It's been another hard week. We've all been sick and Zoe-Mai has not been wanting to cooperate. I'm at a loss, I just don't know what to do. She's spent the majority of this week just screaming and throwing major tantrums. Any time Samuel cries, anytime Kenzie or Samuel sneeze or cough, when the truck stops moving, when we get out of the truck, going down for nap. It's getting worse, so bad the other day when we were waiting outside of the school to pick Mackenzie up that her banging her body against the car seat was making my truck shake.
I've been giving her some liquid vitamins and so far she hasn't been able to detect the taste in her milk. Since she won't eat very balanced we have to do something to make sure that she is getting her daily need of vitamins. Its only been two days now, but hopefully the liquid drops will help fill the gaps.
Samuel is getting so big now. He's been talking up a storm and smiling and laughing. I love him so much. I didn't think I would love having a son so much, but he is a blast to be around. He does very little sleeping now during the day, but sleeps really well at night. Here in a month or so he'll probably be ready to go into his own room. I'm hoping that Zoe-Mai is able to make the adjustment to sharing a room with Mackenzie.
That's really all for now. This week hasn't been to exciting and Jeremy is on the road headed to Wyoming again, so I'm here just trying to take care of taxes, customers, and kids. Zoe-Mai has been doing okay this morning so she's giving me a bit of a break. Samuel is asleep so all I really have to worry about is getting taxes done and our mare ready to go this next week to be bred. Only one more day until the weekend.
I am also in the works of assembling a Stimming Video Diary. I've been working hard to get videos of Zoe-Mai and her stimming to put on youtube to help other parents and hopefully educate about these stims. For us, Zoe-Mai was easy to detect, but for other parents their children might be showing all the signs that they aren't picking up on. Autism is growing 10-17% a year in the United States alone, education is key for early detection and getting the help these precious children need.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Monday, January 17, 2011
Good week...bad week!
This week has started off fairly quiet with Kenzie out of school and just hanging out before Jeremy takes off for Wyoming again. Last week however, lets just say that we've seen much, much better weeks.
Zoe-Mai was in some sort of funk starting from last Monday. Just irritable and uncomfortable. Tuesday was no better and we had a doctors appointment for Samuel. So after picking up Kenzie from school we headed straight to the doctors. Zoe-Mai all fresh from her shower and is good clothes, bag of goodies/toys in tow. She started throwing a fit the minute we pulled into the parking lot...knowing exactly where we were. It had been my hopes that not too many children would be in the waiting room with us so she wouldn't be so overwhelmed. Not our luck. The waiting room was basically full of crying, sniffing, sneezing, coughing babies and toddlers. There was no hope that I would get her to calm down.
Kenzie did very well, trying to hand and keep a hold of toys. Zoe-Mai wasn't interested and ran back and forth to the door, crying. Another little boy sitting near us, probably around a year and half old, was getting visibly upset as were many of the parents. Kenzie tried handing a few toys and talking to the little boy, trying to do her best to calm him down knowing that his crying would just upset Zoe-Mai even more. Zoe-Mai wasn't having it and by this time Samuel had woken up and I was juggling him and trying to get Zoe-Mai under control.
We were in the waiting room for 30 minutes by now, with this going non stop and she had graduated from crying to getting aggressive. Zoe-Mai started to raise her hand to hit the little boy and her snatching her toys back from him wasn't helping a thing. Only made him start crying, which prompted more hand raising. The few times she did 'hit' him were thankfully not hard. More like her just patting him.
By this time I had to do something. She was getting worse, not calming down and getting more aggressive. I finally had to call my father in law to come to the clinic to hang out with Zoe-Mai and Kenzie outside while Samuel got his check up and shots. Thankfully, the two nurses who know Zoe-Mai and I bumped us ahead of the others. I couldn't be more grateful for both of these kind ladies who don't judge me and are very understanding of just exactly what Zoe-Mai is going through.
Their kindness helps make the nasty looks and sneering that I was getting from the other parents and the two receptionists more manageable.
That doctors appointment set the tone for most of the week. Zoe-Mai just kept with that funk until Saturday, which I'm thankful she finally pulled out of. Jeremy was home and it's important to me that he and the girls have as nice a weekend as possible together.
This week looks like it will be better. Zoe-Mai has had a good day so far and settled into a nap on her own. I hope that the rest of this week will be as peaceful.
Zoe-Mai was in some sort of funk starting from last Monday. Just irritable and uncomfortable. Tuesday was no better and we had a doctors appointment for Samuel. So after picking up Kenzie from school we headed straight to the doctors. Zoe-Mai all fresh from her shower and is good clothes, bag of goodies/toys in tow. She started throwing a fit the minute we pulled into the parking lot...knowing exactly where we were. It had been my hopes that not too many children would be in the waiting room with us so she wouldn't be so overwhelmed. Not our luck. The waiting room was basically full of crying, sniffing, sneezing, coughing babies and toddlers. There was no hope that I would get her to calm down.
