February 2024

Welcome back! I feel so guilty that I didn’t write an update about Christmas time. That’s ok. Today I wanted to write about a particular issue Isaiah has. Frequent request to use the bathroom. Sometimes, he will ask to “go potty” every 15/20minutes. He usually does go pee a little bit each time. Sometimes he doesn’t though, he just sits there and tries and nothing comes out. We will go to a park for an hour and he’ll go to the bathroom three times during that outing. Or we will drive in the car for an hour and he’ll ask to go potty multiple times in the car. Now, I’ve tried different strategies. I tell him to wait if he just went 15 minutes ago. But, he obsessively asks and his anxiety increases. So then, I feel bad that I’m causing him this discomfort and say, “ok fine. Go potty.” Of course at home, he doesn’t ask he’ll just go. Very often. He’ll go during his favorite shows, while he has his iPad, when he’s outside, all the time. At school, they have him on a routine. He goes to the bathroom every time he enters or leaves the classroom.

In November or maybe it was December, he had a cough so I took him to our pediatrician. Overall he was fine and just had some sort of virus. I asked them to test his urine. His urine was fine. No blood, no protein, no infection. The pediatrician recommended I go to a pediatric urologist to get an ultrasound of his bladder and kidneys. I took him on February 2. Tested his urine again, it was fine. His kidneys and bladder was perfect. “Very photogenic kidneys” the doctor said 😂. He said that if Isaiah is constipated, poop could be pressing on his bladder and giving him the urge to go pee. He recommended that Isaiah get an x ray of his abdomen. At this point, I’m really over this whole situation. No, he’s not constipated. Every scan and test comes out with no issues. I debated the x ray but then I decided to do it. I just want to rule out the possibility of a foreign object perhaps in there and maybe causing discomfort. Probably not. So today, I took him to get an x ray. As I write this, I don’t have results yet. Feel free to comment on here or text me if you’d like to know.
Surprisingly, Isaiah does great at the doctor. He loves to go to the doctor. He loves to talk about it. I never have to deal with high anxiety or a meltdown on our way to the doctor or during a visit. He just likes it. He doesn’t need a screen while we are there. He doesn’t ask me to go home either. He happily skips school to go.

I’m hoping that the x ray comes back showing everything is fine. I then will need to train Isaiah to not react to every feeling or urge to use the bathroom. He will have to tolerate no. I already do this often, but I will feel way more confident telling him to wait if I know for sure that there is no medical issue here. He is already on a bathroom schedule at school and during therapy.
We have a big trip planned for the end of May. Isaiah is very excited and he tells me the date of our departure on a daily basis. We talk about it all the time. He is very excited about the airplane, and the hotels, etc. He loves to travel. But, frequently using the bathroom is just not going to be an option. He’s going to have to tolerate waiting. So, I need to start diligently training him now. As a side note, we aren’t bringing his iPad either.

Another issue that Isaiah is having (at school not at home) is rocking back and forth and hitting his mouth on the table in front of him while he is seated. It’s usually when he is frustrated with doing his school work. This is happening frequently and the school always sends him to the clinic. Which he probably really likes to go to the clinic. One day, I got yet another email saying Isaiah hit his mouth on the table. I took iPad privileges away that afternoon. He was mad and had a meltdown for about 45 minutes. He wanted to hit me. He wanted to hit himself. Crying, yelling, anxiety…. It was tough. I haven’t gotten an email since then. That was a week or two ago. But, I will have to take away his iPad privilege for the day if I get another email.

I wish there was a book on parenting a child with a cognitive disability from a biblical perspective. Or maybe, I could write about the various things we have done over the years to train and teach Isaiah. The last thing I need is social services at my door 😳. It does take discipline and it is exhausting but effective… for the most part.

