The Mommy Furies..

So my kid has reached a new level of infuriating today. She's developed the ability to throw purposeful fits in an attempt to get what she wants. Fits have been a longstanding problem for us. BAD fits. HOUR long, horrible fits. They are a symptom of our issues and are usually symbolic of a larger, unresolved, issue that sometimes SHE isn't even sure of. Usually she gets out of control of herself. She literally cannot cognatively control her behavior until we hit a breaking point. I can brush her and it helps and then we hit the crying portion and at some point we talk and I can play "Let Guess The Problem". After that a solution is come up with and after some bouncing and more brushing, the world is once again happy.

TODAY, that is sooo not what we had. Today she had a willful fit in an attempt to get out of something - specifically subtraction. The truly awkward part? She LOVES math. Adores it. Then decided she wasn't going to do it. She then attempted to mimic her "normal" pattern. But, given that she's.. HER.. it was an epic fail. Not even a close representation. She told me what she was going to do, ie "I'm going to run of in 3 seconds, Momma, I'm  going to ruuuun off. Momma. 1. 2. 3." Then was surprised when I told her to sit herself back down!

So after a rather lengthy ordeal that went on, and on, and well.. on. I talked to T1 about why she would suddenly think it was ok to try to have a fit to get what she wanted or get out of something. She then told me that she has her therapists (her OT and behavioral) convinced that it should work that way. Apparently, this coming week when I see these ladies (who have been working wonders with her) and asking them to STOP catering to these little "episodes".



But you know what fixes most bad days, even when they keep going and going?? Cuddling with a Super Puppy :)

Lego Club

In about an hour, we are leaving for our first visit to our Homeschool Group's Lego Club. It meets once a month and while we *could* have gone last year, we never actually made it. There was the broken foot, the torn tendon, bronchitis a bajillion times, therapies, mood issues and whatever else. BUT. Here we are. It's at a time and a place we CAN and ARE going to. T1 is vibrating with anxiety. Literally vibrating.  I know there will be some people we've met before and probably a person or 2 we haven't. Most likely, it will be small and fairly quiet - which makes it a perfect first gathering for us to go to for the year for the Homeschool Group.

This is also one of those time when brushing is really, REALLY, *really*, (can I stress **REALLY** again), handy. I have no idea exactly how it works. (Something about deep tissue then compression of the joints helps delay endorphin release..) She went from vibrating to being able to sit and color. Wiggling - Yes. Literally bouncing off walls with anxiety, borderline uncontrollable so she will spin into "fit" mode - No! Score! We will have to do it again in an hour when we are getting ready to leave, but I'm willing to do that if she can control herself after it.  *THIS* is why we homeschool. We (*I*) can give her the therapy she needs when she NEEDS it, as she needs it. And it's starting to work. Brushing is one of the biggest control techniques we've introduced so far. The listening program was HUGE. I need to reintroduce that right about now too though. She starting to become more sensitive again. Brushing, though. It's HUGE. It's been worth every miserable day of doing it every 2 hours with that insane timer (that we still have beeping every 2 hours BTW). It means we *may* actually be able to get through Lego Club without a complete meltdown.  I'll still bring earplugs, her brush, her ish (her lovey that she rubs across her face), and the normal things I bring in case we need them, but hopefully we can go out for a 2 hour low key club with "normal" homeschool kids and be unscathed.  Maybe, I can talk to another grownup without having to stand nearby and be ready to catch my kid getting ready to leap at something in a full fury because the other kid changed a "rule".  Ok. That may be a bit ambitious still. But, maybe, she can come and ask what's going on and let me explain that the "rule" is different BEFORE she gets to fury land.

