A picture is worth a thousand words
Let’s talk pictures. I take a lot of pictures. Pictures of everything, pictures of nothing, big moments, small moments…everything.
CARTER
Carter is sad!
Recently, I snapped this one and he was looking at me like “mom, why did you let them do that to me?!” Of course he did not have these words in this moment. He was overwhelmed with feelings and had no words at all. As tears streamed down his cheeks, they also streamed down mine. He just doesn’t understand or have the language to explain that it hurt. Even though I prepared him, he did not understand why we’ve been to a doctor a million times and this was different. Why did we stay in the car the whole time?! Why did they stick that thing in my nose and count to 10?! A few moments after this was taken, we were off to find cookies of course. Cookies make everything better. Carter looks up at me and says, “why did Carter cry?”
Oh buddy. Because it hurt and it was uncomfortable. Sometimes we cry when things hurt.
I showed him this picture and tried once more to explain why he had to have this horrifying test. He took my phone from my hand. Fascinated, he said, “Carter is sad!” Yes, buddy, you were sad. It’s okay to be sad sometimes.
He swipes through my phone and finds this gem. He says, “Carter is happy!” Yes. Yes, you were happy that day. Of course he was, he had ice cream in his hand!
Tears streaming down my face. We find beauty in painful moments. He was talking. He was connecting. He was learning.
CARTER
Carter is happy!
This is why we take pictures. Lots of pictures. Pictures are experiences and experiences make us remember things. These experiences, memories and emotions spark an abundance of LANGUAGE! It’s all about communication, baby! Carter LOVES to look back at pictures! He will find one and then tell us all the things he remembers about that day. Usually these are pictures of him in water, on a boat, waterskiing, camping, cycling…the list goes on.
He has the most amazing memory when it comes to experiences!
When the anxiety kicks in, he looks for pictures when he was scared out of his mind – fireworks, Rodeo, Disney on Ice, and Harlem Globetrotters. These events caused anxiety attacks he still remembers today. When he looks through these, I remind him that we can do HARD things and he made it through all of them. These things were so very HARD but he did it and he is okay! #anxietysucks
When things cause a bit of anxiety now, he grabs a phone and watches it through the lens of security. The other night we lit a fire for the first time in our house. He grabbed his little iPod and started watching through the lens. He loves it so much and this has become an effective way to work through a bit of fear. He loves fires but they are scary and often make him take a few steps back to decide if he really wants to get close.
