You’re a COOL MOM!

Well Layla has this cute shirt that says, “My Mom Is The Coolest”.  It has become one of her favorites recently.  She seems to generally like any shirt with words, but being the mama’s girl that she is, she especially seems fond of this one. 

Yesterday at Wal-mart, she told me that I am a cool mom!  I don’t think or know that I am actually a cool mom, but either way, it makes me smile that I am HER mom. 

So now for some long over due updates on “us”.

I will start with the easy update on Layla first.  She’s really doing fantastic!  We had a small tantrum last week, very small in the grand scheme.  It was over a piece of candy.  I think she was also reacting to my overall negative/tired mood that day, and it seemed to put her on edge.  I was already frustrated, and the fact she was spiraling into a tantrum just frustrated me more.  I used a not so friendly tone with her during my frustration, which I apologized for profusely once we had both cooled down.  I hugged and loved on her and told her I was SO sorry for taking out my bad day on her (I will get to why the day was bad in a minute).   She hugged me tight and stroked my hair and said “It’s ok, you’re still a really good Mommy”.  To which I busted into a full on teary sob.  I was really sick about how I treated her, which really wasn’t that bad, I just felt guilty. 

So despite her little fit that night, which was merely triggered by my poor attitude at the moment, I am going to say she has officially gone ONE WHOLE MONTH without tantrums…SOOOOOOOOO AWESOME!!! 

Moving right along to Molly… wow… where to begin?  Her anti-depressants have finally set in, which is good in one regard, but awful in another.  Now that she is no longer “as” depressed, her focus, impulsiveness, and just general disregard for most things has SKY ROCKETED!  She was off the charts CRAZY last week.  She was bouncing from floor to ceiling, chattering like crazy, lying, and just really poor decision making all around. 

During her PT appointment last week, you might have thought she was feral.  I mean I was SO embarrassed to be in the same room.  Her behavior therapist and I discussed the possibility of her having a Sensory Processing Disorder, and she gave me the preliminary checklist/questions to answer.    Yes, she does have SPD, probably in addition to ADHD.  She scored very high in the “Under responsive/Seeks Sensation, Auditory Filtering, and Low Energy/Weak” categories.  She also scored in the medium range for “Tactile Sensitivity”. 

We see her PCP on Monday the 8^th to discuss medication.   At her Child Study meeting the teacher and I had the exact same concerns.  Her grades are A’s and B’s, but they’ve been pulling her out of class for extra help in reading/writing.  For now we’re not going to do the IEP, we’re waiting to see what difference medication might make.  Her focus and impulsiveness at school is just as bad as at home. 

So we’re having a lot of work to do for her.  It is really hard because she’s a big 6 year old, almost 80 lbs.  She wants to feel like a “baby” but we physically can’t carry her etc.  With the SPD stuff though, she’s almost like a 3 year old.  It’s very difficult to get the right balance of what she needs vs. what we’re able to provide.  We have a limited amount of time at home each night before bed.  I guess it is the balance all working parents struggle with.

So that is all I am in the mood to type today.  I will do my best to update more this week if I have time.