Aspergers and Learning

I must admit that trying to teach a kid with aspergers is both easier and harder than "normal" kids. T1 learns quickly. VERY quickly. Too quickly. I can throw things that a 6-1/2 should have no idea how to go about tackling and she gets it. Her logic is complicatedly sound. It's not a simple process like it is for T2. He just sits, looks at it, and KNOWS the answer. She looks at it, studies it, ponders it, and then some how makes these odd judgments that I can almost never figure out to get to the same answer. But she gets there.  This is true for all logic, math, science, and any similar problem that has definitive rules.  When you get to things like morality it gets a little dicey. There isn't a single "rule" for ALL situations for her to follow.  It's a big part of the reason she is homeschooled actually. The difference between when it's ok to defend against a bully and when it's best to walk away is a big example. There are SO many different situations that's really impossible for us to role-play all of them. We try to get as many as possible, but even within that there are so many different variables you can't account for there by making the "rules" void. The "rules" in her mind, are only good if the situation matches.

T2 and T1 make a great pair in most ways though. T2 gets people. He can read them, play them, dance away and never be bothered by any of it. T1 can't. She just.. Can't. She can't tell if they are kidding, serious, mean, kind, rude, sarcastic. Then gets into quite a tizzy about it because it's thrown her off kilter or something will happen and she won't notice ANYTHING has happened. A work in progress my T1.

We have 1 full week left of brushing every 2 hours (so we are on day 53). It's an annoying process. The benefits we are starting to see are ENORMOUS. It calms her almost instantly after joint compression. It helps her regain train of thought. She has been able to keep herself from throwing massive, uncontrollable, hour-lasting fits. So. Pain in the rump - YES. A worthwhile pain to have? YES. She has never really "warmed up to" the brushing, but does tolerate it which is the best I can expect.

I'm going to get the kids to work on Super Puppy with me here in a bit. The pictures are Hilarious! I may actually have to do an 2 sets of Super Puppy. 1 where they create the story and one where *I* do because the pictures are really JUST that good. Plus I need to figure out how to make little tabs at the top of blogger here. I'm not sure I know how just yet, but that would be a way for the whole story line to stay together.. Humm.. My and technology are just not always friendly..

Brush, Brush, Brush the kid.

We have finished 4 full days of brushing now. 6 or 7 times per day depending on when the girl gets up. Only 56 more days to go before we can start to trim that number down. I think, now, whenever ANY of us hear that stupid trill of the timer we ALL *sigh* and just get up and do it. That's a whole freaking lot of brushing. And joint compression. It's causing some negatives to her moods too. It's a routine change. It's  a LOT of touch and routine, and effort, and just... Brushing.. So I'm not worried about it. Her OT gal told me and warned me it would happen. But as I was dragging her through Sams as she was having an epic fit, I did have to ponder the brilliance of our plan. I do so hate having to be a grown up sometimes. I really just felt like having my own fit, but NOOOOO. I had to be the grown up and "work her through it". Whatever. Silly Stinkerpot.


I have to take the boy to get his ear looked at and see what's up with his ear tube that's gone haywire and see if there is still a hole. His Ped was a bit worried about it last week at his well child and didn't want us to wait until the end of August when his next ENT appt is. Unfortunately, his normal ENT is busy (or fortunately because he is a bit lazy) so we are seeing someone else in the same office. I'm *guessing* they will probably schedule it to be removed. Hopefully there isn't any hole to patch though. If they DO, I'm going to see if Sawyer wants to scope his sinuses and if they will do a cholesterol blood draw that the ped wanted. I'm SO not doing a freaking blood draw on a 5 year old after everything else that poor boy has to do when I don't have high cholesterol, C doesn't and the ONLY reason is he's "big". Yes. He is. But if he was 9 he would be average height and weight and wouldn't want to.. SOOOO just because he's proportionate for his height and weight just not age...? That one confuses me every time.

The poor boy also has an appt Aug 1 to go get his front bottom teeth pulled. He HAS a loose one, but it isn't coming out. The adult tooth shot up behind it AND the other tooth beside it. Soooo it looks like he's going the way of his sister and will be getting a SUPER Tooth Fairy Prize from that visit. It's currently looking like they will have to pull 3 of them. *rolls eyes* It's gonna be ugly.

Yup, one big ol joyful bag of news here.