All about Mommy

One of the things with Cooper is that he is ALL about Mommy! Now what Mom does not want to be the favorite right?? Well, I do but I am a little too favored. I just get worn out. That sounds so horrible to say but sometimes I really wish Daddy could change that diaper, I wish Daddy could get him up from his nap, I wish Daddy could put him in bed.... If Cooper wants me and Daddy comes to get him he will scream "NO I WANT MOMMY!!!!" This is really tiresome to me and really hurtful to Kevin:( It just sucks all around.

Yesterday was not a great day either can you tell???

Today we missed church because all three boys were sick! We are always sick it seems! Jonathan (oldest) I think has strep and Cooper and Hunter have colds.

I am just blah today blah blah blah!

Some days are better than others....

and some (like today) are worse.... I am not sure if it was the rain we had today or what but man!! Cooper was in a mood!!! He could not be made happy by nearly anything and we all knew it! We went to the grocery store and it was more busy and noisy than normal and he pitched a fit through about half of the store. Also, to the lady at the deli I know you were trying to be nice but you were NOT helping when you were asking him what was wrong and telling him to stop. NOT helpful at all! I really need to learn a kind way to say "thank you, I know you are trying to help but stop!"

Cooper would not eat his lunch, then he would not eat his snack, then he would not eat dinner, hum.. surprising to us all he was starving when it was time for bed! Oh shocking! He was picking on Emma and Hunter today he picked on Jonathan when he got home from school, he was picking on me (hitting) it was just a hot mess today.

We had been invited to go to a jumpy place with some other moms and kids from church I am REALLY glad that I said I could not go. I can only imagine what that would have been like!

Agghhh!!!

The good thing about bad days though is that they end and *hopefully* the next one is better:)

Testing!

Cooper had his testing yesterday and he did so great! I was so proud of him!! First they did an IQ test and I was really surprised by how much he knew. Now, I am not saying I did not think he was smart but there were just a lot of random things they asked him that I did not think he would know. For example they showed him pictures of 4 houses and he had to say which one was "fancy" well he did it! They also read a story that was a paragraph long and then asked him a bunch of questions. He was able to remember a lot of the story and in fact last night he was still able to remember much of it to tell Kev all about it. The office takes about 2-3 weeks to get the report together so I am anxiously awaiting that!

Yesterday was a fun day after that! Daddy was home all day (to watch the other kids) so all the kids got to play with Daddy. Also, we have a rotation for the kids and let one of them stay up a little later than the others. Last night it was Cooper's turn:) There was a show on Discovery that was all about Ocean life so we all watched that together. Coop loves all things Ocean so he really enjoyed that!

The weekend and the dentist

This weekend was so fun! Weekends at home with Daddy are the best though:) Nothing too exciting happened for the most part. We did go to a wedding on Saturday night thought. That went well because they offered free babysitting there! How awesome is that?!?!? Cooper got to play with the other three kids plus about 10 or so other children. He made a craft (a butterfly) that he was very proud of and he got a treat bag that he was thrilled with!

Sunday we went to church and they had a baby dedication for all the babies born within the last year. They showed a video before the dedication that was kind of loud so Cooper put his head on Kevin's lap and Kevin covered his ears with his hands. Once the video was over he just sat right back up and was fine until the singing started then, like always, he wanted one of us to hold him. We found some noise blocking headphones online that we are going to get for him. They are a fun blue color so we *think* he might wear them and it will REALLY help him. We plan to use them for things like movies and bowling and our Disney trip but it will also be for church.

Today we went to the dentist and Cooper has always done really well there and today was no exception. He did great! We go to a really wonderful pediatric dentist that is about 10 minutes up the road and she is really great with the kids. Cooper really likes her and he likes getting to wear some shades and lay back and watch a movie while she checks his teeth. He has not gotten X-Rays of his teeth yet so we will cross that bridge when we come to it!

We have school tomorrow and then the testing on Wednesday eek!!!

He pooped!!!

Part of SPD is that kids don't feel the urge to use the potty. They just go without realizing that they needed to go, they just can't tell the sensation. We have tried to potty train Cooper boy oh boy have we tried!!! We started doing what we did with the oldest two kids and it just did not work!

