Well, we’ve dodged another bullet. That’s how I think of a situation that happily goes better than I anticipated with my son . When you a “differently” abled child (I like that term) some of the everyday mundane chores and happenings can be anything but ordinary. Take a doctor’s visit. My daughter loves going to the doctor. Sadly for her, she is never sick and other than yearly check ups and vaccination appointments she has only had 2 sick child visits since she became ours at age 11 months. Once for croup and once for the ever so lovely coxsackie virus otherwise know as Foot and Mouth disease. Both, by the time I decided to take her to the doctor, had almost run their course and were practically gone the day after our visit. The visit where she finally got to pee in a cup was very exciting for her. My excitement came later that day at home when she proudly brought me her juice cup filled to the rim with warm, well you know what… then I had to convince her that ONLY at the doctor’s office do we pee in a cup.
My son’s story is somewhat similar, with a few exceptions. We had him circumcised about 6 weeks after arriving home. For initially personal reasons that turned into medical when it was discovered he was already beginning to have some adhesions. This is a HOT!HOT! topic on parent boards these days. My advice- Decide for yourself then keep your decision to yourself and avoid the ruckus. Then about 6 months later he had tubes put in his ears for multiple ear infections. That was done when he was 18 months old. He is almost 8 years old now and has never had a sick child visit since. Even though he only goes once a year, he HATES everything about the doctor’s office. Even weighing and measuring his height is terrifying for him. I am continually thanking God for my son’s great health because once a year is about all he and I can take. He also has a nose like a blood hound and can smell medicine at 50 paces away. No matter what it was ever hidden in, he has a 6th sense about it. The few fever viruses he has had, our choice has been to just let nature take its course. Which by the way is why he rarely ever gets sick my pediatrician tells us .Our lack of being able to medicate him has built up a very strong immune system. Twice we have had to resort to Tylenol Suppositories, delicately and quickly given when he was asleep. I have found I had a special talent for that.
My daughter also loves the dentist . When she was 2 she had to have a molar crowned because of a prenatal soft spot on the enamel. She calls this her princess tooth. and is disappointed in a strange sort of way that she has only ever had to have them cleaned since then. She’s weird that way.
Riley has always had good teeth despite his precarious beginnings and his aversion to brushing due to sensory issues. I feel guilty when every 6 months our dentist tells him great job on the brushing. He tolerates his visits pretty good , but only because
1) He has been going since he was 2
2) He has great teeth and only has ever had to have them cleaned
3) Our pediadontist’s office is like Disney Land
4) My best friend ,since 6th grade, is a Dental Hygienist there and he has known her almost all his life.
At 7 ½ he has not lost a baby tooth yet, not even a loose one. I was beginning to wonder did he even have permanent teeth lurking in those gums. Then last Saturday at a local burger joint , he and I was in the bathroom. He was sitting to pee (This is the only way he will pee) and jabbering away when I noticed something white behind his bottom middle baby teeth. Maybe a French Fry? On close inspection, I saw it was a tooth coming in. Mild Panic starts bubbling up. The next day I look again, now there are two teeth showing. Medium Panic. I call my friend to come over and take a look. She does and proclaims “Yep, two teeth and the baby ones aren’t loose. They will probably have to take Riley to the Children’s Hospital Outpatient Surgery Center and extract those 4 baby teeth all at the same time. LARGE PANIC.
I make an appointment for him to go to the office and have a set of mouth x-rays. Something we have never done because he would be very hard to hold still for, be somewhat traumatizing and our dentist said no need to do one yet. YET.
Yet just ended.
So I get a few days to drive my self bonkers thinking about getting the x-ray and my baby having oral surgery. Having to do things just a little differently is part of having an out of sync child. Plan B comes into play often. Just a matter of fact and a fact of life.
Long story short. He sat in my lap, did great for the x-rays and TADA! The roots on his baby teeth are mostly gone so they will fall out naturally. No surgery and no trauma, this time around. Just when I think I have him figured out , he ups and surprises me.
Now why in the world he likes the dentist and hates the doctor , I may never know.
So goes life with my son. It is never dull and always unpredictable and I have learned to appreciate and love that part of my life.
