Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Written Alligator Teeth
With my older kiddos, if they do something, that they clearly know better than to do, I make them write about what they did and why they shouldn't do it. On this particular occasion, Zada was caught picking the neighbors flowers, without permission. She threw a GINORMOUS fit and was then told she had to write about why she shouldn't pitch a fit! I had a hard time not laughing! If it isn't big enough to read, click on the pic and it will enlarge! It took well over an hour to write this, after almost a half hour of fit pitching!
A Little Background
When my 2nd daughter was around 15 months of age, we noticed that her vocabulary wasn't growing. Normally this is the time that they start to take off! She never had any eye contact, even as a small infant. Every picture, for as long as I can remember, she is always looking off to the side, even when we tried to get her attention. She would seem excited about our tact, but never look directly where we needed her to.
We sought advice from our pediatrician, who told us that it was all in our heads, and that she was progressing perfectly for a child her age.
She soon began to spin, and spin, and spin. I was worried that she would get so dizzy, that she would hurt herself. She never got dizzy at all. And when she would hurt herself, it didn't phase her. She couldn't look in the direction we pointed when we wanted to show her something. With the more temper tantrums and break downs she had, the more her fascination with butterflies flourished!
Even at age 3, her baby sister was uninteresting. She preferred to be near adults, rather than playing with kids her age. She still had the vocabulary of an 18 month old. She also grew this strange and annoying fascination to running water.
I clearly remember a beautiful afternoon when we were picking her oldest sister Katie up from Pre-K. The day was cool, the sun was warm. As we were sitting in the car waiting, Zada broke down into the BIGGEST breakdown to that date. All because the sun was shinning on her and it wouldn't stop. So yet again we sought the advice of our new pediatrician, who agreed some speech therapy could prove beneficial. However, he told us that everything else, was stemming from her speech issue and that she was having break downs because she couldn't express to us what she needed, properly.
We had a wonderful therapist that we saw twice a week for the first 6 months, and then once a week from then on. She made great progress.
The office was downtown and in a beautiful location. But yet it was torture to go. The office was also located near train tracks. Ant child that age loves trains...don't they? Well, not Zada! Just seeing the crossing arms put her into a break down. The trains do not honk their horns in down town Augusta, GA. There was still something about them that Zada couldn't stand. Whether it was the rumble of the train itself, the sounds and lights from the crossing guards, or the impending bumps from driving over the tracks, I still do not know.
When Zada was almost 4 years old, she was acting very sleepy and cranky, so I put her up in her bed for a rest. We had to keep a child proof door knob cover on the inside of her door, so that she couldn't get out and get into things that could possibly harm her. I went up to check on her after about 30 minutes. Her door was open! Even more frightening, she opened my bedroom door and my bathroom door! Both had the child proof door knob covers! She had climbed up onto my toilet, onto the sink, and opened the medicine cabinet. At the top shelf, I had 2 brand new, still in the box, bottles of chewable children's Tylenol. They were missing!
Upon further inspection in her room, I found both boxes...opened. Both child proof bottles...opened. AND both foil seals broken. Only 12 chewables were left to be found. Each bottle held 30 chewables! Luckily my hubby had been home for a few minutes, so he stayed home and Zada and I took a trip to the ER. We didn't know if she had eaten them, as she also found it fascinating to drop things down the air vents.
Sure enough! Blood work confirmed that she had eaten the missing grape chewables! The doctors and nurses couldn't believe that she had broken through all of the security measures. They themselves, decided to try these chewables, and all ended up spitting them out because of how foul they were!
Getting a child like Zada to eat, let alone drink anything she doesn't want to is, let's just say - interesting! To say the least! When I was told that she was going to have to drink a dose of charcoal, I laughed! Told them to have fun! I couldn't even get her to drink chocolate milk, unless she was in the mood! Enter large tube and syringe! She didn't like it. Tried to grit her teeth so they couldn't get it into her. They won that battle! And what a battle it was!
We had to wait a required 2 hours for the activated charcoal to do it's thing and made a trip to x-ray to make sure that it was doing what it was supposed to. Had it not, she would have been transferred to the Childrens Hospital at MCG. Luckily...and she is lucky!...everything worked out well. We were home by 2am, clothing laced in charcoal in a sack, and child scrub gown on her.
That next morning, I demanded an appointment with the pediatrician. A different one, one that we were not assigned to. She was very helpful, and very much in agreement that she needed a Pediatric Evaluation.
