Essay #1. If I had 100 Dollars, I would.... I would byu a TV and a neckless and I would byu a brasless (that's bracelet) and I would get my ears perst.
Essay #2. I Have A Dream. My dream for our world would be everyone would have a house and have stuf that they have everything the need because they could die. They can get sick or they can get hurt.
Essay #3. I wish no one would litter. I want the world to be safest. It will be the hardest job. I hope the pariry (prairie) will get bigger. I want the cleanest water. I want the biggest pool of water and....
Mrs. S says she's smart. Very smart. But she's also very worried about her attention issues. She just cannot seem to focus & get her work done in time. She's so easily distracted by any thing going on around her. But I know she also uses the excuse "the other kids are distracting me" to make up for just gazing off in to space frequently.
She's learning what she needs to learn, she's just not finishing her work. I'm at a loss as to what to do.
In much better news, she's doing great with her clothing. She's even willingly worn layers & socks to play out in the snow (a major battle last year). Her wardrobe is expanding by her own choice. In fact, I don't remember the last time she wore the stand by khakis to school. And bed sheets have ceased to be an issue at all. She even sleeps under a blanket & a comforter now, something she would never have tollerated last winter.
Her Uncle Bubba is getting married in September. He & Aunt Bec have asked her to be the flower girl. She's over the moon about the prospect. When Bec first asked, I was a bit nervous thinking BabyGirl might never agree to wear the dress picked out for her. But with the improvements she's made lately, I'm not nearly as concerned. Shoes may still be an issue, but I'm trying to plan ahead. I want to get her some white patent leather flip-flops for church this year. If I can find them, I'll tuck away an extra pair to keep nice & clean for the wedding.
Showing posts with label Worries. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Worries. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
Looking down from the mountain top
Our life seems to move in peaks & valleys. The last post, written about 5 weeks ago, was at the bottom of a rather deep valley. At the moment we seem to be reaching a summit of sorts.
In the past 2 weeks or so, BabyGirl has begun digging out clothing I worried would never see the light of day. Perfectly good clothes that lingered at the bottom of her drawers or the back of her closet never to be worn.
Last week she began wearing clothing she's never had one for more than 30 seconds at a time. Most weeks I wash laundry two or three times during the week to be sure she has pants she'll willingly wear. Last week she wore a different outfit everyday. She wore pants I've tried to get her to wear a hundred times before. She did it all on her own. She would come out of her room randomly wearing something she'd dug out & put together on her own.
Last night she let me fix her hair complete with hair clips, something she's never tolerated in the past. She even asked if we could start fixing her hair for school in the mornings! I'm not holding my breath, but it sure feels good to see such improvement.
At the same time, there may be a new valley approaching. B.B., BabyGirl's four year old little brother, has begun complaining of his clothing. He melts down quickly when he doesn't like something he has on. So far, a quick & firm call back to the here & now stops him in his tracks, but I fear he's heading down a path similar to his sister's. I'm praying it's not the case & watching him carefully, but I'm also thankful to know what to watch for.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Learning Curve
You'd think after dealing with this SPD business since early spring, I'd have a handle on it. Nope. Not really.
Today I was making beds when it occurred to me that we just move from one disaster to the next. Early in the summer BabyGirl couldn't stand the feel of her sheets. Before that it was underpants. A few weeks ago the shoe thing started. When school started it was long pants. She phases from one thing to the next. I'm beginning to wonder if it will ever be nothing. Will she ever live without some sort of sensory issue? Will there always be a new issue to deal with?
For the longest time I didn't have a chance to be glad that she was over the last issue because a new one immediately reared it's ugly head. Right now she's sleeping with no problems (it takes a while for her to unwind & stay in bed, but no screaming over her sheets). She gets dressed (most mornings) without a melt down. She wears clothing around the house all the time(at least a night shirt or sundress...until bed time when she has to strip back down). She's been wearing shoes pretty well (Sunday was HORRIBLE, but I think that may have been a passing thing). And I just realized last week that she'll now sit in the kitchen chairs (they're cloth covered & she hated them). So now I'm worried. What's coming up next?
Don't get me wrong. Things are not easy by any chance. She still likes to rotate the same 3 outfits day in and day out, but she has 9 pairs of underpants she'll wear. She's only worn one dress to church for the past 3 months & will only wear it with flip flops, but she does get dressed. The child still has a temper that would scare most people half out of their whits. She can go from delightful to psychotic in 3 seconds flat, but given time to cool off (sometimes an hour or more), she'll come out of her room like nothing ever happened.
She flat out refuses to do her OT now. The brushing she loved, she can't tolerate now. If I suggest joint compression, she freaks. But she will do things she doesn't remember Miss Emily suggesting as long as I don't mention therapy or sensory diet.
