The Three of Us

Gingerbread Cookies

It has been a great weekend of holiday activities.  Here's my baby girl making gingerbread cookies.

The Trolley

Our shopping center has an outdoor trolley every year during the holiday shopping weekends.  Yesterday we went to the shopping center with the purpose of riding the trolley.  We rode it a couple of times and planned to ride it one more time to our car, which was only going to be one stop.  When the trolley pulled up, there was Santa!  Thanh was so excitied.  We sat two rows behind him.  I asked her if she wanted to tell him what she wants.  She said I should tell him.  I asked her what I should say.  She said, "a harp."  M gave me an I told you so look.  I guess we aren't finished holiday shopping for Thanh yet after all.  Seeing Santa on the trolley was a special treat because Thanh can't handle the whole sit in Santa's lap thing.  It was perfect.

We decorated the house and Christmas tree this weekend.  Thanh wore her Halloween costume, which she refused to wear on Halloween.

 
 
 
 
 

Happy Thanksgiving

Last year I wrote about what Thanksgiving means to my family.  My cousins were in a 4-wheeler accident on Thanksgiving Day 1988 when they were 4 and 8 years old.  They were badly injured, especially my 4-year-old cousin J.  His injuries included temporary paralysis on 1 side of his body and broken bones.  My cousins came through it and are now professional, as well as volunteer, firefighters.  Thanksgiving is always a day when I am thankful that my cousins made it through that accident.  When I am in the homeland, I sit by J if at all possible on Thanksgiving.  My mom told me last night that J proposed to his girlfriend yesterday and that they'll be married in August.  It is incredibly meaningful that he would choose Thanksgiving, a day that changed his life negatively, as a day to change his life in a positive way.  I am wild about his girlfriend and so happy for them.

We celebrated Thankgiving at home this year with M's mom here with us.  We ate a rockin' vegetarian dinner.  We've eaten it again today for lunch and dinner and it still tastes great.

Thanh's glass contained root beer. 

I am feeling thankful for my family, my friends, and for teaching at a school where creativity and care for students aren't just allowed, but are expected.  I am also thankful that it is officially the holiday season, which I love.  We decorated the house (but not the tree) today.  I love it.  
 
 

OT Week 2

If OT always went smoothly, that would probably be a sign that Thanh doens't need it.  Tonight she was much less cooperative, tried to get me to do the activities for her (because she was out of her comfort zone), got fixated on an activity and wouldn't move on, and was a general Miss Sassypants.  Oh well, at least the OT is getting to see a more typical view of Thanh.  I still learned a lot, and the OT has a plan for how to try things differently next week.   She's going to make a schedule with pictures of 3 activities and then a fourth activity spot with two activities to choose from.  Tonight Thanh worked on knocking over marker tops with a party blower, swinging and spinning, washing plastic animals with soap and picking the animals up out of the water with tongs, and using circle stickers to fill in circles.  She became fixated with the stickers and was very upset when a sticker touched the edge of the circle on the paper.  When I wouldn't do the activity for her, she began putting stickers on me as a punishment.  Other planned activities that Thanh wouldn't do included an obstacle course, making lines with glitter glue, and drawing a person.  Thanh did draw bones, but would not draw the outside of a person. 

And So We Continue

M's mom is here for her Thanksgiving visit.  M was in Texas last week and her mom came to help out while she was away, which is much appreciated.  Thanh is thrilled to spend time with her grandmother.  I did something that wasn't about work or parenting Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.  Shocking, I know.  I did some holiday shopping on Thursday at a local store that sells a lot of art work and funky/eclectic or feel-good items.  They had a benefit Thursday night with 10% of proceeds going to an orphanage in Uganda.  A bunch of my teacher friends went and I came home with 8 fabulous holiday gifts.  On Friday my book club met.  We read The House on Dream Street by Dana Sachs.  The book is about an American woman living in Vietnam.  Yesterday my friend CM came over and we worked on our scrapbooks for hours.  Hours I tell you.  M got back Friday night and she and her mom took Thanh to her first Ch*uck E Cheese birthday party.  I was not sad to miss the first Chu*ck E Cheese experience.

Today M is doing volunteer work and her mom went along.  Thanh and I went to M*ichaels and came home with way too much stuff, but we did get a few items that were used in her OT session.  I bought a dot paint set and a dot paint workbook.  We're working on her motor planning and visual motor.  We worked on them as soon as we came home and had a good time.  I also bought moon sand, which is a gritty sand that Thanh secretly despised but attempted to use.  A thought flashed in my mind that the moon sand could be a stocking stuffer, but then I realized that it is cruel to put an object that your daughter despises but needs for therapy in her stocking.  I did sneak one stocking stuffer into my basket:  eye droppers, which Thanh is wild for.  While at M*ichaels we ran into a Vietnamese woman who lives in our town.  I had met her before, a few months before we adopted Thanh.  She struck up a conversation in the store today by saying, "Her face looks like my face."  We talked for a while and I gave her my contact info.  I didn't admit to her that I know exactly where her contact info is, tucked away from when I met her 2 and a half years ago.

