our spd life: food

Food battles. Sigh. It's no uncommon thing for parents. It's a different monster for parents of SPD kids.

Being hypersensitive to, basically life, naturally includes food. Z has pretty much always been super picky. When we first fed him apples at 6 months he gagged and spit them out. It hasn't got much better since, although we thankfully don't have the gagging anymore. The problem, of course, is trying to figure out the difference between foods he just doesn't like (or is being picky about) and food that he is sensitive too. When I say that he is sensitive to foods, it can mean texture, temperature or taste. It's a struggle. For awhile he wouldn't eat food that was hot or even warm. We seemed to have moved past that which is a GREAT thing. He hates all veggies except maybe spinach leaves dipped in ranch. He still prefers food that is cold and he really prefers food that is soft. Yogurt and pasta are his favorites. Fruit (especially berries and grapes) are also a sure thing. He also loves milk. If we let him, he would be happy having nothing but milk all day long.

So, the mission going forward is to make sure he is eating enough things that are healthy for him and to constantly offer him different textures and tastes. He's much more of a snacker than a sit-down-and-eat-a-big-meal type of kid and we are OK with that. He's been loving apples and natural fruit leather lately, which is pretty great because (besides being good for him) the textures provide extra sensory input. The other project is getting him to actually sit down with us and eat food. It's hard for a kid who needs to be moving, or who may be overwhelmed with everyone sitting down at the same time. He was a no-show for our Thanksgiving dinner of 18 people. We went with it, though and got him some pie when he felt like emerging from the bedroom. That's life with Z: never predictable. I actually think it's a pretty great thing.

He's healthy and growing like a weed, so that makes us feel better. As a super-picky eater myself, I have a little more compassion for him and know that he'll be OK. We measured him last night and he had grown a whole inch in less than a month! After we marked his height on the wall, he measured Buzz Lightyear, who sadly has not grown a bit...

thankful

We just got back from a week in Medford with family. Such. A. Great. Week. The best, really. We spent the week with my parents, who fed us like crazy (best pot roast ever!). The kids got to spend oodles of time with their cousins. Z had a really great week, with extra room to roam and all kinds of people paying attention to him. We had an amazing Thanksgiving dinner, with 18 people and way too much good food (my favorite part of the day was hovering around the turkey while my dad was carving it, snatching pieces that fell...just like the old days). There were multiple puzzles put together. A lot of time lazing in pajamas, reading books, taking naps, and watching movies. A got to have a couple sleepovers with her cousin. J got to stay up late watching Transformers with Mr. D - a major treat for him. I got to watch Michigan FINALLY beat Ohio State with my brother (again, just like the old days).

I'm so happy we made the trip up. I hope we can do it again soon.

Playing in the leaves at Uncle Jason's

The little ones, eating Auntie Heather's amazing Pumpkin Cake

Making Ugly Dolls

All the cousins

Double fisting the junk food. Love eating at Grammy's!

How many cousins can fit in the waterbed?

Snuggling with her Grampy

no one is ever eating on the couch again

This is what happens after a year of 5 people eating, doing homework, and playing on the couch...

greatest. thing. ever

6.5

We thought about just giving him half a cake for his half-birthday, but decided to go with the real thing...

our spd life: the bouncies

It would make sense for me to say that the hardest part of having a child with Sensory Processing Disorder is the tantrums. Or, I should say, the extreme tantrums. I mean, they can happen at any time without warning, can last from 15 minutes to 2 hours (yes, the 2-hour tantrums have happened), and there is no consistent way to get him to calm down. Our poor neighbors.

It could also be the aversion to transitions. Any transition involves a major amount of drama. Putting clothes on? That means running around the house screaming "no." Walking to the car? More no's as well as an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out which toys must accompany him.

Both of those are hard. Exhausting sometimes. But, oddly enough they have taught us how to be more calm and patient with him. No, the hardest part of SPD for us are The Bouncies.

I'm pretty sure if you Google The Bouncies you are not going to come up with a definition as it is related to SPD. But, it's an accurate description of what happens when he can't regulate his nervous system. Technically, he is "seeking out excessive proprioceptive input." As I (hopefully) understand it, it means his body is not accurately assessing the amount of input that is coming in, so everything he does he does harder, rougher, louder, etc in order to sense that input. He will literally bounce off the furniture. And on the furniture. And into walls. And crash into people, the dog, the floor, etc. With 5 people living in a small space, it's hard when this happens. It happens a lot, by the way.