Kenzie did very well, trying to hand and keep a hold of toys. Zoe-Mai wasn't interested and ran back and forth to the door, crying. Another little boy sitting near us, probably around a year and half old, was getting visibly upset as were many of the parents. Kenzie tried handing a few toys and talking to the little boy, trying to do her best to calm him down knowing that his crying would just upset Zoe-Mai even more. Zoe-Mai wasn't having it and by this time Samuel had woken up and I was juggling him and trying to get Zoe-Mai under control.
We were in the waiting room for 30 minutes by now, with this going non stop and she had graduated from crying to getting aggressive. Zoe-Mai started to raise her hand to hit the little boy and her snatching her toys back from him wasn't helping a thing. Only made him start crying, which prompted more hand raising. The few times she did 'hit' him were thankfully not hard. More like her just patting him.
By this time I had to do something. She was getting worse, not calming down and getting more aggressive. I finally had to call my father in law to come to the clinic to hang out with Zoe-Mai and Kenzie outside while Samuel got his check up and shots. Thankfully, the two nurses who know Zoe-Mai and I bumped us ahead of the others. I couldn't be more grateful for both of these kind ladies who don't judge me and are very understanding of just exactly what Zoe-Mai is going through.
Their kindness helps make the nasty looks and sneering that I was getting from the other parents and the two receptionists more manageable.
That doctors appointment set the tone for most of the week. Zoe-Mai just kept with that funk until Saturday, which I'm thankful she finally pulled out of. Jeremy was home and it's important to me that he and the girls have as nice a weekend as possible together.
This week looks like it will be better. Zoe-Mai has had a good day so far and settled into a nap on her own. I hope that the rest of this week will be as peaceful.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
A good week so far!
Aside from Samuel being sick with a bit of pink eye and nasty cough, things have been going good. Mackenzie headed off back to school this Tuesday and she looked to have a good first day back. She came out running with a huge smile on her face yelling, "There's my mom!" It makes me happy to see her so happy, sad at the same time that she is growing up so fast...too fast.
Kenzie was a great help to me over the holidays, trying her best to engage and play with Zoe-Mai and even helping with chores and simple stuff with her little brother, like bringing me the wipes or a diaper. She loves to put a blanket over Samuel. She says, "Samuel is so cold." And will place it gently over him. When we're in the truck and going places, if he fuses or cries for his bottle she'll hold it for him since she knows that Zoe-Mai just doesn't like crying.
Zoe-Mai has been having a good couple of days. I thought that the holidays would've been worse since she normally does better when Kenzie is in school. But I think Kenzie is learning how to play with Zoe-Mai and is picking up on the things that upset or might trigger Zoe-Mai. Yes, Zoe-Mai still had a few tantrums, but they weren't as frequent.
This morning we headed off to do a few chores and our last stop was Wal-Mart. We head in and Zoe-Mai starts grunting and doing her half whine, letting me know that she wanted down from the cart. So I let her down so she can walk, which is great because she wears down faster and is more likely to nap in the morning- like I need her to. She does great most of the time with the walking through Wal-Mart. I usually linger around her favorite spots for a few minutes just so she can enjoy it. She loves the full length mirrors over by the socks and underwear section, which also happens to be by the baby and kids stuff. She'll stand in front of the mirror for a few minutes and sway and hum. After we stopped to let her do her thing we head off towards the milk and cokes. There is a little Hostess stand full of $1 hostess treats. For some reason, she loves the big red Hostess letters on the side of this stand, the big O for some odd reason just amuses the heck out of her. She'll run up to the stand and plant herself in front of the letters. Then she'll lean her head in about an inch from the big red O and just look at it.
It's fun to watch and I wonder if her spinning (one of her many stims) has anything to do with loving this big red O.
The only problem with allowing her to walk in Wal-Mart when I go by myself, without Jeremy, is that she sometimes will stop dead in her tracks. If I'm not holding her hand it might take me a second to realize that she has done this. She did this to me a few times this morning, thankfully Wal-Mart wasn't busy so we weren't having to shuffle through any traffic. When I looked to see if she was still walking beside me, a few times I would find her planted a few feet back just staring and waving her hand in her face. She does this often with her hand and other objects. Today, I was thankful for this as she was so immersed in her hand waving she didn't even notice the buggy with the crying toddler pass right by her.
On another note. I often get asked what stimming is and what Zoe-Mai does. Stimming is a repetitive behavior done over and over again and is thought to soothe or stimulate the child. Every child is different and not every autistic child displays the same behaviors or at the same lvel, but a good majority do. Severity really depends on where the child is on the spectrum.
