Food Issues

So today he came home with his entire lunch-minus a few apple wedges and his cheese stick.  When I asked him about it he complained about the jelly. "I don't like grape" he says.  It's not grape I tell him, it's strawberry, I don't even buy grape!  It's the same jelly I have been buying for the last 2 months.  It's the same jelly that he ate on his pb&j sandwich on Monday! "It's sour" he tells me :(  UGH, now what?  Thankfully he only goes a full day twice a week, as he doesn't eat other sandwiches. He could buy a "hot lunch", but they are $2, I and tell you he doesn't eat $2 worth of food in a sitting :(

Plus then I know he is grumpy and hungry all afternoon :( He is ravenous once he gets home.  Probably another reason it will be good he isn't going to move on to 1st grade next year.  OY!

The Decision is Final

We are going to have our 5 year old repeat Kindergarten.  Mommy is going to get over it and then tell the boy.  My husband and I know that he will be a little upset with us at first, but we really think this will benefit him in the long run.  We are concerned about his social maturity (he is one of the youngest in his class, making the "cut-off" by just 6 weeks) and his ability to "hold it together" for a whole day.  His school offers both 1/2 day Kindergarten and full day Kindergarten.  He goes full day 2 days a week and is 1/2 day the rest of the week.  Next year we will have him go full day each day.  Right now he has a hard time holding it together in the afternoon which consists of lunch, recess, and rest time, along with some reinforcement of the week's lessons.   We are afraid that he will have trouble focusing and not melting down in 1st in the afternoon and essentially "miss" the instruction.  He's a very bright little boy which makes this harder for us and for us to explain to our family.  They don't get it.  His pediatrician doesn't either.  I have read the current body of research that states it's horrible to hold a kid back. But I haven't seen this in the kids I know that were held back. And is it better to push a child along whom is going to struggle and feel "behind" most of the time?  We think not.....and well this is one of those times we cannot know both ways.  We can only speculate....and pray we have made the best decision.....

My Own weighted blankets.....

So my thought for making them is really for the 2 year old who has trouble falling asleep. He has not been diagnosed as SPD, but has some seeking tendencies, and has been a HORRIBLE sleeper since birth!  I saw a website for really nice ones that cost about $60, plus $11 shipping.  They are very lovely and well worth the price, but NOT in my budget.  It got me thinking though....I am capable of running a sewing machine...how hard can it be?

So off to JoAnn's I go...found poly-beads $7 for 2 pounds (they would have cost me $9 through Amazon.com) and I was able to find some remnant fabric for $3-4 a yard.  If I had children that truly didn't care I would have looked for cheaper, as it was we compromised on the $9 a yard John Deere fabric.

So my simple plan goes this way.  Fold said fabric (about 80 inches (give or take) in half so that the selvedge(s) are together.  Sew both sides of this leaving the bottom open.  Turn fabric right side out.  The measure 14 inches in and sew another line straight down the fabric.  Measure another 14 inches from the first line and sew another line straight down.  You should now have 3 pockets and an open bottom.

Now for the weight.  You should use about 10% of a person's body weight for a weighted blanket.  My son is about 40 pounds so I used 4.5 pounds (or 72 oz) as my total weight-giving him room to "grow". So I took 72 oz. and divided that by 3, which is 24 oz. That would be the total for each of the three pockets.  I decided that each of the 3 pockets would have 4 sections.  More math again-24 oz divided by 4 is 6 oz.  So each section needed 6 oz.  We have a kitchen scale that measures oz so I used that.

I measured out 6 oz of beads into each of the 3 pockets.  Then about 10 inches from the top I sewed a line across.  I will tell you it is not easy to keep all of those little beads in the right spot, but it was a pretty straight line.  I repeated this for each of the other lines.  For the bottom line I rolled the fabric twice before sewing it.  I have never "finished off" a blanket and therefore do not know how to "edge" it.

I am not not planning for these to serve as the only blanket for the child to use for warmth, therefore there is no batting in it.  The material is thin, like a sheet, so that it could be used in the summer-time.  I plan to use them in the winter on top of another warmer blanket.  It would be possible to put batting in the blanket in each square, but I would assume difficult to "quilt" due to the beads.

NOTE: After the first 2 sides are sewn together all of the remaining work is done on the finished side of the blanket!

I will post pics next week when I am back home and have charged the camera battery ;) It's not the prettiest thing, but fairly simple and all straight stitching ;)

Soft Clothing Give Away!

Soft is a clothing line for children who have Autistic Spectrum Disorders or Sensory Processing Disorder.  They are giving away an AMAZING prize if you enter by April 15th.  Click here to enter the contest! 

Thunderstorms

Thunderstorms used to not bother the kiddo, and during the day he does alright. However, now it seems he is more sensitive to them at night.  If they are really loud he curls into the fetal position with his hands over his ears and screams for one of us.    Tonight I made the classic mommy mistake of mentioning the impeding storm to him.  He became very upset and his hands went instantly to his ears :(  I offered my ear plugs but he doesn't like things in his ears... So we settled on his "ear protection" ear muffs.  Thankfully the storm went around us, and I just sent his dad to go check on his and remove his ear muffs.  Hopefully, he can sleep!

The Upside?

So I was thinking today that there has to be an upside to this whole parenting and SPD kiddo....and I realized it's all the stuff.  Don't get me wrong, there is lots of it, and many a thing I don't own yet.  Plus the cost, we have paid for everything out of pocket, save for the therapy things my son gets as gifts.

But I was thinking this is how I have managed to get through a winter with small kiddos...all of the stuff.  You see we live near Chicago, cold and snowy and my SPD kiddo doesn't like to play in the snow or cold.  So once the Christmas decor is taken down, so goes the dining room table.  Out come the mats and some equipment.  The trampoline gets used multiple times a day.  I also have a child-sized exercise ball that my non-SPD 2 year old loves to roll on.  We also have playdough handy.  We also have a bean box.  We can also put a tunnel out to crawl though.  I also allow (moderate) running and crashing into my couches.

So there .  There is an upside ;)

New Goals

So today Patrick's therapist did a quarterly assessment.  He met all of his goals listed!  ALL!  His therapist has never had a kid do that! He even threw a ball overhand, and stepped with the foot on the side of the throwing hand.  Not totally  correct, but better than the side-arm, toddler-like throw he has had until this point.  He LOVES the swings!!!!  When we first started therapy a year ago, he wouldn't even touch it!  His therapist has to write up all new goals for him.  WOW!!!  Now I know this is money well spent.  Not that I questioned it before and would have stopped, but wow the progress he has made!!! :)

I didn't even realize it!

I was just over on the SPD Blogger Network reading today's post.  It was about a mom who had taken the time to understand what her daughter (who is on the Autistic Spectrum) wanted her to draw. She wrote about her struggle to understand the vague direction, and her frustration in being wrong. Then it hit me-I don't have those conversations anymore!  Even when he is frustrated he talks to us.  He doesn't revert back to quoting TV shows and movies! His speech is still immature at times, but he can carry on a conversation! Even with one of his peers!  I know that I noticed a change by late spring of last year, that his conversations were more "linear" and less cyclical, but I didn't realize how far he has come until tonight!  It has only been about a year and 3 weeks since he started therapy and then took a 4 month hiatus as we didn't have full time income to pay, nor insurance. I can only imagine how much farther he would be if we didn't have to take that break.  But I know that we are going to be able to keep him in for now and that is really what matters!