Sensory Processing Disorder. What the?!

Earlier this year, our daughter was diagnosed as having a Sensory Processing Disorder. So we have been throwing ourselves into the world of Sensory Integration. I had no idea what any of this was. Not a clue. Slowly we have been mucking through various books, websites, thoughts, and everything in between to find out what we can about this so that we can help our Noodle to live a less frustrating life.

Her life is very frustrating for her since she cannot get enough sensory input to meet her needs. She has a Sensory Modulation Disorder with a sub-type of Sensory Seeking. Basically, her body's systems are not reading the sensory input that she receives so she craves more in order to satisfy those systems. So talking ends up being shouting as she tries to give her auditory system more input and she is constantly talking, singing or making noises. (We have not known silence in our house in at least 2 years now!) She has an uncontrollable urge to touch everything she encounters to add that extra sensory input about the item to her system. She still tends to put things in her mouth even at 5 years old.

At the same time, some of her systems get a bit overloaded and it causes a complete and utter catastrophic meltdown/freak out. This is mostly an auditory issue for her. So you can no longer make loud or unexpected noises in the house or it sets her off. She usually handles it okay if she has a warning and can leave the room first. Makes using a public restroom with the automatic flushing toilets a bit awkward since she is trying to race out of the stall and pull her pants up at the same time :) Lily has gotten very good at getting across the stall with her pants around her ankles before the toilet flush hits its peak!

We are not sure really where to go with this one. I have signed up for the Sensational Brain website and we are going to start using the recommendations from there for some occupational therapy for her at home next month (after we have finished moving). We will give her a few months to calm down from all the moving and schedule changing (preschool is over next month too!) and see how she is doing then.

Where I've Been

Phew! 2011 was a busy year! Of course, you have no idea what I was up to since I didn't blog about anything :) Oh my! Here is a quick recap:

• Charles got hired by the company he was contracted to work with. He is almost working his dream job. He's working on getting them to do more 3-D animation.
• We moved into a townhouse from our apartment.
• Major flooding in North Dakota. We had no problems from the flood, but my sister in Minot did. Britt and Chad are real troopers!!!
• We had water problems in the basement of our townhouse from all of the groundwater. There was mold and mushrooms and a lot of yuckiness.
• Lily (Noodle) started preschool! When did she get so old?!
• I quit my job to be a stay-at-home mom. We felt Lily needed more of her parents than both of us working full-time allowed for.
• Ethan (little guy) arrived on his own before my due date. He is almost the total opposite of Lily.
• I finished my Associate of Science degree. Finally!
• We found out that Lily has a sensory processing disorder. We start occupational therapy later this month.

2012 is going to be a busy and quick year also! Lily is going to start kindergarten in the fall. (I am totally terrified!) Ethan will probably still be laid-back like he is now; he might learn how to be louder than his sister :)

Right now, our main goal is to try and be the best parents that we can. We have started using the Nurtured Heart approach and it has worked wonders on the defiance and general misbehaving! It has also improved her focus and listening. We will be starting occupational therapy later this month which should help with the sensory issues she is having. I will post more about her issues later. I see the little guy stirring across the room, so it must be time to eat!

Mommy, can we make a cake?

Well, of course we can! But, I'm not much in a mood to make a cake, so let's make a quick one. Boy, do I love it when Lily asks to bake. At 3 ½, she's already found her inner Betty Crocker. She even insisted we both wear our aprons. Don't worry. I've also taught her the most important part of baking. Licking the spatula ^_^

So we mixed and stirred and whisked and poured. And then we licked. Of course, we made a mess! But then, we had cake.

the *best* banana bread ever!

Lily and I baked banana bread tonight. Yum! She, of course, wanted to lick the beaters immediately after I got them out of the drawer.  I have taught her well! ^_^   We adapted a recipe we found over at Food Network from the Two Hot Tamales (if you don't know who they are, then you have not watched enough food tv!).  Here's the link: Banana Bread at Food Network.No pictures except from the other website since the camera is in need of batteries again.  Darn Lily! 

We made two smaller loaves so that I could pop one in the freezer for later.  Here is our yummy goodness:

Photos by Lily

Today, I present to you: Photos by Lily.  Lily spent a couple days using the camera to take some photos and here they are! 

A few random things from around the house.

Mom and Dad: From my Perspective

Photo by Lily

One of Lily's many photos from on the way to the park. She was really working angles on this one!

i'm a bad blogger

i know.  i'm bad at blogging.  i like never do it.  so sad.  i try.....

well, here's a good story from the other day.  the Noodle has decided she is the litter police.  we were going to daycare and there was a plastic lid on the ground. you know, the kind from a gas station cup of coffee.

coffee is happy!

Noodle's day full of firsts

well today was a big day for my littleNoodle.  who is now a whopping 3!!!  we went to scheels to buy her daddy a father's day gift.  i had no idea they had an actual ferris wheel in that place.  well, somebody just so happens to just squeak in under the 36" height requirement, so of course, we had to ride the damn thing.  i hate the ferris wheel.  it scares me.  i am totally afraid i will fall out. it's never happened to me nor have i seen it happen, i just think it will.  anyway,  after our shopping, we did ride the ferris wheel and the Noodle had the time of her life on that thing!  she is soooo excited that she gets to ride it again tomorrow with her daddy! (we just got him a gift card so he could go buy the frisbee golf discs that he wants)


another first for her, riding an escalator! we went up and down today at scheels.  she did excellent.  probably did better than i did on my first ride :-)  we had a little trouble going down, she ended up on two steps and got a little scared for a second, but made a quick recovery in trueNoodle fashion!

she also experienced a good thunderstorm while she was awake.  i think she has slept through like all of the thunderstorms ever.  i might also mention that she was born during a storm.... i digress.  she decided this morning while her and i were laying in bed (i'm gonna miss that when i start working again :( that she is afraid of thunder.  so to combat this fear, she gets out of bed and ROARS out the window at the thunderstorm.  what a crazy kid!  so she roared all morning at the thing until it left.  i think she even thinks she made it leave.  oh to be 3 again!

life in the big city.........Bismarck

So we are moved to Bismarck. The house is nice and it has an awesome backyard with a deck! Britty did a good job scouting for us :) And apparently we are hosting her graduation party in May! The cat is still naughty as ever. The Noodle is still naughty as ever. Not much has changed :) I am not working yet, but am working on school fulltime and my etsy shop. I will have a spring inspired line of hotpads and dishcloths debuting in march. So much easier to crochet when I have easy access to loads of places to buy yarn!!