We had a good day today.
A good day of therapy, even though I expected it to go horribly (Jonah is turning off all the lights in the house lately) but they got the entire session in before Jojo decided that the lights indeed needed to go out (at 6:30 pm)
The therapists left. The lights stayed off.
Eventually it got to be around bedtime. And then we had a meltdown.
A “tired” meltdown. He was just tired.
He screamed and threw the pull-up I got out to change him across the room. He threw his sippy cup. If I asked him a question, he hit me.
But I knew he was just tired and he couldn’t figure out why he was upset.
I just stuck to the bed time routine we have established. He screamed through the whole thing. But he let me walk him through it.
He let me change him into another pull-up and Jammies. He opened his mouth and let me brush his teeth in-between sobs.
After that, he climbed into bed and the meltdown abated instantly…
He was asleep within 15 minutes.
Some days, Jojo just needs his Daddy.
For the times…
…when he doesn’t feel he is being understood and hits Daddy because daddy understands he is frustrated, not being “naughty.”
…When he is upset and can’t figure out why he is feeling that way…
…when he throws his sippy cup against the wall, but Daddy picks it up and holds onto it because he will want it again as soon as he calms down.
…when he grabs his pull-up out of Daddy’s hand and throws it across the room, but Daddy knows he will ask to be changed in another minute.
..when Daddy knows the best thing to calm him down is just to get him back to something familiar. To just keep the routine.
Some nights, he wants his Mama, but tonight, he needed Daddy.