Christmas 2014

We had all the presents and stockings out and ready by 9:00 on Christmas Eve. I had gotten almost everything wrapped on the 23rd, which was nice because I didn't have to be up late wrapping presents. I tried wrapping diagonally this year, and I think I like that method better than how I used to do it. It seems faster and it's easier to make the presents look nice.

Early on Christmas morning I realized that Heidi had come out and fallen asleep on the couch (which happens most nights lately . . . ugh), but since it was already about 5:15 I decided to just shut their bedroom door so their nightlight wouldn't bother me and I could hopefully go back to sleep for a little longer. Unfortunately, Kevin saw me, and he followed me out and said, "Mom, I don't hear any reindeers on the roof. I think it's because our building is really, really huge." I told him to go back to bed, which he did, but a little while later he came out and joined Heidi on the couch.

A little after 6:00 I heard Heidi whisper, "Kevin! Kevin! Presents!" Then they got really excited and got up to look at all the presents and open their stockings. I managed to get them to eat breakfast and distract themselves with their stockings long enough for Ryan to get a shower, and then the present opening began.

I went to Joann's to get some flannel for making baby gifts and some pajama pants for Kevin, and Heidi saw this purple fabric and insisted she wanted me to make a blanket for her with it. I couldn't resist, so I bought a yard and made it for her.

Everybody was really happy with their presents. Heidi kept saying thank you for everything, and everything Kevin opened was his favorite and just what he'd always wanted. We got a lot of books and fun things.

The very last present I opened was a CD from my mom and my Aunt Sue. It's full of recordings of my Grandpa Warthen singing songs and telling stories about himself. My mom made the recordings on tapes when they were both recovering from injuries. I was never able to meet him, so this gift is truly a treasure. It took me a second to be able to tell Ryan what it was because I was close to tears.

While we were busy playing with kinetic sand and putting together Kevin's racetrack from Aunt Sue, I didn't notice that Ann Marie had found herself a candy cane and was having a great time sucking on it.

For breakfast we had Buttermilk Coffee Cake.

My parents sent this gorgeous dress for Ann Marie and I love it!

Christmas Eve 2014

On Christmas Eve we had egg rolls, crackers, a cheese ball, spinach artichoke dip (I am the only one who likes it, so if you want some let me know because I have tons!), french bread, and wassail. Kevin and Heidi wanted to help make the wassail.

We did a nativity in the evening. Kevin was Joseph, Heidi was a sheep, I was Mary, Ann Marie was the baby Jesus, and Ryan was the narrator. Kevin insisted that he needed tools because Joseph was a carpenter. Kevin keeps asking to do the nativity again.

December pictures

Holidays with a sensory kid are hard. Kevin has really thrived with the regular routine that he has at school, so when the routine is disrupted, as is the case with holidays, he often has a fight/flight response because he doesn't know what to do and his sensory experiences are different and less predictable. We didn't even get around to putting up the fake tree until last Sunday, and it's already in pretty bad shape. The kids can't keep their hands off of it, and it's been squished, knocked over, and bent. Forget the ornaments. We didn't even bother with those. There have definitely been more meltdowns and arguments since the break started.

We had occupational therapy this morning, so I had a chance to talk to the therapist about what we can do to help Christmas break go better. The most important thing is probably to make a plan with Kevin for what we're going to do each day so that he knows what to expect. We are also going to start the Wilbarger brushing protocol the day after Christmas. The OT thinks that it will really help Kevin to stay more regulated. To do it you brush all over the person's body with a special brush, using the same order every time, and then you compress all of their joints. She has done it a few times for him at therapy and it seems to help him focus, so we'll see how it goes. It definitely helps a lot to get outside to play, so we'll have to work hard to make that happen. It's been rainy and icky for several days, which has made it hard.

It's still hard to figure out how Kevin ticks. I know that he almost always calms down when we read books and that playing outside or in the hall helps. Chewing gum also seems to be calming. I need to remember to end things while they're still good instead after he goes crazy or has a meltdown. It's always better if I remember that. He literally does not understand the concept of "too loud." On Sunday in Sacrament meeting we kept telling him he was being too loud, and finally he said he didn't know what that meant.

I know that during the break I need to focus on spending quality time with the kids and being patient. I have to remember not to compare my kids to other people's kids. There are some battles I have chosen not to fight because it's not worth it right now, and that's okay. I also have to keep reminding myself how much things have improved in the past few months. Kevin communicates with us a lot better than he did a few months ago, and that really helps us to meet his needs. He also doesn't run away from me all the time like he used to, which has removed a lot of stress from my life.

