Sunday, 1 August 2010

Bedtime books

Stephs Two Girls August 01, 2010 autism, books, Pathological Demand Avoidance, PDA Life

Just a quick one tonight. I'm very happy as in response to my whispered 'I love you' to Sasha at bedtime, she did reply unprompted 'love you mummy' :)

I generally have to lie on the bed with Sasha for a while before she is happy for me to leave the room, and it did end up being a bit longer tonight but I really enjoyed the cuddle - she was cuddling me and stroking my face and almost giggling at times so it was hard for me to leave as I didn't want to!

Earlier I'd read a couple of the short board books to her, and then she decided she was going to read one to me - for the first time. She picked the book up and said something for every page (followed by 'the end' as that is what I always say!).

Then she was obviously feeling brave and decided to progress onto reading a couple of her Dora books for me. I was amazed because she stopped on every page and gave the gist of the story. Certain words she said quite clearly (generally keywords like map, backpack, Diego and all the words which we usually have to call out as part of the story) but she also remembered and attempted a lot of the other words, with her own language in between. She did two whole Dora books like this, every page. This is no mean feat as it was not that long ago when she actually let me read every word from a Dora book to her for the first time - usually she's very quick to turn pages and knows exactly which bits of the story she wants to hear or not! She can now sing the alphabet song, although she's not recognising the letters yet.

All in all a lovely bedtime. Already dreading tomorrow morning as it's a nursery day. It's important for me to spend some time alone with Tamsin in holidays, but Sasha has become a lot more vocal lately about not wanting to go to nursery. I know she has a lovely time when she is there though, and of course mixing with the other children and adults is good for her. So although I nearly crumble every time I know it is important for her to go.

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