2015 Highlights

We are trying to teach junior no matter how bad a day it was to always find the positives in a day.   Each night at bedtime  I ask him what his favorite part of the day was.   Some days I even remembered to write it down and put it in a large mason jar.   I wasn't very good at this last part as there were only 70 items in the jar.   Maybe this year I will do better.    

Last night we emptied the jar and reviewed the items.   Here are some of the themes and some of my favorites. 

1. Family & friends.   Many of his favorite moments revolved around family.  Spending time with Dave and I, and our extended family and friends.  Meeting his cousins and aunts and uncles when we went home in January for my grandfather's funeral was a highlight for him.  While it was a sad time he saw the positive in that he got to meet some of his new family.    Being separated from Dave while we moved from Denver to Seattle was not easy.  One of junior's favorites was seeing Dad in Seattle after we had been apart for a couple of weeks.  And it's not just the humans in the family that are memorable the animals were mentioned a number of times.   One of my favorites was "Having Koda lick my face"  I mean who doesn't love kitty kisses.   
2. Food.  Junior's love of food is apparent.  Many favorite memories revolved around food - eating sushi, eating enchiladas, and having BBQs in the backyard.  Getting his own set of knives and being able to make his own food also made appearances.    Dave and I think he may naturally become a vegetarian later in life as he seems like fruits and vegetables more than meat, but the boy does love his food. 
3. Sports.  Whether it is watching games on tv, in person, or playing in them - junior loves sports.  Football, baseball and soccer are at the tops of his list.   Seeing the Sounders, Seahawks/Steelers and Cubbies made the list.   Scoring touchdowns and goals of his own are also tops.   Junior seems to have a natural talent for sports - he throws a much better spiral than either Dave or I  
4. Travel.   While he enjoys travel and going places like two different Legolands, he loves coming home after a trip.   
5. School.  We have had some challenges at school this last year but junior is doing much better.   Having a few memories be related to having a great day at school makes my heart happy.   Hopefully the school year continues to improve and we have more positive memories about this next year.   
6. Humor.   Junior has a wonderful sense of humor.   Other kids are constantly telling me how funny he is and that comes through in his favorites.  One of his favorite memories of the year and one that got a lot of laughs when we reviewed them yesterday was "Not getting hit by lightening."  I don't recall what this referred to but I love it.   

Sometimes it is hard to see the positive side of things and for children with a trauma background it can be even harder.  A day doesn't have to spectacular to be a good day sometimes the simple things like spending time with friends and family, eating sushi, or not being hit by lightening is all it takes to be happy.