Oh Yes, We Call Her the Streak!

She’s just in the mood to run in the nude!  Guess you could call it unique!

Okay, enough with the Ray Stevens reference for now.  (For those of you not familiar with Ray Stevens or The Streak this will help you understand the humor.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtzoUu7w-YM)

It’s been a “clothing optional” week for A.  Yep, she has decided that clothing is offensive to her tactile system.  On the upside, she has not yet stripped in public.  She has tried a couple of times, but I have so far managed to successfully distract her.  At home though, she has so problem stripping down and running out yelling, “NO UNNIES!”

Okay, you can stop giggling now.

In addition to this new development, she has had a noticeable increase in expressive language.  It’s been amazing to hear her actually use two word “sentences” when she wants something or when she’s trying to tell me something.  Right now, her favorite phrases are “me too” and “no unnies!”

Yes, my daughter is out of pull ups except at night.  She woke up a week and a half ago and loudly proclaimed that she did not want a pull up, she wanted “Unnies!  Ninnie Unnies!”  So we, gave regular undies a try and so far, so good.  She has decided that she wants to be a big girl and I am quite okay with that.  It has definitely made things easier in some respects, but public bathrooms are still sometimes tricky.  That’s what earphones are for though!    So, while potty training is mostly done, we still have to work out some of the kinks, especially on her sensitive days.

On an even happier note, with the return of the school year, A will be resuming occupational therapy and with that listening therapy.

Wait, what?  What is listening therapy?

That’s about the reaction I had initially. I’m still not sure I can explain it very well, so here’s a link for the company that makes the headphones used for the theraputic listening program,  http://www.vitallinks.net/pages/About-Therapeutic-Listening.php
I think they can explain it much better than I can at this point.   I still have a lot to learn.  I am hoping, since everything I have heard is positive, that it will help A.

In the meantime, we will just have to continue to work with our little Streak  in all her uniqueness and continue to be patient!

Happiness is….

So, honestly, how many of you started singing the song from You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown?

I had to ask since I’ve been singing it off and on all day.  It’s a cute song and good when you need a quick reminder that small things can bring the most happiness.  But that’s not really where I was going with this particular post.

We have been following the Olympics fairly regularly, except my husband that is.  It’s been a great learning experience in sportsmanship for G and A has been attempting to increase her vocabulary while watching with us.  It has been absolutely wonderful and amazing to hear sounds that she has struggled to connect come together.  Even though she doesn’t fully understand why Mommy is so happy, she is excited because Mommy understood what she was trying to communicate.

The big bonus to this upswing in communication is that potty training has started moving along quite nicely.  She is able to spend most of the day, when we are home, in cloth training pants instead of pull-ups, which my wallet greatly appreciates.  When we are out, A has started letting me know when she needs to go and that is a major step forward from where we were just a few months ago.

We’re still struggling with the eating issues, but I’m still hoping that once we get into therapy things will start heading back in the manageable direction.  Until then, I have added in smoothies as a regular part of A’s diet.  While it may not seem like much, one smoothie snack a day, it does seem to be having a positive effect.  In the two weeks since starting this “smoothie experiment” we have noticed an increase in A’s endurance and she feels heavier to me.  I’m hoping this means she has actually gained some weight and will now be able to build and keep some muscle on her tiny little frame.  I think that has been the hardest part of all of this.  Knowing that A was struggling to build up her muscles (especially in her legs) but that her body was not able to maintain it because of the lack of calories coming in.

Her nutritionist had recommended milkshakes (homemade) but I really wanted something a bit healthier.  Hence the smoothies.  Thankfully they are not hard to make.  The hard part though is finding yogurt that isn’t fat free.  So far, our best bets have been the Cabot Greek style yogurt and Liberte Yogurt (Mediterranean style).  Both are higher calorie and thicker than regular yogurt so they make great smoothies.  As far as add ins, we had been staying fairly basic: bananas, strawberries, blueberries, and I just added peaches this week.  All of these went over well so I decided to get a little adventurous and try something new today.  I added Cheerios.

Okay, stop laughing.

No, really.  You can stop now.

This is a big deal when it comes to A.   For all I knew, I would be cleaning smoothie off various surfaces in the kitchen about two seconds after handing her the cup.  She has a tendency to toss food she doesn’t like, which is something we are still working on.

Thankfully, she and G both loved it.  So the banana, peach, blueberry, Cheerio smoothie is officially in the smoothie rotation.  In fact, it went over so well, that I’m thinking about being even more daring and trying a new fruit.

So, all in all it’s been a pretty good week.  We survived with minimal tantrums, increased success with potty training, increased communication, and increased caloric intake thanks to the daily smoothie break.

Yeah, the Peanuts gang got it right; “For happiness is anyone and anything at all that’s loved by you.”