Trying to figure out why it scares them so much.

Today a friend was having an Easter Egg hunt at her church. We went and the kids were so excited! They had a blast up until the point where they could have their picture taken with the Easter Bunny. Yes they know that there is a person in the costume but for some reason they are so scared of it.

Breanna had a full blown meltdown. And I need to say that for her a meltdown for her is crying and I don't mean a few tears, I am talking about full blown crying. And it didn't help that one of her cheerleading friends was there and she didn't want to play with Breanna. That really bothered Breanna. She doesn't understand that at times her friends just do not want to play with her. I tried to explain to her it is the same thing when she doesn't want to play with her brother and I think she finally understood. :-)

Kodey was scared of the Easter Bunny costume as well. He never has a meltdown but is very scared. So the only child of ours that did get a picture taken with the Easter Bunny was Colin. And he looked adorable! I felt sorry for the guy in the suit. I know he HAD to be hot.

It has taken Breanna all cheer season to be able to get close the cheer mascot. Even though she has seen the person take the mascot off and on many many times. At the last cheer competition she was finally able to be around the mascot and even had her picture taken with it and not have a meltdown.

I would LOVE to take the kids to Disney World if we could ever have the money, But I just don't know how well they would do because of all the Characters in costume.

My little Pageant Princess!!!

This past weekend Breanna was in a pageant and did wonderful!!! No meltdowns nothing. She had the best time. We were there from 1:00-7:00 pm and I thought for sure she would get bored and start with a meltdown about leaving. But she didn't. There were times towards the end that she got a little antsy but I was too. lol! That is a long time for little kids to have to sit around for the most part. But anyway, I am so proud of her. She had no problem getting on the stage, smiling and doing her thing on stage. She was so excited when she got her tiara and sash.

Earlier that day she had her cheer award banquet and was so excited about that as well! She loves to cheer and be with all of her cheer friends. I am not sure how she will handle it this summer not having cheer practice. She did have a little meltdown while we were standing in line getting our food. I think it was because there were so many adults around and she was scared to have that many people around her and her not be able to move around much. But it didn't last long and once we got back to the table and she started eating she was back to her normal self.

I know that there are many parents that do not push their children that have special needs. I am here to say that if you DO NOT PUSH they will not get better. You have to know when to draw the line and stop but that is part of the learning process for both you and your child. When she first started Cheer she would freak out being on stage, hearing the loud music. But you know what I made her to do it even when she was crying and crying that she didn't want to go out there. She now has no problem with it and loves seeing the bright lights, hearing the loud music and getting on stage. I am not saying it isn't easy it isn't. I cried and cried seeing her out there having her meltdown buy I know that I had to do it. Once it was over we both felt better and it got better each time for her and for me. Now I cry because of how wonderful she is doing out there and how far she has come!

Somethings need to be done with baby steps, others with a big push. Without the baby steps and big pushes along the way they are not able to get better and progress in life. I have to do remind myself when times get tough with her that I am doing this because I love her and want her to get better. After the baby steps and big pushes I love on her and hug her and tell her how proud I am of her over and over and over. They need to know that first and foremost. They need see your love no matter what the outcome is.

I think we may have finally got it figured out!

Kodey has been complaining about his stomach hurting for two weeks now. After the school calling me about everyday about it and him getting leaving school early, many trips to the Dr. I think we finally figured out all the problems of his stomach.. First they think has has reflux so he is on meds for that. Well after being on that for a week he had been still saying he stomach was bothering him. From what we can gather part of it is the reflux and the other  part he is so burned out from school he just doesn't want to go or be there. After sitting down and having a talk with him about school I "think" he is finally understanding that even though he doesn't want to be at school he has to go. I will be so glad when they are on Spring Break in a couple of weeks!!

Breanna has a field trip tomorrow and it will be interesting to see how much of a meltdown she has from that when she gets home from school. And then she has another one on Friday. I hope and pray that things do not digress like they did the beginning of the school year when they had so many field trips. It got so bad that she would only poop in her pants!! She is 5 and has been potty trained for over two years! It was like her body couldn't tell her that she needed to go the bathroom until it was too late. She was getting to overstimulated from all the field trips and even after doing the brushing/deep joint compressions she was no better.

I saw this on one of my Sensory Facebook pages and thought I would pass this along

http://www.wrightslaw.com/heath/elig.eval.read.htm

Can the School Terminate My Child's Eligibility for Special Ed? Evaluations, IQ Scores, and Grades

They have come so far..

