Gracie had a pretty good night and awoke with a smile again...well that is after we snuggled a bit. She was a good girl this morning and had a lot of smiles for her mom. While I pack our stuff up for daycare and work, Gracie gets to watch Mickey Mouse Club House on the Disney Channel. When it was over this morning, she was so upset. She many times changes the channel on the TV and then comes and gets me to fix it. Well today she thought mom was the almighty fixer, but it just wasn't happening. It was sort of comical to watch her demonstrate her annoyance.
When I dropped Gracie off at daycare today, she got all excited to show me her sticker sheet. She gets a sticker every time she drinks her milk from a sippy cup and when she sleeps in one of the bedrooms rather than in the open play area. She is SOOOOOOOOOO proud of these stickers and the more I ooooh and ahhhh over them the prouder she gets. It is so much fun to watch her beam.
Today Gracie met with the Sensory Integration specialist for the second time. It was again eye opening to both Jeff and I. We continue to learn so much. Our biggest issue is evenings, whether it be weekday or weekend, she is good all day and then seems to have these huge tantrums. I can't remember the last time we had a peaceful dinner where we could actually finish a meal. These tantrums we found out, aren't tantrums at all. I should have known that, because she can never self soothe herself out of one of these at night, it just escalates and escalates and the only way it ends is if we hold her and calm her. For normal tantrums throughout the day, if we ignore her, she soon realizes she's not getting her way and gets over it. Her nighttime fits are actually sensory overload or in her case underload. She has just had it, she can't self soothe because she is just done! She has nothing to draw from.
The occupational therapist made us realize the expectations we have for Grace sitting at the dinner table are too much for her for starters. We will get to that point, but it will take baby steps. The goal is to never get to the point of one of these episodes. She really broke it down for us as far as the very special needs and therapy approaches we need to take with Gracie. In addition it took her no time at all to realize that music is what makes Gracie tick. She encouraged us to use this to our advantage. In the evening we should transition to soft calming music. So we have a game plan for the next month for an evening routine, we'll then go back for another appointment at that time.
If tonight was any indication, I would say we are on the right path. This was the first really enjoyable calm evening we have had in weeks. Gracie was a pretty happy girl for the majority of the night. Jeff and I were talking the other night and I told him, I am happy to use whatever technique it takes, but I wanted someone to tell me if the techniques I am using are right or wrong. Well I got my wish today. It seems that if we had a "normal" child, I was using all of the right techniques, but Gracie isn't a "normal" child. She has special needs and that means we go a little slower, still have expectations, but get to them a little slower while meeting her sensory needs.
I thank God that we have all of these great specialists at our fingertips.
Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie
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