Finally. Someone that believed me and understood my concerns. We were asked to fill out a survey and an appointment was set to meet with the post Developmental Ped. On Thursday March 31st, 2005, Zada was Diagnosed with PDD-NOS and Sensory Integration Disorder. We were told that she is considered classic for Asperger, but the speech issues took her out of that category.
I cried. Finally, after almost 4 1/2 years, we had answers. It was such a relief!
We sought advice from our pediatrician, who told us that it was all in our heads, and that she was progressing perfectly for a child her age.
She soon began to spin, and spin, and spin. I was worried that she would get so dizzy, that she would hurt herself. She never got dizzy at all. And when she would hurt herself, it didn't phase her. She couldn't look in the direction we pointed when we wanted to show her something. With the more temper tantrums and break downs she had, the more her fascination with butterflies flourished!
Even at age 3, her baby sister was uninteresting. She preferred to be near adults, rather than playing with kids her age. She still had the vocabulary of an 18 month old. She also grew this strange and annoying fascination to running water.
I clearly remember a beautiful afternoon when we were picking her oldest sister Katie up from Pre-K. The day was cool, the sun was warm. As we were sitting in the car waiting, Zada broke down into the BIGGEST breakdown to that date. All because the sun was shinning on her and it wouldn't stop. So yet again we sought the advice of our new pediatrician, who agreed some speech therapy could prove beneficial. However, he told us that everything else, was stemming from her speech issue and that she was having break downs because she couldn't express to us what she needed, properly.
We had a wonderful therapist that we saw twice a week for the first 6 months, and then once a week from then on. She made great progress.
The office was downtown and in a beautiful location. But yet it was torture to go. The office was also located near train tracks. Ant child that age loves trains...don't they? Well, not Zada! Just seeing the crossing arms put her into a break down. The trains do not honk their horns in down town Augusta, GA. There was still something about them that Zada couldn't stand. Whether it was the rumble of the train itself, the sounds and lights from the crossing guards, or the impending bumps from driving over the tracks, I still do not know.
When Zada was almost 4 years old, she was acting very sleepy and cranky, so I put her up in her bed for a rest. We had to keep a child proof door knob cover on the inside of her door, so that she couldn't get out and get into things that could possibly harm her. I went up to check on her after about 30 minutes. Her door was open! Even more frightening, she opened my bedroom door and my bathroom door! Both had the child proof door knob covers! She had climbed up onto my toilet, onto the sink, and opened the medicine cabinet. At the top shelf, I had 2 brand new, still in the box, bottles of chewable children's Tylenol. They were missing!
Upon further inspection in her room, I found both boxes...opened. Both child proof bottles...opened. AND both foil seals broken. Only 12 chewables were left to be found. Each bottle held 30 chewables! Luckily my hubby had been home for a few minutes, so he stayed home and Zada and I took a trip to the ER. We didn't know if she had eaten them, as she also found it fascinating to drop things down the air vents.
Sure enough! Blood work confirmed that she had eaten the missing grape chewables! The doctors and nurses couldn't believe that she had broken through all of the security measures. They themselves, decided to try these chewables, and all ended up spitting them out because of how foul they were!
Getting a child like Zada to eat, let alone drink anything she doesn't want to is, let's just say - interesting! To say the least! When I was told that she was going to have to drink a dose of charcoal, I laughed! Told them to have fun! I couldn't even get her to drink chocolate milk, unless she was in the mood! Enter large tube and syringe! She didn't like it. Tried to grit her teeth so they couldn't get it into her. They won that battle! And what a battle it was!
We had to wait a required 2 hours for the activated charcoal to do it's thing and made a trip to x-ray to make sure that it was doing what it was supposed to. Had it not, she would have been transferred to the Childrens Hospital at MCG. Luckily...and she is lucky!...everything worked out well. We were home by 2am, clothing laced in charcoal in a sack, and child scrub gown on her.
That next morning, I demanded an appointment with the pediatrician. A different one, one that we were not assigned to. She was very helpful, and very much in agreement that she needed a Pediatric Evaluation.
Finally. Someone that believed me and understood my concerns. We were asked to fill out a survey and an appointment was set to meet with the post Developmental Ped. On Thursday March 31st, 2005, Zada was Diagnosed with PDD-NOS and Sensory Integration Disorder. We were told that she is considered classic for Asperger, but the speech issues took her out of that category.
I cried. Finally, after almost 4 1/2 years, we had answers. It was such a relief!
First Post!
I started this blog here to sort of keep track of all the crazy things my daughter Zada does. Got the idea from a fellow blogger, Corrie, at Just Because My Pickle Talks Doesn't Make Me An Idiot!
Thanks Corrie! You are such an inspiration to me!
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