October/Halloween 2023

Hey guys! I spent way too much time trying to remember how to change the font color. I still couldn’t figure it out. 🫠 Anyways… I first looked through all my photos from October and it made me realize how much I make Isaiah participate in. I’ve always viewed my forcing him to participate in “normal” family activities as “good for him”. And maybe it is? But I do think he just simply hates doing some of these things. That’s “normal” for kids anyways, right? 🤔

So we took our annual family photos in October. I made Isaiah wear new shoes and a new shirt. The photos came out beautiful but it wasn’t without tears. After 10 minutes, he was done. He wanted to get back in the car. He cried. But wow the photos! 😱😍

Isaiah told me “October 31. Mario. Pizza. Trick or treat” every single day of October. Now it’s “thanksgiving. Eat turkey”. Isaiah did well for Halloween this year. He was Mario. He wore the hat this year! He wouldn’t do it last year. He did well for the first street. Ate lots of his favorite candy. He was always searching for skittles. On the 2nd street, he started asking to go home. We made it to the 3rd street and he was done. Chase and Isaiah went home while the rest of us finished off the 3rd street. 

We also dragged Isaiah to the pumpkin patch. He actually enjoyed picking a pumpkin. He likes pumpkins. I took him on the Winter Park scenic boat tour. I was nervous about this outing. I brought his life jacket. He is VERY particular about life jackets on a boat. He didn’t want to wear it. At one point, he put it on, but then took it off. It wasn’t mandatory to have it on. Maybe he felt comfortable with us having the life jacket with us. He panicked and cried for a minute but overall, he did well. We took him along with us to a trunk or treat, an air show, a grocery store, McDonald’s, an ice cream shop, two different trampoline parks. We do all of these things with zero electronics. Sometimes Isaiah doesn’t last very long at all. Begs to go home. We push through and make him last longer than he wants to stay. Sometimes, I think about how much easier “outings” would be if he had an iPad with him. But then, would he really be “with us”? Or just physically present and mentally engrossed in his game on the iPad? I rather him participate in as much of life as possible. But wow does it take work. 

He’s had some bad days this past month. Meltdowns for no apparent reason. Just not getting his way. He will be sad, emotional, crying at times. Sometimes he throws himself down on the ground at school or hits his teacher. 

Some days are very good and he is content and seems generally happy. Those days are more calm and less work for me. 

ABA continues, typically 8 hrs/week. Hopefully he can have more therapy over thanksgiving break. I’m mentally preparing myself for that week. November will come with its own challenges. He loves Christmas though. He loves the lights, going to grandmas house, and the presents. 

Quick funny story about the time change this past Saturday night. Isaiah went to bed at his usual time, 7:50pm. I snuck in about 30 minutes later to turn back his alarm clock. He loves that alarm clock. He loves time and knows he can unload the dishwasher at 6:30am. It lights up green at 6:30am. Anyways, I go in there at 8:20pm and set it back to 7:20pm. He woke up, saw the clock and saw that I changed the time and would not have it! I had to put it back to 8:20pm. 😂😂 This made me chuckle for sure. I came back later when he was really sleeping 😉. 

Thanks for reading!

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Happy Birthday – September 2023

Welcome back readers! September was fun, Isaiah had a birthday! He turned eleven. He had lots of fun! We went to a water park and he enjoyed it very much. He got a blue icee there too. That is of his favorite desserts, also Publix sprinkled cookies, also air heads…. also chocolate cake. He has a MEGA sweet tooth! Anyways, we ate dinner at a restaurant, which he also enjoys to do. He opened presents and got lots of things he likes. Puzzles, books, dvds, candy, etc. we celebrated all weekend long. He knew his birthday was coming. He knew which day it was on the calendar. He knew about our water park plans. He brought it up almost everyday. He knew he would get presents. He asked for air heads. He even picked out which cake he wanted. He knew we would sing to him. And he was very happy about all of those things. He was excited! 🥹

