Sunday, April 15, 2012

Ancient Lakes and Leashes

Enjoyed a fabulous hike with a great group of people out at Ancient Lakes.  

 This is just really unusual country.
The lighting was not the best for photography . . .
But you can see the amazing landscape.
 We did a little experiment with Missy.
As you can see she is holding a purple leash.
It's the rabbit leash, but we don't walk our rabbits, just our dog and our kids.
Missy really likes hiking,
but she struggles when we go with a group.
She struggles for hours and days afterwards, too.
She's not attached enough to us to be able to handle going from
person to person, 
holding their hands,
monopolizing their attention,
getting as far away from us as possible....
all of which she tries to do
and as vigilant as we try to be, 
she's fast.
 In fact, Missy struggles after attending church, and potluck.
By the time we left potluck and came home to change
Missy was on edge.
Before we were done changing,
she was screaming. 
Then she smashed her finger in the car door,
and the screaming took on a new twist.
and that helped her to forget that she was mad.
*The injury was not really that bad.*

We gave her the purple leash to hold on the hike.
One of us held the other end.
Mostly Steve.
When people questioned the leash I told them it was 
for psychological reasons,
not for physical safety.
She tested the limit, 
hardly at all.
WHICH is TOTALLY AMAZING!!
She was and is 
calm and secure.
No acting out.
PTL.




 I've noticed some other things recently about Missy
in handling her emotions and outbursts
that I'll post another day.
It seems like they are just little things
but they make a world of difference for her.

She is very young emotionally.
She needs the kind of restraints and measures taken that you would 
use with a toddler.
At the moment she is playing with the Buddy's toys.
While she plays with his Mega Blocks
he plays with a cup and spoon
and James puts together his whole lego kit all by himself using the instruction booklet.

We finished our day with a picnic.
The food was delish!!!
The wind was wicked!!!!!

8 comments:

GB's Mom said...

Hope has a wrist to wrist leash that she LOVES. We only use it to connect Hope to me.

Mama in Uganda said...

Oh how I miss the beauty of the Northwest {I grew up hiking all over Southern Oregon}.

The Lord will continue to give you more wisdom and more insight into Missy. Remember, He delights in imparting wisdom.

Love,
Summer

La Tea Dah said...

Ohhhhh, you found shooting stars! Spring is here! The blue skies and the scenery and water = beautiful! Did you find any snakes?

La Tea Dah said...

PS: When my kids were small I had one of those springy, plastic wrist to wrist leashes. It drove ME nuts! My child loved it! It stretched SO far and when we were in fabric stores, he enjoyed winding around fabric rounders --- building quite a maze! LOL! I think yours is working out much better for you than mine did for me. I love the psychology of the leash as you are using it.

Jennifer P said...

I think the hardest part of parenting these kids is different rules for different kids, especially those who are close in age. Great idea with the leash. Whatever it takes to keep her directed and calm is worth it. The pictures are stunning. What a beautiful place.

~Melissa said...

Happy you had a Happy Sabbath! :)

God is good! :)

Sophie said...

Delaney has similar problems when around others. When we go to Brantley's baseball games Delaney ALWAYS sits with a friend of mine. My friend is a K teacher and loves little kids and she plays with Delaney the whole 2+ hours we are there. She talks to her, takes pictures of her, shares her snacks with her, babies her, shows concern for her when Delaney rubs her eyes or says she has a headache (happened yesterday)... you know, being the "perfect mom" to her. When we leave the game Delaney is always a pain to deal with.

I know I should not allow her to sit with this lady. I should be the mom I know to be but I have caved on the peer pressure and let her. This friend doesn't understand at all and in a joking way she and her husband make fun of me for being "so uptight". It has become a running joke.

I enjoy her company and know it is just her personality but it is not good for Delaney and I. I regret letting this happen in the first place but thankfully we only have one more weekend of home games.

Sad that we can't let our kids have normal fun with other people without paying dearly for it. So Sad!!

Laurel said...

Beautiful pics! Where is this place. I've never heard of Ancient Lakes. Is it near Sun Lakes? We have camped in that area for years.

Makes me want to head east to go camping and hiking.

Great job with the "leash" ... and how you casually explained it to your friends. :)


Laurel :)