One of my favorite parts about Palm Sunday (besides the reason we celebrate) is seeing the children walk down the aisles at church waving their palm branches and shouting "Hosanna!" There is something so innocent and precious about it that I just am drawn in. I remember being pregnant with Rebekah and thinking someday my child will be doing that -- and this past Palm Sunday - she did! :) It was so great to walk with her up the aisle - both of us waving our palm branches and saying "Hosanna!" The children stayed up front as the choir sang - waving their branches.
She seemed to really enjoy it at first, however, as it went on I could see her start to "shut down". She starts to get overwhelmed after a while. I have talked to her food therapist about this who is also an Occupational Therapist. She believes that Rebekah's sensory processing abilities are more limited then an average child. I don't fully understand it myself but we are learning. From what I understand most of us have a certain level that we can get to without being annoyed. Then there is an area above that that allows us to tolerate above that for a certain amount of time. Rebekah's "time" is limited at that level. So one thing they work with her on is supposed to help her extend this time. We have seen some improvement over the time we have been working with her.
As you can see by the second picture after a while she "shut down". She enjoys the noise and movements and people for a while and then it just gets to be a bit too much for her. She does well at taking a "time out" for herself. We have noticed that when she starts to get overwhelmed she will remove herself and go do a quiet activity by herself for a while. In this type of situation that really isn't a option so after sitting down for a while she got up and came and sat on my lap but did stay in the sanctuary and watch until the song was finished and then walked out with the other children.
It certainly has been a lesson in patience for Les and I. So thankful we have each other to depend on as well as friends, family and of course, the Lord. Some days are filled with prayers!!! :)
Hope you all are well!
1 comment:
Cute pictures, even the second one where she is wearing down. I think she's a smart little lady, that at that young age she will go where she needs to in order to give herself the down time she needs. It means she's paying attention to what her body and mind are telling her and she's reacting the right way. Some kids would start getting fussy. I think that more kids today do suffer from a sort of sensory overload, and sometimes the parents don't realize what's going on and so don't get answers and help with how to handle it.
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