But, his birthday can be kinda sad for me. I push those feelings down, and decorate the house and wish him a happy birthday multiple times. In reality, he’s not eleven. He’s maybe 4 or 5. Academically, he scores at a kindergarten level. He has for years now. It doesn’t seem like he will get much farther than kindergarten. He’s in the 5th grade now. I’m desperately trying to hold him back so he doesn’t go to middle school next year. I’m not ready for that. And I don’t mean that in a typical mom of a 5th grader who’s moving up to middle school. Because, he’s practically, not a 5th grader. He’s a kindergartner, on his best day. I tried to hold him back last year, they said no. I’ll probably get the same response this school year too. 🤧🤧🤧

If you ask him, “how old are you?”, he will still say “ten”. We’re working on it. Isaiah cares about the simple things in life. What show he will be watching and at what time he will be watching them, where we will be going on Saturday (or everyday really), bedtime, wake up time, and what foods he will be eating. This is what Isaiah talks about. The schedule. The next thing. Time. Dates. When we are going to the next hotel. He doesn’t care about reading or writing or math or science. He’s always focused on the next time he will be able to get whatever it is that he wants.

He’s very happy that we are going to the zoo on Saturday. He doesn’t show too much emotion. He seems stressed out daily but he doesn’t seem to be in some sort of deep distress. He was sick this week. He took a nap on the living room floor. I had to get a picture. He looks so cute when he’s sleeping! And wowzers is he tall! Just under 5ft! He knows about trick or treating. He hasn’t been telling me daily yet. But I bet as soon as it’s October, I’ll hear about it everyday 😏

Thanks for reading! Here are some fun pics from this month. 😊

Back To School – August 2023

We are back to school and back to this blog! Writing has been on my “to do” list for the last 8 years 😅. It’s time for an update. The last update was TEN months ago. Wowzers. Isaiah just started 5th grade at a public school in an ESE classroom. This is his second year in this class now. He gets speech therapy in school three times a week. He is continuing on his academics using a curriculum called “direct instruction”. He is at a kindergarten level of reading and math. He does show signs of improvement and progression. It’s just very slow. He been at a kindergarten level for about 5 years now. I’m starting to see that Isaiah probably won’t progress much farther than that. My goal for 5th grade is that he will start testing in 1st grade material! He turns eleven next month.

After about 9 months on a two different waiting lists, ABA started in January. First there were evaluations and more waiting for insurance. Finally, sessions became more regular in March and have continued throughout the summer. Multiple, two hour long sessions, at home per week. This has been very helpful for Isaiah and for me. I tried to lower his anxiety and stabilize his emotions by putting him on a medication back in January. It went awful. He slept way less, and his behavior became worse. Meltdowns, aggression, outbursts, property damage, etc. Now we are in a much better place. 8 hours of ABA at home plus full time public school plus speech and occupational (1hr total per week in center). All that is why I can blog again.

Let me just say that I was nervous about summer break. 10 weeks off of school really scared me. Many things helped. Two weeks of vacation, 3 weeks of summer school, about 10 hours of aba therapy at home a week, and many MANY outings. We did it ALL. Science center, bowling, zoo, movie theatre, beach, eating out, splash pads, parties, swimming, iPad, vacation trips and REPEAT. It was a great summer. It actually went by quickly. I enjoyed all the things we did. It was hard at times, Isaiah was still difficult at times. I cleared my schedule and focused on the kids and we all did great 💯. Thanks be to God from Whom all blessings flow.

I knew I wanted to sit down today and write this because Isaiah has been trying to be funny by telling a “joke”. He says something that doesn’t make sense and then laughs. He has been saying “life jacket in the bed” when it’s bedtime. We say “what? Noooo that’s silly. That’s a funny joke.” Oh how he laughs. So last night, I was upstairs with the girls while they were showering and the boys were downstairs with Chase getting out of the bath. Chase calls me downstairs. He’s laughing. He tells me to go to Isaiah’s room. I look into his room and find me in bed with his life jacket on, zipped up and buckled. 😂 He went and found his life jacket, put it on ALL BY HIMSELF, and got in bed. What a funny joke! Oh how he laughed and laughed. That was a sweet moment with Isaiah ❤️.

