First of all, has it really been 3 months since I’ve last posted? Well, at least I have an excuse. Nothing like moving (twice, no less) to make one forget about things like blogs.

We’ve been in our new house for almost 2 months and on our island for almost 3. 837.7 miles from our former home and most days we don’t miss it. Well, it’s not that we don’t miss it because we sure do miss our friends, our school, kung fu, our beach, the Golden Gate bridge…it’s more like we are so happy and content being where we know we are supposed to be. The transition has probably been as good as it could possibly be, and we are all loving our new lives here.

Z is especially doing great. I guess gaining 1,000 square feet of house and over an acre of yard and forest has been good for him. We were pretty crammed in our old place. Which just made the walls easier to bounce off. Now he has room to run, room to swing, room to ride his bike, room to climb, room to go outside and explore. We still have all the issues we had before. Sleeping is still hard. Understanding boundaries with everyone else around him is a struggle. There is still a lot of bouncing, crashing, and yelling. We are still exhausted and have to make a point of working with him consistently through the day to keep him regulated. Which still doesn’t always happen. But, we really are in a place that is good for him and he is happy and thriving. We’ve had a number of evaluations at the developmental preschool and we are hopeful he will qualify for services in the fall. We meet (finally) with an OT in the city tomorrow and are looking forward to getting back into the routine of superhero classes.

In other news, 2 weekends ago I got to attend a Sensory Processing Disorder seminar. I spent the whole sunny weekend sitting in a classroom learning about the brain, nervous system, serotonin, sensory diets, and school related issues. It was amazing. Understanding (just a little bit) what is going on in his body makes a world of difference. Knowing that there is something “broken” or “off” with his system and learning how it can be “fixed” or changed left me with so much more understanding and hope. Hearing about all the ways to help hm succeed in school took away a lot of the fears I have for him. And, learning practical ways to help him through the day gives us so many more resources to help the whole family to cope. I’ll leave you with just one example.

We had known about joint compressions before, but I was reminded of it and how good they are for him. Last week I needed to clip his fingernails (which had really turned into claws) and, as usual, he had a meltdown and starting crying and trying to escape as soon as he saw the nail clippers. I sat him on my lap and spent about 5 minutes doing joint compressions. As I was doing them, I could feel him relax and practically melt into my lap. I then clipped all 20 of his nails without a struggle or peep out of him. Mr. D* was amazed. I was amazed. That has never happened before. It sounds crazy that such a small thing like clipping a child’s nails without a fit would leave me with so much hope, but it did. It also left me with so much hope that he will learn to adjust to life and he won’t spend it living in fear of everyday things. That’s enough to make a mama happy.

Living with a child who has Sensory Processing Disorder can mean a number of challenges throughout the day. One of the biggest challenges is to find a way to calm him down when his nervous system goes into overdrive.

One of my favorite phrases our OT uses when talking to Z is “it looks like your engine is fast/slow/loud/quiet/busy.” Any one of those things can describe how his body is acting at any given time. And it can literally change from moment to moment.

The amazing thing to me is that Z actually understands what it means. That understanding has made a world of difference on a daily basis. We have gotten into the habit of frequently asking him what his engine feels like. Some of his favorite answers are “loud” and “quiet” though we get the occasional “grumpy” or ‘sleepy.” When he is feeling loud or fast or grumpy, he is starting to be able to stop and think about what he needs to do to feel quiet or slow. Which is amazing. I can’t even describe how much easier it makes day to day life to have him realize that he needs to stop and calm his engine. When he realizes this, he’ll stop and climb into my lap and take big breaths while I rub his back, lie on the floor in turtle pose, or find some sort of soothing activity (like Legos or his bean box).

His engine is still revved up enough times each day that leaves Mr. D* and I exhausted and his brother and sister frustrated after being jumped on/kicked/hit/etc., but at least we are making progress. It’s the small victories throughout the day that make it all worth it.