I can also be a lot more patient with some of the things he does now because I recognize that those behaviors are related to dyspraxia and SPD, and that he's not deliberately trying to displease me. I can see that he refuses to say his own prayers without help because he struggles with praxis, not because he's being lazy. I can see that picking up the toys is overwhelming for him instead of feeling like he's just trying to get out of doing work.

On Sunday when Kevin was having a rough time, I decided to have him help me take out the trash. Pushing and lifting give him proprioceptive input and usually bring his arousal level down, which is why I thought it would help. We loaded the stroller up with the trash and recycling, and he pushed the stroller the whole way there. We found a VCR that someone had left by the dumpster, and Kevin said, "Oh, look, let's bring that home and take it apart." So he put it in the stroller and when we got back he and Ryan spent a couple of hours tinkering. He was really calm the entire time, too, so that was nice. At one point I started explaining to Kevin what a VHS tape was, and suddenly it felt really odd because it felt just like when I was a kid and my mom told me about the 8 track tapes.

Gingerbread Houses

We made gingerbread houses from scratch. I've kind of wanted to try it for a few years, but because I was in school I have always been swamped with finals around Christmastime, so I never did it. This year it actually happened, although it was partly because I'm always looking for constructive ways to keep Kevin occupied and making gingerbread houses seemed like a good way to do that.

If you want some great tips for making gingerbread houses, check out this post on the family recipe blog. I used the gingerbread cookies recipe and the 3x5 card pattern. For the frosting, I used royal icing (yuck) as the glue and decorator's icing (amazing) for the rest.

Kevin did a lot to help me with making the dough and putting the houses together. I was freaking out a little too much during the cutting out part and I sent them out of the kitchen.

I was planning to decorate the houses after school one day. Kevin actually ended up not feeling well. He slept off and on most of the afternoon and evening (on the living room floor), waking up occasionally and crying. He was pretty warm. So Heidi and I decorated her house together while Kevin slept. I had to keep reminding Heidi to leave Kevin alone, and then I remembered one of Daniel Tiger's latest jingles: When you're sick, rest is best, rest is best. So I sang that to Heidi to remind her that Kevin needed to sleep because he was sick, and she hasn't stopped singing the jingle since. It worked, though. Heidi was very cute and really enjoyed decorating her house. We just used candy canes and mint M&Ms.

The next morning Kevin still had a slight fever, so I kept him home from school. He wanted to decorate his house, so we did that in the morning, and he had a good time. Heidi added even more M&Ms to her house.

It turns out that Kevin and Heidi don't like gingerbread, so Ryan and I ate the houses. Next time I think I'll do sugar cookie houses (which I know they'll like) because I ate way too much gingerbread and frosting for my own good.

It's also really hard to get a regular smile out of these two lately.

Thanksgiving

This year our bishop's wife (who is my visiting teacher) invited us to come to their house for Thanksgiving. Our friends the Rasmussens, who we have shared Thanksgiving with almost every year since we moved here, have moved away, so I was relieved that we had someone to join for Thanksgiving. The missionaries and another family were also there, so it was a pretty good crowd, but not way too big.

We were asked to bring rolls and a salad. Ryan really thought we needed to make a triple batch of Lion House Rolls, so he made a batch the night before and I made a double batch in the morning. Ryan was hovering over me to make sure I did it right. (Ryan makes really good rolls, by the way.) I also made a pumpkin pie and a peach pie with apple crisp topping because I like making pies. The pumpkin pie really should have baked ten more minutes, but they were still very good.

When we got there, we brought all of our food in and all the kids played with legos for a while so that the final food preparations could get taken care of. Then we ate. For the most part it was a standard Thanksgiving dinner with all the normal foods: stuffing, turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, rolls, green bean casserole, salad, sweet potatoes, crackers/vegetable trays, and a fruit salad. That's how it should be. If it were any different it would feel wrong. The food was all great and so was the company.

Then the kids played and the adults chatted. After we felt a little less full we ate pie and chatted some more. Then we packed up the food and went home. There were tons of rolls left, so we left some with the bishop's family and sent some with the other family and still had a big bowl full of rolls. But we did enjoy eating rolls with everything for a couple of days.

And we didn't take any pictures, but you know what turkey and rolls look like anyway, so whatever.

I am a car rider.

Kevin has been trying to get me to write a note for his teacher saying that he is going home in the car instead of on the bus. I need him to ride the bus, so I keep saying no. So this week he took matters into his own hands and wrote his own note with a picture:

My latest big project has been to overhaul our filing cabinet. Having a baby always seems to involve a million bills and explanations of benefits, and I was scared to put them in a file because I wasn't sure if I'd be able to find them again. Our filing system used to work, but things are a little more complicated now and I realized that it was time to fix things, although I wasn't sure where to start.