Zoe-Mai is classic or what is considered to be lower functioning autism. Her stimming behaviors are what is the norm for most classic autistic children. Her more frequent types of stimming behaviors are swaying, waving/flapping, and humming (see video below). She does this more when she is bored or isn't getting enough stimulation. She also spins, rocks, grinds her teeth, and on occasion will bang her head against the floor or back of the seat. Her spinning can be anything from spinning a wheel on a toy over and over again, watching the ceiling fan, and also lights- boy does she love spinning lights. Her teeth grinding is something I wish she would stop as it can't be good for her teeth.
Another thing that we've noticed about Zoe-Mai is she is a leg kicker as well. When she lays down for a nap she'll normally pick a spot either on the living room floor or on her bedroom floor and just crash down on her belly. She'll usually begin her humming and will kick one leg for a good 5-10 minutes until she falls asleep.
I should mention that this video was taken by Jeremy around June/July of last year after I had left to run an errand. So this is a good example of how Z0e-Mai self soothes.
Kenzie was a great help to me over the holidays, trying her best to engage and play with Zoe-Mai and even helping with chores and simple stuff with her little brother, like bringing me the wipes or a diaper. She loves to put a blanket over Samuel. She says, "Samuel is so cold." And will place it gently over him. When we're in the truck and going places, if he fuses or cries for his bottle she'll hold it for him since she knows that Zoe-Mai just doesn't like crying.
Zoe-Mai has been having a good couple of days. I thought that the holidays would've been worse since she normally does better when Kenzie is in school. But I think Kenzie is learning how to play with Zoe-Mai and is picking up on the things that upset or might trigger Zoe-Mai. Yes, Zoe-Mai still had a few tantrums, but they weren't as frequent.
This morning we headed off to do a few chores and our last stop was Wal-Mart. We head in and Zoe-Mai starts grunting and doing her half whine, letting me know that she wanted down from the cart. So I let her down so she can walk, which is great because she wears down faster and is more likely to nap in the morning- like I need her to. She does great most of the time with the walking through Wal-Mart. I usually linger around her favorite spots for a few minutes just so she can enjoy it. She loves the full length mirrors over by the socks and underwear section, which also happens to be by the baby and kids stuff. She'll stand in front of the mirror for a few minutes and sway and hum. After we stopped to let her do her thing we head off towards the milk and cokes. There is a little Hostess stand full of $1 hostess treats. For some reason, she loves the big red Hostess letters on the side of this stand, the big O for some odd reason just amuses the heck out of her. She'll run up to the stand and plant herself in front of the letters. Then she'll lean her head in about an inch from the big red O and just look at it.
It's fun to watch and I wonder if her spinning (one of her many stims) has anything to do with loving this big red O.
The only problem with allowing her to walk in Wal-Mart when I go by myself, without Jeremy, is that she sometimes will stop dead in her tracks. If I'm not holding her hand it might take me a second to realize that she has done this. She did this to me a few times this morning, thankfully Wal-Mart wasn't busy so we weren't having to shuffle through any traffic. When I looked to see if she was still walking beside me, a few times I would find her planted a few feet back just staring and waving her hand in her face. She does this often with her hand and other objects. Today, I was thankful for this as she was so immersed in her hand waving she didn't even notice the buggy with the crying toddler pass right by her.
On another note. I often get asked what stimming is and what Zoe-Mai does. Stimming is a repetitive behavior done over and over again and is thought to soothe or stimulate the child. Every child is different and not every autistic child displays the same behaviors or at the same lvel, but a good majority do. Severity really depends on where the child is on the spectrum.
Zoe-Mai is classic or what is considered to be lower functioning autism. Her stimming behaviors are what is the norm for most classic autistic children. Her more frequent types of stimming behaviors are swaying, waving/flapping, and humming (see video below). She does this more when she is bored or isn't getting enough stimulation. She also spins, rocks, grinds her teeth, and on occasion will bang her head against the floor or back of the seat. Her spinning can be anything from spinning a wheel on a toy over and over again, watching the ceiling fan, and also lights- boy does she love spinning lights. Her teeth grinding is something I wish she would stop as it can't be good for her teeth.
Another thing that we've noticed about Zoe-Mai is she is a leg kicker as well. When she lays down for a nap she'll normally pick a spot either on the living room floor or on her bedroom floor and just crash down on her belly. She'll usually begin her humming and will kick one leg for a good 5-10 minutes until she falls asleep.
I should mention that this video was taken by Jeremy around June/July of last year after I had left to run an errand. So this is a good example of how Z0e-Mai self soothes.
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