Therapy #2

Rayne warmed up a lot yesterday in our second therapy session. We started with blowing bubbles. Kate would blow them and Rayne would pop them- something she LOVES to do. Kate would try to get her to pop them with a certain finger or in a certain way but mostly Rayne just did her own thing. Kate pointed out that she made a different choice and sometimes that's okay. Kate then balanced bean bags on her head and tipped them into a "basket"- the basket was just a loop I made with my arms when Rayne wouldn't make one. But eventually Rayne did do it and caught the bean bags and Kate and I were both impressed that she would do it.
Then we sat at the table and blew a cotton ball to each other using straws. Rayne laughed and laughed! It was great to see her having so much fun, especially in this setting with someone still kind of a stranger. Then Rayne decided we were done and went and picked up other toys and made up her own games for us to try, each one lasting only a few seconds. Kate's office is lined with shelves and drawers and baskets of toys. She had tried to tell Rayne in our first meeting that it was okay to explore and find things but this is the first time Rayne really let go and did that. She kind of took over what we were doing and Kate let her, explaining later that she likes to go with the kid's flow.
Eventually Rayne decided to play in the big beautiful wooden dollhouse she's looked at before but I guess never dared get into. She made Kate play as the dad and when the princess kept insisting the dad come upstairs but the dad didn't want to because he was busy, I thought she would lose it. If I tried to play that way, it would have ended up in a big lecture and/or screaming fit. I could tell Kate was trying to push her a little. But, surprisingly, Rayne finally just said okay. Then she was allowed to keep playing while Kate and I talked.
Mostly our talk was me answering questions. I still felt a bit like "what did we learn today?" Like I want to ask that question but Kate did comment on the small improvements she saw and I too felt like we'd made giant strides. I'm just not sure what that does once we leave or the next time we're in church etc.

But, as for my own "what did we learn today?" I loved watching Rayne laugh as we blew a cotton ball around the table. She was having so much fun and it dawned on me, she's not often like that. I thought that I need to find fun little activities like that for us to do at home. Even we can afford some straws and cotton balls :) And it would be fun to get Daddy and Caius playing too. I left thinking that we need to play more.
Play more. This is kind of a funny thought because I'm pretty sure that's about all Daddy does with the kids ;) and I thought that I play a lot. I play with toys, I take them outside, I even wrestle and tickle and chase sometimes. But really? Being honest? How many times do I just say "be careful" or "five more minutes until we have to go in"? How little do I actually get down on the floor and let go of my own hang ups, anxieties, list of things to do and just laugh with them??? We need this more.