"Weird"

LMNOB has been increasingly more resistant to working with the sensory diet in the last month.

At the first part of July, BT the OT (who, btw, is AWESOME, in case I haven't already said so - LOVE her!) sent us home with a weighted vest for a trial period. LMNOB liked it so well that she would put it on in the morning and wear it nearly all day, come home and be so organized and integrated that she didn't feel like she needed a sensory activity. And, because her behavior was "on" we agreed.

Last week, we gave the vest back to BT the OT - and noticed that LMNOB was still hesitant to perform her sensory activities. Suddenly, the heavy ball "didn't feel so good," and the trampoline was "too hard." Moreover, the nighttime regulation and morning routines were more like the battles royales that they had been before.

Today, having veered off the sensory diet for some time and seeing differences that I'd rather not, I was firm about doing sensory activities. This morning, we did wheelbarrow walking and blanket roll-ups before getting ready for daycare. Tonight, LMNOB was OFFoffofff. No listening what.so.ever, deliberate misbehavior, and tantrums at the drop of the hat. She lost computer privileges as a result, and when I informed her as such, all hell began to familiarly break loose. It'd been quite some time since our last super fit, and while this one was no where near the duration of past fits, it was still that freaking intense mode that gets me lathered every single time.

I told her to get dressed after the bath, and you'd have thought I'd told her to go jump in an acid bath at the scope of her distress. I ordered her to get dressed and that I would be up with the yoga mat and the heavy ball, to which she went into a sobbing song and dance about how this was "too hard," and then she said what she'd been hinting at for weeks.

"I don't like doing sensory things because they're WEIRD!"

Wait a minute...stop the presses....

LMNOB, what do you mean?

"No one else does it, mama. I mean, sometimes at daycare the kids do sensory things with me, but at school and stuff - no one else does it! And, besides, it makes me feel WEIRD"

She complained about the heavy ball and how it didn't feel good anymore, how it wasn't the right feeling. And, pant, pant - because she was completely riled up, NOTHING WOULD EVER FEEL RIGHT!

I began to doubt. I recalled the joker who recently debated Lucy Miller. I wondered if we were chasing the wrong monkey. Did LMNOB fit in the SID (SPD) box, or did we customize the box to fit her??

But then, I remembered. I remembered the unspoken things she told me in June. I remembered BT the OT's recent warnings that this very thing would eventually happen.

No...this is it. She is just extremely smart and sensitive to all things emotional, and why would she not use this, seemingly to her advantage in her mind? After all, if she could convince me that she was ok, then we wouldn't insist upon sensory activities, right?

Well, no, LMNOB - Mama's smart and sensitive too.

So I turned on some classical music. Told her to just lay down and calm thyself. I pulled out her surgical brush and rubbed her body with the spongey side, per her preference. I then got lotion and rubbed all over her body, followed by mild joint compressions.

The result was a mild, more organized LMNOB. We read a book, put her to bed, with her rice bag/lap pad over her.

I wish that were the end of story, but it wasn't. Charlie Brown had to intervene in the fits of "I want my Mommy" that ensued, finally getting her to bed, two tries later.

It's always something....