Anxiety

Hey guys! I felt like this topic of “anxiety” needed a permanent place on my blog. A quick google search will tell you that anxiety is defined as “a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome.” Also, “a desire to do something, typically accompanied by unease”. Also, “a nervous disorder characterized by a state of excessive uneasiness and apprehension, typically with compulsive behavior or panic attacks”.

Isaiah’s day is filled with these “episodes”. Isaiah has anxiety about just about everything. He tries to remedy his anxiety by figuring out the plan for that day or that week or that specific date in the future. He is very in tune with dates and days of the week. He will tell me… today is “Monday October 10th”. He probably will repeat it multiple times. He will then tell me the name of his school, “_______ Elementary”. I respond to his repetitions, “yes Isaiah, Today is Monday and you are going to school”. I’ll even do it ten times. And usually that’s a minimum. That’s really not a huge problem. He likes the affirmation and it’s comforting to him.

Sometimes he gets mixed up. For example. October 1st came around he he tells me “trick or treat!!!”. No Isaiah, not today. October 31st is Halloween. We will go trick or treating on October thirty one. He takes that well, we will talk about in daily until Halloween but that’s ok. Everyday, for thirty days. I can handle that.

But often, it’s not that easy. Isaiah will repeat something over and over and over again that he wants that it’s just not time for. He wants to do everything in his life really really fast. Isaiah is all about routine. If it weren’t for me…. Isaiah would get up at 4am eat breakfast at 4:10, got to school at 4:15am, come home and have his iPad, go on a walk, eat dinner at noon, take a shower at 12:30pm and be in bed for the NIGHT at 1pm. Of course, that’s not how life works. I spend my entire time with him going over what we are going to do and at what time we are going to do them even when he wants to do all those things but much faster. In real life, there is “down time”. Not every second of every day has a “to do”. Some things go longer and some things go quickly, some things get cancelled, some days it rains, sometimes there’s a hurricane. Life is unpredictable. It actually is OFTEN unpredictable. Especially with a family of six. Isaiah hates to wait. Isaiah loves to do all the things he does in a day but he just wants to get through them extremely fast. Sometimes, he can tolerate the prolonging of time. Other times, he can’t. After dinner, he will beg and beg and beg for a shower. I’ll finally cave, earlier than our normal 6:30pm time. He will run to the shower, stand in the for 20 seconds and come out and be done. Hours of pleading for a 20 second activity. Sometimes, it’s tough. I have to be strong, stand my ground, and force him to wait. It’s for his good. I simply, won’t allow him to go to bed at 6:31pm. Not all days are this hard but many are.

I’ve noticed that Isaiah’s anxiety affects other people too. His constant nagging is annoying, it’s actually infuriating. I cringe when people respond with “OK FINE!!”. I know it’s hard to be nagged and to not have the person accept, “hold on…. Not yet…. Almost”. It’s still hard for me to not get angry and I’ve had years of practice! With children, “no means no”. If Silas comes up and asks me to go outside and I say “sure, after we are done with lunch”…. I expect him to accept it and not ask me again. And he does just that! Because he knows that he must obey and he really doesn’t have a problem with waiting until after lunch. Autistic anxiety is a whole new ball game. I hate it for him. He has a hard time enjoying things that he loves. He begs to go swimming and then he begs to go home after being at the pool for 5 minutes. He begs to go to church and then he begs for the iPad when we are there. I do my best to distract him so that he begs less but ultimately, he usually does not get get his way when he wants it.

So what do I do? I use a variety of tools to help me help Isaiah. First of all, his doctor recommended magnesium. So I give him a magnesium gummy in the morning. I also give him four drops of a “natural stress relief for kids” concoction that a friend told me about. Do these things help? I really don’t know. Maybe? I also show him calendars, set times, show him the clock, repeat schedules, keep things as consistent as possible. And on a day to day basis, these things are helpful. Probably the most helpful thing is when I patiently and calmly tell him the plan as many times as he needs me to. I don’t give in, I stand my ground but I do it calmly without showing anger. Isaiah tends to respond well to that. If Isaiah wakes up at 4:40am (like he did today). I go to him and remind him that he needs to go back to sleep until the green light turns on and it’s 6:30am. I also give him melatonin. I didn’t give in, I quickly reminded him the plan, gave him something to help him and went back to sleep. Today it worked. We’ll see about tomorrow.

