Last evening marked the one week point of having Daniel at home in Nebraska. Every day has been filled with numerous blessings, lots of laughter, new discoveries, and a rough spot or two. Overall, we've had a solidly good week.
Yesterday was the toughest day we've had, so far. But even that was very do-able because #1 - it wasn't constantly rough, and #2 - he's such a good sleeper at night that we are all physically able to handle the day.
I believe at the root of the issue was that there was someone new in the house for a good portion of the day. Every other Friday my parents drive from Kearney to Lincoln so my father can do his chaplain work in the prisons in Lincoln. From 8 a.m. to about 3:30 p.m., my mom hangs out here at the house. This was the first time Daniel had met Grandma, and he was off his game from the beginning. He had more of what we refer to as "pouting" than other days. He warmed up to Grandma, showing her photos, looking at books, etc. But even after my parents left, the pouts continued.
The complete melt-down came later in the evening. Dennis had heard Daniel say "ice cream" when pointing to a picture of ice cream in one of the airports during travel. We asked Daniel if he wanted to go get some ice cream. He was excited to go, but when we got to Sonic and the ice cream arrived, it apparently wasn't what he thought it was going to be (soft serve instead of hard packed? with hot fudge instead of plain?). We couldn't convince him to even try one bite.
He began whimpering on the drive home. By shower time it was a full-on cry, only the 2nd time he's cried since he's been here. After his shower, I took him out to the deck and just held and rocked him for a time, all nestled under a blanket. Dennis came out to sit with us, and our cat, Cleo, jumped up on Dennis. Cleo and Dennis began to play, and soon Daniel was laughing again.
I thought it wonderful that we were able to end the day in a good mood.
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