Overcoming Fear

We have been home with Parker for 5 months on the 1st and the bravery of this kid amazes me!  He has been through so much loss and confusion, change and unknown, that he has every right to be scared and fearful of the unknown and things that are new to him. When faced with unfamiliar things, he mostly backs away and avoids the situation. If we are in a new place or there are new people around or we are doing an activity we have never done, he becomes clingy. He will ask Kendon or I for a hug, which means pick me up and hold me. Most of the time we revel in this just a little and we gladly pick him up and hold him tight as he wraps his little arms all the way around our necks and holds on tight. The last month he has overcome some things that he hasn't been able to up to this point. Watching this brave little boy able to walk away from his momma and embrace the activity and maybe even smile is simply amazing to me. The resilience and trust that God has blessed Parker with is something that I know can only come from Him. I just want to point out a few of these that we want to one day remember......

We have two dogs, Duke is a mini dashund and Maverick is a lab. Parker has wanted NOTHING to do with either one of them since coming home. Mav stays in the utility room but duke comes in the house some and sleeps inside. We have had to really limit the time duke spends in the house because Parker was not able to handle it........ And then this.....

I was sitting in the floor sorting laundry and Duke came up to my lap. Next thing I knew, Parker was there also and wanted to pet Duke with a smile on his face. This has blossomed since then and he even enjoys playing fetch with duke. Duke gets to spend more time inside again so now they are both happy!

The swimming pool is something he has just tolerated until our trip to Ruidoso. He has always gotten in the water with a puddle jumper on and was ok as long as he was on a step but he did NOT want you to take him off that step. He had been watching Ian and Kinzlee doing cannon balls and caught on to the idea as long as he wasn't in the water. He would do a cannon ball off anything anywhere as long as he cld jump but he wouldn't do it in the water. While we were gone, something clicked and he did a cannon ball into the water!  

I can't say that he has completely over come this one as it is tough to get him to jump again, but he has come leaps and bounds in the water since then.

Ian and Kinzlee have started liking to showers instead of baths (mom kinda does too as it is a much quicker process!). Parker has never liked water in his face especially splash like. One day I asked him if he wanted to take a shower with Ian- he actually thought that was a pretty cool idea and has become pretty comfortable in the shower!