Theory on why my child can't entertain himself, otherwise titled "He's Driving Me Crazy".

As Evan approaches the charming and glorious age of two-and-a-half, he becomes more and more difficult to manage. He's very mobile, for one. I just had to remove him from my desk, where he was standing right in the middle after climbing up on the chair to get there. Also, he seems to have trouble finding non-destructive activities to keep himself busy. I know, it's my job to provide him with activities, but sometimes, a girl just needs to do stuff like switch the laundry or pee or finally have her breakfast at like 11 AM. We have approximately 50,000 toys, puzzles, and books he could use to occupy his time, but instead he likes to stomp around the house, climbing on desks and pulling lamps off tables and flushing the toilets. That is when he's not hanging on my leg wailing and whining for crackers and television, his idea of Toddler Utopia.

Evan may have Down syndrome, but the kid is smart. He knows how to do lots of things. He is pretty verbal too, and was recently evaluated by his speech therapist as being in the "low average" range for typical kids his age. He knows his colors, body parts, and animal sounds. He can ride a push bike, climb the stairs, and feed himself fairly successfully. He has all of these abilities, and all of these skills, but he doesn't know how to play by himself for any extended period of time. Am I expecting too much to think that a 2-year-old (2 1/2 on Christmas Day) should be able to entertain himself for half an hour? Maybe so.

So here's the thing. Evan has had Early Intervention and OT since he was 2 months old. He started speech at 4 months, and PT at 7 months. He was in daycare at 4 months old, and at a developmental preschool at 14 months. He's had all of these things, and along with them, LOTS of one-on-one attention. People play games with him, and teach him things, and show him how things work. He gets a lot of interaction. So when he's home with me and his brothers, and there are other kids to tend to and housework to do and meals to cook and blog posts to write, he is often left to his own devices. And because he's used to getting all of that one-on-one attention, he doesn't know what to do with himself.

Here's another thing. I'm growing very weary of Early Intervention. It just all seems like such a big hassle; the only time we have to do it is Monday afternoons, and often Evan is still napping, so it's a big fat pain in the butt to wake him up. He used to have a wonderful EI (hi, Patty!), but his new one? Less than remarkable. She's definitely no Patty. I swear, if she doesn't stop bringing this stupid pizza toy every.single.week., and if I have to hear her say "Evan, put the toppings on the pizza!) one more time, I'm going to scratch my eyeballs out.

So is it awful to ask her to stop coming every week? He's about to age out of EI, anyway, and he gets PLENTY of other intervention, I think. PT at home once a week, school three days a week, where he gets speech twice a week, OT and PT once a week, and music therapy twice. I think that's sufficient. I feel a little like an ingrate even thinking about cutting back, because I do think that EI is important, and it's part of the reason that Evan's doing as well as he is. But once a week with a less-than-stellar EI and her ridiculous pizza party is starting to seem like overkill.

Back to the point: since I started writing this post, I have had to put on two different DVDs to satisfy Mr. Persnickety. He has also changed the channels and the volume on the TV, ejected latest DVD that he decided wasn't up to snuff, torn up a bunch of paper, and is currently plopped at my feet whining. Is it bedtime yet?