sometimes in the moment it's hard to take.