Some weeks, I feel like I can’t take it. I feel like Isaiah can’t enjoy his day to day life because his anxiety is so high. I contemplate a prescription medication. I often feel one phone call away from going that route. But some days, it’s not so bad. So here I am… hanging in there and hoping for a chill day from a boy who has ZERO CHILL.

Thanks for reading!

Catch Up Time

Well hello there old friends! Did you know that it’s been almost 2 YEARS since I posted on my blog? It’s funny, my last blog post was posted about a month before my 4th child was born. I guess having FOUR kids will make me a little busy…. Or crazy. 🤪🤪 Anyways, it’s time. I would like to thank fellow authors of some recent books that I have read. These authors have persuaded me to write again. And who knows….. maybe I’ll be able to compile all these blog posts into a book that people may actually want to read. Wouldn’t that be wild?! Thank you Katie Blackburn, mother of 6 with one of those six with autism. Thank you Andrew and Rachel Wilson, parents of two on the spectrum. Thank you Carrie Cariello, mother of five, one of those with Autism. Thank you Kate Swenson, mother of four, one who has autism.

So the real question here is…. How’s Isaiah? Is he better? Is autism gone? Or is he normal now? Has he improved?

Well, the answer to that is complicated. He’s older. Some things are “better” and some things are “easier”. But, things are still hard and Isaiah is still pretty much Isaiah. I guess you will just have to stayed tune and keep checking for updates on Isaiah for all the juicy details. 😉

I will say this, Isaiah is handsome and his one liners make me laugh sometimes. He’s 10 years old. He’s in fourth grade. He goes to a public school in a special needs classroom that has about 8 children and three teachers. He still loves puzzles. He does 300 piece puzzles now. He loves Encanto!!! He still looooves to climb trees. He loves dessert after dinner. He loves taking a shower. He only sleeps in his underwear now 🙄. His clock lights up green at 6:30am and tells him he can get out of bed. And sometimes, he does that. He loves a plain bagel toasted with butter and strawberries and blueberries for breakfast. Everyday. Except Saturday when Mama makes cinnamon rolls and bacon 😋 He still loves the beach, and boogie boarding. He loves the science center. He loves ice cream and more recently, crumbl cookie. He LOVES to hang and swing on the pull up bar. He likes to sit in the front passenger seat of our SUV. Most of the time, he’s told to sit in the third row, sorry bud. He still loves vacation, hotels, and hiking. And he looooves the boat and tubing and this past summer, he grew very fond of knee boarding 🤩🤩.

He requires a lot of patience. But, I love him. ❤️

🎄 December Update 🎄

Happy New Year! December was a fun month to look back on. Isaiah had a normal routine of school/home for the first two weeks and then he was on winter break for two weeks. I was surprised as to how fast winter break went by. I figured that the days would be long and hard for Isaiah but I think Isaiah had a lot of fun on his Christmas break.

• Isaiah has been loving Toy Story movies recently. He asks to watch them frequently and specifically request which one (we have all 4). He usually gets to watch a 2 hour movie on the weekends when there is more time. He also has been asking to watch PBS kids after dinner…. maybe he sees how dark and cold it is and how much more time we have been spending inside. I do my best to get the kids outside on walk/ at the playground for an hour each day after school. Sometimes the cold makes it difficult to enjoy. Pretty much anything under about 65 degrees and cloudy is just a no go for me lol.
  
• Our weekends have been filled with church, friends over to our home, us going to friends’ home, SeaWorld, playgrounds, and family time. Sometimes, we don’t have Saturday plans but I am working on Isaiah being ok with “stay home”. Isaiah very much enjoyed traveling and seeing family and traveling and staying at a hotel when there was no school.
  
