Christmas Catch Up

It’s hard to believe that Christmas is here again! Emmett is doing well, but the holidays are always kind of hard for him. Like many children with special needs, a change in the usual routine can be difficult. He loves going to his ABA program every week day and is not a fan of being home for long periods of time. The past few days have been particularly frustrating for him because it has been too windy and cold to be outside or go anywhere. He’s not a fan of TV or movies, so Christmas movie marathons don’t entertain him at all.

We don’t fully know how much Emmett understands about Christmas, but we always include him in our traditions. Every year at our church candlelight service, the children do a nativity scene. Through the years, he has been baby Jesus, a sheep, a king, and a shepherd. This year, he was a shepherd. Before the service, all of the children got dressed in their costumes and waited in one of the classrooms. While they were waiting, Emmett kept trying to escape into the sanctuary because he wanted to be where all of the other people were. He is definitely a people person and he doesn’t want to miss out on anything. Once the kids were on stage, our pastor finished reading a Bible verse and sat down. All of the kids were supposed to stay together on the stage during a song. About halfway through the song, Emmett decided to join our pastor on the side pew. We joked that we needed a shepherd for our shepherd, but it honestly didn’t bother anyone that he wanted to do his own thing.

In many ways, I’m thankful that Emmett doesn’t seem to care that he does things differently. Earlier this week, we took him and his brother to see Santa. Emmett honestly couldn’t care less about seeing him and was more interested in playing with his bells. Of course, he also doesn’t really care about toys either, so why would he care about seeing Santa!? Besides that, we were actually there to see Grandma too and grandma’s are way cooler than Santa!

Although Emmett doesn’t get too excited about Christmas, he does enjoy the holiday treats, like cookies and hot chocolate. A few weeks ago, he did a really good job of “supervising”, while I was making cookies. Just before I put the last batch in the oven, I turned my back for a second and he snatched a cookie dough ball right off of the cookie sheet and popped it in his mouth! He had been watching so patiently and I had just told his brother how well he had been doing. A few days later, we made cookies at Nana’s house. I helped him ice one of the cookies and I let him eat it right away. He actually didn’t snatch any cookies that day, but while we were cleaning up, he stuck his hand in some of the leftover icing and sampled some. His impulse control is definitely getting better, but that bowl of icing was just too tempting!

The other thing about Christmas that Emmett loves is spending extra time with his favorite people. He doesn’t care much about presents, but definitely enjoys being with his family and friends.

I hope your holidays are filled with yummy treats and the people you love, just like Emmett’s will be!

Watching the train at Nana’s house

Emmett, the wandering shepherd, and his brother, the king.

Showing off his ugly Christmas sweater

Checking out Santa’s bells

So many cookies… so little time!