Enjoying the Calm

The past two days have been relatively calm. I really appreciate when that happens. Both mornings had one incident in them where J got mouthy or argumentative & was disciplined for it. This morning he was actually sent to his room for some time out time. I don't send him to his room as a punishment. Rather, I let him know that is a place for him to relax and calm down. Once he is calm & realizes what he has done, he is able to rejoin the activities upstairs. If the incident was very severe, he is not allowed to come back up until I tell him he can. There have been times in the past where the calm-down time in his room was not so calm. We have a few small holes in the walls to prove it. Thankfully, that has gotten better.
Today was spent going to the dr for his weekly treatment for the warts on his fingers and foot, and to Pocatello for another appointment. His regular dr. has been treating the warts on his thumb on a monthly basis since December and they kept coming back. He finally referred us to the dermatologist (who actually lives in our ward). I think we may be starting to see some progress. These warts were on his thumb that he use to suck. I thought they were calluses, but when the first dr saw them he identified them, then explained how lucky we were that they did not transfer to J's mouth. He has had to send a child or two to Primary Children's to have the warts lazered out of their throats. That was exactly what J needed to hear to cure the thumb sucking! We do feel blessed, tho, that no warts were transferred to the mouth!
After our visit to Dr. Wray, we grabbed some lunch at Taco Bell. J's favorite is the Crunch Wrap Supreme. My favorite is Chicken Chalupa Supreme. I got two of those because I knew exactly what was coming. He wanted to taste mine. Once he did it was a hard decision of whether or not to trade half of his crunch wrap for my second chalupa. That happens a lot. He also downs his drink extra fast, then thinks he can drink mine. We are working on that. What's his is his and what's mine is mine, unless each offers some to the other.
As we ate lunch, we were rushing home to get something for someone who would be stopping over later while we were gone. I placed it by the door, ran back out to the car, and away to Pocatello we drove, for our Developmental Disabilities Services Reassessment appointment. (Say that fast several times). J went with an HS worker out in the community while I sat in the appointment going over his plan from last year and helping to make a new one for the coming year. That took just over two hours. Now that I know more of what to expect, we were able to tweak certain things so we can, hopefully, see more progress thru out the coming year. We have met some great people who come into our home and help J with various things to encourage growth and progress in his development. That meeting took up the better part of our afternoon. By the time we got home, I was beat. Thankfully, (this time) John had a dinner appointment so I got by with just fixing Macaroni & Cheese with hot dogs for supper. I try really hard not to fix boxed stuff, or prepackaged food, too often. I have found that the extra preservatives they put in the food to make the shelf life last longer, affects J in a negative way. He seems more agitated and uptight when given a lot of processed foods. I have always loved canning and preserving our food, but even more so now, and have learned to put up all sorts of new things. I have expanded my horizons greatly in that area.
Red Dye is another one that I have noticed has an adverse effect on J. Do you know how many drinks and foods have that in them? Doritos are one, and many sports drinks and soda pops. Of course, those are not very good for anyone because of the amount of sugar in them, but J still likes them for treats. It's a constant for me to stay on my toes and watch that stuff.
Wanna know what is a great sensory activity that calms my boy down A LOT? Playing in the mud. Occasionally I will posts pictures on Facebook of him playing in the mud. He has his own designated mud hole out in the garden area. That is his spot. And it is an All or Nothing kind of activity for him. I mean, in the hair, in the ears, all over the entire body kind of activity. The clean up isn't always pleasant. There are rules he must go by in order to retain this privilege. He is only allowed to play in his underwear. More than one set of clothes have been ruined. Underwear is cheaper to buy than shirts, shorts AND underwear. And when he is done he must shower off with the sprinkler before being allowed in the house to the main shower. Nearly all traces of mud must be removed, and he cannot get water or mud on me in the process. That is a challenge, because the water gets quite cold coming out of the well, so that has a tendency to overstimulate him. However, I observed last week that he was much much calmer the remainder of the week, after getting to play in the mud just twice. I think it is worth it to me. Now if we can just get him an above ground swimming pool, I think my sanity my be preserved for the summer. lol