Clifford and Curious George

On any given week, we head about 25 minutes away for three different therapy session: OT, PT and speech. Sometimes it's three separate days and trips. Other times we pull a doubleheader. Sometimes those go fine, and sometimes Teddy is ready to be done before we're halfway through.

Given how I never know how therapy will go, I appreciate any little thing that makes the appointments smoother. Last week Clifford was at the clinic, as part of a sponsorship with the local minor league baseball team and PBS. AJ was beyond excited to see Clifford, and I was pleasantly surprised by how tolerant Teddy was of the big red dog. Given his distaste for Santa and the Easter Bunny, I didn't think he'd have much to do with him. After his initial skepticism, Teddy was cool with Clifford and even managed a photo next to him. AJ thought it was so cool that we rode the elevator up with Clifford and got to be the last kiddos to say goodbye to him and get all sorts of stickers, books and special attention.

AJ, Teddy & Miss Pam with Clifford!

This past week, Curious George made an appearance at the clinic. Teddy immediately was intrigued (and not terrified). He smiled and engaged with Curious George enough to give him a Teddy version of a high five, which then led to Teddy grabbing his fuzzy paw. We didn't have much time to hang out with him before we headed back to therapy. Teddy managed to do some activities really well, such as practicing eating with a spoon, but then he hit the point where he was just done ... even though we weren't done.

That's when there was a knock on the door, and someone asked if Curious George could come in for a visit. Teddy went from crabby to smiling in an instant. He again gave Curious George a high five, grabbed his monkey paw and even did OK with a small monkey hug. Teddy broke down when I made the mistake of trying to set him on Curious George's lap for a picture, but he calmed back down when he was not being handed to a monkey. (Sheesh, why would that freak anyone out?) The mischievous monkey left my boys a wooden puzzle as a parting gift and went on his merry way. We managed to finish a few more activities after that welcome distraction.

"I like his fuzzy hand ... Can I eat it?"

I'm so thankful for these type of opportunities. They become the highlight of the day for AJ, break up the routine for Teddy and make my days just a bit easier ... and more fun.

Just monkeying around with the boys!