Brickyard Road

Our goal is to share our story. The ups and downs. The good and bad. Non sugarcoated truth. It's my personal hope that we can help even one person, who feels like they've done everything they can and nothing is getting any better.

Only days after Melodie's intake appointment for SI Therapy she had convinced other children to twist her arm and break it.( THANK YOU legoMama for catching that one.) She wanted a cast so bad she was willing to suffer through a summer with a broken arm. That's says a lot considering Melodie's favorite place is in the water. 

Couple things about Melodie I may have forgotten to mention. Her safe place is water. Bath, shower, pool, puddle, it really doesn't matter. She also associates her world in color. Remembers playgrounds by the color of the play equipment and refers to them by such. Remembers people by their favorite color, or the color of their house or car. That's just the way her brain likes things to be. 

I get a call, that Melodie wants a purple ( her all time favorite color) cast so bad she is trying to break her arm....OI! are you kidding me? I will admit I had a hard time with it the more I thought about it. I can understand wanting a purple cast. It's a great color. But willing to purposely break your OWN arm to get one...I cried a little. What is going on in that brain of hers. 

I remembered we had SI therapy and that maybe Katie could help, at this point I didn't care if she knew all the answers or not. She knew more than me, and for the first time it all made perfect sense. 

So we started her "menu" my co-author and I took two days at my house and gave it a go. Things seemed to go so smooth. Now we've had a couple days on our own, and we're learning. Musical Chores is SUPER AWESOME. One of the activities listed was stop and go games. So we put it to music, you clean when the music plays , you FREEZE when it stops. It's fun and very productive. 

Joint Compression, she just loves it. 

We have crab walk races, find the skittle in the bag of rice, legos, she uses her squishy ball when she reads or has to listen to instructions. We play the same music every night (Zen Garden) for bed time. We start every day with a warm face wash. We have found that she likes to have a heavy stuffy on top of her when she sleeps, and likes to be rolled tightly in a blanket.

I will say that last night was not a good night, she couldn't stay asleep, and even when I was laying right next to her she would wake up and yell for me. The lack of sleep is where I really have a hard time. It affects everyone in the house. Including Lilly. 

Melodie was very good while shopping today. Daddy was home, and we all went to the mall. This was a pretty big deal considering the last time I took Melodie to the mall we had to leave because she was too nervous. She picked out some new clothes and talked daddy into a book and a bracelet. Daddy's kind of a big softy though. 

Things are always a little different when he is home. He is a truck driver and currently gone 4-5 days, home for 2. So we adapt, because well, we don't really have another choice. Some days we wish Daddy was home more, but we are certainly thankful for the sacrifices he makes to provide for us. This allows us to home school ( ALE style), it allows Melodie the things she needs, and Lilly to spend her days with Me and Melodie. 

There are days I'd like to sell them to the circus, even told Melodie that's why she took gymnastics. But in all honesty, I wouldn't trade it for the world. I have kanji symbols on my forearms, Strength and Courage, those two words have gotten me though the absolute darkest of times. But that's a whole other story. My point being, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I am a stronger mother now than I was a year ago, and I am determined to fight for my kid, and help others. 

In His Own Time, Not Mine.

Kaiden's therapist gave us a list of activities specific to his test scores that we should pick from to make a menu. The theory being, if we continually feed the need for sensory input we will avoid the seeking behaviors. Much like how eating a steady diet avoids hunger. 


As thrilled as I am about finding the correct diagnosis, I'm overwhelmed by what needs to be done. I knew going in that it wasn't going to be a simple, here fix my kid, scenario. But I think that somewhere deep inside, in that place that parents don't want to admit exists, I was kind of hoping it would be. 


So I sat with my list of activities and my menu and filled it out. That part, was easy.


Now the difficulty lies in trying to incorporate these into our every day life. Five kids, four homeschoolers, two dogs, two cats, and various other insanity seems to block the best intentions. I am not ashamed to admit that today, we did not do all of our sensory diet. I am however proud to admit that we did do our evening routine. 


A typical evening/bedtime routine would comprise itself of calming activity. My youngers get the, let's lay quietly in bed and look at a book, listen to music, and relax, treatment. 


Kaiden's typical (now) bedtime routine is as follows:


Football Drills - Throwing Postures, Up Downs, Suicides
Wrestling - 15 minutes of throw down with his older cousin
Joint Decompression - Gently pushing/pulling the joints from shoulder to toes


Then we are ready for bed. 


I know we can do this, we have to do this. I will do everything possible to help my son be at peace with himself. 


I tried to work on his page earlier, The Evolution of a Kaiden. I found it a lot more difficult than expected. Sifting through all of his past, everything he and we have gone through. I feel as though a part of his life was robbed by this disorder. Like we were robbed of that time with him. The constant fight just to keep him level. Like all we ever did was correct him. 


I can't get that time back for him, or for us. I can't make his bad times go away. So I'm going to try and focus on what I can do. I can make it better from here on out. I can help him now. And I can watch as he becomes he person I know he can be. I can let my pride shine through him. Because if there is one thing I am, it is proud of that boy. He has overcome so much, even before we were able to get him help. 


So for now, I will take a deep breath. I will realize that nothing is instant. It will take time and practice to get this schedule correct. We will be flexible. I will be flexible. I will leave my worries in God's hands and know that eventually we will get there. I don't want to reach the end and realize I didn't even enjoy the scenery on the ride. 


Quote of the Day:
"Mommy! I got a rhyme! Nookie Cookie, that rhymes right?"