And She Was...

After years of going in circles over Naomi's behavior with multiple doctors...super resetricted diet, sensory seeking behavior, attention issues, extreme reactions to small stimuli, et, leading me to suspect Sensory Processing Disorder, and her soft joints, I finally convinced her orthopedist to refer her to occupational therapy-not for any of that, but because her handwriting was atrocious, even for a kindergartener, and her stamina was really poor, too. The soft joints led to obvious fine motor issues, and so he had no hesitation writing that referral.

Mostly unsurprisingly, the therapist noticed Naomi's sensory issues, and though she can't officially diagnois the SPD, is treating Naomi for it-in essence her treatment plan includes both the fine motor skills and "poor sensory integration." There's a lot of talking in circles about whether it's worth actually going to the other doctor to get the official diagnosis, or not. It doesn't change anything, so right now it seems mostly meaningless. If we need the official, on paper stuff, then we'll do it.

But...feeding Col. Naomi has decided that she has a monster, whose name is Col. He has a boyfriend named Batha, and a girlfriend named Ashley. And the three of them eat her sillies and wiggles-she describes it as "my whole body is laughing at me, even my teeth, and I can't make it stop." Sometimes bringing her back into focus takes a few push ups or sit ups or jumping jacks (she told me this a few months ago when I asked how I could help her get ready to focus...even before we'd seen the OT.) Sometimes she likes to have a firm massage on her arms-basically, firm pressure, downward from her upper arms towards her wrists. She calls this "feeding Col." When Col gets hungry, she gets sillies and wiggles, and out of control. Today was just a rough day all around-Andy forgot to set his alarm, so we all woke up an hour late, just about the time people are supposed to leave the house, Naomi fell at the playground and scraped her knee, and I could tell, she was just "off." And after some squabbling with Miriam, I asked her if she thought she was being kind or nice? She knew right away that she wasn't, and I asked her what would help her remember. She asked me to help her feed Col, and we did feed him. And things improved after that.

I'm fortunate to have such an insightful kid-one who is so self aware and knows what she needs to get back to okay. She's still working on catching herself before she starts chewing inappropriately, but she's getting there. She is mindblowingly tuned in to her own needs and her own limits though, and it really makes it pleasant to spend time with her.

No new pictures yet-still need to upload them and some video from our trip.

We did have check up yesterday...

29 inches, 18 lbs 13 oz. She hasn't quite fallen off the growth charts yet, but she's way down near the bottom. No worries...she's consistent, but small.

She's very close to running, is putting things in other things, uses a cup well, drinks from a straw, uses signs and words, has begun climbing into things like the laundry basket (but not up the shelves or onto the couch,) likes chasing the cats and swimming. She's starting to use a fork and spoon by herself (she's pretty consistent if it's pre-loaded by an adult, but we're trying to encourage her to do some of it on her own...when eating mashed potatoes, for example.) She's started to enjoy putting things in other things-for example, putting blocks in a plastic container and shaking it to see what noise it makes, or putting things into a metal tin. Her nesting blocks have become more fun-yesterday she was putting them together and taking them apart and then dropping her crackers into the block and taking them out. She also loves child-sized chairs and sitting in them. I need to find her some nice chairs for the house. I'm also thinking when we move bedrooms around, I might look for a child sized chair and table for her room, or the "playroom."

As I'm typing this, she's taken her bowl of pretzels, dumped it out onto the table, put all he pretzels back into the bowl, shaken it to see what noise it made, then dumped them all on the floor.

More pictures and maybe video when I get things uploaded. I kind of hope we've got video or pictures of Naomi with the baby goats we visited when we were in New York.

Naomi eats her first pickle-taken Halloween 2008.

I'm still getting over the nasty bug that caused sinus/ear infection and pinkeye. I took a nap this afternoon and Naomi's Daddy took her to the park. Here's something they did.

My Day
by
Naomi's Mommy

Today I woke up too early because there was a shrieking baby who wasn't unhappy, but just likes to shriek.
Later on, I fed the baby and she took a short nap in my lap. I also changed some diapers. I fed the baby and she took another nap, in my lap. Then she ate some more and we tried to play but she needed to whine intermittently for several hours while she fought sleep. Finally she ate again and took a very long nap in my lap. After that, I tried to change another diaper, but while she was on the changing table she looked at me and giggled and proceeded to pee everywhere. Then, while trying to hold her and mop up the pee at the same time, she pulled her legs up to her chest and decided to fart on me. After that, she ate a little more and we tried to play but she was still whiny.

Finally, her Papa came home and now he can hold the baby.


I really, really needed the adult company of playgroup this afternoon, but she slept until it was half over, and by the time I got her dressed, and the diaper bag together, and got there it would have been over.

I am spending this September 11th thinking of my Dad and so very grateful that he's still here and that he survived the collapse of the Towers.

But this year, it's different. I'm thinking about how to explain it to my daughter. About what the day means, and about what happened.

I'm also left wondering just a bit, about my Dad...his experience changed him so much. And I wonder if that's part of what softened him, and has made him say things like, "I may not have been such a great father, but I'm hoping I can do better as a grandfather."

I'm just going to remember how lucky I am, and she is to have her grandfather around.

My super-easy baby is not happy. Something has been bothering her for the last few days and she's become cranky and fussy and unhappy and unpleasant. I am sad because I don't know what is bothering her (my best guess is teeth or ears, but as she's not had a cold recently, running a fever, pulling on her ears, or anything like that, I don't think it's ears.) I wish I could fix whatever it is...but I can't.

Right now, her father took her out for a ride in the car to see if that helps. Oddly, she was quiet almost as soon as he put her into the car seat, before they got into the car.

( two bad pictures I took with the camera phone )

It's pouring, again. And windy.

And the weather radio keeps waking the baby. This time it was a flash flood warning. There's not much in the way of elevation here, but we happen to be up a little bit of a hill...which doesn't mean the roads around us won't flood.

I want to cry right now.

After the battle of Nap, which finally culminated in nap winning, even if nap won in my lap, the cat decided to climb onto the kitchen counter where he isn't allowed. And if I got up and moved the cat, I'd wake the napping baby. So I left the cat alone, misbehaving (and he knew it, too) and decided nap was more important. Until the cat decided to attack my plant, at which point the idea of cleaning potting soil off the beige chair won. So we tried Nap in the swing instead and it didn't work very well.


*sigh*

And the advice part-

Does anyone know what the appropriate kind of gift to give for a Christening is? We have one on 8/24.

I was invited to write a guest blog for Attachement Living in honor of World Breastfeeding Week.

Here's an excerpt:

August 1 began World Breastfeeding Week. We all know breast is best, and we recognize the value of the breastfeeding relationship. Even formula cans remind us that breast milk is best. But what about when it doesn't work?

I wanted to breastfeed. I planned for it. I looked forward to it. I bought the books, went to La Leche League, and met with a wonderful lactation consultant before my daughter was born all in hopes of circumventing the issues that can come from PCOS and hypothyroidism. I took the appropriate medications and learned about the ways to increase supply. I went in with an attitude focused on success.

You can read the rest over at Attachment Living. And thank you To-Fu for the invitation.