Proud Mommy

If you know my son Rowan, you know he can be a tough nut to crack, but once you do he is such a fun-loving and chatty kid. Most people's impression of Rowan ends with "that kid who won't talk to me when I try to engage him." He is picky who he lets into his shell and most of the time I am perfectly fine with that idiosyncrasy. I'm okay not having the kid who will talk to anyone and everyone. But this has become a bit of a problem at school and church when he needs to step into the spotlight and participate in various types of public speaking. We haven't been able to get him to give talks, say prayers, do the Primary program, or even show and tell at school... until now.

I'm so happy to say that Rowan has made huge strides to overcome something that was previously terrifying for him. It began at school, where an attentive teacher took the time to work with Rowan and slowly get him comfortable reading to progressively larger groups of classmates. Then one day, he told Mrs. Roe that he WANTED to read a story to the whole class. (He is a reading machine, but I'll save that for another proud mommy post). He did a great job and when he told me about it he said "Mom, it wasn't even that scary." This came at a perfect time because the Primary program was coming up and we were trying to encourage him to do his part for the first time. I think it helped that he could read his part on his own and after some practice he had it memorized. They had three practices and he did it every time with no problems. Of course it probably helped that he was pretty intent on getting that prize that was offered to him a while back when Grandma Dorothy tried to get him to say the prayer in Primary.

Today my son said his program part with no outside help in front of 200 people. And I cried. It was so fulfilling to see him overcome something that he has found so difficult in the past. I'm so proud of him.

At the practice on Friday night. I don't think the president knew he had it memorized and so he followed her prompts that night, but you get the idea.


Our next hurdle with Rowan is getting him to actually sing. Most of the time he was up there, he looked a fish just opening and closing his mouth without much else happening. This boy did not inherit the musical Luke gene.

Love you buddy!!