Lil'S - Sensory Breakthrough!

LONG story short, as I've not written about Lil'S and his speech and sensory issues much--especially lately, Lil'S has finally started hating speech therapy and refusing to go, so I'm now working with his speech therapist to involve fun occupational therapy / sensory activities to his speech therapy.  (There's this fabulous little sensory room adjacent to and even attached to the speech room, and it killed me to think he wasn't allowed to use it!) Here's what I emailed her this evening about our first attempts results!

Mrs. [M]!

[Lil'S] just had his best day of preschool EVER!!!  Yes, it helps that they went to the library and he's my little book lover (transportation toys and books!), but this is the first time I've ever picked him up where he was calm and centered like he often [should have written "more like he sometimes"] is at home.  (Unfortunately you and his preschool teachers don't usually see that side of him, not that I get to see it all that much either, though!)  I asked him to go to his locker and get his sandwich [ops, lunch], and despite the fact there were swarms of kids and parents and I had no hope in the world that he actually would, he made his way unaccompanied through the crowd, to his locker, retrieved his lunch, made it back through the crowd, and handed me his lunch.  I'm sure my jaw dropped!  Usually I have to really work with him to get through each step, and that's when he's willing to cooperate!  (As in not running away, screaming--car in hand--because he doesn't want to go home.)  Ms. [B] said he was attentive through each of the lessons and activities.  Usually he lasts five to ten minutes max, as you're familiar with.  When he was asked to come to an activity, he was disappointed to stop what he was doing, but he still did it and came.  SERIOUSLY AMAZING!!  [Transitions of any kind are often like pulling teeth with this darling child of mine.]

Some sensory activities have an instant effect and can last for a couple hours, but vestibular input can have an instant or delayed effect that can last up to eight hours, even if someone's given only 10-20 minutes of it.  Vestibular input is one of the things [Lil'S]'s the most oversensitive to, so I'm pretty sure only 5-10 minutes is enough for him.  

In summary, something he did this morning set him up for success through the rest of his morning.  I'm going to assume the main help was the intense vestibular paired with intense proprioception (trampoline & crash pad & swing), but it's true that the whole combination of activities may've been what is needed to be added to his home activities to help him be more centered through his typical day.

 - bean box: tactile/visual; 

 - trampoline w/ handrails & crash pad: "alerting" vestibular & proprioceptive to balance it out; 

 - swing (actually, I just found it's a "bolster"): "calming" vestibular; 

 - even the warm air from the van he commented on afterward and the cold breeze that thrilled him as he walked to preschool: calming/alerting tactile

So, anyway, I'm wondering if we could do the same activities Thursday as we did today and see if he does as well at preschool afterward.  If it works, we'll be setting up some things at home to mimic those activities so he can be centered before speech therapy and the rest of daily life.  (We just may end up investing in an OT trampoline, crash pad, and bolster ourselves if our homemade attempts don't seem to work.)  I also think doing those same speech/OT activities again may help him better learn to follow all the rules that accompany the activities.  Here's hoping!

Thank you so much!

:)

We've Moved!

States, not blogs. Thus the lack of posts, despite the hundreds of things I've wanted to post about.

We now have . . . .

a house under contract...yippee!!!!
- an apartment in Stockbridge, GA
- a swimming pool!!!
- a van
- a tablet (our computer died while Seth was in NC :( )
- a super cozy lay-z-boy (thanks M and A!!! it's made H such a happy girl! and me too!)
- a new haircut (not one pictured above)
- a new blog picture (5th anniversary...went backward in time...prev was 3 yrs ago...ah, well. It was better than the bedragled one H took of me while Seth was out of town. ;) )
- a new LDS congregation
- a new family to play with every couple weeks (kids aged 6, 4, 2, 2wks)
- a new elementary school
- an awesome 2nd grade teacher for H,
- and H successfully falling asleep WITHOUT melatonin!!!!!

I'm feeling really spoiled, which is good, because we could still use....

- a washer and dryer (EEK!)
- a keyboard for my tablet
- an unpacked apartment

- a husband available to help unpack and declutter (just teasing here, I know that isn't happening)
two potty trained boys (scary)
a housekeeper/mommy's helper so that someday the two above items might actually occur
vinyl in apt's eating area so we can allow our kids outside our tiny kitchen
kitchen table and chairs
a toddler who doesn't scream hysterically when we try to put him in his car seat because he wants to sit in his brother's forward-facing seat...or his sister's....when his head is so huge that it can't possibly be safe to let him sit forward-facing until he's like 10.
a mother who goes to bed before 12 or 3 a.m.
drs, dentists, pediatric versions of the same, and a speech therapist
and last but not least, a health screening/form that will allow H to go to school Monday....hoping to get that tomorrow!!!!

They're here!!!

PICTURES, PICTURES, PICTURES!!!

Sending our thanks to Sabrina Short of Sweet Sassafras!
Sorry, family, no printing these.  Just let us know which copies you want
and we can arrange ordering them!

Considering how hectic everything was and that I botched everyone who had hair long enough to botch and that I didn't hire a friend to come help juggle kids and fix hair between shots (my ideal because I'm so photo obsessed), they came out pretty cute.  This is a whole slew of our favorites--some are super cute and great quality shots, some are just fun, and some are poses that I liked for future reference.

These next few were taken right near the end.