So of course I got on Pinterest and found this post about organizing your filing system. It was just what I was looking for. It took me about a week and a half to get through the entire filing cabinet, but now it's finally done. I feel like a huge weight has been taken off of my shoulders because now I know where to find everything and I got rid of a ton of papers that we don't need anymore. It was mostly fun, actually.

I used the blogger's idea for color-coding, except that I changed the colors and categories some, based on what we needed. Here's how I broke it down:

Brown-ish green: Medical. We already had a ton of these folders and I knew that we would need a lot for all of the subcategories for medicine. Did I mention having a baby involves a lot of paper? I think this was the category that needed the most work. We used to be able to get by with a single folder for medical stuff, but now all the different insurance policies, immunizations, doctor printouts, prescriptions, bills, and explanations of benefits need their own folders if we're ever going to be able to find things.

Yellow: School. Everyone in school has their own folder, and Ryan has different folders for BYU and UNC.

Blue: Important Documents (everyone has their own folder) and Miscellaneous.

Red: Income (taxes, pay stubs, etc.)

Purple: Banking/credit cards. We don't really need that many folders for this category because most stuff is saved electronically now.

Green: Auto, housing, and warranties/manuals (separated into folders for electronics, appliances, and furniture/miscellaneous).

The one problem I still have is where to put things that I still need to do like forms.

things about the kids

One day Kevin came home with a pine cone in his backpack. I asked him where he got it and he said, "I brought it with me because my gloves are dirty and I need the pine cone to clean them." I didn't get around to taking the pine cone out of his backpack, so the next day when I felt it still in there through the fabric and commented about it, Kevin said, "Yep, I have a pine cone in there . . . AND . . . a pear (giggle)." I was confused about the pear comment, but that evening Heidi was rummaging in his backpack and there really was a pear. Not sure where it came from.

Kevin claims that he has thunderpower. I'm not completely sure what this thunderpower does, but when it rains he lets us know that it's his thunderpower doing it. His other favorite game is shooting tigers.

Kevin's latest imaginary friend is a robot named Raleigh. I think Raleigh is a grad student at UNC because Kevin often tells us about Raleigh's office.

Kevin didn't pass his second hearing test at school (he failed the first one because of a lot of wax), so we decided to make another appointment to see the doctor (this is doctor visit #5 for Kevin since school started). I suspected that he probably failed the test because of his ear infection, and the doctor seemed to agree. He passed the test just fine at the doctor's office, but his ears were still a little swollen, so we got a prescription for a non-penicillin antibiotic and a referral to an ENT. We went to the ENT, and (Surprise!) she said he's recovering from an ear infection and she's not going to bother checking his hearing until February, so we get to go again in a couple of months. I'm getting pretty tired of doctor appointments.

Occupational therapy seems to be helping a lot, but I still really don't understand what's going on. I know that when he isn't sure what he wants to do he seems to go nuts, and it also seems like tactile, vestibular, and proprioceptive input affect his behavior, but I can't figure out how. It used to be that giving him a big squeeze helped him to calm down, but now he doesn't like it anymore and sometimes it makes him panic. I think school has affected his senses a lot. Maybe he's getting a lot more sensory input at school than he used to. I've been reading Raising a Sensory Smart Child for about nine weeks, and I finally had to take it back to the library before finishing it. I don't know how much practical information I got out of it, but there were many times while reading the book when I found myself nodding my head and saying, "Yes, that is Kevin." So at least I'm not the only one and it's not just my imagination.

Ann Marie got her first taste of people food on Ryan's birthday a few weeks ago. We were having dessert (homemade BYU mint brownies), and she was screaming up a storm because she wanted to be involved. So I put her in the booster seat and gave her a spoon and a couple of bites of applesauce. After that she was happy. That's all she wanted. She's tried a few different things since then. We got some free baby food from someone who was getting rid of it, so that's been convenient. Soon I'll have to start making baby food. She was not a fan of the baby food peas, by the way, and I can't say I blame her, because the only thing worse than canned peas is pureed canned peas. The pediatrician told me to work up to feeding her four jars of baby food a day, which I think is way too much for a six-month-old, so I nodded and smiled and ignored her advice. Right now she's having 1-2 jars a day.

Ann Marie finally remembered that she knows how to roll over from her tummy to her back, so she can move around a little bit more. She's not quite army crawling yet, but she can turn in circles. By this point Kevin and Heidi were army crawling and Heidi had stood up in her crib, but I'm not complaining if Ann Marie takes her time. It's a lot harder to baby proof with two older siblings around who like to play with little dinosaurs and bouncy balls.

Heidi loves picking holly berries from the bushes outside. She always has to collect a handful when we are at the playground or picking Kevin up from school. I have to remember to make her drop them before we come inside so we don't have little berries everywhere.