Today, Sharon (the World's Best Babysitter/Friend/Surrogate Grandmom) came over to do some Floortime with Rosie. This was a concert we were treated to right after Sharon arrived.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Playing piano
Music has, since the very beginning, been a bridge into Rosie's world. It soothes her, focuses her, and most importantly, makes her happy. If we need her to listen to something we're saying and really hear it, we often sing the phrase--a technique we have also found effective in distracting her from a stimming behavior and back into engaging with us during Floortime.
After my husband's parents passed away, we inherited the family piano, which sits in our playroom. Rosie has been attracted to the piano from the first--in fact, Moon's first real engagement with her came when he would sit her on his lap and play the piano for her.
Today, Sharon (the World's Best Babysitter/Friend/Surrogate Grandmom) came over to do some Floortime with Rosie. This was a concert we were treated to right after Sharon arrived.
Today, Sharon (the World's Best Babysitter/Friend/Surrogate Grandmom) came over to do some Floortime with Rosie. This was a concert we were treated to right after Sharon arrived.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Working Out a Few Bugs...
Nothing, it seems, works the way you think it will in the world of special needs--even the blogs! Still working out a few fights between my graphics card and my video software (gave them both time-outs and sent them to either side of the motherboard to think about their actions), and trying to figure out how to edit out necessary clips since YouTube won't download more than 15 minutes of a session at a stretch.
On another note, Moon and I are taking parent training classes in Floortime on Monday nights at Floortime Atlanta. The main things I took away this week were: 1) I have GOT to get some help (but that has been a recurring and so far unsuccessful mantra), and 2) the necessity of organizing our family and home life around Floortime, and not the other way around. That point in particular was driven home to me last night.
It had been (as usual) a very busy day, full of the usual details and disasters and deliberations required when raising 3 children under 7. Rosie has not been sleeping well, and when she finally did take a nap in the late afternoon she woke up in a mood that veered somewhere between hysteria and fury. (Note to self: no more stir fries for dinner for a while. Rosie is terrified of the sound of the meat hitting the sizzling wok.) By the end of dinner, I was half-expecting a huge, blinking neon sign to show up over her head: TILT! TILT! Like one of those old Bugs Bunny cartoons. I realized we hadn't done much Floortime at all that day, due to our mutual tiredness and my busyness. So, I grabbed her out of her highchair, and we headed upstairs for some Floortime.
She immediately wanted to bounce on the pillows and I could literally see the relief on her face when I tossed her in the middle of her "crash" area (a pile of plush floor/body pillows and bean bags she can crash into). I was reminded of her--and seemingly all children with sensory issues--need/s for intense physicality in their play. She NEEDS a level of movement and active play I, Ms. Sedentary Lifestyle, actively avoid. (I think the hardest thing to accept about motherhood is that you have to wait a VERY long time--like, 20 years or so--before children think sitting in a comfy armchair all day with a good book and a cup of tea is as fun as I think it is.) We had our "moment" during this session when I buried myself under her crash pillows and asked her to find me--the 2 of us were belly laughing by the time she found me, and pushing the big pillows out of the way to reach me was obviously good heavy work for her.
I still struggle with how to enter her world when she grabs a few objects and starts to stim--last night, it was 2 triangle foam blocks from the block box. I picked up a couple other blocks and pretended they were drumsticks, and she was mildly interested, but what she really wanted was to stand there, in a corner, and stim with those 2 triangles. The "git-r-done" part of me wants to just grab the blocks, put them away, and be done with it, but I've learned that doesn't move the process along. So my current challenge is, how do I jump into her "stim world"?
On another note, Moon and I are taking parent training classes in Floortime on Monday nights at Floortime Atlanta. The main things I took away this week were: 1) I have GOT to get some help (but that has been a recurring and so far unsuccessful mantra), and 2) the necessity of organizing our family and home life around Floortime, and not the other way around. That point in particular was driven home to me last night.
It had been (as usual) a very busy day, full of the usual details and disasters and deliberations required when raising 3 children under 7. Rosie has not been sleeping well, and when she finally did take a nap in the late afternoon she woke up in a mood that veered somewhere between hysteria and fury. (Note to self: no more stir fries for dinner for a while. Rosie is terrified of the sound of the meat hitting the sizzling wok.) By the end of dinner, I was half-expecting a huge, blinking neon sign to show up over her head: TILT! TILT! Like one of those old Bugs Bunny cartoons. I realized we hadn't done much Floortime at all that day, due to our mutual tiredness and my busyness. So, I grabbed her out of her highchair, and we headed upstairs for some Floortime.
She immediately wanted to bounce on the pillows and I could literally see the relief on her face when I tossed her in the middle of her "crash" area (a pile of plush floor/body pillows and bean bags she can crash into). I was reminded of her--and seemingly all children with sensory issues--need/s for intense physicality in their play. She NEEDS a level of movement and active play I, Ms. Sedentary Lifestyle, actively avoid. (I think the hardest thing to accept about motherhood is that you have to wait a VERY long time--like, 20 years or so--before children think sitting in a comfy armchair all day with a good book and a cup of tea is as fun as I think it is.) We had our "moment" during this session when I buried myself under her crash pillows and asked her to find me--the 2 of us were belly laughing by the time she found me, and pushing the big pillows out of the way to reach me was obviously good heavy work for her.
I still struggle with how to enter her world when she grabs a few objects and starts to stim--last night, it was 2 triangle foam blocks from the block box. I picked up a couple other blocks and pretended they were drumsticks, and she was mildly interested, but what she really wanted was to stand there, in a corner, and stim with those 2 triangles. The "git-r-done" part of me wants to just grab the blocks, put them away, and be done with it, but I've learned that doesn't move the process along. So my current challenge is, how do I jump into her "stim world"?
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Rosie, May 2010
This video shows Rosie just prior to receiving her PDD-NOS diagnosis, and prior to any formal Floortime therapy.
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