Blah Blah Babycakes

My Favorite Client

I'm just about finished with school and will soon receive my massage therapy certification.  Normally, Henry won't go anywhere near my table, but tonight he finally gave in to my healing hands.

Diagnosis Du Jour

It's amazing how empowering knowledge can be.  After the initial feelings of "why my child?" and the few days of feeling extremely sorry myself and for Henry, I feel more energetic and patient with him than I ever have.

Having this diagnosis has given me the push to bring Henry to a pediatric sleep clinic to finally get some help for his sleep issues.  I've sort of admitted that Henry has been sleeping in my bed since last November, but I don't think I've told you that five out of seven nights he has some type of night terror, wakes up every half hour and cries in his sleep. I pretended for too long that Supernanny tactics would do the trick, but now I feel like I can take advantage of any and all available resources to help make our lives better.  I feel like I no longer have to deal with these issues on my own.

Thank you for all of your encouraging comments and emails.  I love hearing your own personal stories.  For anyone that understands a little about SPD, Henry is considered sensory seeking.  He is hypo-sensitive and looks for stimulation.  He seeks input about where his body is.  This is why he pushes and hits. It's why he likes sparkling water. The bubbles feel fantastic in his mouth, not because he's a fancy New Yorker.

I do need to make a conscious effort not to let this become my excuse for all of Henry's bad behavior.  He's still a two year old with likes and dislikes.  Still a little boy who doesn't appreciate sharing and doesn't always want to take a nap.  A fine line, it is.  In fact, some believe that SPD is just an excuse for lazy parenting and really, who among us doesn't have a few quirks?   Even if I was certain that Henry would outgrow this condition (or maybe just learn to cope with or hide it), I still want him to feel good now. To fit in now.  Oh yes, it would be nice to get some sleep, as well.

A Sensitive Subject

The therapist set a piece of deli meat in front of Henry and explained to him that it was turkey and that he could taste it if he wanted to.  Henry looked down at it and gagged several times.  With tears in his eyes, he asked if we could go home. With tears in my eyes, I told him,"no".

Henry has been diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder. 

What that means exactly is hard to say. It's as individual as each child.  Henry's food aversions are pretty severe and I kind of knew that, but now I'm hearing all sorts of phrases such as: Low muscle tone, poor motor planning, attention deficit. It's a big, confusing diagnosis, that I can hardly make sense of and a little bit, it breaks my heart.  The good news is that it helps explain the hitting, the sleep problems and the chicken nuggets.

Henry is still the same cute, little boy, but now that we understand what his special needs are, we can help him to be more functional,in this big, bad world.

Retail Therapy

Not wanting to be outbid...

I picked up this happy, little coat and a box of SkinCeuticals Serum 10  samples, for next to nothing, on Ebay.

Crier's Market

It was hard not to post a picture of the second house I wouldn't live in. I totally wanted to show you. I was so sure it would be ours, but I didn't want to jinx myself again. 

I promised myself that this time I would not be devastated if our offer was not accepted, but I went ahead and mentally folded my towels and placed them in the custom built-in cabinets and took a bath in the claw foot tub. I was SO sure.  And just to make super sure, went ahead and bid over the asking price.  Not enough, apparently.

Last time this happened, I thought that every other house was stupid and ugly.  That, obviously, turned out not to be true, but now it's true again.

Third time has to be a charm, no?

Analyze This

I love therapy.  Marriage, behavioral, psychoanalytical, hypno, physical, massage, hydro,  You name the therapy and chances are I've been there and done that. 

And wouldn't you know, Henry loves therapy too!  We see an SLP once a week for speech therapy and now I've added an Occupational Therapist to Henry's schedule, because the kid is a picky eater.  Really picky. Now I understand that a lot of toddlers have food preferences and sometimes only eat goldfish crackers for two days, but I had this gut feeling that Henry took being picky a little too far and so I enrolled him in the Food Clinic at the local Children's Hospital.

Henry with his chopsticks

As it turns out, Nick and I are shitty parents and are doing everything wrong.  The therapist said it in a much nicer way, but that was pretty much what she meant.

So far he hasn't eaten anything new, but he's spent a lot of time smashing blueberries and smelling juice.  I'm skeptical...

Save the Grenada Dove

Is that an Ash-breasted Tit-tyrant in your pants?  No, silly, it's my new endangered animal ring tone.

Get your own ring tone and do your part to stop extinction at the Center for Biological Diversity.

Thanks DeRusha for the link.

Speaking of Cold

Henry has been adding so many words to his vocabulary in the past few weeks, I'm amazed, pleased and incredibly proud.  One of those new words is "brrrrr".

It's painful to go outside and the cold air takes your breath away.  Or maybe I'm just a big baby.  I'm sure somewhere in the world it's much colder and if so, I never want to visit that place. When I go outside all I can think is, "Are you fucking kidding me?? This is ridiculous".

Cold weather makes me very cranky.

In an attempt to warm our bellies Nick made french peasant food for dinner.

Beef Bourguignon with Lardons

Everyone else loved it, but Henry and I thought this stew should be left for the peasants.