5:30PM Ohmer House. After dinner I asked Mia to come hang out in my room. I wanted to spend some time with her, she spends a lot of time watching Disney movies in her room when she's home so I was hoping we could watch something together.
Earlier that morning, we had a Behavioral Therapy session. Our consultant asked me to keep track of how much face time I spend with Mia. "Does going on runs together count as face time" I asked. "No" she said. "Face time is working on an activity in tandem, working together to accomplish a goal". "Honestly, I don't think I spend any face time with her" I said.
I had that conversation in mind while Mia was laying next to me. I was also thinking of how tired I was from painting her playhouse that afternoon. When I failed to find anything that satisifed us both on the TV, I switched it off and pulled out a Calvin and Hobbes book I had on my shelf.
She refused to sit calmly next to me, instead she started jumping on the bed. I tried to pull her next to me but, the more I tried the more she resisted. I tried to have her sit on my lap, when she tried to get up I pulled her back down. Her frustration mounted and she slapped me with a head but to my upper lip. Then my frustration mounted. I expelled her to her room, proclaiming she earned herself and early bedtime.
I retreated back to my room to collect my thoughts. Her cries were not difficult to hear. When she calmed down, I told her she didn't need to go to bed yet. "I just want to spend some time with you" I said. I went to her closet and found a "Zootopia" book I bought her for Easter. We lay next to each other in her bed and I held it in front of our faces. For the first time ever, she didn't reach to flip the pages herself. She paid attention to the words on the page and I could see her eyes carefully studying the pictures. When the book was over I handed it over to her, she fell asleep with it clutched in her hands moments later.
Hopefully this is the start of us being able to read together, but I'm sure it won't be without a few more bumps.
