Company
(Summer 2019) Oh boy. We never know how things are going to go when we have people over to the house. Thank goodness we have great friends. If Payton hits, throws something, acts out, or even if Olivia acts out, they’re all very accepting and patient. We had our friends over finally. They’ve only lived 4 doors down the street for the last 2 years. Insert embarrassed face here. As they’re coming in the house, Payton walks over to her talker and lets us know she needs to use the bathroom. Jimmy and Payton are in the restroom and he yells out, “We need a gummy bear and a new shirt.” The things you hear at our house. I’m embarrassingly explaining that Payton gets rewarded with a gummy bear for peeing; and that she tends to pee on her shirts if we’re not careful. Our friends are great though. They just laugh. They have 2 littles as well; so they get most of it. Seth says, “Hi Payton.” With no prompting at all Payton responds, “Hi”. Oh my goodness we think; and immediately start praising Payton. We let Seth know, he should feel special. Payton doesn’t interact that easily with everyone. Payton is playing some with their kids outside in our backyard; but per her usual self, she also breaks off to do some scripting of her own. Eventually she goes up to Shea, our friend’s little girl, and says Shea’s name again with no prompting. EEKK! This is great! Now Payton is pulling on Shea to come play with her. Shea is being really, really good to Payton. Seeing them all play so well together, and seeing Payton interact with other kids is pulling at all my heart strings. Eventually we take all the kids in for supper; and as you can imagine they’re disappointed to stop playing outside. At the table Payton pulls Shea over to sit next to her. Shea is so sweet; and doesn’t get annoyed with the pulling. It’s melting my heart to see Payton finally able to really interact with other kids. After everyone leaves, we’re cleaning up the toys and dinner, when Payton hits her talker. “I want an apple.” I tell her we’re done eating for the night. It’s almost bed time. I look over and I’m a little annoyed to see Olivia digging through the fridge. I tell her, “Olivia you heard what I just said, no more food.” Olivia responds, “Sissy wants an apple.” Oh my, now I’m torn. She was trying to help her sister. How Sweet!
I think these little victories like Payton trying to make friends and engaging require us to really stop everything and live in the moment. It’s easy to get caught up in cleaning the house and picking up after a dinner; but these little wins should really make us stop and take notice. Heck, it should even prompt a late-night apple.