Thanh and I also went to the children's museum.  We had a great time playing in the camping area, the medical area, and the old-fashioned house.  Then we went to the art area.  They had a turkey craft where you traced your hand and glued on pre-cut construction-paper feathers.  We were off to a good start until the worker showed me a small container of glue and said Thanh should apply it with her finger.  I calmly explained that this was going to be difficult for my daughter and asked if they had a craft stick or something else.  No.  I told Thanh the directions.  She told me that she didn't like to be sticky.  Then she problem solved by dipping a feather into the glue, but the glue dripped on her paper, which she found upsetting.  A few minutes later she had crumpled up her paper and was distraught.  What was particularly interesting to me was that after this, nothing went well.  She needed to be held as we walked through a new exhibit.  She screamed when she heard a loud noise.  She covered her ears and pushed sound buttons with her elbows.  In the bathroom she spend no less than ten minutes scrubbing the hand stamp off of her hand and trying to explain, "I need to get it off my hand."  What I am learning is that once she has a bad sensory experience, the activites that follow are also impacted.  I wonder how often this has been the case and I haven't noticed the relationship. 

OT - Session 1

Thanh had her first OT session today.  It went really well.  She is working with a different therapist than the one who evaluated her.  I like her, and I liked the rapport she built with Thanh.  Part of me still feels very unsure of myself with all of this, and I was relieved to find the therapist agreeing with how we see Thanh's issues.  In fact, I can't really imagine Thanh doing better in a therapy session, and yet T saw a lot of sensory issues.  The vestibular, or need to move and reaction to movement, really stood out to her.  T is going to work vestibular activities in as much as she can.  Thanh did a lot of the activities while sitting or laying on a swing tonight.  T swung her and spun her and could see in Thanh's eyes that she wasn't dizzy in the way a person typically would be.  She gave me a lot of suggestions of things we can be doing at home like using an exercise ball, using a lite brite, using clips and clothespins, and swinging in a variety of different ways.  She explained that the rigidity Thanh has, wanting things to look an exact way, is typical of kids with sensory issues because they need control.  She noticed Thanh worrying about items falling on the floor and she talked to her about how the classroom was a fun place where they could get messy.  Above all, Thanh enjoyed herself and had a positive experience.  She started to build a positive relationship with T, and I felt comfortable with her as well.  I think we are off to a good start.

Off the Couch

Thanh and I both made it through a school day today.  We are tired, but up and walking around.  Thanh's teacher said she wasn't herself still though.  She did choose to play this evening rather than sit on the couch and watch tv, which was what I was planning on.  M is still working from home.  She was planning to do an overnight volunteer shift tomorrow night and someone just called to offer to take her place.  M accepted her offer.  I think it is important that we all get as much rest as possible as we recover from the dreaded H1N1.

H1N1 Day 6

Day 6 of the flu and Thanh's fever keeps coming back.  She woke up at 2:30 am with a 103.5 temperature.  Today it has been normal, but that is with motrin and tylenol.  We took her back to the doctor's this morning.  I was getting worried because her face was twitching and I started to worry that she was having a side-effect from the fever.  At the office we were able to determine that it is voluntary because she would twitch and then I would spin her around to show the doctor and she would relax her face.  I called my mom and she said, "It was just drama!"  Pretty much.  But I'd rather check than have my kid's face freezing up without me knowing it.  I am feeling better.  M is achy.  I am filling my afternoon by doing some online holiday shopping and baking some muffins.  It is the first time I"ve felt motivated to do anything since Saturday evening when I felt sick.  Eventually I'll return to work, but probably not soon.

Rescued

Saturday 8:30 am - M takes Thanh to the doctor

Saturday 11:00 am - M and Thanh return from the doctor's with a diagnosis of H1N1.  The doctor thinks Thanh is getting better because she doesn't have a fever anymore.

Saturday 12:00 pm - I encourage M to go on her business trip.  "We'll be fine! My mom is coming tomorrow to help out."  M leaves, reluctantly.

Saturday 6:00 pm - Thanh wakes up from nap with a fever.  "I want my other mommy to give me the medicine!"  Great.

Saturday 7:00 pm - I text M:  "I feel achy."

Saturday 8:00 pm- I leave M a voice mail message:  "blah blah blah achy...blah blah blah can't get off of the couch."

Sunday 2:30 am - Thanh's fever is 101.  It takes 45 minutes for me to get her to take her medicine.  I call M for support, who says that she is getting on a plane in a few hours.  She told my mom to stay home so she won't get sick too.

Sunday 9:00 am - M arrives home to take care of us.

Flu

Thanh's pediatrician thinks she has H1N1.  She is better today though.  Her fever broke and she has more energy.  In fact, I had trouble getting her to nap because she hadn't had enough movement opportunities.  I put her in the car and drove around until she fell asleep, just like old times.