RDI and homeschooling have made me a lot less finicky about keeping the rules compared to seeing the bigger picture.

For example, late last night, both boys were still awake. Normally I try to get them to play quietly in their rooms (their body clocks are not set to going to sleep at 7 any more and haven't been for ages) but they had kind of migrated to the lounge room.

I said to AP: "I must go and put the boys to bed or put them back in their rooms."

But he could see what was going on, and said, "Hang on - you should see the game they are playing together. They are actually relating really well and playing in a coordinated way."

I had a look and it was true. Somehow, after a day of hitting each other, they had reached a happy point together and were running around together, getting into 'boats', rescuing each other and generally having a happy game.

I decided the bigger picture was more important. improving Bright Eyes' relationship skills, and helping the two boys to build a happy relationship together was more important than making them be quiet in their rooms.

We left them for another 20 minutes and they didn't falter in their coordination once. It was a delight to see (another answer to prayer) and I'm sure it has helped build memories of happy play with each other.