What's This Self-Regulating?!?!

Wednesday is MK's therapy day.  We go, every Wednesday, at 2:30.  I pick her up at school just before 2:00.  There hasn't been a change in that routine in about 4 months.

For the last few days MK has been off a bit.  Bad dreams about her parents seem to send her off into la-la-land for a few days a month.

So after a rough morning where this mom (with this face when frustrated)
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 had ZERO patience I was concerned about taking her shoe shopping after therapy.  With that said, I have few opportunities to just take one child into a store with me, so I needed to figure out something.

When I picked her up at 2:00 though, she was in a very pleasant mood.  She was going to do her homework on the way to therapy, but her pencil was out of lead and we didn't have a traditional pencil in the van (I keep a stash in the truck because normally that is the vehicle I drive when I pick them up).   So we decided to wait until after therapy for homework.

She went in for her hour... I sat on the porch and enjoyed the warm sunshine.   After therapy, I needed to go to the Dollar Tree to get the Play Therapy toys needed for the new Child-Lead Therapy sessions at home (don't worry, new blog and podcast coming soon on that topic).   We went to the Dollar Tree and she did very well through the store.

THEN... we arrived at checkout.  She wanted to touch everything, and our Dollar Tree has the glass figurine/granny decor/everything breakable in the store displayed right next to the register.

Thankfully, my Vitamin D infusion totally put me in therapeutic mode.   As the cashier rang up the goodies, I brought MK close in to me, knelt down, and I calmly said... "Sweetheart, mommy can tell you're a little overwhelmed and unable to focus right now, but there are many breakable things around us, and I think it would be safer for you to stand right here and work hard to focus".   And she did.

The cashier said to me that I was one of the kindest, best moms, she had ever witnessed in the store.  She said most moms would have yelled, jerked the kid, or spanked them right then and there.

I told her thank you and we walked out of the store with our things in tow.

On the walk to the van, I said,  "MK, I know you're having a hard time, if you want, we can put off shoe shopping today and go on the weekend, I do not want you to feel overwhelmed".

I was SO proud of what happened next.  She goes, "Mommy, I think I just need a few minutes of quiet and calm, and I will feel better to go shoe shopping".   We hopped in the van, she sat in her seat, I drove across the parking lot, and we did just that, we sat for about 10 minutes while she regrouped and regulated herself.   During those 10 minutes she finished her homework (compliments of the pencil Dr. S gave us).

Shoe shopping went smoothly and we bought both girls new shoes.  We love Rocket Dogs at our house.  Layla got these...

And MK decided on a $5 pair of dress shoes and a pair of Rocket Dogs with a blue glittery pattern.   I didn't get a close up shot of her feet this morning.

I am just so proud of her ability to recognize the issue and come up with a solution to solve the problem.  This is proof that our work on her self-esteem and self-reliance (in a healthy family setting) is finally paying off.

I hope we see this replay often for both girls!