When the going gets rough, just take off your panties!

We’ve had a couple of busy couple of days around here, and that means a very haphazard schedule, which makes our SPD kiddo all the more sensitive and out of sorts.  Even after a bath tonight (which normally does wonders for calming her down and desensitizing her), she just could not find any panties that were comfortable for bedtime tonight.  She tried on about 7 pair of panties including her old favorite standbys, a couple pair of bike shorts, and even her swimsuit shorts (since she wears those sans panties), but none of them worked. 

Finally, she decided on a nightgown without panties. What are you going to do? In this case, sensory needs far outweigh modesty.  I did remind her that this was only ok because it was bedtime, but that we had to have *something* on over our bottom to go to church tomorrow.  If we don’t make it to church, you’ll know why!

I will say that I am oh-so-proud of her for actually using her WORDS to tell us how she was struggling tonight.  Usually we get a lot of tears, whining, and flailing.  Tonight, she was able to stay in control enough to say “these just don’t feel good” and “those have seams so they bother me”, and finally, “can you give me a massage to keep my legs from hurting tonight so I can sleep?”.   WOW.  I made sure to praise her highly for her awesome communication skills in the middle of such an uncomfortable period for her.

Letter C week

I had more ideas than I had time to implement for this week!  

We studied Christopher Columbus (history), contentment (Bible), the calendar (math).  

In Science, we studied crabs, and did an experiment with celery.  You know the one where you put the celery in a glass of water with food coloring?  Then you get to see the food coloring moving up the stalk as the celery absorbs water.  Never gets old! 

 

We made cookies, chicken pot pie, and ate chocolate!  I altered the pot pie recipe a bit, and made my crust from scratch, but I’ll type that out later.

 

We had our dear friend “Aunt Chelle” over for dinner.  Not just because it was “C” week, but it worked out nicely! 

 

Bug clipped her fingernails for the first time all by herself! (No blood! Yay!)

 

She made a cat craft where the legs and tail were all made out of letter Cs.  I turned her loose with the glue on this one, and let’s just say that it’s a good thing that stuff comes cheap! Ha Ha!

 

 

She also decorated a letter C with cereal.  I was so proud when she said “Look Mommy! I made patterns!”. 

 

For sensory development, we played with clothespins, played catch with a ball, and made sensory balloons (I guess I should have done those on B week!)). 

I made 2 sets of sensory balloons filled with popcorn kernels, salt, birdseed, oatmeal, pinto beans, and lentils.   The idea was for Bug to simply feel the balloons and match one from the pink group to the same one from the orange group.  She amazed me by completing this in record time!  I don’t know why I was surprised.  This is the girl that notices every little detail, and can tell if there is a single stitch out of place inside her shoe.  Later, she used the balloons and an empty laundry basket to make a tossing game in the hall.  That was a little trickier, as motor skills were involved.  Great practice though!

 

 

Other snacks included crackers, cheese, oranges (citrus), & more chocolate!  Also pictured is the sewing card I made for the week.

 

 

I also bought a new set of cookie cutters!  101 of them, to be exact! They were at Walmart for only $10, and I’ve been eyeing them for a while.  If you follow that link, those are the same cutters, but my box did not have a see-through window, and I paid $10, not $14.99!

I have to say, I was super impressed with this set! I fully expected them to be teeny tiny cutters for the price, but I was surprised to see how large they were.  I wanted a set of alphabet cutters, so I was willing to deal with them being on the small side, but they are actually a good size.  Some of the cutters, like the gingerbread people and the pumpkin, are 4-5 inches.  There are several sizes of hearts and circles, and a great variety of other items.  I LOVE it!! Bug had a great time spreading them all out on the floor and playing too.

Best toy EVER!

I don’t know what took us so long to get this.  We should have had this 2 years ago!  We recently bought Bug an exercise trampoline, and it is the best thing we have ever given her! 
Bug is extremely high energy, and she is a sensory seeker! That just means she is always on the go – moving, touching, bouncing, taking it all in!  Sometimes it is hard to adequately meet those needs inside our home, and we just can’t always go outside and swing, to the park, or the pool. 
Now we have a perfect indoor tool to help meet her needs!  She uses it first thing in the morning, off and on all day long, and before bed.  Anytime she feels she has extra energy she needs to “get out”.   For many kids, this might wind them up too much at bedtime, but for Bug, it actually helps to get out some of the extra energy so she can settle down and relax. 
Who knows, maybe she will even give Mommy a few minutes to get some exercise on it!   R is enjoying it too!  Just watch my handsome hubby!  He is the most amazing dad ever!