What’s That Sound?

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In another life, I worked at an exhibit doing Experiential Marketing. As a way to interact with our kid visitors, we had a “guess the sound” game.

There were pictures of different items and about 6 cans with an item per can. The children had to shake the cans and guess which picture matched the sound. They sat there and played over and over.

Cut to 12+ years later and one of J’s favorite shows is Sid the Science Kid on PBS. They did an episode all about sound and I decided to recreate the game for him!

I picked up a few things from the Dollar Store; coffee cups, paper clips and toothpicks. I combined them with some items I had around the house and boom! A new activity is born and he loves playing it!

My version is definitely a lot more basic than the one we had in the exhibit, but it works. I’m definitely not crafty, but I do find a few easy  activities on Instagram or Pinterest from time to time. I’ll either copy what I see or it’ll make me think of something else I could do.

Being a parent definitely means being more creative.

Not Always a Happy Birthday

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Happy Birthday to YOU

Happy Birthday to YOU

Happy Birthday Dear (Insert your name)

Happy Birthday to YOU!

Now make a wish and blow out the candles!

birthday-cake

This is normally a joyous song! Family and friends get together and honor the birthday recipient.

For J, it is anything but joyous! Don’t get me wrong-he likes the song and can sing it. What he hates is to hear a group of people singing it.

A couple of years ago, we were at my Great Uncle’s 95th party. While everyone was singing and celebrating, J was screaming and crying. This was before I even knew of Sensory Processing.

This happens anytime a group sings Happy Birthday. Or when a group of people cheers their glasses. Or if too many people say YAY! It’s all too overwhelming for J.

Recently, it was my daughter’s 1st birthday. We had a lot of people at the house and although he wasn’t upset, J was definitely extra hyper. I think he was trying to process so many people in his house all at once. Before we were going to sing Happy Birthday and even though I would’ve loved to have him there, I told him what was about to happen and gave him the option to not be in the room if he wasn’t comfortable. He took grandpa downstairs to the playroom and we sang to his sister.

At the end of the song, J came back upstairs crying. While downstairs, he had gone into his playhouse, closed the door and the windows as if to hide out. My dad told me that by the end of the song he was crying. Once I got him calm, he said he wanted to blow out candles too. So I relit one for him, told him to make a wish and he blew out his own candle. Within a few minutes he was back to the party.

Situations like this isn’t just a 3 year old having a tantrum. And if this was the only thing he did that didn’t seem right, I might not think anything of it. But when you combine it with other triggers we’ve noticed, it’s hard to dispute that Sensory Processing seems to be the culprit.

 

 

Day 1 in the Books!

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Today was our first day of Occupational Therapy. I’d call it a success since J is looking forward to going back on Monday!

It was a bit of a bumpy start. We walked into the waiting room, where PJ Masks was playing and I just so happen to have his PJ Masks sippy cup with me. A perfect match! But I digress. Once we turned the corner, he saw a couple of people waiting and froze. He tried to get back out the door and said he wanted to go home. With some coaxing, I got him to sit on my lap and eventually started playing games on my phone to try to shake the nervousness. His therapist came out, introduced herself and asked if he wanted to go back to play. Since it’s his first day, I went back with him. Luckily, once he saw the gym, he was all in. He played with the swing, tunnel, puzzles, putty, magnetic letters (his favorite) and the trampoline. I went over some of my concerns and filled out paperwork.

Today was all about introductions, learning more and most importantly getting J comfortable with his new surroundings. Much like speech therapy, to J, it’s having fun with someone one on one.

I look forward to his progress as time goes on and coming up with new ways to prevent or calm his triggers.

Is This a Real Thing?

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I’ve mentioned before that one of the reasons I started this was because of the other blogs and articles I had read that helped me. Maybe my story might help another parent going through a similar experience!