She would love to go back & see Miss Emily (and I'd love to take her) but our insurance still has not paid on the first go around of testing & OT she had. I have no idea if it will pay or not and I can't risk racking up thousands of dollars for OT that we can do at home if she'll only cooperate.
*On a side note, why does 45 minutes with an OT cost almost $300?!*
When people ask me how she's doing, I have to answer day by day. Some days she's great. Some days, not so much. And then there are days when I have to answer minute by minute. Those days are tough.
But this is life with my BabyGirl. I won't say I wouldn't have it any other way. What parent would wish this on their child? But I will say she's worth every minute, every struggle, every fight, every victory.
Today I was making beds when it occurred to me that we just move from one disaster to the next. Early in the summer BabyGirl couldn't stand the feel of her sheets. Before that it was underpants. A few weeks ago the shoe thing started. When school started it was long pants. She phases from one thing to the next. I'm beginning to wonder if it will ever be nothing. Will she ever live without some sort of sensory issue? Will there always be a new issue to deal with?
For the longest time I didn't have a chance to be glad that she was over the last issue because a new one immediately reared it's ugly head. Right now she's sleeping with no problems (it takes a while for her to unwind & stay in bed, but no screaming over her sheets). She gets dressed (most mornings) without a melt down. She wears clothing around the house all the time(at least a night shirt or sundress...until bed time when she has to strip back down). She's been wearing shoes pretty well (Sunday was HORRIBLE, but I think that may have been a passing thing). And I just realized last week that she'll now sit in the kitchen chairs (they're cloth covered & she hated them). So now I'm worried. What's coming up next?
Don't get me wrong. Things are not easy by any chance. She still likes to rotate the same 3 outfits day in and day out, but she has 9 pairs of underpants she'll wear. She's only worn one dress to church for the past 3 months & will only wear it with flip flops, but she does get dressed. The child still has a temper that would scare most people half out of their whits. She can go from delightful to psychotic in 3 seconds flat, but given time to cool off (sometimes an hour or more), she'll come out of her room like nothing ever happened.
She flat out refuses to do her OT now. The brushing she loved, she can't tolerate now. If I suggest joint compression, she freaks. But she will do things she doesn't remember Miss Emily suggesting as long as I don't mention therapy or sensory diet.
She would love to go back & see Miss Emily (and I'd love to take her) but our insurance still has not paid on the first go around of testing & OT she had. I have no idea if it will pay or not and I can't risk racking up thousands of dollars for OT that we can do at home if she'll only cooperate.
*On a side note, why does 45 minutes with an OT cost almost $300?!*
When people ask me how she's doing, I have to answer day by day. Some days she's great. Some days, not so much. And then there are days when I have to answer minute by minute. Those days are tough.
But this is life with my BabyGirl. I won't say I wouldn't have it any other way. What parent would wish this on their child? But I will say she's worth every minute, every struggle, every fight, every victory.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
FarmWife's World
I just posted this in my Adult SPD share group. I know I've touched on this before, but I really wanted to lay more of it out today. Call it a need to put it all on the table. I feel the need to share.
As long as I can remember I've felt slightly disjointed. I've never really been able to explain it.
When I was 3 QM put me in ballet. I loved it & had no problem with the dance steps especially with all the repetition we did. But when it came time to do cartwheels on the mat, I was lost. I couldn't figure out how to make my feet go up in the air without killing myself. It terrified me. I think I was 8 years old before I got it.
I was 10 before I learned to ride a bike without training wheels. All the other kids on my street had their training wheels off by the time they were 6. And even when I learned, I was never particularly good at it.
I was never good at sports. Dodge ball petrified me, Basketball was too confusing, Volleyball was an exercise in terror. I wasn't coordinated enough to play anything that took hand-eye coordination. In fact, I have a horrible time remembering which is my left side & which is my right. But I loved to swim & picked that up very quickly.
In high school I joined the color guard (flag corps) in the marching band. I was fairly decent at it, but it took a lot of practice & things had to be broken down for me step-by-step.
I've always been clumsy & unorganized. I bump into things, drop things, loose things, forget things, & stumble easily. I really have no idea where my body is in respect to the stuff around me. I have horrible posture & constantly stand with my knees locked.
I get overwhelmed easily too. If the house is a big mess I can get almost panicked (but I spent the first 20 years of my life as a total slob). I truly want it all neat & organized, but end up giving up quickly because I'm overwhelmed by the chaos. Occasionally I start purging the house & have to stop myself before I throw it all away. I teeter between wanting a severely minimalist life & packing away every piece of paper my kids have doodled on for later.
Just the task of grocery shopping can be hard. I may go to the store to stock the pantry & freezer and come home with 4 boxes of Pop-tarts, a pint of ice cream, and salad dressing instead. If I don't prepare myself for a trip to the store I'll wander aimlessly looking at everything & never remember what I'm there after. I'll buy a shirt, earrings, and hair dye when I'm supposed to pick up tissues.
