Another developmental milestone experts never mention

Max, as you may have heard, has his heart set on moving to Los Angeles. He likes warm places, and he has fond memories of few trips we've made there. Since he can't visit L.A. these days, he consoles himself by talking about it nonstop. He recently watched La La Land and has declared it to be his favorite movie. It also makes him feel good to go by L.A. time, three hours earlier for us. (If we tell him he has to go to sleep at 10:00, he'll say "No, 7:00!") Last week, Max figured out yet another way to bring L.A. to N.J.: Get into that California chill mindset.

My sister-in-law, Emily, is a yoga teacher who owns Sun Moon Yoga and Healing in Long Branch, NJ. She's been offering private classes during the pandemic, and runs small school pods, too. Max got it into his head that he needed a yoga session with her. He booked a date for Saturday, and texted the speech therapist who he usually sees on Saturday mornings that he needed to have his session with her on Friday instead. That worked out.

Saturday, Max and Dave took off for his yoga rendezvous. They met at Emily's sun-filled studio and for 45 minutes, they yoga-ed. Dave sent me photos and I literally could not believe my eyes. Max is used to yoga from doing it at school over the years. He'd never seemed that into it but there was Max clearly loving it. He even took off his Fire Department of Los Angeles baseball cap, which he typically only does to shower or sleep. 

Emily did a series of slower moves. She spoke about Los Angeles, the beach and relaxing. Instead of the "tree" pose they did the "palm tree" pose (much more L.A.). There was a bit of physical therapy thrown in there, too. 

LOOK AT THOSE HANDS RAISED ABOVE HIS HEAD!!!

I'd say that deciding you are going to have an L.A. state of mind when there's no other escape from the chilly realities of New Jersey and the pandemic is pretty darn smart. It's maturity. It's progress, the kind you'd never read about in a developmental book or hear about from a doctor. I know adults who don't know how to make themselves content like this. 

Max was grinning when he got home. For the rest of the weekend, he talked about doing yoga with Emily. Last night, he was hanging out in his Max cave (aka the basement) when he texted Dave that he wants to do yoga every Saturday and would that be OK?

This. Boy.