Being Acknowledged

Andrew is a talker and can be pretty outgoing. He is also very observant. On Monday we went to story hour at the library. It was the last one until they start the summer session in June. The story hour leader was handing out participation awards for all the children. She would call out their name and they would walk/run up to get their award. Andrew was sitting directly in front of her on the floor. He pulled up his pant legs and kept saying "Look at my boo boos, Look at my boo boos" showing off his scraped knees. Well there was a lot going on and she was concentrating on what she was doing and didn't respond right away. Andrew continued "Look at my boo boos, Look at my boo boos!" each time a little louder, a little more impatient. She finally said "Oh, I'm sorry Andrew" and he then very calmly pulled his pant legs back down and sat quietly.

Right after that, we went to swimming lessons. We were doing the "Hokey Pokey" in the water and he noticed his teacher had a watch on, she normally doesn't. So he kept saying "why do you have a watch on, why do you have a watch on?" I told him so she would know what time it was. Between verses of the "Hokey Pokey" she stopped and explained that the wall clock wasn't working and she needed to time the older kids in their swim class. He said "oh" and was fine with going along with the remaining verses of "Hokey Pokey". I'm glad she really likes him, even brought him an aloe plant from her house.

He does this at home all day long, talking and repeating the same thing over and over until he gets a response from me...even when it doesn't really need a response. It can be pretty tiring on my end. But all he wants is to be acknowledged. And who doesn't! I know how I feel when I don't really get a response when I ask or say something. Didn't you hear me? Doesn't it really matter to you? Are the things I have to say not important to you? So I will try my hardest to always respond to him so he doesn't have to repeat things over and over. I want him to feel important and loved.