Facebook groups have also helped. A community of parents asking questions, telling stories and sharing their experiences. There was a discussion one day as to how others react to learning about Sensory Processing. One person shared that her husband initially hadn’t even wanted their child evaluated. Others talked about their parents telling them that they just don’t discipline well enough. The kids get away with too much. Have too much. Some other family members and even doctors just didn’t believe it was a real thing.

Yet those parents that trusted their gut, got their kids the extra help they needed, had a much better quality of life. They were able to predict and most times prevent triggers. They now know what can calm their child. What their mind and body need to properly process information and self regulate in those disorganized situations. That mommy (or daddy) gut will never steer you wrong.

In ‘The Out-of-Sync Child,’  it states that research regarding Sensory Processing has been going on since the 50’s, even though most of us never heard about it. Much of the cause seems to be genetic, but there is still more research being done. I know when I was younger you never heard about this, but you also never heard much about food allergies. With the internet and especially social media, I think there an inundation of information regarding varying issues.

Again, because a child is “out-of-sync” doesn’t mean there is something wrong. It just means they need a little extra help going through the motions of daily activities.

Click here to read my blog What Is Sensory Processing, which includes even more reference links.

And don’t forget parents: Trust Your Gut!

A Little More Waiting

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Today was supposed to be J’s first day of Occupational Therapy. However, just as we were getting ready to leave, his therapist called and said she had to go pick up her son from school because he was sick.

As a mom, of course I understand! I just got over a week and a half of a sick cycle in my house. Can’t be helped!

giphy

The other side of me was disappointed because I was really looking forward to today. I had prepped J with the daily agenda and was looking forward to kicking off this journey!

But this journey will just have to wait two more days.

In the meantime, I have a little more time to get questions together and have all the information prepped to ensure J gets the best out of this experience!

It’s the Final Countdown

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What a week it’s been!

Baby J’s sickness developed into a virus with a new symptom everyday! A few trips to the doctor and a week later, she’s finally feeling better!

Big J had a snow day from school on Tuesday and was back in the grind on Thursday. I’m so happy he loves going to school…I’m sure one day he won’t!

It’s the Final Countdown to OT! We start on Monday! With everything going on lately, Itenor haven’t even had time to think about it too much. I definitely want to write down some questions and get him ready for the addition to his routine. Due to the timing availability of OT, we have to rearrange our Speech Therapy schedule. With J so comfortable with his awesome speech therapist, it’s easy to make adjustments without it affecting him.

I need to catch up on my reading of The Out-of-Sync Child and gear up for Monday! I’ll be sure to keep you all in the loop with our new journey!

How Do We Start The Conversation?

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Some people in our life, including our closest friends and family, are just learning about J’s Speech Therapy and soon to be Occupational Therapy through this blog.

We weren’t trying to hide anything, weren’t embarrassed, not worried about being judged and we weren’t too overwhelmed to talk about it. It’s hard to put into words why this is news to most, but I’ll try.

J is a healthy, happy boy. He loves cars, puzzles, anything letter related, going to the park, Disney (it’s in his DNA), his family and his friends. I don’t feel anything is “wrong” with him. Thankfully, he’s not sick. He just has to work a little harder at things than some other kids do. And also not as hard as some other kids do.

So this raises the question-how do we go about starting the conversation? To make a big announcement may seem like it’s a bigger deal than it is, in the sense that something is “wrong.” By not saying anything, it may seem like we are holding back or that more is going on.

I don’t have an answer and would love to hear from other parents! There’s no shame or embarrassment in kids needing some extra help along the way and it’s important to talk about.

Feel free to comment below, Follow me on Twitter or if you know me in real life-reach out personally! I would love to hear from all of you!

Mom…Mom…Mama…Mommy?!

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Most parents can definitely relate to this clip:

I waited a really long time to be called any version of “mom.”

