Hair brushing
Hair brushing most definitely should not require window closing least the neighbors call the police. At our house this could possibly occur. Call it sensory issues or waiting too long to brush hair. It is a major ordeal. So we put it off. And it gets worse. It’s as if she has a gun shot wound. The screaming is loud accompanied by,”Stop it mommy. You’re hurting me.” Without the visual, that doesn’t sound good. So we avoid hair brushing. We have alternatives I suppose. Shaving the entire head or sound-proofing the house. We’ll probably just stick to putting it off.
Friendships
Friendships, relationships, are THE most important part of life. Few would disagree. I am lucky enough to have several great friendships, mostly with women, of course, who make the best friends. I love these friends. I will have them forever. Friendships for children like Isabella are difficult. It’s difficult to be Isabella’s friend. She craves friends, but they are elusive. Isabella is certainly well liked, but rarely invited to birthday parties of children we know in town. This is the saddest part of raising Isabella. It’s not the fact that her reading lags behind her peers or that she thinks […]
The random nature of karma
On www.momversation.com one of the mommy bloggers said that we get the children we deserve. What’s that all about? Is there karma involved in the merging of the sperm and egg. I doubt it. Genetics isn’t that smart and cunning. It’s random. Sorta like life.
More street crossing
It has happened. Isabella has crossed the street by herself without me following her. Several streets. One after another. It’s all good.
Independence
Two of the three children in our home are selectively independent, meaning that they do what they want without doing what I want. Independence without the responsibility. I think that’s normal. While Victoria and Zachary hang out locally, going to the movies, visiting friends’ homes, picking up a snack at Panera, Isabella stays with me. She does not seem to mind. We go shopping, attempt bike riding, watch a movie on TV. I don’t mind either. She’s good company. For the most part, there’s no complaining. She doesn’t whine when I say that we’re going to Whole Foods. Instead, she […]
Does whining lead to drinking?
Long day today. Probably too soon. Full day at school and speech therapy afterwards. No, Isabella did not go to bed too late last night. We spent Sunday afternoon at a family birthday party for a one-year-old cousin. It was lovely until the end when some unnecessary whining occurred. Today, after school was unprecedented. The whining went on for a very long time upon arrival home from therapy on this absolutely glorious day. Okay, so the first thing to do is get in the bathtub with lavender and magnesium sulfate (Epson salts). No whining while in the tub, but whining […]
The future: the unknown
Each morning Isabella gets picked up by a van to deliver her to her school. The time that transportation arrives varies daily. We try to be ready at the same time each day. Sometimes, but not often, Isabella waits on our stoop. We usually leave the front door open and she yells in to us or runs back in to give me a kiss good-bye. (I get kisses good-bye from all my children every single day.) This morning Zachary got concerned. What if a stranger came by and picked up Isabella. I said that wouldn’t happen. Isabella wouldn’t leave her […]
Back to school
First week back to school went off without a hitch for my three children. Everyone got up on time and each of my three took off for three different schools. This year we had a first. Isabella planned her outfit for the first day with the help of her 15-year-old sister Victoria. Victoria is our resident fashion expert by virtue of the fact that she is the only household member with a subscription to a fashion magazine and the only one who has taken classes at Parsons. Caring about appearance is natural for her, but not so much for her […]
Outer body experience
Sadly, not every day is a step forward. There are days that I’d rather forget about and pretend that never happened. Yesterday was one of those days. It seemed to be as typical day before school started. Get up late. Hang out. Make declarations of boredom. Go to the farmer’s market. Eat dinner. Something went very wrong at bedtime. It was one of those outer body experiences that children have at ages five or six and younger, not at 13. These are not that common, but a reminder that Isabella still has a journey ahead of her.
Swimming, really
Another new development. Somewhat astounding for our 13-year-old. Perhaps, not so for other 13-year-olds, unless the child has an anxiety disorder. Swimming. I mean running into the surf in the Atlantic Ocean and loving it! Really loving it. What this means is that the sensory defensiveness is gone. It’s not about being afraid once and now being brave. It’s about clinically not being able to tolerate something. Bike riding is not about balancing. It’s about staying on the bicycle long enough to say that you’re riding a bike. It’s about enjoying the waves crashing on your body. And how about […]
Using what you’ve got
My mother had a talent that few possess today. She could find a meal — a delicious meal — in anyone’s kitchen. This included the kitchen’s of owners who proclaimed, “There’s nothing to eat for dinner.” This trait is termed resourcefulness and probably extended to other areas of her life. She certainly used it as a New York City school teacher with limited resources. Sorta like Maria in The Sound of Music without the use of curtain fabric for clothing. Children with special needs do this everyday, all day. Without all the requisite skills for a task, these children figure […]
Traditional treatments
We never actually experienced the shocking news of a diagnosis for Isabella. Stuff was revealed gradually, which was not necessarily a good thing. There was no call to action. With each step forward, there were two steps backwards. Therapies were traditional in nature. Nothing out of ordinary was considered. An error in thinking. Though Isabella still has appointments with the same speech language pathologist and occupational therapist who she has been seeing since age 4, a lot more is happening at the cellular level. Sounds interesting, doesn’t it?