• Isaiah seems to be doing well in school. He still repeats things over an over at times. It’s annoying and I loose my patience but try to breath, repeat it once and then say “all done” even though he wants me to repeat it more.
  
• His sleep has been a little weird. Some nights he would be up for a couple hours and then sooooo tired the next day. But recently, he’s been sleeping through the night. I haven’t been sleeping well anyways… Isaiah’s baby sister is due in 18 days. Let’s just say, the last few weeks are very exhausting and I know that affects my engagement with Isaiah. I’m doing my best but sometimes, I just don’t have it in me. February might be difficult for him as things change in our home with our new addition to the family. He’s done it before though, it everything turned out alright. 🙏🏼🙏🏼
  
• Isaiah eats a grown man’s size portion of food and is tall and lean. He’s unloading the dishwasher daily as his chore. He particularly likes to put the knives back on the knife block. Of course, the most dangerous job he loves 🙄. He’s getting dressed himself in the mornings, I just hand him his clothes or else he’d put on shorts and a tee shirt when it’s 40 outside 😝. He gets his own socks and shoes on. He brushes his teeth with my assistance still. And I apply his hair gel and deodorant. After his bath, he can pick out his own pajamas and put them on… correctly usually. He enjoys the action Bible now and wants to read it every night before bed (which is our custom). Isaiah is doing well and I’m proud of him. He lives a normal daily life that fits well for our family and for him. He’s getting older and things are not as hard for him as they were when he was 3 and 4 years old.
  
  Enjoy these pictures!!!
  

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🦃 November Update 🦃

Hey guys! November brought on some cooler weather and different routines! Thanks for reading!

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• Isaiah is doing well in school and really this past month hasn’t been too difficult for him. His daily routine is pretty much the same but now that there isn’t any more pool time, we have been going on walks and playing at the playground on a daily basis. Both boys need a lot of physical activity so I’m doing the best I can with this growing bump of mine! Isaiah loves to push my poking out belly button but I keep telling him that there is a baby in here and it’s a girl.
  * Thanksgiving break was spent going to lots of parks and playing outside. We had the best weather! I could tell that he was getting a little bored though with the same thing to do everyday. Makes me a little nervous about Christmas break coming up in just two weeks. 😬 Overall, he did really well with thanksgiving day. We had about 20 people over and although he had a hard time sitting still and eating his food, ultimately he found things to do inside and watched tv.
  * I took the bigs roller skating for the FIRST TIME EVER. Isaiah shocked me with how much he enjoyed it. For his first time ever trying, he did really really good! (Even better than Trinity who has ice skated several times prior). I definitely old take him again. We stayed for 2 hours plus and he kept at it! I know the flashing lights were also very stimulating to him.
  *Isaiah still loves SeaWorld. And he still loves the roller coasters in Sesame Street. He’s not quite tall enough for the bigger roller coasters but we plan to make him try them when he can. I think he will love it once he gets over his initial fear of heights.
  * he has had a loose tooth since October. It’s not ready to come out yet though and I have told him that maybe in January we will pull it out. He reminds me of this promise everyday 🤦🏻‍♀️😂 “in January, tooth come out”….. I sure hope it’s ready in a month! 😳 He also asks to go to grandmas house everyday. Well, I told him the exact date that we plan to go and now he tells me everyday when we are going to grandmas house. There are many Isaiah-isms that we use around the house and joke about. He’s precious but still naughty 😜.
  Some cute pics! Thanks for reading ❤️
  