I love the mall, but if I'm there for a purpose I can never accomplish it. I end up wandering around in a half daze, completely indecisive.
Until recently I thought everyone was secretly like me. I assumed everyone felt shy & introverted unless around people who know them very well (and even then sometimes). I never understood what people meant when they said they were comfortable in their own skin. I've never felt that way.
I thought I was just odd because I couldn't stand to be touched lightly. If someone shakes my hand limply, I want to come out of my skin. If one of my kids brushes my arm gently, I jump. I am so ticklish if my feet are touched lightly I will kick.
Husband (who is very athletic & not even a little ticklish) thinks I'm overly dramatic. A few weeks ago one of the boys touched the bottom of my foot while I was resting & I nearly kicked him. Husband said, "You can control that if you want to." I've tried to explain that I cannot. I'd never kick the kids if I could prevent it! He really doesn't understand.
When our oldest daughter was diagnosed as having SPD (tactile defensiveness), I started reading The Out-Of-Sync Child & saw myself all over the pages. I don't have the same fight or flight issues BabyGirl does, so at first I thought it was just slight similarities. But the more I look into this, the more I'm convinced I also have SPD if even in a more mild form.
It's nice to have something to contribute all this too, but I'm still not sure what to do about it. I'm trying BabyGirl's Sensory Diet, but I'm worried that it's too late as my neurological system is already fully formed.
I guess I should add that while typing this, I rolled too far back on the exercise ball I'm sitting on, fell in the floor, & pulled the keyboard tray out onto my leg. I feel a bit like Charlie Brown....Good Grief.
As long as I can remember I've felt slightly disjointed. I've never really been able to explain it.
When I was 3 QM put me in ballet. I loved it & had no problem with the dance steps especially with all the repetition we did. But when it came time to do cartwheels on the mat, I was lost. I couldn't figure out how to make my feet go up in the air without killing myself. It terrified me. I think I was 8 years old before I got it.
I was 10 before I learned to ride a bike without training wheels. All the other kids on my street had their training wheels off by the time they were 6. And even when I learned, I was never particularly good at it.
I was never good at sports. Dodge ball petrified me, Basketball was too confusing, Volleyball was an exercise in terror. I wasn't coordinated enough to play anything that took hand-eye coordination. In fact, I have a horrible time remembering which is my left side & which is my right. But I loved to swim & picked that up very quickly.
In high school I joined the color guard (flag corps) in the marching band. I was fairly decent at it, but it took a lot of practice & things had to be broken down for me step-by-step.
I've always been clumsy & unorganized. I bump into things, drop things, loose things, forget things, & stumble easily. I really have no idea where my body is in respect to the stuff around me. I have horrible posture & constantly stand with my knees locked.
I get overwhelmed easily too. If the house is a big mess I can get almost panicked (but I spent the first 20 years of my life as a total slob). I truly want it all neat & organized, but end up giving up quickly because I'm overwhelmed by the chaos. Occasionally I start purging the house & have to stop myself before I throw it all away. I teeter between wanting a severely minimalist life & packing away every piece of paper my kids have doodled on for later.
Just the task of grocery shopping can be hard. I may go to the store to stock the pantry & freezer and come home with 4 boxes of Pop-tarts, a pint of ice cream, and salad dressing instead. If I don't prepare myself for a trip to the store I'll wander aimlessly looking at everything & never remember what I'm there after. I'll buy a shirt, earrings, and hair dye when I'm supposed to pick up tissues.
I love the mall, but if I'm there for a purpose I can never accomplish it. I end up wandering around in a half daze, completely indecisive.
Until recently I thought everyone was secretly like me. I assumed everyone felt shy & introverted unless around people who know them very well (and even then sometimes). I never understood what people meant when they said they were comfortable in their own skin. I've never felt that way.
I thought I was just odd because I couldn't stand to be touched lightly. If someone shakes my hand limply, I want to come out of my skin. If one of my kids brushes my arm gently, I jump. I am so ticklish if my feet are touched lightly I will kick.
Husband (who is very athletic & not even a little ticklish) thinks I'm overly dramatic. A few weeks ago one of the boys touched the bottom of my foot while I was resting & I nearly kicked him. Husband said, "You can control that if you want to." I've tried to explain that I cannot. I'd never kick the kids if I could prevent it! He really doesn't understand.
When our oldest daughter was diagnosed as having SPD (tactile defensiveness), I started reading The Out-Of-Sync Child & saw myself all over the pages. I don't have the same fight or flight issues BabyGirl does, so at first I thought it was just slight similarities. But the more I look into this, the more I'm convinced I also have SPD if even in a more mild form.
It's nice to have something to contribute all this too, but I'm still not sure what to do about it. I'm trying BabyGirl's Sensory Diet, but I'm worried that it's too late as my neurological system is already fully formed.
