Holidays can kiss my....and other lovely things

  Well we are into the 3rd week of the New Year and I am glad to be starting a new one!  Life for my family has changed so much.  I am trying not to dwell on what used to be and look forward with a fresh attitude.  The holiday season was a huge eye opener.  My lil wonder just does not dig parties, family gatherings, the mall, or any crowded over-stimulating place, at all!  We spent most of season here at the house making crafts and celebrating all while pulling him into the circle of things.  He did well with the tree, decorations and presents but when it came to the big day, he HATED most of it.  I was sad about it and I really thought he would rm up to it, but it was not his thing. 

   I don't know if the break from therapy was good thing or bad.  We took about two full weeks off to just have some time of our own (we have three therapist in-home about 4 days a wk) and while I enjoyed the privacy and letting my house be it was too long for Jojo.  When therapy started back up last week he flipped out the point of no return for over an hour at each visit.  It was like starting all over. the worse part of it is the new behavior Jojo started.  He now hits himself.  He used to just hit us at random, you know the occasional slap to the face or pinch to the arm.  Now, its full on smacking himself repeatedly as fast as he can.  The kid has an arm and is FAST!  I try to intercept and I end up getting smacked.  Its just the worse to see him do it.  I counted over 32 times in one hour.  His ABA lead told me its a sensory input that he is looking for.  It all kinda makes sense, you see he was a Binky baby until about three weeks ago.  He just stopped, I was actually bummed because the Binky was the only way to keep objects out of his mouth (he mouths everything!!) So his ABA lead explained that now his mouth isn't busy with the sucking so he is looking for input in other ways, even if its hitting himself  ):  I tried to distract him, restrain him and even thought "hey maybe if his hands are busy he wont do it" not a great idea...He slammed his cars right into his face. 

    We have also really been struggling to get sleep around here too!  He was having a hard time with seasonal allergies so the meds started.  First Claritin, then Zyrtec, and now Allegra.  We have been doing the Allegra for about 3 wks and it helps but he is not sleeping at all.  We are lucky to get three hours out of him at night.  Nap is about 1.5 hrs on a good day.  I'm so exhausted but I keep telling myself that this is not it, there is a way I just have to balance all this freaking crap out!

   Here is what we are currently doing/working on:

Gluten Free diet
Milk Free diet
Nut Free diet

Sensory diet (this is where you have a set schedule of sensory input/output just like a meal plan)

Speech has been increase to two-hr sessions, he has made little progress.  He is babbling at a 12 mo level(we were at 9mo so a little jump there) His official "word" is MIKEY..this is Jojo's word for MILK.  He does not ask for mikey directly but when you give him milk, he runs around chanting Mikey, Mikey.  I LOVE IT!!!  We have heard the letter sounds: G, F, M, Ah, EE, D

Developmentally we have seen GREAT improvements!!  He points, whoo hoo!!! Just in time for the speech Ipad use,and he has mastered the IPAD like nobodys business, amazes me how he can just get right on it and start his app! He has almost mastered the pincer grasp, he uses it though!  He can hold a spoon/fork and will allow hand over hand use.  He can put 3 out of 5 shapes into a shape sorter, and he has started playing appropriately with some toys (pushing a car, throwing a ball, turning pages on books) I am very proud of everything he does!