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Good-Bye, Lauren

Dominic had his first private speech therapy session this past Monday with Miss M. She has started working with him on being able to express his feelings better and gave us a picture chart that shows the following:  happy, sad, mad, sick, tired and scared. Each day, I have to "capture" how he is feeling and record it in a notebook. Miss M. will ultimately use the information to help Dominic verbalize why he feels a certain emotion. Yesterday, I asked him, "where is Lauren going next week?" He said, "college." Lauren then asked him, "do you want me to stay here or go to college?" Dominic's response was, "stay here!!" Lauren was just eight years old when Dominic was born, so she has always been around to help "carry" him through the past ten years.



This summer, in particular, I have seen their relationship get even closer.


This morning, as Dominic was getting ready for his last day of summer school, he said, "good-bye, Lauren." I asked him why he was saying that, since she was sound asleep upstairs. He said, "college." The hubby was asking me last night if Dominic was going with us next week for the "move-in" or if he was going to stay here with a babysitter. I told him Dominic is definitely going to be part of the whole experience to help him adjust to all of the changes about to happen.  This afternoon, Lauren was asking Dominic if he would help her sort and organize all the dorm items stacking up in the spare bedroom. When he came downstairs to hand me a sales receipt, I told him, "you should have Lauren pay you for your services." He went back upstairs and told her, "pay for my services." She asked him how much his services were and he said, "five dollars!"  She said, "I won't give you $5.00, but I'll give you $2.00!" That's the kind of interchange I think I'll miss the most between them. Now that it's only six days away before the big "move-in," it's the end of one chapter and the beginning of another as we say good-bye to Lauren.

Comments

  1. Not really good bye. Perhaps: "See you soon." The chicks seem to come home at least for a while. This is such a wonderful life experience for Lauren, and Dominic, and even Cathy and Larry. Take notes so you can remember this time in your life. Auntie

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