I guess I should add that while typing this, I rolled too far back on the exercise ball I'm sitting on, fell in the floor, & pulled the keyboard tray out onto my leg. I feel a bit like Charlie Brown....Good Grief.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Worry not about tomorrow....
As usual I was worried about nothing. BabyGirl not only got up & got dressed in the dreaded red shirt willingly (thanks to a few sprays of Bath & Body Works Clean Cotton Body Spray), but she came home & begged me to wash the shirt tonight so she can wear it again tomorrow!
When she came home from school yesterday, the first thing she did was apologize to me for her melt-down that morning. An absolute first for her. She's apologized if we discussed it later, but this was totally unprovoked. Later I let her decorate her lunch sack with markers, sparkly glue, and stamps to take on the field trip today. After that she was very excited about going.
Sometimes her Dr.Jekyll & Mr.Hyde act makes me dizzy. I used to repeat the nursery rhyme to her:
There once was a girl who had a curl,
Right down the middle of her forehead.
When she was good she was very good,
But when she was bad she was horrid.
I wonder if the girl with the curl had SPD.
When she came home from school yesterday, the first thing she did was apologize to me for her melt-down that morning. An absolute first for her. She's apologized if we discussed it later, but this was totally unprovoked. Later I let her decorate her lunch sack with markers, sparkly glue, and stamps to take on the field trip today. After that she was very excited about going.
Sometimes her Dr.Jekyll & Mr.Hyde act makes me dizzy. I used to repeat the nursery rhyme to her:
There once was a girl who had a curl,
Right down the middle of her forehead.
When she was good she was very good,
But when she was bad she was horrid.
I wonder if the girl with the curl had SPD.
Friday, February 29, 2008
One Week Down...hundreds of thousands more to go
I am utterly amazed. BabyGirl has gotten dressed & left for school happily every morning this week. We are nearly a full week from the last major melt-down. I'm a tad suspicious.
I will gladly confess that I have washed the same pair of underpants for her to wear to school every day this week. I have a new blessing for the underpants:
May God bless & keep the underpants in one piece until she decides it's OK to try on a different pair.
A few weeks ago BabyGirl spied a Hannah Montana doll at Wal-Mart. Not willing to shell out $16 randomly, I told her she could earn it. She's been filling out a chart fifty cents at a time ever since (for good behavior & chores completed). She's still about 3 dollars away from her actual goal, but this week has gone so well, I went ahead & picked one up for her today. I can't wait to see her face when she gets home.
She said her next goal will be to earn a Hannah Montana wig...why my blond daughter needs a blond wig is beyond me, but if she's working towards a goal, we're all much happier.
Oh, and she wore a shirt today that was not one of the 3 she willingly wears on a regular basis. February is reading month at school. Today was their Book-a-roo party for everyone that met the reading goals. They were all supposed to dress as cowboys/girls. Art gave us an adorable western style shirt that had belonged to Syd and BabyGirl has never worn. She wore it today along with her one pair of jeans & my cowboy hat. She even let me braid her hair (a rarity as she doesn't like the ends of ponytails to touch her neck or back).
I picked up a new pair of jeans for her today. They are soft and look nicely worn (although they're new). I only hope she likes them. The one pair she has that she'll wear, are a full size too small & I'm pretty sure she's flashed her butt crack at every member of the student body at this point. Please, Lord, let her wear this pair of pants!
I will gladly confess that I have washed the same pair of underpants for her to wear to school every day this week. I have a new blessing for the underpants:
May God bless & keep the underpants in one piece until she decides it's OK to try on a different pair.
A few weeks ago BabyGirl spied a Hannah Montana doll at Wal-Mart. Not willing to shell out $16 randomly, I told her she could earn it. She's been filling out a chart fifty cents at a time ever since (for good behavior & chores completed). She's still about 3 dollars away from her actual goal, but this week has gone so well, I went ahead & picked one up for her today. I can't wait to see her face when she gets home.
She said her next goal will be to earn a Hannah Montana wig...why my blond daughter needs a blond wig is beyond me, but if she's working towards a goal, we're all much happier.
Oh, and she wore a shirt today that was not one of the 3 she willingly wears on a regular basis. February is reading month at school. Today was their Book-a-roo party for everyone that met the reading goals. They were all supposed to dress as cowboys/girls. Art gave us an adorable western style shirt that had belonged to Syd and BabyGirl has never worn. She wore it today along with her one pair of jeans & my cowboy hat. She even let me braid her hair (a rarity as she doesn't like the ends of ponytails to touch her neck or back).
I picked up a new pair of jeans for her today. They are soft and look nicely worn (although they're new). I only hope she likes them. The one pair she has that she'll wear, are a full size too small & I'm pretty sure she's flashed her butt crack at every member of the student body at this point. Please, Lord, let her wear this pair of pants!
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