🎃 October Update 🎃

• Happy November! I don’t know about you, but I have VERY much appreciated this little cold front we got in yesterday. In fact, I’m writing to you from back patio because I just want to stay outside ALL day long! Just when I feel like I can’t take another hot, swollen feet day… the Lord is merciful and gives me a beautiful, breezy 73 degree day. 😎😎😎Anyways….. Isaiah! He had a great October and he is very happy that it is finally November!
• Let’s start from the end of October… daylight savings…. usually, it’s a dreaded time but Isaiah has adjusted well. He had a couple of hard nights when he begged to go to sleep when we tried to keep him up an hour later. But, it’s getting better. He’s waking up at about 6:30 now which is better than 5:45 a couple days ago. I still can’t sleep past 5:20am 🤦🏻‍♀️.
• Halloween was tough for him. He loved the idea of going “trick or treating” and was allll for it. He did great at a couple of houses, ate some candy and then said “go home” for the next hour… He just would not continue going to houses after about 10 minutes. He was at a borderline meltdown and so I sat him in a stroller where I could at least control where he was as he continued to cry to go home. This is where it gets challenging to have other children who are LOVING something and then Isaiah who just isn’t. We just kept at it until we were done and as soon as we got home, Isaiah wanted to go straight to sleep. …..Exhale….
• Although, the beginning of October still had some pretty hot days…. the pool is cooling down and the days aren’t as hot in the late afternoons anymore. Usually it would rain…. but we tried to go to the pool as much as we could. Isaiah loves his large inflatables. He jumps on them and does flips and even allows Trinity to play with him on it. Now with this time change and it being dark at 5:45pm, we are not doing the pool as much as the playground or going on walks. We also go to our community lake and put our little remote control boat in the water. Isaiah seemed interested the first day but now he rather just climb the gazebo while we watch the boat.
• Isaiah has enjoyed our “hiking” adventures in our local community. They are more like nature walks because there is no change in elevation but he seems to enjoy walking on a trail through trees. We’ve done that many Saturday mornings. We still have SeaWorld passes, he still very much likes to go there. He asked to see the “fish” which I’m guessing is the aquarium there. He enjoyed that. Also, seeing the penguins and watching them eat food and jump into the water.
• We went to the beach this past Saturday, although he didn’t swim, we enjoyed a nice long walk by the water and he watched the waves crash wildly. He loves the beach, it’s worth the hour drive 😍.
• Isaiah now spends about an hour in the sanctuary during Sunday service. It’s going better than I expected. The first 30 minutes is pretty good, lots of singing. The second thirty minutes, he gets a bit antsy. He fidgets in his seat. He’s a distraction for me but probably not really for anyone else. I keep him busy with snacks and a rotation of books to look at. I also keep telling him how much time is left before he goes to his class. 20 minutes… 10 more minutes…. 5 more minutes. He always calms down a little when I give him that little countdown. Hopefully, he gets calmer each week and so do I 😅.
• We have also enjoyed having people over from church on the weekends or going to other people’s houses. Isaiah has always done very well and it’s usually Silas who hurry’s us because he desperately needs a nap.
• School is going well. He seems to be progressing through his academics and doing well in his new math curriculum. PICA has been an issue at home, so at school there is always someone keeping an eye on him, especially at the playground. Isaiah gets a heavy correction from me when I see him putting anything in his mouth he shouldn’t. My scolding has an emotional effect on him. He hates it and always seeks forgiveness. He stresses about the correction and tears flow. I’m starting to choose more carefully what behavior merits a more severe correction than others. PICA is definitely one of them, but other behavior… probably not so much. Often times, Isaiah is careless, and runs into a sibling without looking or thinking. I’m trying to teach him to calm down and walk and be slow to do anything!
  
  Short winter days can be hard for Isaiah so the next few months may not be his favorite but I’m thankful for three more months left as a family of 5 and I’m gonna make the best of it!
  
