long time no post

"Promise yourself to be so strong that nothing can disturb your peach of mind." ~Christian Larson

It has been quite a while since I have posted something on the blog. I think we have become overwhelmed in the chaos of the school year now that everyone is settled in to their work. All I know is I am exhausted!

Where to start with where we are at...

I am intensely dreading this Halloween season. I feel horrible forbidding the eating of chocolate in the house, but I know (and boy realizes too) what milk does to him and it is just impossible for him to function with milk in his system. I do let him "cheat" sometimes on the weekend, but we definitely pay for it after. It still amazes me what milk does to him. I think the things that he misses the most are mac-n-cheese and pizza. I have been searching for shredded milk-free cheese and cannot find it. I mentioned this to the sensory therapist and she suggested I buy the block of milk free cheese and....wait for it....shred it myself! DUH?! Seriously, why did I not think of that myself? Oh yeah, that's right because half the time I can't even remember my name or what day of the week it is.

Anxiety levels are very high lately and we are trying different ways of tracking that for him so his therapist can work through it with him, but he has anxiety over having to mark the anxiety chart that he has anxiety...this is my life. Today we played outside in the leaves and the kids next door were taking our leaves to their yards....anxiety ensued...

The sensory therapy is the best thing we have EVER done...ever...period. His OT is so amazingly kind and understanding and she really knows how to get through to him. She has been working on his handwriting, coordination, fine motor skills and I believe we are seeing some pretty good results. We really need to slow down his handwriting and coloring so we are working with Callirobtics, which is writing in patterns to classical music, to the beat of the classical music. The problem is that he tenses up when writing, looks really closely at the paper and moves quickly for fear of not being able to finish quickly enough. Gotta slow him down a few beats.

Friendships are still difficult for him. It breaks my heart to see him so stuck in his ways.

So, overall we have not had much progress to report on, but we are still working hard.

Newest obsession to report on -- School House Rock. This one is an obsession from about two years ago that is now making its way back around town. He listens to it nonstop and sings all of the song. I am a pretty huge fan of SHR so I'm happy to hear the music and dance to it while cleaning the house...in about a week I will be pulling my hair out to "I'm just a Bill", can't wait.

routines, routines, oh how we love our routines

We are strictly enforcing the routine charts now :)

School starts in two weeks, gotta be ready for the super chaos to begin.

So far the routines have been happily accepted, welcomed with open arms. I laminated them and he uses a dry erase marker so that alone makes it seem fancy.

Right now we have a good morning and good night chart. I am also creating a homework and shower chart.

Fun times!

The Chart

The therapist has him tracking his emotions daily on a chart. She says this will help him start to associate what he is feeling with the type of emotion it is. I am attaching the chart and will explain it below...I think it will be hugely beneficial and may be beneficial to someone else also.

A few key points about the chart:
1. He has to go through the chart first, before bed. He marks the emotions that he felt throughout the day in a red pen. After, he explains to us what made him feel each emotion and how he reacted.
2. I go through and mark the emotions that I witnessed throughout the day for him. It may be the same emotions or it may be different emotions. The key is to point out the emotions that he missed throughout the day. Then I go through and explain to him when I witnessed each emotion in him and how he reacted.

The other thing that she discussed with him is the idea that Feelings+Thoughts=Behaviors

Feelings - feelings are never wrong, you are not in control of them
Thoughts - thoughts are able to be re-thought
Behaviors - behaviors are in your control, you can change them