WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES

I forgot to post about Halloween and what a difference a year makes. Some of you may remember how last year Anna went to every house and asked for extra candy. She had a sweet little voice that she used and when we found out we told her that she needed to stop. She admitted that it was "her little trick to get extra candy".

The therapist (oh my gosh, did I ever post about this therapist?!?!?! Someone remind me to do that, the lady was a trip and a half!) thought it was SO GREAT!!!! that Anna found a creative way to get her needs met. Hello, candy is not a need, and now she has double the candy of all the other kids in the house who followed the rules!

Anyway, her reaction to having all the candy was stress. My kids dumped their candy out on the floor and pawed through it, finding their siblings favorites and handing them over and making trades. The girls moved their candy from one hiding place to another, ever fearful that it would be stolen. They were on constant guard. It was really sad to watch.

This year was a totally different story. Anna took the one piece of candy offered at each house and said THANK YOU!!! each time. When they got home, they also poured out their candy, although none was shared, next year maybe, they didn't have any anxiety about it being stolen. It was really nice to see how far they had come in a year.

The girls that arrived thirteen months ago were not the same girls we said goodbye to yesterday. I'm glad.