It happened again.
AJ failed to realize safety awareness.
Yesterday on the way home from speech, AJ unbuckled his seatbelt mid drive to get a toy car he dropped.
My first instinct was to get upset. He knows better – or he should. Does he really? I’m not sure.
It was pretty clear AJ didn’t think ahead on what his actions could have led to. It was an impulsive move for him.
It was rainy and traffic hour. The only good thing was we were stuck behind a school bus and not moving fast.
The street we were on didn’t have a safe pull over spot. In my mind, pulling over in unsafe conditions was more dangerous than making it home.
It only takes one person looking down in the rain to hit us off the road. Luckily I was already down the street from the house.
I told him to sit back and not to move. Those are very clear and simple requests he understands. He then became upset that I was driving (slow) and he wasn’t buckled. He knows routine.
Mom doesn’t move this car unless I’m buckled.
It was then – after the fact- that he realized he made a change in routine and mistake. Probably not so much “I shouldn’t have” but instead “oh, how do I make this routine again?”
Simple fix. AJ is five; have him buckle himself right? No.
AJ is a big kid and strong, but that doesn’t mean he has coordinated strength. I always say he’s very light handed. He doesn’t use force in his arms, so he has weak muscles. He couldn’t figure out that he needed to pull the seatbelt down to buckle it.
In the end, we made it home safe. When I got home I told Joe it was happening again. AJ is unbuckling – not paying attention to his surroundings (awareness).
This happened back in August. I called that month “Month of Heart Attacks.”
He was unbuckling, wandering away while walking, opening the house door to go outside unattended, leaving his room to rummage the house – all the things to scare a mom.
Needless to say, we installed top door locks, turned the volume on our door chimes back on and put a tall baby gate to keep him away from entrance ways at night.
We discussed getting a five point harness or a seatbelt clip lock, but he didn’t unbuckle after that so we left it alone.
I want my son to be independent. I don’t want to lock him down. At the same time, I want him to be safe. It’s a struggle to weigh our options sometimes.
We decided to go ahead and look into the five point harness again to add on top of his seatbelt. He can’t use a five point car seat because he’s over the weight limit. The plan is to have it, but hopefully not use it.
This allows us to see if this was a one time incident – spur of the moment – or something else. If we need it, we have it.
Now let’s talk Awareness Strides
Today at drop off I got some great news. AJ’s school speech therapist told me that she is always in awe of how happy he is.
That really made my morning.
That’s how I know AJ likes school. He only jumps, laughs and squeals if he’s comfortable. When he’s comfortable, he’s happy.
She went on to say that AJ is seeking out peers to play with during gym. That’s huge!
That’s him being aware of his surroundings, others and aware of his feelings and desires.
When he was younger, even last year, he didn’t care much for peer interaction or surroundings. He would just do his own thing. So this is a big step for him.
It’s actually a part of his ABA therapy plan to incorporate and work on social interaction. It’s really encouraging to see that work from therapy carry over to school.
About ninety percent of the time, a regression occurs with a progression for AJ.
When AJ is making strides in one field, a different field slips up a bit. That’s normal for him.
He puts a lot of thought and work into building a new skill, so it’s only natural to regress in another area.
The good thing is that he usually picks back up in a few weeks. We are blessed in the fact that AJ, generally speaking, is quick to bounce back in almost all areas.
I’ll keep y’all updated on the car safety. It’s new territory when the kids aren’t little anymore but still need boundaries.
If you have any advice feel free to let me know 🙂
Until next blog ❤
RAISING OPPOSITES 