This past Sunday the Lesko family set out on an adventure to the house of the Henkle’s where a feast had been prepared to be enjoyed with the best home group ever. With 2 kids in tow the journey began… Tristan has not had the joy of being around this whole group on a regular basis; while a few faces would be familiar it was mostly uncharted waters for him, he tends to have behavior issues when in a new environment with lots of activity. He rarely if ever makes it through one of these events with out having an outburst or several outbursts. That day was exacerbated even more because he had not had a nap nor was he going to get one on time… so as you can imagine we were unsure of how this afternoon was going to play out.
Hoping to minimize damage and still enjoy the time we decided on a divide and conquer approach. One kid to one parent switch off if necessary. All hands in the middle and “GO LESKOS! on 3”.
Ange and Helmut have a beautiful house all decorated for the occasion with their fine china out, their dogs Samson, a Rottweiler and Poco, a Chihuahua were running about and the backdoor was open with a great view of their pool in the backyard. Tristan immediately found his “safe place” outside near the pool and the two dogs.
About 20 minutes into the trip I realize I made a salad and didn’t bring dressing. Mick graciously offers to go to the store. We adjust our plan I hand Mickaela off and make my way outside to check on Tristan. This is where the dance begins... Tristan realizes Mick is no longer there to keep him from the pool, thinking I am the weaker of the two (let’s face it I am a sucker for that smile), he begins ever so slightly walking toward the pool pointing and saying “water” “water”. I have a feeling he was thinking “maybe she won’t notice if I just put a foot in if I am telling her the whole time that it is water…she loves it when I talk”! I respond “Yes, water. We don’t get in that water.” He gets where this is going and moves back closer to the dogs, where he begins “doggie” “doggie”. I respond, “Yes, Good Job! Doggie, (pointing), big doggie, little doggie we pet the doggies.” I believe that boundaries have been established and all is going well to this point. I begin a conversation, when I catch a glimpse of something out of the corner of my eye…”Tristan, We don’t ride the doggie, we pet the doggie”. Ange comes over; she gives her permission for Tristan to “ride” Samson and calls for her husband to come see. The group begins congregating outside laughing as Tristan climbs up onto Samson’s back and is guided around for a couple of minutes. Isaac luckily grabs his camera and snaps a couple picture of the immense joy on Tristan’s face. I thought for a second Samson was going to buck Tristan right into the pool, but alas Samson is just a big puppy and loved playing with Tristan. That was so much fun Tristan decided he should try the same thing with Poco (the Chihuahua)…Poco was not near as accommodating.
The rest of the afternoon was full of fun, laughter, good people, great food and only a one near meltdown. All in all a successful adventure, it is great to see how Tristan is growing and developing. It was also nice to be able to see what God has done in all of our lives as we were able to give Thanks.
