Shaking up the daily routine and other experiments

We are embarking on a little experiment inspired by something Sofie's Speech Therapist said. We were playing with a little fishbowl with stuffed fish Sofie had to pull out with Velcro fishing pole. The therapist said she was gently holding onto Sofie's hand "to break the cycle" of putting the fishing pole in her mouth after each time she pulled a fish off of it. The therapist said that it is easy to get into a routine and that Sofie's mouthing of objects can easily become just part of how she does stuff. That observation got me thinking about Sofie's casual rituals. She is not one to obsess about doing a particular act but there are certain activities that work their way into her daily routine. One activity that is proving to be hazardous is Sofie's cha-cha tip-toe move when she gets excited. I have believed for a very long time that Sofie's tip-toe move occurs when she is really happy and is connected to her challenges expressing excitement in a more traditional way (squealing, dancing, etc.). I think Sofie's challenges with expressive language have created unique ways of communicating passionate emotions. When Sofie is VERY angry she scratches the ground or her legs with a very angry grimace. She sometimes squeezes her hands and shakes with toddler-tantrum-rage when she is mad.

As I mentioned earlier, it is Sofie's fits of happiness that are the problem. The other day Sofie got so excited watching a TV show that she did her cha-cha move so fast that she got tangled in her feet and hit her cheek on the entertainment center. Luckily she barely had a scratch but the incident made me wonder how we can curb the cha-cha-ing. I think I am going to try to use the therapist's advice about breaking cycles with Sofie's risque dance moves. So the experiment begins...

Ozzy and I are going to try to gently intervene as much as possible when Sofie is cha-cha-ing. We started delicately running our hands down Sofie's calves to her feet and saying "feet down." Amazingly enough, Sofie puts her feet down when you do this. And she keeps her feet down when you keep your hands on top of them. And even when you pull your hands away, her feet stay planted for a little bit. She returns to cha-cha-ing only when she can't contain her excitement any longer. I am hoping that through some gentle intervention we can help train her brain to express her joy with her mouth. Of course, she is yelling and babbling more these days (thank God) but I am hoping this will help bring things to the next level and perhaps save her from a few bumps and bruises too. The Speech Therapist said Sofie's wonderful progress forces us to up our game and expect more from her. The curse of having such a smart girl :).

Along with working on Sofie's cha-cha-ing I am trying to push sign language more for the same reasons-Sofie's amazing brain. She caught on to saying 'please' after only a week of working on it. I want to introduce the sign "angry" for when Sofie is very upset. MAYBE she will be less destructive if she can say how she is feeling. Who knows, right? Worth a shot. Regardless, we just have to keep building Sofie's vocabulary. Sofie has a pretty natural way with sign language. We are so amazed by her intelligence. What an amazing girl.   

The Adventures of Bubu the Window Licker

Sofie is keeping us running around 12+ hours a day, so we thought we would return the favor and let her run off some energy at the gym. On Saturday we took her to the Little Gym for a class. We had so much fun. She did great. She handled it so much better than our last attempt in November. She seemed more comfortable in her skin. I really think the diet is helping calm her a bit. What is funny is that calming Sofie means helping her run MORE and yell MORE. There was so much congestion in that brilliant brain; I think the diet and therapy techniques are helping clear the fog more and more-every day. Ozzy and I were so happy to see Sofie running around the gym squealing. There were so many kids and Sofie didn't check out. She stayed in the moment. The first 20 minutes of class she was very present and seemed to be loving every second of it. And after the first 20 minutes, those shiny windows were calling to our little mischievous Bubu.

We could tell the chaos of a dozen children running around was getting to her. She was munching and sucking on her fingers, pulling on her ears, and licking the windows. These things she does are so intimate. The cute little blond girl having a tantrum next to us was getting way more attention than our sweet little window licker. Sofie's unique ways of coping are executed with a coolness that her parents certainly never came close to having. I hope she does these things in such a cool manner because she is so comfortable with herself. I never want to think she does it in such a quiet manner because she is trying to hide it. I really believe that little girl KNOWS who she is. She will have such a unique voice- she already does without saying a word. At the end of class, the teacher blew dozens of bubbles and all the other kids were waving their arms in excitement trying to pop as many as their little arms could. And in the middle of that storm of cute little arms was Sofie quietly walking with a smile on her face intently looking at all the bubbles and selecting bubbles one at a time to pop. How did we get so lucky to have such a sweet girl?

On the topic of sweetness, I need to share a story from gym class. Sofie was trying to lick one of the windows AGAIN and Ozzy gently picked her up and said "I know Sweetie, those windows are nice and cold but they aren't ours-so we can't lick them." He said it so naturally. It was the highlight of my weekend. We are doing great and as long as we remember to "live, love and repeat" we are going to grow stronger each day (even on the crappy days).

Love to all of our family and friends, we are the luckiest family in the world.

Bubu Bounces!

This is actually Sofie relaxing a bit before bed. Jumping calms her a lot. We have read that kids on the spectrum are often calmed by jumping. This makes sense because Sofie will jump for twenty minutes or so before she falls asleep in her crib. We decided to give her a head start on this particular night.