Happy 10 Years this May, My Love!!!

                       

 

Aww. . .

CUTE!!!

My Little Man!!!

So grown up!

Not the best framing, but what's a photo shoot with a little girl without a couple flower poses?

:)

We were really trying to warm him up!

  

And I knew eventually this would do the trick!

Yay!!!

Hard to choose a favorite with these next ones.

He, he, he!  Buddies!

I wish I'd been holding his hands with my index fingers for this one.
I was probably in the middle of trying to switch when she took the shot, although I think I'd tried to tickle him to get a smile at some point too.  He was missing his nap AND stranger shy, so he was not so thrilled about this whole thing.

Squished Lil'S!

We really tried to get all three kids together, and I wish we'd tried more poses and thought to take H's glasses off to avoid the glare.  It's tough to keep a two-year-old interested and a tired baby content, though, so that didn't really happen, sad to say.

Cute, but they really need Daddy in there someplace too.  

(I've seen too many single mom and kids pictures!)

These just make me laugh.

N wasn't so sure about this either.

Shy N!

Yay for smiles!

HA-hahaha!

So sweet!  Lil'S totally adores his baby brother.  

Someday I hope the same thing will exist in the reverse!

My silly crew!

Merida No More

Look what I woke up to Saturday morning: my sweet, little girl watching a movie while writing out her favorite scripture to share with a school friend, who'd earlier shared with her a favorite.  (Lil'S was quick to join her after I got him out of his crib.)  I chatted with her for a moment and took the scissors she'd been working with to put them away since Lil'S was now up.  After I turned and started to leave the room, I spotted something on the floor.  A curl of hair.  I picked it up and turned around.  

"H?"  Another curl of hair.  "Did you cut your hair?"  

"Yes."  She answered.  

Me in shock: "This is the first time you've cut your hair."

"No, remember, when I hid behind that board?"

I couldn't remember that time,
but I figured she must've been pretty small.

  

Upon closer examination, I learned the extent of this additional activity H had been up to while S and I were still in bed.

zoned in front of the tv

Oh, dear.

Not even the Romans appreciated Mullets.  

Or, maybe I should say Nero did, but his biographer did not.  

I side with his biographer.

"Why did you cut your hair?"

"Because I wanted short hair like ___ and [S, her best friend at school]."

"Oh.  Well, next time talk to me about it first, okay?
It's not okay to cut your hair by yourself."

"[H], where did you put your hair?"

"In the garbage."

Well, I guess the difference between a three-year-old cutting her hair and a six-year-old cutting her hair is that a six-year-old cleans up after herself.  I was actually quite impressed there.  Mess Management is not my favorite aspect of Motherhood.  I think it was easier to forgive her for cutting her amazing hair without consulting me first simply because her beautiful hair wasn't strewn across the floor.  And, I guess being reminded that I'd enjoyed Ben & Jerry's with my hubby the night before helped soften the blow as well.  ;)

Goodbye lovely locks!

:(

Time for some serious hair-cutting.  But, as is typical in our family
anytime anything important is supposed to happen, we played first.

Then we had baths and lunch and put little brother to bed 

so he didn't get any ideas.  Next came zoning out H in front of the tv

so I could fix her hair.

With how much she cut from the front, I had to go short.

Really short.

Her response?

Tears.

"I look like a boy!"

"I hate my hair!"

Oh, dear. . . .  Well, that's what happens when you cut your hair by yourself!

After nap time we pulled out my laptop to show her women with short hair. I also showed her my cousins' daughter, A, who has short, red hair.  H then wanted to see Ms. J, her art teacher, who has short(er) hair, as well as Ms. M and Ms. L, her kindergarten teachers.  So, we went to the school website and pulled up their pictures too.

The trick worked!

Phew!
(She's being super silly in this vid.  It was an hour past her bedtime as I had to touch her hair up some more.)

I've had a hard time adjusting to this as well.  H received her red ringlets from my grandmother, and seeing them would remind me of her and a funny story she once told me.  One night she went to a high school dance (with my Grandpa?) and her hair was still a bit wet, so it curled up tight around her shoulders.  While she was dancing, kids would sneak up behind her and pull on her ringlets, stretching them clear down her back.  This didn't embarrass her a bit, and she laughed along with the rest of them at how fun her hair was to play with.  (The slinky wasn't invented yet. ;) )  

DIY Photos

Day 3

First a tour of our sad-looking bathroom, thanks to our photo-taking cell phone.  Our camera was MIA.

cute shower hooks I used for color inspiration

the fated cabinet

trashy looking wall previously decorated with lotion by a certain unnamed child (the cheap paint absorbs everything and comes off the wall if you try to clean it)

close-up of nasty, previous paint job and rusty, old electric heater

sad-looking vanity area and the hanging storage that I love my husband for hanging up for me at the start of this project!

ugly but functional closet

cute little H taping the wall where we hang our towels

love the house...not exactly what I was looking for, but had to keep it ;)

She's very proud of that house, as am I. 

After work comes play!

ok, so it wasn't much work, but, ya know . . .

newest game: tug-of-war!

Day 4

we're done!!!

with coat #1 of blue paint, that is. . . .

;)

S took over for me when N needed to eat, and I sent H in with the cell phone to take pictures :)

after the kids were in bed I painted the final layers

sorry, no picts of me

someday I'll post the "after" picts!

;)