Well, I talked with a friend who has a son with SPD and she was more than helpful giving me ideas and encouragement. Kevin and I talked and we came up with a new game plan! Today I brought Cooper to Target (with only a few incidents!) to get some candy of his choosing (Swedish Fish), some new underpants and some $1 prizes. He gets 1 fish for peeing in the potty and one prize for pooping in the potty. Well, low and behold the kid had to pee at Target! 1 fish... we get home eat some lunch and I suggested he try to poop (I know his schedule!) and he DID IT!!!!! I was so proud of him! He was so excited because man he wanted that painting Curious George thing he picked!! YEAH!!!

I also picked up two boxes of Uncrustables;)

Oh and I just got off the phone with the doctors office and the testing is scheduled for this Wednesday!! She said they had to resubmit because the insurance company did not accept the diagnosis. She said "Dr C gave an honest diagnosis and they said if he changed it to something else they would cover it." I asked what that diagnosis was and she Autism. That does not really mean a whole lot though to us because he did not do any of the testing yet!

I HATE Insurance Companies!

Man do they stink or what??? I found out that all the best OT places in my area don't take the HMO only the PPO (which we do not have) so now I have to go with a sub par place until January. NOT happy today!

I gave Coop a PB&J sandwich today that was a no go. I knew it was going to happen but I had to try! I gave him one made with homemade bread and natural PB&J... he said "this is not my peanut butter Mommy!" so now I know. I will pick up some more uncrustables tomorrow;) Not worth the fight I think! I can cross that bridge later!!!

I have spent the day looking for some noise cancelling headphones. Cooper does not like loud noises so we think they would be a good investment. He always wants us to hold him in church and it is not too bad but when I am wearing my 4" heals and he is nearly 40lbs it is a challenge! We are also going to Disney later this year and think they will be good for some of the rides.

An exciting find of the day though is that The Autism Society of America and AMC Entertainment have Sensory Friendly Films. They keep the lights on, turn the volume down and the no talking policy is waved! How awesome is that?? There is one movie a month and in a few weeks it will be Monsters VS Aliens at the movie theater we often go to! I am so excited for him!!

Peanut butter sandwich! HORRAY!

We avoided peanuts for a long time with Cooper at the advice of his allergist so we have recently introduced them to him. Well he will not eat it! Again, it is something new so he is nervous about that. I have been packing him PB&J for lunch to try to get him to eat it. I cut the bread into fun shapes thinking that will help. Well, I packed an "Uncrustables" yesterday thinking maybe that would work. Now, anyone who knows me well knows that it is really unlike me. I buy natural peanut butter, I buy 100% fruit spread and 100% whole wheat bread, while I actually prefer to make my own. So... this was a big step for Mommy too!

Well, he would not eat the sandwich. His teachers love Coop and they are really sweet with him so Ms Michelle said that she would bring a PB&J sandwich today too so Cooper should bring one and they would eat one together. Well, we talked about it all night we talked about it all morning they talked about it in class.... lunch time came..... he was hesitant but he FINALLY ATE IT!! HORRAY!!!! He would take a tiny little mouse bite and Michelle would cheer for him and then all his little friends started cheering for him, it was sweet and really fun for him. He ate almost the whole thing too! I am so proud of him:)

Berry Mix and Red Socks

So this blog is going to be an outlet for me and the challenges as well as the blessings life brings when raising a child with a special need. So here is the story:

Last week I went to Super Target with the three youngest kids and I saw they had all kinds of berries on sale that looked really good. Well, the kids all love berries Cooper especially he will always say "Mommy, strawberries are my favorite" so I thought I would get some and make a big mix of them. Well, bad idea Mommy. Cooper would NOT eat that mix! "No Mommy I don't like this!" He will eat any of the berries by themselves but to put them together is too outside his norm. So, I just gave him regular plain strawberries and we were all a lot happier!

Then this morning we were getting dressed for school. I grabbed a pair of socks out of his drawer and without thinking I grabbed the white socks with the red bottom *GASP!* the horror!!! Now, the reason this brings drama is that Cooper will only wear white socks. I know this but I have been trying to challenge him on that. I bought some Batman socks, Batman gets a lot of love in this house so I thought this was a good idea.... nope Coop won't wear them. So this morning as he was wretching, crying and pulling his feet under him so I could not put the blasted white and red socks on him I just thought you know not worth it, okay Cooper let's get out some white socks.

So what does he do??

