Dad was all set to go on a hike with a friend tomorrow morning. Just a while ago, the friend called up to say that he had a busy day in office and couldn't make it to the hike as planned. On hearing this, Aditya spontaneously said to his dad, "I am sorry you cannot go for the hike tomorrow!"
Yesterday, I was talking to my daughter about something at school, when the conversation took an unexpected turn and she began arguing as to how she was right in that situation (at school). As I asked her to take a moment to think about what she had just said, Aditya turned to her and told her to "get over it!" We both were stunned and looked at him in disbelief! We have never used these words at home and don't know where he got this from!
We have seen his flexibility increasing leaps and bounds. As usual, this evening I went for a bike ride around the neighborhood with both kids. We have a couple routes we usually take. Today we decided to take the shorter route as I had a few things to catch up with after we returned. One of the places on this route is the community center where the kids pretend to play restaurant. This has been routine for two years now and they were happy to go. On the way, A's sister suddenly turned and asked me if we could go down a path we had never been on. Before I could answer, both kids were biking down the winding pathway. Suddenly realizing that it led back close to our home, they retraced their steps and were wondering where to go "exploring " next. At that, I suggested taking them on a surprise bike trip, destination undisclosed:) Aditya enthusiastically accepted and willingly followed us on a 20 minute ride. In all this excitement, the original plan of going to the community center was forgotten and I was wondering if he would bring that up. A few months ago, such spontaneity was unimaginable. As we walked into the house, I congratulated both kids on being so flexible and thanked them for the wonderful time spent together. A knowingly smiled and said that he had "decided in his brain" to complete stage 5 in 8 days:) Hence the flexibility:) As usual, it was followed by big cheers and letting him know that we would love him, irrespective of whether he completed stage 5 in 8 or 80 or 800 days !
He has shown amazing flexibility about being outdoors (we were cocooning him most of the times for the past year and a half since the beginning of our Son-Rise program) and even at a Walmart! He loves being the "list manager" and directing me around, being flexible if I decide to make some last minute changes to the shopping list. As I had a few last minute additions to the list, it wasn't sorted by department as I usually tend to do. He was very keen on getting to the electronics department to buy replacement headphones for himself. But one item at the end of the list was just an isle away. I asked him to make a choice: Do you want to go get the headphones first or get the Kleenex in the next isle. Going to the next isle right away would help us save time and check out faster, while going to the electronics would get him his headphones faster. After weighing in for a few seconds, he chose to get the Kleenex so he could go home faster. It is so amazing to see him make these choices! We see him now practice the stage 4 perspective we've modeled for him "at times it is useful to put off an immediate payoff for a longer-term payoff".
We have also seen his stamina improve dramatically over the past week or two. He has always been up before 7 am since he was a baby. But the mornings were pretty listless and lethargic, except when he was doing SRP with dad before work. Of late, we have seen him happy and energetic in the mornings.
A couple days ago, I dropped my daughter off at school and proceeded to a doctor's appointment. We reached about 25 minutes before time. Till date, he has always preferred sitting in the car and listening to music to while away the time. But the day in question, as I parked the car, I wondered aloud if he would rather go for a walk with me .. maybe just till the traffic light and back, not too far! He enthusiastically jumped out of his seat and started walking. A minute into the walk, he broke into a run and challenged me to beat him! We sprinted on the sidewalk for a full 15 minutes till I was out of breath. Amazing! The same day, he had back to back SRP sessions and played soccer with each volunteer for an hour. He was still going great at 5 pm and demanded his usual bike ride! And the day was scorching hot with the temperature in the higher 80s (Fahrenheit, of course).
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