It is amazing to see how far both Kodey and Breanna have come with their disabilities.

Kodey has developmental delays along with speech apraxia and OT issues. He was a very shy boy that didn't want to talk much because of his problems with this speech. He didn't have the self confidence to be the wonderful boy that I knew he was. He was first diagnosed when he was 4 and it has been a battle for sure. We held him back in Kindergarten so that he could mature and get his basics down before he could succeed in 1st grade. It has done a world of good. This year has been a struggle for him and myself. He has missed a lot of school from being so sick this year. It's hard enough for a "normal" kid to get caught up with the school work and retain everything when they miss school but it is even harder for him. So needless to say we have spent countless hours trying to get caught up.

I remember his first year of Kindergarten he had the hardest time telling me what happened at school at it broke my heart!! I could see him trying to remember but he couldn't. He would get so frustrated when he was trying to talk and we couldn't understand him. It was like this boy was stuck inside this body that wouldn't allow him to get out!! I would just sit and cry and try to make it better for him but as you know it isn't always that easy. Thankfully the kids in class could understand him!! LOL. I know his teacher would say that she would call on him and there would be times she couldn't understand what he was trying to say so the kids would tell the teacher what he was saying for him. Cute but very sad. Thankfully after much speech and OT he is now able to express what his feelings and what he wants pretty clearly now. He still has speech problems and not sure how long he will have them. Just so glad and blessed that none of the kids have ever made fun of him or picked on him because of that.

To help with his OT issues I signed him up for soccer, which did help but the poor little thing just couldn't keep up. So now he is doing bowling and loving it! He is doing better bowling then I am, ha ha ha. And this is great dad and son time. Just last week his first bowled a 124! I couldn't believe it when my husband told me.

We have tried Boy Scouts but found out quickly it is not for him. Both of my kids are very well behaved, but will act out like any kid will every once in a while. And being so well behaved as Kodey is, has a problem being around other kids that will not listen, acting out and being very loud. He does not like it or tolerate it. He told my mom that he should teach the kids the right way to act! That should tell you something! So with the kids acting out and being rude and loud at Boy Scouts he is no longer doing it.

When Breanna was 6 months old I new something was wrong but her Dr. felt as though what I was seeing was because she was born premature. She would smile, laugh and was able to physically be on track for the most part, but I just knew mentally something was wrong. Finally after a long year of meltdowns after meltdowns I had her evaluated. They they considered her high functioning autism. She was not able to talk but more then a few words at the age of 2, didn't give eye contact to people she didn't know, would spin around, did the arm flapping, walked her tip toes and so on. The typical signs of autism. She then started OT, speech, and physical therapy. It has been a very long 3 years since the start of her therapy. And she has come so far in the best way ever.

Being a stay at home mom since I had Breanna and having Kodey home with me as well, took a toll on us dealing with Breanna's meltdowns on a daily basis. There were days when Kodey would just sit and cover his ears because he couldn't take her crying from her meltdowns anymore. And when say meltdowns, I mean meltdowns that would last a good two hours or more depending on what set her off. And it would take its toll on myself as well. I would just sit and cry trying to get her to stop and not knowing what to do to help and what even set it off in the first place.

Now she is one of the brightest children in her pre-k class! She goes from not being able to say more then two words to having a vocabulary of a 2nd grader. How awesome is that!! And now of course I can't get her to stop talking!! LOL! But I would take that anyday then having her not being able to talk.

To help her with her many many sensory issues, and pretty much overall therapy she is doing cheerleading and she is loving it!!! She gets so mad and upset when she isn't able to go to practice if she is sick. She is like night and day from the start of the season. I am so glad and so blessed to have a wonderful group of people helping her. I know that she is getting pushed to the limit when she has a meltdown as soon as we leave practice or a competition. I never thought I would have so happy to see her a meltdown but I am! She needs that push to get better and help her get better. So bring on the meltdowns!

Now having Colin, our newest addition to the family, the kids are overjoyed and have been wonderful with him. Kodey has been a big help and a wonderful big brother. Breanna can't keep her hands off of him and just loves to love on him all day. They wish they could be a little bigger to actually hold him and feed him. :-) 

I know that both of my exceptional children have much more to go but I am so glad that I could be there for all the ups and downs and can't wait to see what is in store for us in the future.