J started speech therapy at 2 years and 5 months old. In that time, I heard some babbles of mamamama early on, but never in context. There were times I’d wonder if one day he’d wake up and just say it. He spoke in grunts, used lots of gestures and we understood everything he needed and wanted. 95% of the time, I never cared that he wasn’t calling me mommy. But every once in awhile, the thought that he hadn’t called us mama and dada would creep in and we’d wonder when it would come.

After a month or two of therapy, it happened. His speech therapist asked who I was and he said “mom.” It was awesome. I stayed “mom” for months. I figured he was skipping over the cute baby way of saying mommy. Maybe were going straight into teenage years where he was too cool for mommy and went right to mom. A few more months passed, we became mommy and daddy and it has stuck.

I remember us all being in the car one day and I said “we’ve waited a long time for him to talk but you know once he does, he’s not going to stop.” I knew the day would come that we’d stop wondering when the words were coming and be experience our very own version of the clip above. It did and despite how often I hear my name most days..which is a lot…I love it.

Sometimes it’s hard to remember these milestones as time passes because he’s come so far. In one way it seems like just yesterday he was grunting because he wanted something to eat. Now he asks his sister how her snoozie was when she wakes up. He says Thank You to someone that opens a door for him. And he says “hey mommy?” and “hey daddy?” at least 100 times a day!

*The YouTube Clip was posted by Erudius

The Letter of the Day is C!

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Chicago. Croup. Cancellations.Cisforcookie

Back in the Fall, we went through a two month sick cycle in the house. Mot households have been through this. Everyone taking turns passing around different illnesses. This also resulted in cancelling various weekend plans. One of those activities was taking a trip to Chicago to see friends we haven’t seen in a long time.

Last week I saw a great deal on flights to Chicago for this weekend and we decided to book a 48 hour trip. We were supposed to leave Saturday morning and we were coming back Monday afternoon.

J’s baby sister’s name also starts with a J so throughout the blog, we can refer to her as ‘Baby J.’ 

Baby J wasn’t sleeping great all week. By Wednesday she started coughing and had a runny nose. I chalked it up to a cold but was watching to make sure it wasn’t getting worse. It wasn’t and on Friday we were packing for our weekend excursion. After they both woke up from naps, I realized Baby J was not acting like herself. She was crying randomly, laying on the floor out of no where, etc. That gut feeling said to take her to the doctor to make sure this was just a cold before getting on a plane in less than 24 hours.

Good thing I did!

It turns out that cough that had kept her up some nights and bothered her during the day was croup. And it’s contagious. I had a feeling it was since that same day J started with congestion.

Needless to say we cancelled our trip to Chicago and have been hunkered down with sick kiddos all weekend. It’s sad to see them feeling so bad. Baby J has also developed a fever since getting back from the doctor and has not been herself. She’s taking extra naps and I’m hoping she’ll feel better tomorrow. If not, the doctor may get another call from me! Especially with all these stories going around regarding the flu.

I’m trying to keep J calm and rest. Which is so easy for a 3 year old boy, right?! Quiet games, activities and some extra shows/movies have been on the agenda all weekend.

Hopefully Monday will kick off the return of my healthy babies!

 

TGIF! Two Step Party Time!

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“Dance…even if you have no where to do it but in your own Living Room.”

This is a lyric from Baz Lurhman’s Wear Sunscreen – a favorite speech/song of mine.

Do your kids like to dance? Both of mine do! And since they come form Dave Matthews Band Fan Parents, it’s often played in the background. Sometimes the DMB Pandora Station is on as we play LEGOs. Other times we’re using the DMB Lullabies to get them to sleep.

One day in an effort to change things up, I asked ‘J’ if he wanted to have a Two Step Dance Party. He got really excited and said YES!

So now this is an almost daily occurrence in the Living Room of our house. He’s so happy in his run/spin/dance moves and it’s a great way to get out some energy! Also a good workout for me and a way for the baby to practice her moves!

Take the advice from ‘Wear Sunscreen’ and dance-even if it’s in your own Living Room!