The very first post for this new blog!!! It will not be anything fancy or even contain any photos. I'll give an explanation of the title and share my first of many Levi stories. First, the name. I chose this particular name for a few different reasons. On the homeschooling front, we'll be going into unchartered territory in a few months. I thought that I had experience with teaching children with special needs, but have quickly realized that Levi will be about SPECIAL NEEDS homeschooling with all caps. I have never dealt with such big delays in a variety of areas. So, I will be Learning With Levi as I teach him. I expect that God will show me day by day what to do, when, how, and why. I will be learning about my son and also about teaching him. He will be learning and I will be sharing a lot of that with you as we go along. Lastly, I will continue to learn and share about how the Lord is refining my character as I go through life parenting a child with special needs. It's gonna be great having this place to gather it all together.
Before I go, I will share about today's outing with Levi. You will quickly learn that just about every outing is one wherein I am on high alert. You just never know how it will go. So much for settling into a nice little routine of kind of knowing what to expect. I have kissed that goodbye long ago. Anyhow... today was a trip to the library. The big library downtown. We have already experienced a disastrous trip to our local branch library complete with Levi opening the fire exit door and setting off the alarm. Did I mention that I also lost him and thought I needed to call the police after running around outside frantically screaming his name?
But back to today's trip to the big library. It has been so incredibly hot around here that the air conditioning at the library was a welcome thought. I did not want to leave my sweet boy at home sweating buckets so I purposed to give the trip a shot with him in tow. I prepared my family on the drive over, telling the girls that they would have to be mostly independent on this trip. My number one responsibility would be to follow closely after Levi's every move. I told him where we were going and that we would get some books. I told him he could not run around or yell. We all hoped for the best.
Upon arriving, we parked in the deck and headed for the elevator. The elevator. We have just recently begun working with Levi on the elevator. He is naturally apprehensive about new experiences and takes a long time to acclimate. We realize this and get him incrementally ready. For instance, he finally let me cut his hair with the clippers right after his sixth birthday. Hair cuts up to that point were very stretched out and consisted of much crying, coaxing, and finally someone just holding him still while I did it. But this is about the elevator and that went well. It is one where you can see outside of it while you go up and down. He kind of likes it but is a bit anxious about it at the same time. Once we get through the elevator, it is time to cross the bridge into the library where you can see the downstairs underneath. This has been problematic in the past because Levi is afraid of heights. He was not able to complete a hike two years ago because it was on a cliffside and he could see that he was up in the air. He would typically drop to his knees, bow his head, and crawl back in the direction we had come. This happened at the Christmas Tree Festival, too, when he saw that we were on the second floor and the first floor was visible over a handrail. Nothing like your child hitting the deck amongst hundreds of festive folks and screeching unbelievably loud.
Well, we've been working with him on the library bridge over the last few visits, and he actually walked across it with very little hesitation today. Thank You, Lord! He made the obligatory trip to the drinking fountain - always a must - and also a trip to the bathroom. After an intial fear of bathrooms in other places, he now loves to use every bathroom he comes upon. That even means the icky porta potties when we're hiking. Sigh! Hey, it's progress and I'll certainly take it. We finished with the whole bathroom thing and began exploring. It didn't take him long to find the kids' computers and bring up a Sesame Street program. He happily played until we needed to go find Elijah and check out before our parking deck time was up.
Going to find Elijah is always the worst part of our visits since he is usually in the teen section... on the third floor. Levi loves to noisily gallop up the stairs and I am happy for the exercise for both of us. Today, though, I was feeling tired. I made one and then two trips up and down the stairs without finding Elijah. I finally sent Dara-Grace up the stairs a third time because she said she could see him up there. Unfortunately, Levi took off after her and I decided to let my guard down for a minute. I watched them ascend. Watched Dara-Grace's hand on the rail as she walked around to the back of the library section. But where was Levi? I didn't see any sign of him. Then I caught sight of his head coming out from the bookshelves. Man, I was gonna have to go up there before he took dozens of books off the shelf! I headed up the stairs and noticed Levi walking over to the handrail with a book in his hands. Then to my horror, he hoisted the book over his head and prepared to throw it over the edge of the third floor. I am imagining all the damage the book can do on its way down through the second and to the first floor since it is an open space. Thankfully we were able to halt him from letting go of the book in time and were able to retrieve him. That was a close call! But it was just another instance of learning with Levi.
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