My last post was about the great time I had with Samuel while we were out one evening recently. I hope I did not give the impression that every single trip out with Samuel is a breeze, that certainly is not the case. A good example of this occurred just a few days after my last post, at Special Olympics Basketball practise.
Samuel started playing basketball this winter for the first time. We did not attend practises consistently, but we did make it to 4 or 5 of them. A few times I took a helper along. By the last week of practise I was able to convince Samuel to stay in the gym (he had made a game out of running away at our first practise). The coaches had also developed a bit of a rapport with Samuel and were able to convince him, on occasion, to join in the drills. Samuel was the youngest player and he was definitely more interested in running up and down the courts than he was in participating. (I'm hoping that track will hold Samuel's interest better. We're planning to participate in that this coming summer)
That last week of practise was going along quite well. Samuel had been alternating between participating in drills and taking breaks by running around the court, when all of a sudden I caught view of him across the court bursting into tears. I honestly have no idea what triggered this. I went up to him and started asking him what he was thinking about, but he had no interest in talking to me. He screamed, "I'm running away!" and he sped down the hallway out of the gym. My two youngest children were with me so I situated them in the gym and proceeded to chase Samuel. He had gone into a room, turned on the lights, and then proceeded further down the hall. I was able to get him back in the gym, but we had to leave practise. Samuel grudgingly came along out to the car, but he still wasn't very happy. Somehow, over the course of the next 10 minutes his mood improved. We were set to go spend the rest of the day with friends and he was fine after the incident at the gym. He was amongst 14 other children and had a great time.
I never figured out why he was upset at the gym. All I know is that I was caught off guard. I had scheduled a helper but due to a miscommunication she did not meet us there. I had thought we would be okay because Samuel was in such a good mood, but I was reminded that day that things can take a turn for the worst mighty quickly!
5 comments:
Could it have been that he just got overstimulated...or something unexpected happened? I bet in basketball, either one of those could happen very easily, but I think it's great that he's playing!
OH NO! No, I never got the impression that every outing was a breeze. Otherwise, your blog post would have been along the lines of, "Why can't those other parents control their children?" LOL
God bless ya big and I hope Samuel is well today.
I am glad the day turned out okay!
Gina, He very well could have been overstimulated. It is noisy in the gym with people talking, basketballs being dribbled, etc. Sometimes, however, he will do a 180 degree turn with his mood just because he starts thinking of something. When this happens he can sometimes tell me about it, but that was not the case this particular day.
Thanks Mrs. C and Kristi - Samuel is having a pretty good day today! It's younger brother's turn to be in a bad mood today!
I agree with Mrs. C., that is what I love about reading this blog. I'm glad Samuel was having a good day yesterday!~
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