So, the trick we are finding out from his OT, is to regularly find ways to provide that input he is craving. It's called "heavy work" and it's amazing how well he responds to it. Pushing things, pulling things, finding safe places for him to jump, having him vacuum, using a weighted blanket, swinging, climbing and crawling over and around things, wrestling...the list goes on. We call it using his big muscles. He loves it and they are all great ways for him to organize his body. Since most of the things we do with him are normal kid activities, it sounds logical that he would be doing them anyway. But, he needs help in being able to do them in a structured way on a regular basis so The Bouncies don't happen. When they do, we are starting to learn what he needs to calm himself. Doing some heavy work is good. So is yoga and deep breathing. He learned the turtle pose at OT last week and it's extremely calming for him. He's also responding well to sitting with his hands pushed together while doing circular breathing.

As hard as this has been for our whole family, I can honestly say that the blessings have outweighed the frustrations. Working with him in a deliberate manner has been a great way for us stop and enjoy playing with him. Let's be honest: he's the 3rd child and sometimes (OK. A lot of times) he's left up to his own devices as we are trying to balance everyone and everything in our lives. But, he's now getting a lot more focused attention from the whole family. How great is that? For all of us.

Baking bread. Using those big muscles to stir.

this week in crazy...

(I've obviously been reading too much news today.)

Herman Cain. Just when you think he can't get any worse. He pretty much defines crazy these days. Oh wait. There's also Rick Perry.

skater boy

J decided he wanted a skateboard. We told him he had to save his money for one. Not easy for a 6-year old who is easily tempted by Legos. But, he managed to save enough and he's been in heaven learning to skate. Cool kid.

pumpkin patch outtakes

These may be as good as the "good" one on the bottom...

happy halloween!

  

 From our flock of Angry Birds...

pumpkin patch time

This year we managed to hit not one, but 4 pumpkin patches.

Z and I got invited to go along with the kindergarten classes because he has "Pez" (J's teacher from last year) wrapped around his little finger. After some hay bale climbing, cow milking, farm animal petting, tractor riding and potato digging action, he got stung by a bee. We hit the road shortly thereafter since he quickly developed a fear of anything small and flying. Although, at one point, Z managed to highjack my camera and take some pretty amazing pictures of me...

This may be my new favorite picture of myself.

This is definitely one of my favorites of him. Love those boots!

Last week J's class went to another pumpkin patch and Z and I tagged along. I'm not sure if the highlight at this one was feeding the horses or watching the kids scream in disgust as they tried to feed the cows...

Those cows had some seriously huge, slobbery tongues.

This weekend we managed to make it to two pumpkin patches in one day. The first one was near our house and involved...

an incredibly expensive session of bounce house jumping,

crazy wooden cutouts that have nothing to do with fall,

and pumpkins that were even more expensive than the bounce houses.

After a few tears when we informed the kids there was no way we would be paying $25 per pumpkin, we headed up the highway to farmland and the best pumpkin patch yet.

The pony rides were the highlight. (Really, how could they not be?)

Z tried on a pretty stellar hat.

Biggest pumpkin she could carry!

three

How did this happen? How did my baby go from being a baby to being a potty trained, super hilarious, very opinionated, and incredibly amazing 3-year old?

We had a great day. A. Great. Day. We were really worried that he was going to get overwhelmed and meltdown, but we kept things slow and low key and gave him lots of time to just chill and enjoy his day. It couldn't have been any better. Here's proof...

The gift bag from Grammy and Grampy. Almost as big as him!

In love with Buzz!

A couple hours at the science museum.

Nothing better than a Lightning McQueen cake....

except for licking frosting off of Lightning McQueen.

Our amazing Space Ranger!

who knew?

Who knew that going on a 6-hour field trip with the big kids would result in your toddler falling asleep for the night at 3:30?

Who knew at 15 hours of sleep would result in a morning of meltdowns of epic proportions?

thirty-eight, take two

"So, mom. You are 89 now, right?"