He has taught me the life lesson about taking nothing for granted.
Haircuts-He hated and they freaked him out. It took three sweating adults to hold him still while he screamed and squirmed. She always earned a big tip. All of a sudden at age 4 ½, he climbed into the chair , sat quietly like he had done that every time.. Now he tells me when he needs one .So now a haircut trip has much more meaning to us than just the cutting of hair. It is a milestone he reached.
Disney- Most people I talked to had never considered taking their PDD or SID or spectrum disorder child to Walt Disney World.
Too much stimuli, too much noise, too many people, too much waiting in line.
The people dressed up as characters were too intimidating, too friendly and too scary.
Rides were just too much of everything.
We listened, we read. Our son did not like any of those things they mentioned.
We booked our trip.
We went.
Plenty of Plans A,B,C and D’s in place.
He loved everything about it.
He loved the noise, the fireworks, the people.
He stood patiently in line.
He hugged, almost on the verge of molesting every character that came anywhere near him.
He rode every ride he was tall enough for. He thought the Haunted House was hilarious and was mesmerized by the 3D movies.
And he talked. To us, other children, adult strangers.
He laughed and had not a single melt down.
For that glorious week he was a regular, normal, having the time of his life kid.
It was also a turning point for him in speech and socialization once we got home.
He truly did have something magical happen to him.
A little Pixie Dust was sprinkled on him somewhere in the Magic Kingdom.
And MGM. And Animal Kingdom. And Epcot. And Sea World.
We started planning our next trip the moment we got home.
Jan.13, 2007 we embark on our next Magical Journey to WDW.
I think that is what life with my son is. My daughter also.
A Magical Journey.
Like Magic , you never know when it will happen.
Like Magic, you can’t predict it’s outcome.
Like Magic, you never know where it will take you.
And sometimes there is no magic.
Sometimes he is scared, confused, inconsolable and difficult.
You make it through those times the best you can and luckily they don’t last near as long as you think they will.
But oh! the magic. When it strikes it is a sight to see.
Something worth waiting for.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Had we not taken the chance, we would have never known. I owe it to my son to let him experience the world.
The Bad-Doctors, dentists, haircuts.
The Good- Birthday parties, a regular class at school and
Disney World.
And in good time, the tooth fairy.
I hope she looks like Tinkerbelle.
I know she will leave him a nice present for his tooth.
More Pixie Dust.
As for his sister, she is getting to spend her birthday having dinner with Cinderella and Prince Charming.
In our house, there is always enough magic to go around for everyone.
My son’s story is somewhat similar, with a few exceptions. We had him circumcised about 6 weeks after arriving home. For initially personal reasons that turned into medical when it was discovered he was already beginning to have some adhesions. This is a HOT!HOT! topic on parent boards these days. My advice- Decide for yourself then keep your decision to yourself and avoid the ruckus. Then about 6 months later he had tubes put in his ears for multiple ear infections. That was done when he was 18 months old. He is almost 8 years old now and has never had a sick child visit since. Even though he only goes once a year, he HATES everything about the doctor’s office. Even weighing and measuring his height is terrifying for him. I am continually thanking God for my son’s great health because once a year is about all he and I can take. He also has a nose like a blood hound and can smell medicine at 50 paces away. No matter what it was ever hidden in, he has a 6th sense about it. The few fever viruses he has had, our choice has been to just let nature take its course. Which by the way is why he rarely ever gets sick my pediatrician tells us .Our lack of being able to medicate him has built up a very strong immune system. Twice we have had to resort to Tylenol Suppositories, delicately and quickly given when he was asleep. I have found I had a special talent for that.
My daughter also loves the dentist . When she was 2 she had to have a molar crowned because of a prenatal soft spot on the enamel. She calls this her princess tooth. and is disappointed in a strange sort of way that she has only ever had to have them cleaned since then. She’s weird that way.
Riley has always had good teeth despite his precarious beginnings and his aversion to brushing due to sensory issues. I feel guilty when every 6 months our dentist tells him great job on the brushing. He tolerates his visits pretty good , but only because
1) He has been going since he was 2
2) He has great teeth and only has ever had to have them cleaned
3) Our pediadontist’s office is like Disney Land
4) My best friend ,since 6th grade, is a Dental Hygienist there and he has known her almost all his life.
