Friday, August 29, 2014

Judah's First Good Haircut Experience

So today wasn't AS exciting for Judah, but still, his major progress was by no means out the door. He was still repeating, responding, even being funny with what he was saying!

Judah got a hair cut today. I held my breath as we walked into the salon. I knew the lady who was about to cut his hair - very young, fun, energetic & knew autism. Her brother is 17 and autistic. I had learned this when she cut my hair. She had told me that she would like to try giving Judah a hair cut. His hair was pretty out of control at this point, tangled even. The last time he went for a hair cut Scott said he didn't even make it to the chair. Today he climbed up in the chair & got comfortable!! I handed him the I-Pad, he went through the pages of apps until he found "Angry Birds GO!" (he can say "I want Angry Birds Go" now by the way). He played it through his entire haircut, as clumps of his curls landed on the I-Pad. I blew them away. I had told her to cut it as short as possible (because haircuts have never been a good experience for him and I wanted him to have as long as possible between haircuts). Boy did she take my instructions literally! She asked if she could use the buzzer. I told her it was a bad idea. She convinced me telling me how quiet it was and showing Judah. I said, "Well maybe you can try it at the end." So she chopped off a bunch of his hair, but it was still quite shaggy on top. She got out the buzzer & started on the back of his neck. I wondered why she wasn't waiting until she was done with the haircut. Then suddenly I saw that the buzzer was moving from the back of his neck up the back of his head! The buzzer ended this travel at the hairline on his forehead!! I was seriously worried that she was about to bald my son! But she didn't. His hair is about half an inch long now, all around. He looks very baby like, very young. He looks much different & very adorable, like always. When he looked in the mirror and saw that he had no hair left he giggled! He thought it was funny! He thought it was funny when I chopped my hair off too. I was so relieved he wasn't upset. But he doesn't like it when you pet his head - which is so tempting!!

Our aide was with us at the salon. Apparently Willow & Sebastian were running in circles. I could hear Willow saying, "My pants are falling down! My pants are falling down!" Then she would walk in to see me, her shorts around her ankles. "Mom! My pants fell down!" She started calling me "Mom" today. I like it!!

Anyway, Judah did PHENOMENAL during his haircut. He sat there & played on the I-Pad the entire time. Near the end the falling hairs were beginning to tickle his neck. He didn't like that & tried to brush them away. He didn't like her trying to buzz around his ears.. but she was able to clip the hair by his ears with scissors. It was unreal how much his meltdown haircut behavior had totally flipped. We're talking 180! But it was as to be expected I suppose. He has suddenly burst into so many new levels of progress. Today we hit another altitude, haircuts! And not to downplay the hairdresser, but I don't think he would have had a problem with any other hairdresser. He wasn't even paying attention to her. And she only charged 10 bucks!! Didn't see that one coming!

It's kind of ironic, the lady who gave me my first good haircut was the same lady that Judah had his first good haircut experience with!

Sebastian had sort of a bad day. I caught him rolling Judah's mini-trampoline across the driveway - which ripped up the sides a bit. Man, that made me mad. I took away his outside time for the rest of the day (there were only a few hours of daytime left). He was constantly teasing Willow today, throwing her car seat strap at her while I drove, it didn't matter how many times I told him to stop. At the end of the day, he let me know that he was going to move. He even wrote me a note telling me this - and at the bottom was a drawing of him driving off in a van, with a smile on his face! But apparently he isn't moving until Sunday - because tomorrow is Gramma/Papa day, haha.

Sebastian will officially be a 1st grader on WEDNESDAY!! Oh my goodness. That news is so beyond my scope of belief.

Our friend told Scott today that he is getting rid of his caregiver. This is the same caregiver that we fired recently. Ya know, he said she didn't even use us as a reference! haha. That would have been great though - if our friend had called us to ask about her before he hired her. He would have gotten a very "no holds barred "reference opinion! Oh well, maybe next time. ;) He is contacting the same agency we contacted.

Sebastian's doctor said his eye is healing - we'll just continue with the eye drops through tomorrow and he should be good to go! Willow kept saying "My turn!" as we drove to the doctor. She repeated this all the way through the end of the doctor appointment! As soon as the appointment was over she went to the scale, saying, "My turn!!", sat down on the floor like her brother had & took off her shoes & socks. Sebastian was telling her that she wasn't the one in pain, haha. She stood on the scale. I pretended to weigh her, but it wasn't good enough. She knew what was up. Eventually I had to carry her out of there. Her next doctor appointment will likely involve a shot - that will cure the doctor visit anticipation & excitement for sure! Reality sucks. Speaking of which, we got the ER bill today. Reality suddenly hit an all new sucking high! It sucked us right down a drainpipe into a sewer filled with black water & gigantic RATS about to feast on our bodily organs. Or at least that's what it felt like. That bill should have come with a good, solid punch in the face. Holy crap that was expensive. I think the paper itself weighed 5 pounds!! They sure do charge a lot for taking out a body organ. Actually this was the dr. bill, the bill for the ER is still yet to come!!!!!!!!!!!!

Scott & I were able to do Judah's massage together tonight. That was really nice. Of course I had to give Willow a massage immediately following, haha. Sebastian would have requested one too, but he was too busy making plans to move out.

Judah's folinic acid came today! The postman delivered it right to the door, so there was absolutely no opportunity for it to sit in our mailbox and become even warmer than lukewarm. That time we had no idea it was there & thus may have not gotten to it on the same day it arrived, who knows. So I opened the package the postman gave me, pulled out a room temperature ice pack and a tiny bottle wrapped in foil (it is supposed to be away from light & refrigerated at all times). Yup, warm bottle. I had the aide feel to reassure me that I wasn't crazy. Scott called the dr's office immediately - they were closed. He left a message and tried to call again a couple of times throughout the day. Last time they refused us a refund - this stuff isn't cheap!!! But they did say last time that if it hasn't been more than a day it should be fine. How would we possibly know that?! It looks like it was mailed yesterday.. but when was it actually put in the mail.. man, I was so aggravated when I opened that package. He needs this supplement & we paid extra to have it delivered certified. The other supplement he needs is also in - but I didn't hear the voicemail until after they had closed. We will have to drive to Wilsonville for that one. It's the closest compound pharmacy that can fill this particular supplement. It too must be refrigerated, so at least we will have that guaranteed (by ourselves!) with this one.

Also!!!!!!!! Someone posted a link to this gymnastics place in the autism group I'm a part of. It's in Beaverton (52 min drive). Classes are only during the week. I'm wondering if an aide can take him - they get reimbursed for mileage. If not I would make the drive. The cost to participate is not insane - which you would assume it would be because these places are not common around here. It's especially for kids on the spectrum... educated instructors, small groups.. We have been looking for a gymnastics class for Judah for a LONG time. He needs the physical output - every single therapist he's been to agrees with this or recommends this, his teachers do as well. Being physical & active is a sensory need for him - it makes him feel good. So I'm hoping we can do this class, or at least try it to see how he does.

Prices - 60 min private lessons $150 per month Small groups $115 / month Large groups (6 kids is max) $95/month

here are a couple of links.....

https://www.facebook.com/spectragym/timeline

http://www.gofundme.com/bn8zkw

Judah had no bms.

Judah did not have molasses, oxy-mag, beta, vitamin b-6 powder, coconut butter, eye drops, 2nd bethanecol, Iron up, miralax, fish oil or nebulizer treatment.
 

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