Smooth mornings

This morning we did an RDI activity while getting dressed. Sam requested that I stay in his room to "help him" get dressed, so I used the opportunity to do some non-verbal communication. I really didn't speak at all once he got going with the dressing- just used gestures like nodding yes or no; used the "thumbs up" sign to tell he he did ok; did some pointing to bring attention to certain things, and cleared my throat a few times to get him to look at me. The good thing about it was that Sam didn't seem to think it was weird that I was not talking- lots of times when I try to do something like that, he always asks me why I'm not saying anything. It was great that this time he seemed to understand that we were playing a game, and that talking wasn't part of it. Another thing I really tried to be cognizant of was s l o w i n g down. This is one of the hardest aspects of RDI for me to get used to. I'm so accustomed to a goal-oriented lifestyle; gotta go here and do this within this time frame, etc. Even though the clock was ticking and it was getting close to the time we needed to be on the road to school, I stopped myself from hurrying things along.
I look back to what our mornings were like a year ago, and I can't help but marvel at the change. During his kindergarten year I did nearly everything for him, from preparing and nagging him to eat his breakfast to getting him into the bathroom to wash up and brush teeth, to dressing him, to packinghis backpack, to putting on his coat, boots, hat, and mittens, to walking him to the bus stop and putting him on the bus. I'm happy to realize that this year he is doing at least 1/2 of these things by himself! There is no doubt that he's much more capable this year, and also we all don't feel like we are handling school in "crisis mode" like we were last year. I notice that despite initial resistance to changes, Sam nearly always embraces new responsibilities. Maybe by next year he'll be making his own breakfast and actually eating it!