Attachment Breakthrough!

Wahoo! What a euphoric, HAPPY day! It started off hectic, wishing I had a fast-forward button to help Emma get ready for school. I am always mystified when it take her 30 minutes to throw on a pair of clothes or 20 to go up and brush her teeth. When I finally realize she's been gone so long and call to her, she just tells me she "got distracted." :) This can mean anything from goofing around with Isabelle, to organizing her bookshelf, to who knows what else. At any rate, after she was gone I was busy throwing dinner into the crock pot for dinner tonight and getting the rest of the kids ready to go to speech therapy.

Alex did not like my lack of attention, so he decided to secure my attention in other ways. About a month ago he realized he can open doors, and so I am constantly shooing him out of the bathroom and the pantry. In fact, as soon as one child says they need to go potty, he beelines for the door so he can try to be a part of the action. This morning he started with the bathroom, then as soon as that got my attention, he made directly for the pantry. When I ran upstairs to grab some things, he emptied an entire shelf of art books off of our bookcase--the ones he knows he's not allowed to play with. When that got him plenty of negative attention, he moved on to throwing things down the basement stairs, pulling drawers out of our apothecary chest, and more! By 9:3o I was very happy to strap him into his car seat to take the kids to school.

Speech therapy takes place at an elementary school. We walk the kids into the front hallway and then their two teachers take them to class. As soon as I kissed Tristan goodbye his adorable little face scrunched up with tears just like it always has when I drop them off and Isabelle held his hand and tried to comfort him. The breakthrough came when I kissed Maya goodbye and she started sniffling too!!! This was the HUGE breakthrough! A very welcome sign of attachment. So strange to be walking on air because your child cried, but there it is. :) The last few weeks she has been more affectionate than ever, sweet little awkward kisses, coming over and stroking my arm or face, wanting me to hold her or sit on my lap.

Tristan has always been VERY affectionate, but has had extreme jealousy when it comes to his papa. From when Jeff gets home from work to bedtime, he wants nothing to do with anyone else, especially me, and he wants Jeff to hold him in his arms whenever possible--and, of course, not to hold any of the others. With 5 children who adore their daddy, this, of course, doesn't happen; however, Jeff has tried to meet his needs as much as he can, especially by having him help daddy with various tasks. He loves to do that. I have found (through a suggestion of a friend) that talking to Tristan and simply verbalizing and affirming his feelings about his papa has helped as well. Lately we have seen improvement in this area as well. He is still as attached to him as ever, but he isn't quite so panicky about it. He will take turns with the others and he will let me get him ready for bed without papa in the room.

Today Maya and Tristan and Alex cleaned up all the toys when I asked them to without any help. They beamed with pride as I lavished praise on them and talked about how beautiful our home looked! :)

I knew when Tristan and Alex were awake from their naps today because they were being silly and laughing so hard I could hear them loud and clear downstairs even without the monitor on. It totally gave me warm fuzzies to think about what fun they will have growing up as brothers just 18 months apart. Also, it was hard to believe that I was hearing the little boy who just a couple months ago rarely even smiled.

I'll post a picture post soon!