At 7 ½ he has not lost a baby tooth yet, not even a loose one. I was beginning to wonder did he even have permanent teeth lurking in those gums. Then last Saturday at a local burger joint , he and I was in the bathroom. He was sitting to pee (This is the only way he will pee) and jabbering away when I noticed something white behind his bottom middle baby teeth. Maybe a French Fry? On close inspection, I saw it was a tooth coming in. Mild Panic starts bubbling up. The next day I look again, now there are two teeth showing. Medium Panic. I call my friend to come over and take a look. She does and proclaims “Yep, two teeth and the baby ones aren’t loose. They will probably have to take Riley to the Children’s Hospital Outpatient Surgery Center and extract those 4 baby teeth all at the same time. LARGE PANIC.
I make an appointment for him to go to the office and have a set of mouth x-rays. Something we have never done because he would be very hard to hold still for, be somewhat traumatizing and our dentist said no need to do one yet. YET.
Yet just ended.
So I get a few days to drive my self bonkers thinking about getting the x-ray and my baby having oral surgery. Having to do things just a little differently is part of having an out of sync child. Plan B comes into play often. Just a matter of fact and a fact of life.
Long story short. He sat in my lap, did great for the x-rays and TADA! The roots on his baby teeth are mostly gone so they will fall out naturally. No surgery and no trauma, this time around. Just when I think I have him figured out , he ups and surprises me.
Now why in the world he likes the dentist and hates the doctor , I may never know.
So goes life with my son. It is never dull and always unpredictable and I have learned to appreciate and love that part of my life.
He has taught me the life lesson about taking nothing for granted.
Haircuts-He hated and they freaked him out. It took three sweating adults to hold him still while he screamed and squirmed. She always earned a big tip. All of a sudden at age 4 ½, he climbed into the chair , sat quietly like he had done that every time.. Now he tells me when he needs one .So now a haircut trip has much more meaning to us than just the cutting of hair. It is a milestone he reached.
Disney- Most people I talked to had never considered taking their PDD or SID or spectrum disorder child to Walt Disney World.
Too much stimuli, too much noise, too many people, too much waiting in line.
The people dressed up as characters were too intimidating, too friendly and too scary.
Rides were just too much of everything.
We listened, we read. Our son did not like any of those things they mentioned.
We booked our trip.
We went.
Plenty of Plans A,B,C and D’s in place.
He loved everything about it.
He loved the noise, the fireworks, the people.
He stood patiently in line.
He hugged, almost on the verge of molesting every character that came anywhere near him.
He rode every ride he was tall enough for. He thought the Haunted House was hilarious and was mesmerized by the 3D movies.
And he talked. To us, other children, adult strangers.
He laughed and had not a single melt down.
For that glorious week he was a regular, normal, having the time of his life kid.
It was also a turning point for him in speech and socialization once we got home.
He truly did have something magical happen to him.
A little Pixie Dust was sprinkled on him somewhere in the Magic Kingdom.
And MGM. And Animal Kingdom. And Epcot. And Sea World.
We started planning our next trip the moment we got home.
Jan.13, 2007 we embark on our next Magical Journey to WDW.
I think that is what life with my son is. My daughter also.
A Magical Journey.
Like Magic , you never know when it will happen.
Like Magic, you can’t predict it’s outcome.
Like Magic, you never know where it will take you.
And sometimes there is no magic.
Sometimes he is scared, confused, inconsolable and difficult.
You make it through those times the best you can and luckily they don’t last near as long as you think they will.
But oh! the magic. When it strikes it is a sight to see.
Something worth waiting for.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Had we not taken the chance, we would have never known. I owe it to my son to let him experience the world.
The Bad-Doctors, dentists, haircuts.
The Good- Birthday parties, a regular class at school and
Disney World.
And in good time, the tooth fairy.
I hope she looks like Tinkerbelle.
I know she will leave him a nice present for his tooth.
More Pixie Dust.
As for his sister, she is getting to spend her birthday having dinner with Cinderella and Prince Charming.
In our house, there is always enough magic to go around for everyone.
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