The Sky is The Limit for this Boy!

I'm guilty. I admit it. I am reminded by both Lauren and the hubby, more often than not, that Dominic is capable of much more than I give him credit for.  I really don't know why I sometimes underestimate what he can do. Maybe it's because I don't like to see him fail? or get frustrated? I know to learn, he will get upset and cry and possibly scream. I guess it's the maternal instinct in me, I don't like to see my children or anyone else's children sad. Having to tell Lauren that Santa Claus wasn't real was a pretty tough thing. At one time, I was convinced Dominic would never get toilet trained. It truly was easier to just change his diaper or Pull-Up. We knew there was no physical reason why he didn't want to get potty trained, which made it all the more frustrating. More than once I was ready to give up, but his old teacher, Mr. P., planned out the whole process and it did eventually happen. Just in the past three weeks, he has ASKED to use the bathroom both at home and at school. Major development and milestone :) A few years ago, I tried and failed at teaching Dominic how to tie his shoes. Thank goodness for his amazing teacher and his paraprofessionals in his classroom. He learned from them how to tie his shoes!

When Lauren came home from college a few weeks ago, one of the first things she did was tell me to take off the training wheels on his bike. She spent one afternoon, helping him get his balance.

I tend to over talk with Dominic and catch myself wanting to "prompt" him still too much. The other day, he told me that I was, "busting his chops." Hmm, well most likely I was. Dominic's speech and language continues to be behind that of his peers, but he has made remarkable progress since he started fifth grade. Since last summer, we started taking Dominic to a private speech therapist once a week with the hope of one day integrating him into one of her "social groups." It's pretty intensive therapy and she makes him work really hard for those 30 minutes. She gives Dominic "homework" for the week and I try my very hardest to always make sure it's done!! Recently, his speech therapist was giving Dominic a lot of praise for how well he had done during the therapy session. She then turned, looked at me and said, "the sky is the limit for this boy!" Wow, as a mom of a special needs child, to hear those words, was pretty awesome.  Never again will I doubt what Dominic is capable of!!