What an exciting title?! An Unusual Path, just like the name of this blog. It fit so perfectly, I couldn’t resist. The weather has finally warmed up which means Kyson and I are out and about walking.
Today on our walk, we went on a very unusual path, however. Unusual such as, Daddy was with us, we were somewhere we’ve never been and started a little later in the evening than usual. Don’t worry, we were back home before bedtime!
An Unusual Park
We came upon a park at the end of a road. Why have we never been here before? I didn’t even know this little park existed and the weird thing, there was absolutely no one there! Kyson sees the slides and creeps up and then like the flash, he’s off to get to it.
Dad calls to him,
“Look Kyson, water!”
Kyson was so focused on getting to the slide he didn’t realize the river that was surrounding us below. He looks up and dashes towards dad by the edge of the park. Kyson loves water, but what he loves best is throwing anything he could find into the water to watch the ripples. There’s a fence, Kyson sees leaves and with all his might he tries to toss it over. We’re a little high up, no way they were going to reach the river but it was cute to watch him try and try.
He even tried squeezing the leaves through the fence.
“Kyson, you want to go down by the river?” I ask.
“Go down there?” he replies
An Unusual Staircase
Dad is already standing by the opening staircase down. He runs towards Dad and then Kyson realizes there are stairs. He laughs uncontrollably with excitement. He starts to quiver and tense up, a body response when he’s super excited.
“First, you have to hold my hand,” Dad says
With no trouble, Kyson grabs his hand and they walk down, all the way down together and still holding hands. This is unusual cause Kyson never holds onto anyone’s hands for the entire length when you ask. He will fidget and try to get you to let go.
We get to the bottom and notices rocks, he has the largest smile at this point! For the next 10 minutes, Kyson and his Daddy sit and watch each other throw rocks into the river. We walk the short path by the river while constantly picking up rocks to toss in the water along the way and when we got to the end, we start to head back.
An Unusual Ending
“Okay Kyson, it’s time to go,” I explain.
“All done?” he asks,
“Yes, buddy, all done”
Kyson walks away and back with us with no usual meltdown or ignoring us. What a great walk we had tonight?! What great progress I’ve seen in him tonight?!
Conclusion
Over a year ago when we started this journey, Kyson would’ve never transitioned this easily to new environments and new places. His behavior with Dad has calmed down a tad bit but still sees him as “The Fun Parent”.
Routines and Consistency is still very much so in his life, but he has come a long way with the sometimes, an unusual path. I also forgot to mention prior to the walk, we went out to eat together at a nearby restaurant and then went to two stores with him. That’s a lot of stops for Kyson, and that is HUGE progress.
-Anna MV
#growing #ourjourney
