I wish I could explain (or contain) my happiness........

if this makes any sense to anyone..... I was so excited last evening at my four oldest and Jordan playing and interactions while we were waiting for Charlie Brown to start.

Devon snuggled with me on my bed for 18 minutes by himself and wanted me to hug and kiss him as we watched Mickey's Christmas Carol (on ABC FAM Channel)....... it seems like no big deal...... but when he came to us in May he was afraid of my bed, afraid or not able of being held for more than 30 to 45 seconds...... and watching TV was not something he would share........ WITH ANYONE!

Melea and Colin came in after they helped Kayla put Miranda and Eliza to bed....... they started jumping on mom's big bed (same one Devon and I are lying on) there was no move to flee.....no screaming...... no fear....... he just looked at me and moved closer......

The jumping and then trying to get Devon to play with them went on for about 11 minutes....... they would come sit next to him, stroke or rub his back and talk to him, then go jump some more.....They were not interested in Mickey or the Pooh special afterwards...... I think that is a mom thing).

During this time Adrian and Jordan and Kayla came to join us....... no hitting or pushing from Devon at his favorite target (Jordan) he did sit up and start paying attention to the others....... eventually he gave in and let Melea pull him into playing a little and one or two jumps.......

Then the coolest thing happened......... besides the 5 minutes of interaction with Melea and Colin, when Devon wanted to return to Mom he found his spot occupied (note .....Jordan jumped into my arms as soon as Devon vacated them) instead of hitting or starting to scream or all of the normal things....... he touched me and looked at me and then touched Jordan.... I reminded him "good touching" he wanted Jordan to move and his spot back ....... I tried to get him to go back to Melea or Kayla...... Devon was not interested so he shook his head no ....... pushed (in a nice way at Jordan twice more..... not movement from Jordan there........)

So Devon got off my bed, calmly walked to his room BY HIMSELF (again he usually has to have some one's hand or you need to be a step behind or ahead of him...... he rarely goes somewhere on his own .....imagine a really cute duck with an afro and the cutest eyes ever following you where ever you go)....... He waited at his door till Kayla got there and then signed all done and wanted to go to bed!

To me...... mom who some days has very little things that excite me greatly...... I just want to scream from the roof top..... how cool this was......

again if you didn't know Devon before, didn't know us and realize that Devon is 7 1/2 years old, you would wonder why this would excite a mom this much.......

BUT IT WAS SO DARN COOL TO ME!!!!!!! I WAS SO PROUD OF MY SON and how far he has come in the last 6 months and of all the other kids because they are trying to bring him further...... but they don't seem to push him any further than he can go at the moment! I love them and how they take care of each other so much!

So maybe we didn't all make it to watch Charlie Brown together for almost 35 minutes Devon interacted with me, the real world and his family! And my other kids showed me (again) how much they love and seem to understand him, and will be here for Devon however he needs or wants them in his life!