Oct

Note To Self

Between Monday and Wednesday, all I can say is that the week flew by. Mom has spent the week enquiring at special needs schools and trying to find places that would interest me as well as take into account my special needs, and was affordable to Mom and Dad. As my folks are learning a little more about vestibular issues they are realizing that very noisy environments are quite difficult for me. Especially my beloved music and often this is why I act up, simply because I haven’t heard the instruction.

Mom has also suspected that headaches are more prevalent in my life than previously thought. We tried some rescue remedy to assist with the issues I have in attending classes but it hasn’t really taken the edge off. Recently Mom has tried some Calpol at every event requiring concentration or participation and it has seemed to help. Of course Mom has not done this without medical advice. Only 10ml is being given to me and it’s under my weight category, non-sedative and makes physio, OT and speech therapy very much easier. Mommy has put out her feelers to other parents to assess if this is a real response to pain or if it is a parasympathetic problem as well. One would expect the aspirin I take daily to have an effect on pain but as Mom aptly mentioned it’s only therapeutic and not for pain relief.

So back to my week. Physio was great. I love it. My favourite is seeing what toys Di has taken out for me to play with when I arrive. We jumped on the ball, did forward rolls and lots of dinosaur collecting. Mom only had to step in once to focus me. What a ball. After lunch and a sleep Mom let me free-play and after that we went to Vicky for a catch-up speech session from last week. It took a large amount of negotiation skills for us to get there. I sense Mom was the winner as I ended up doing the speech session. My ‘Note to Self’ for the day: I need to get more negotiation skills. Mom seems to be winning more and more battles.

Tuesday was music and Mom was in a stern mood, which doesn’t often happen. Even teacher Liesel asked to make sure she was ok. What helped was that Mom was very focused and she spoke right into my ear to explain things to me. I think I managed to do 80% of the work. The rest was ok but not great. Mom and I left and I found a puddle to jump into. One of the Moms who always has something to say about my behaviour commented that she didn’t want her daughter jumping in a puddle looking at my Mommy. To which Mom replied, “Then don’t let her”, followed with a “that’s right, kill her creativity before it’s even manifested” under her breath. Note to Self: Don’t mess with Mom on a bad day.

Lunch and free play was the order of the day for the rest of Tuesday.

Wednesday was a quiet day; Mom and I attempted some school work but doing a lot of my favourite sort of things like sequencing and puzzles. I had a really runny nose, as Mom said it looked like some sort of nuclear waste and there was no chance she was making other kids sick so cancelled my cooking. When I asked “Why not?”, Mom explained that germs are not a good thing to share. Note to Self: Moms are confusing. First they say share, then they say don’t share. Life is complicated.

Dad went to see a special school to see if I would fit in, but the folks are still discussing it.

Thursday was a day where therapy was only at 3:45 so we didn’t do much during the day and most of it was spent at home doing some school work and artworks. Lots of artworks.

Friday morning we dropped Dad off at Melville Koppies so that he could join his team from work in doing a tidy up of the area. When I asked Mom why, she responded so that he can be like Tommy Zoom and help save the environment. We headed to OT with Lauren and I managed to colour a duck, and cut it out (see below) and do some exercises. My treat for the end of the week is a milkshake at McDonalds and the playground there. I found it difficult after OT to get down from the 3rd storey. Note to Self: Moms don’t collect you when they are wearing dresses or it takes them a long time to rescue you.

We then collected Dad and Mom and I played for the afternoon while Dad rested. We rewarded ourselves with DVDs. I chose Spongebob’s Last Stand for myself and Mom and Dad chose Source Code. It was awesome. We headed to bed early.

On Saturday morning Mom had a date with Bev and Claire but Dad and I decided the boys had to come with. The girls relented and let us come for a playdate. Before we left Mom and I had a few run-ins. First I ran away with her under wear while she was getting dressed. It was very funny. Note to Self: Moms are fast without their clothes on. Next was the hair dryer. I insisted it was my turn to use it but Mom was determined to finish. Note to Self: don’t get between a girl and her hair.

On our way out the garage door, I announced that Mickey the cat was in the car, so I said, “Look its Mickey in the car”. Mom and Dad checked the iPod thinking it was the music I was referring to. I kept repeating myself till a loud meowwww announced Mickey’s presence. We headed back home to drop him off and as the back door of the car opened he bolted. Note to Self: kitties don’t like car rides.

At Bev and Claire I managed to reacquaint myself with Georgie and Chester. And very soon we were having a festive time. Bev happened to be putting sun block on me and I was quite accommodating contrary to my usual feelings about it. Next thing as Bev was leaning over my beetle toy, I whipped the magnetic spider with beetle off the toy and it connected Bev’s lip. Minor panic ensued as my shocked parents tried to rectify the situation. Mom rushed to the freezer and shouted ice, ice. Eventually she offered Bev a frozen crab stick as she couldn’t find the ice.

Bev was ever so gallant about it, but the lip got progressively worse. Eventually she was being teased about taking on a 3 year old and most of us kept thinking ‘Angelina Jolie’. The worst was I wasn’t sure what she would say at the party she was attending the next day. Note to Self: ladybird toys are dangerous especially to adults. They should come with a warning: Duck, low flying ladybirds.

We headed home on a high note and I hit the corner ironically singing Be Sharp Beetles and fell asleep. I slept until 4:30 so missed Tanya’s birthday, but we will make it up to her. Of course this meant I stayed up all night and my shocked and stunned Dad was horrified when I woke at 6 am on Sunday.

We headed off to Lifestyle to get some things for the garden. Mom shopped while I played with Dad. It was an awesome morning – Dad and I rode the train, then I hoped on a few of the rides and we even went on the big rocking ship. I loved how it swept us high up only to drop us down again. And to boot, it was a pirate ship. Aaarrrwww. After a nap we did some gardening and Robin and Dad did some computer problem solving. Soon it was all over and we were settling into Sunday routine and I was bathed and ready for bed, but not before writing my blog.

Finally my big Note to Self for the week is: it’s really exhausting being a 3 year old!

Love,

Jarrod