Ready for Homeschooling

I have been working very hard for the past couple of weeks to get ready for the upcoming school year. I am very excited to be much more organized this time! I am so very close to being finished, and I will post pictures soon. The baby is sleeping through the night finally, and I have a feeling that this year is gonna be a good one!
God Bless

"What's SPD?"

A few days ago I was shopping with my mom and my 10 year old son, who has Sensory Processing Disorder. My mom showed me a shirt to see if I liked it, but I told her I didn't like to wear things that were tight on my arms, especially how it feels around my elbows. I also HATE fur, fake fur, fake hair...*gag*! I was telling her how I prefer short sleeved shirts that are very soft. It made me think of how my son must feel with his sensory issues effecting so many areas of his life and I said to my mom, sarcastically, "maybe I have SPD too!" My son then announces "what is SPD?" Are you kiddding me?? I just stood there for a second and then told him I was referring to Sensory Processing Disorder. "Oh," he says. LOL! It was so funny. He knows that SPD is short for Sensory Processing Disorder, but I guess he didn't understand why I would say I might have it, so maybe I meant something else. It was cute. He is so well behaved at stores now! Thank the Good Lord for Occupational Therapy and Wilbarger Brushing. He occasionally heads over to the area where the carts are and likes to sandwhich himself in between them (yes, I know, input!), but we are working on that. Really, his only behavior issue right now is his over-excited, in your face approach to his baby brother! Also, at times he gets insulted and angry over things that other kids might just laugh at. He takes things so personal. We are going to work "Social Skill Training" into our homeschool curriculum this year. I found a couple of workbooks for teaching social skills! He "bickers" with his 6 year old sister (also has milder SPD) constantly. If I could figure out how to fix that problem I would be on cloud 9! I do believe that I am going to try the old "I'm gonna make you hug each other" approach here soon! :)
God Bless!

Undiagnosed SPD?

I ran into a lady recently, and we got to talking...turns out she has a son on the autism spectrum and another child hanging in the balance between a diagnosis of ADHD or bipolar disorder. We talked for quite a while in the middle of the store. She didn't know that SPD could be a stand alone diagnosis. I told her to get the book "Out of Sync Child" (how I wish I carried several copies with me to give away when I meet people like this). I told her that undiagnosed and therefore untreated SPD could cause some major emotional issues in a child. These kids are frequently considered a behavior problem, especially those fortunate enough to be "sensory seekers". My heart goes out to all the families and kids that have yet to find the help they need, SPD or otherwise. I encourage anyone seeking an accurate diagnosis and treatment for their child to pray about it and let God lead them to the right place! It's scary what damage can be done with a wrong dianosis and treatment plan. God knows our kids and He knows exactly what needs to be fixed in their little bodies. While we pray for their healing, we can also pray for God to lead us to the knowledge of what is needed to help them. God bless!

Baby Sign Language

A few weeks ago I taught my baby (8 1/2 months old) how to say "eat" in sign language. We worked on this for a couple of months before he got it. Every time I gave him baby food I would do the sign for "eat" several times and say the word. I really didn't think it would work, but it did, and HOW EXCITING! I am so proud of my smart little guy! He does the sign a little different than he is supposed to, but hey, he is only a baby! :)

Big Changes!

This summer has been a summer of change for us. Mostly good changes, but still, it is a lot to process. I've been trying to get my little one, 9 months old now, to sleep somewhat at night and get into a routine in preparation for our upcoming school year. After a hectic summer, with no sleep I might add, I finally just gave up and took it to the Lord. Many give advice about letting them "cry it out" or other tips, but I have to say, I just felt like if he was crying, then he needed something, so I was up taking care of him. He would get up between 2 to 4 times a night for a nursing session and maybe a diaper change. He got 6 teeth this summer, so I am thinking this is why he was not learning to sleep at night. He was in pain. It took forever for his little teeth to break through. Now that teething is temporarily over, I decided to get back to work on a sleep schedule. This is what I did...I prayed! :) I asked a friend to pray as well. Within a couple of nights he was sleeping through the night! God is good! I know that there are times that we have to be tough on our little ones (and ourselves) and teach them to do things, but for this particular milestone, I felt it was best to go to God! My little guy deals with acid reflux and takes medicine for it, so I never quite know if his reflux is bothering him, or if he is just overly attached! :)
Another big event for our summer is that we have changed churches. I grew up in this church since I was in 3rd grade (I'm 34 now) and my whole family goes there as well. We left a couple of years ago for about 10 months, and then returned as things were looking better at the time. Sadly, we have left again, and this time I feel that it will be for good, unless the Lord directs otherwise. We have been attending a church that is a different denomination than we are used to, but similar. We love it! God is really working in me and I just love every little part of it! Amazingly, my parents also left our former church within a month of us. They are now looking for a new church as well. God is good, and He is leading!
We finished Vision Therapy this summer with DS2 and DD3. It was a lot of work, but I'm hoping to see some of it pay off this school year. We drove about 45 minutes to get to our therapists, but they were really great and it was worth the drive. We intend to go back to OT with our first therapist (that specialized in sensory therapy) eventually...gotta get the other therapy paid off first!
Well, I'm hoping that with the baby sleeping thru the night and therapy temporarily finished, that we will be able to really have a fun time with homeschooling. I will just have to pray about that too:)
Until next time...