  

🎉 September Update 🎉

• Hey guys! WordPress has changed so much since my last blog post, it’s taking me a long time to figure out how to type words and upload pictures onto the post. 🤦🏻‍♀️ So in this post, I hope to remember how Isaiah’s school year has started off and how Isaiah is adjusting to the new school/home schedule.
• Isaiah has a new teacher or teachers I should say. From my understanding, there are three kids total in his classroom with one teacher. Then, a different teacher takes over in the afternoon. It appears as though Isaiah’s academic lessons, reading, math, and language are 30 minute sessions that are one-on-one with the instructor and take place before noon. Mornings are better for Isaiah, he has better focus and less hyperactivity. Looks like that Isaiah is struggling to retain material and as a result, he is going at a much slower rate in his lessons. This isn’t all bad, his teachers are focusing on retention. They are even wanting to change his Math curriculum that he is doing to “Touch Math”. I like that “Touch Math” uses material that he can actual touch to learn. My hope is that Isaiah will continue to work hard and be pushed to do hard things.
• I took Isaiah off his medication several months ago. He wasn’t sleeping well at night, he would be awake for several hours in the middle of the night. He’s not having this problem anymore thankfully. He’s consistently sleeping from about 7:45 to about 6 or 6:30. Sometimes he does wake up around midnight to pee. Side note, I would also like Isaiah to say “bathroom” instead of “go potty”. Changing that habit seems impossible at the moment lol. At home, Isaiah has trouble sitting still, not jumping constantly, constantly putting something in his mouth, and doing an activity for longer than 5 minutes. I am hoping that with constant correction and redirection, Isaiah will learn to submit and settle down.
• He hates to be corrected. He gets really worried when i rebuke him and sternly tell him “no” or “that’s bad” or “don’t do that again”. He says “say I’m sorry. Please forgive me.” Which, is really a pretty good response to getting a strong rebuke. But, if I don’t say “I forgive you” and continue on in my correcting him….. he says it again. Louder. Sometimes, it’s hard for me to forgive him because his disobedience is so great and I feel so disgusted with it. So then he panics, stares me in the eyes, worried look all over his face, and starts yelling “SAY IM SORRY. PLEASE FORGIVE ME”…. it’s hard not to laugh at that point. But, yes I forgive him and he settles down.
• He still gets pretty high anxiety over his OCD type things. He tells me to turn a different way in the car even though he knows that’s not where we are going. He wants “what’s in the Bible Christmas” dvd after school everyday. And everyday it’s “no”. I’m simply not ok with him watching the same thing everyday. I will fight to change up his routine. He gets over it. As long as I am firm from the beginning and don’t give in to his manipulation. He eventually sees its futile and that Mama won’t back down and he will settle to watch something else.
• Isaiah turned 8 on September 17th!! 🎉 🎉 I think he will now say “8” when asked how old he is. He took to the idea of his “birthday” a lot better this year, he really enjoyed his cake, presents, and singing to him. We then celebrated with an overnight hotel stay in Orlando that had basically a water park open for us to use for two days. Isaiah enjoyed the slides and hot tub. He wanted to stay longer and sleep at the hotel another night. It’s really nice to see Isaiah actually have an opinion and really want something that isn’t a repetitive stim behavior.
• Chase has pulled out another couple of teeth making it a total of 6 teeth lost in about 1 year. Isaiah looooves to get his teeth pulled out. He frequently asks us to get a “towel” and “pull out teeth”… even when they aren’t loose 🤦🏻‍♀️🤣.
• His recent loves include: playing on a large floatable in the pool, getting into a hot hot tub, playing on our playground across the street, going on hikes, “towel spankings” (when Chase whips a towel at a stuffed animal) 🤷🏻‍♀️😅, What’s in the Bible Christmas, going to a local playground before school, chewing gum, skateboarding (I think I’m gonna get him a scooter for Christmas). We switched over from the storybook Bible to “The Action Bible” and Isaiah is slowly getting used to us reading that Bible to the kids every night. He has struggled with the switch but it’s getting better and he is more accepting of it now.
• Isaiah adjusted well to Mama and Papa being gone for 4 days on a trip. Chase’s parents were here to take care of the kids and Isaiah still went to school and had a pretty “normal” routine. He was even asking for them when we came back and they had left lol.

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Some highlights from August/September

Thank you for reading! ❤️