Will I Ever Learn?

10:56 am: Roll section of test paint color on small section of Bear's bedroom wall, well above his munchkin reach.

10:58 am: Commence rinsing paintbrush in sink.

10:58:23 am: Bewildered Bear presents paint covered hand.

In Between

We got Bear's weighted vest in the mail today.  I'd changed the order from extra small to small because he's had a really big growth spurt since the order was initially placed.  The OT's loaner vest went from looking perfectly reasonable to looking like a bad 80s crop top on him.

But I guess this company's sizes run big, because even though the measurements seemed appropriate the small is HUUUGE on him.  Not sure what to do.  He'll grow into it soon enough, I guess.  It's just right now I've got one on loan that's too small and one I own that's too big -  neither of which is going to do him much good in the short term.

The Things We Do For Our Kids

Bear got his first ever non-family birthday party invitation.  Lovely (soon to be) 3 year old little girl with a lovely mom we know through friends. Happy to participate.

But.  It's at Chuck E Cheese.

Which is against our religion.   Seeing as how this godless liberal family has but one creed, and that is: Never. EVER. Go To Chuck E Cheese.

It doesn't help that my visually defensive, auditory defensive, chronic migraine self makes such a place a personal purgatory.

But. Yeah, there's another but.  (Cause with an ass like mine, there might as well be two!)

Bear's OTs consistently assign "put him in social situations" homework.  On account of his social and language delays.

My BFF will be there (my rock, my sanity, my primary supporter who pushed as hard as I did to get Bear a diagnosis).  And her daughter, Bear's BFF (AKA YiiiiiiiiiiiiYiiiiiiiii!!! Always at full intensity and volume).  Their presence will make it bearable.

And I just found out the birthday girl is also in EI. So, there will be multiple supportive moms there who get it's harder for Bear.  That's one thing I'm sincerely dreading as this scenario repeats itself over time - the added stress of monitoring his reactions PLUS the judgment of other uninformed parents in attendance.

So we're going.  Just kind of wishing I'd gotten around to working out that migraine emergency injection pen with my doc...

Good Day

Great things about today...

1) Bear has blown away all his speech goals, and we have an appointment for next week with Early Intervention evaluator to determine if he is able to graduate from ST!

I'm nervous about giving up a service before I technically have to, but I also know that there are other little ones on the EI waiting list who need a therapist.  Our state budget situation is such that the therapists who work through the program aren't getting paid regularly, and some are starting to drop out because they can't afford to keep working with no guarantee of payment. 

So, even though I'm concerned about jumping the gun on letting ST go (if the evaluation shows he's ready), I also don't want to hold onto a time slot if another child needs it more than we do.  I couldn't bear it if I kept another family from enjoying this kind of happy success.

2) After months of paperwork and reminder calls and the OT hounding our (new, apparently a bit unreliable) EI coordinator for us, Bear's therapy equipment arrived today!  The program (with his neurologist's blessing) approved 2 kinds of swing and a weighted vest.  We had the meeting to get it requested about 3 months ago - I was starting to wonder if it would actually get processed before he aged out!

3) I suggested Bear ride his bike on the sidewalk, and he came back with "Ride Momma bike go park?"  How can you refuse that?!  So we went, even though I was dreading how close it was to naptime and the inevitable screaming scene to come.

But!  With a little creative transitioning (involving a water fountain and a sucker I'd stashed in the diaper bag) we were able to head home with absolutely no screaming.  Possibly a first - certainly a welcome relief!

A Number Approaching Infinity

Did you ever count the number of transitions a potty training SPD 2 year old perceives are required of him in order to physically get through one attempt on the potty?

Check Gross Motor Off the List for Today

Awesome Bear workout: chasing kite shadows across a huge open field.

Awesome Mommy workout: chasing free range kites liberated by distractable Bears.

Wi Fi Oasis

I got to know Bear's group OT staff well enough they granted me access to their office's wifi network.  Now, instead of wandering around Target or sipping an overpriced latte, I can bring my laptop to his sessions and squeeze in a little extra work.

I had let it slip the last few weeks, but then the not napping thing went from 'he's having an off day' to 'gawd help me, he's growing out of them.'

I feel slightly ridiculous lugging my purse, laptop bag and diaper bag into the office to be here for all of 45 minutes.  But it's rapidly becoming the most productive 45 minutes of my week.

Better Late Than Never

Once upon a time there was a writer who had a baby boy.  And it was really, really hard. And they found out it was hard because he was born with a neurological problem called Sensory Processing Disorder.  And the glorious chaos that ensued kept the writer from doing what comes naturally until the baby boy was 2 1/2.

Ya  know, WRITE about it.