Close. I turned 38 yesterday and had a great day complete with a box full of homemade presents from the kids (my favorite) and a new cookbook (also a favorite). My pal, Heidi, also took Z and I out to coffee, after which we spent the morning chilling at the beach.

The best part of the day? Realizing I was 38. Again. Since I spent all last year thinking I had already turned 38, it's like I haven't aged at all. Or that I get a do-over this year. Mr. D wanted to tease me about an early onset of senility, but then he realized he knows where I live.

super z

I love this picture for so many reasons. Z has a new haircut that was 7 months in the making. His backpack is full of his new cars that he got as a reward for getting that haircut. He won't let them out of his sight. He's rocking his new cowboy boots that he wears everywhere. And those headphones. I love them. Here's the story about the headphones...

It all started with the tiptoe walking. Well, it probably started sooner than that, when he was a baby and was super antsy and easily unsettled. But, the tiptoe walking is what took us to his pediatrician. He walks on his tiptoes all the time which we thought was no big deal. But, we decided to double check. 2 pediatricians, 1 social worker, and 1 occupational therapist later, we found out that Z probably has Sensory Processing Disorder. The diagnosis just confirms what we have already known. He's super sensitive to low sounds (hair dryers, hair buzzers, hand dryers, vacuums, blenders). He craves routine. He gets easily overwhelmed if there it too much going on. He can't handle restaurants or grocery stores. He will only eat cold food. He's terrified of getting his haircut. He has tantrums that can last a couple hours. He's a horrible sleeper. He's super quirky, but we love all of the quirks. (Well, maybe not the tantrums, but it's just part of who he is.)

Yesterday he got these headphones. He already knows that he can put them on when he feels like there is too much noise around him. He is so much more relaxed already. He also got his hair cut. I don't think there are enough words to explain what a victory this was for him. The last time we tried to just visit a hair salon, he went screaming out of it and collapsed on the sidewalk sobbing. Full on panic attack. His OT recommended a kids hair salon that we stopped by yesterday. This guy was amazing. Amazing. Z wasn't super thrilled with it, but he tolerated it and was so proud of himself afterward. We also got him an indoor swing. It's his new quiet place. He sits in it with his headphones and a book. It totally calms him down.

There aren't enough words for how much I love Z. He makes us laugh. He has a crazy good memory. He's always discovering something. He knows who he is. Life with him is never dull. He's such a great kid. I'm so relieved that we finally have an idea of what is going on in his little body and that there is hope for him. I'm so glad God gave him to us. I can't imagine our family without him.

love him!

He made me promise not to put this picture on Facebook. He didn't say anything about the blog...

pdx with my besties

I'm not sure if there is anything better than a weekend in Portland with Michelle and Andrea. Especially when it includes sleeping in until 10, two brunches at Mother's, cocktails, movies, and a lot of shopping. Best. Weekend. Ever.
  

Best biscuits and gravy ever! Ever. 

Michelle was pretty tempted to buy this jacket. You can't blame her, really.

Gelato!

My sneaky friends got me this for my birthday.

Berry cobbler!

Love them!

I also have to give a shout out to Lindsey and the Kearney's for letting me crash at their places. That's how the best weekend ever becomes even better!

date night...

with Mr. D and a giant chip...

back to school

4th grade, 1st grade, and a little wannabe.

ugh

I guess this is one way to clean the fridge out. Also, I thought Pyrex containers were supposed to be pretty much unbreakable.

so much for collections

This is what happens when he decides he no longer needs his state quarter collection. (I think Big Sister may have something to do with it when she counted them and informed him that he had $19 in quarters.) One trip to the toy store later...

Also, in Great Kid Quotes, this is what the youngest asked very indignantly upon driving up to the store:

"Hey! Where those people put my binkies?"

(He had used all his binkies to "buy" a new tricycle last month.)

nine

I can't believe my baby girl is 9! I also can't believe how I keep falling more and more in love with her every day. She is such a great kid. Fearless. Creative. Compassionate. Artistic. Imaginative. Book loving. Easy going. Kind.

We had a great day celebrating yesterday. Pancakes and bacon for breakfast. A new sewing machine for the aspiring fashion designer. Ice skating. Swimming. Ice cream. Movie night. Falling asleep in the living room.

I'm not even thinking about the fact that she is half way to 18.

Happy birthday Miss A. I love you!