I am sure you want to know so how is Cooper atypical (that is the nice term weird is not). Cooper has always had issues with food textures he will gag on anything that he deems unacceptable also he does not want to try new foods. I made pancakes one night for dinner without and egg or milk and I loaded those babies up with syrup to get him to just *try* them. Nope no go. I put syrup on the fork he lapped that up (the fact that I called it candy might have helped....) but when he saw me put it on the pancake nope. This is more than a typical child. Cooper will allow himself to go hungry to avoid trying a new food.

Once I decided to be fun Mom and bring the kids to McDonald's for lunch one day. Daddy was at work but we can do something fun right?? So I get a hamburger meal for Cooper well he would NOT eat it! For THREE DAYS I gave that kid nothing but that stinkin' hamburger and fries and never once did he even take a bite. That is more than a typical kid. One of the other kids would have broken by meal two!

Cooper is very stubborn, we have come to realize though that his stubbornness comes from a break in routine. If he has not done it before you can be assured that it is NOT going to go smoothly. He does not like loud noises at all. He will cover his eyes and then his ears to block out the visual stimuli and then the auditory stimuli.

Cooper will still tantrum like huge mega big time tantrum. I have brought him around the grocery store or Target just pitching a holy fit but oh well! Honestly, that does not embarrass me in the slightest. If it did I would never be able to leave my house! I never know what is going to set him off or why. I am hoping that this SPD diagnosis will give me some insight into that for his sake! I know that it cannot be very fun for him either!

When we are out he always has to hold onto the stroller for the baby or the shopping cart. If I make him let go for any reason like to walk through a door or to let someone pass he totally flips out. Also, if I push the cart in Target up the row and I realize "oh no, I just walked by the toothpaste" so I stop the cart and say "oh sorry guys! Mommy forgot the toothpaste I will get it and be right back. I am going right there (about 10' up the same row)." Cooper will totally freak out and scream "MOMMY DON'T LEAVE ME!!!" that gets me some good looks!

So that is the jist of it. There is more I am sure but we are so used to it it seems normal to us;)

So he got a diagnosis

Okay, so Cooper just got a diagnosis of Sensory Processing Disorder. We are still waiting on insurance approval to do farther testing to see if he is on the Autism spectrum somewhere. That could either be classic Autism or Asperger's or PDD-NOS. So we will see and I will report back on that one....

Okay, so how it all started... Cooper has always just been quirky things that were unique to him. I always say he got every bad gene I had to offer! He has food allergies (severe life threatening to dairy and egg) as well as being incredibly stubborn (so like his mama!) and averse to new things (again I point at myself) to name a few highlights. We just always thought that was Cooper nothing to it just his personality. Well, I started e-mailing with a friends sister, this sister is a pediatric occupational therapist. She told me that it sounded like SPD to her so we went to the pediatrician to get a referral to the OT and speech for evaluations.

We went to the OT first and she said that she did recommend therapy for him and she would mail me a report in a few weeks. We went to the hearing test that is required for a speech eval (don't even get me started on how stupid it is to put a child who is immensely bothered by noises in a room to make him listen to noises and actually respond!) then to speech. Cooper's main speech problem is when he gets frustrated/tired/hungry he starts to make noises instead of using his words. So "eeeggghhhh" instead of "stop that! I don't like that!" However, ST does not recreate this they play and chat so they did not recommend speech for him.

So, I got the report in the mail from the OT and she diagnosed Cooper with Sensory Processing Disorder. I thought I was okay with it and I really am okay with it but to get the report in the mail that lists all the things that your child does that are atypical can be a little tough on a mama. So, I read it and then went out to the bookstore like I had planned. For the rest of the day though I felt like I had just been hit by a truck!

So, on March 12th I went to the developmental neuropsychologist. This psychologist talked to me for about an hour about Cooper and what is going on with him. He reviewed the reports from the ST and OT and came up with a list of tests that he wants to do. It is more physical testing (Cooper has gross and fine motor skill delays) as well as the Autism Spectrum testing. After this appointment again I felt like I had just been hit by a truck! I am a pretty tough cookie, I don't need a lot of coddling or hand holding. However when I have gone from thinking my son is a typical 3 year old to finding out that he has a lifelong challenge, albeit one that he can significantly improve, in less than a month. Is a little hand holding too much to ask for??? I think not!

So that is where we are. We wait for the insurance to approve all or part of the testing and then we will test. Cooper is also on the waiting list for OT but there is another place I am going to try to get him into that I think will be better for him.