Day 35 - Back to Frog School

We started the morning with a decision. We had 4 more days left on our medication trial. I had reduced Frog's dosage back to 5mgs last week to see if having more time to adjust to the way his perceptions changed would make a difference. He continued to cycle between clam/lethargic to sensory overload melt down with prickly feet, large red itchy splotches, lots of tears and the need to go to his room and sleep it off. He also has gone quite manic every day around 4 or 5 pm, running and yelling non-stop. His therapists were very happy with his session yesterday, but still reported red itchy splotches and discomfort. Frog and I have really not had any quality home school time since we started the medication trial. This morning I decided we have had enough. So today was school without meds.

We started the day with Frog choosing pancakes for breakfast. He ate a little bit before we had to leave to take Diva to school. He ate a granola bar in the car. With a little prompting, Frog gave Diva something between a high five and a wave goodbye. At home we finished breakfast then headed downstairs for some Floortime. Frog wanted to climb up the mats against the wall. We turned it into a climbing and sliding game with an anticipatory 1, 2, 3, go! Later he moved to his swing. He let me move my body into the swing and add additional pressure for proprioception. We used the setting for requesting and working on the ee sound - with the choices "eat sweet feet?, squeeze knees?, or kiss please?" There was lots of Frog laughter, twinkling eyes, requests (offering me the body part he wanted pressure on) and ee sounds. We moved on to music and took turns strumming the guitar and singing/vocalizing into the karaoke machine.

Frog decided he would like to take a bath. This fit well into our school day, as stories work best for Frog when he has water to play with. Since today is a very rainy day and there are at least 4 more days of rain forecast, I thought rain would be a good subject. We re-read It's Fall and talked about the changes we've seen outside this week. Then I read Coyote's Rain Song, a Native American story from our ENKI folk and fairy tales. I had the pleasure of taking Diva to see According to Coyote at the Seattle Children's theater.



Gene Tagaban , the gifted story teller, brought Coyote to life for me. At the time, I really wished that Frog had been able to see the show with us - but I knew it was still too much for him. I must admit, I heard Gene's voice and saw Gene's mannerisms in my head while I told the story today. Frog and I both enjoyed it. (side note: If you ever get the opportunity to see According to Coyote performed or to see Gene Tagaban perform or speak - do not miss it!)

After I finally talked Frog out of the tub, we opened up the windows and doors so we could hear the rain. We also listened to the rain pounding on the skylights while I got our art supplies ready. Then went outside in the rain (and got almost as wet as Coyote) to do our art project - rain painting. I put a few drops of food coloring onto white paper plates and we took them outside into the rain. The rain bounced off the food coloring and splashed colors around the plates. Frog did not want to stick around for the "art" but rather ran around and experienced the rain bouncing off of him. He did come back and checkout the finished product.



After the plates dried in a warm oven, we used them for our lunch. Frog actually ate half his lunch today - including some yogurt WITH A SPOON (but only a little - he didn't want more if he couldn't use his fingers).



Frog also has a new box from Grandpa C.



Today, instead of using our composition book, we got out the markers and made lines and scribbles on the box.



We also discovered that when you push the box against the window, the box has a smaller window to look through - another perspective on the yard.



We finished off our school day with some more Floortime, including throwing and catching a ball - to musical rather than verbal cues. It is now 2:30 and Diva will be home soon. Frog is not having a melt-down and does not appear to be heading for a nap any time soon. Since we have had a week of sleep problems, I'm hoping this is another sign that stopping the medication is the right thing to do.

Day Five - GOT TO MOVE

Mondays are Speech Therapy days with our private SLP. Frog was up, active and ready to go today. He was a very happy camper at speech, but really reved up. He and his Therapist worked on body imitation, trying to form their bodies into the poses depicted on simple stick figure drawings. Frog had trouble staying on task and exhibited some delayed processing (forming the previous pose instead of the one they were trying for). Therapist decided to copy Frog instead of having Frog copy her. This held Frog's interest for a longer period of time. I'm going to add follow the leader to our games at home. At the therapy table, Frog did some vocal imitation with physical prompts. He choose to work on writing letters, but had a hard time staying on task and needed to flail his arms about, seek deep pressure from the Therapist and play with her hair. They moved onto a book about ducks. Frog did not stay actively engaged with the story, but he did not resist the story either.

After Speech Therapy we headed for the grocery store. I asked Frog to push the cart, but he indicated that he would prefer to ride. He did a great job during the 30 minutes we were shopping. He got a cookie at the bakery and choose some trail mix for the car. He tried to open the Frenches French Fried Onions, and complained when I said "no" and took them away, but there was no melt-down. We had to wait in line at the checkout stand. This is always the hardest part for Frog. He did great! No fussing, no complaining, no loud outbursts.

We left the store and took a drive to a local beach, listening to some classical music on the way. We spent an hour on the beach where Frog was free to run, climb, and explore.





It is always nice for both of us when we are in an environment where Frog can have some freedom to explore without mom hovering. And we had a nice lesson in natural consequences - walk in the water, wear wet shoes!

We went home to clean-up, put away the groceries, and get some lunch. After lunch we tried a little art. Frog was actually curious about what I was doing with all those bowls out on the patio. He came and explored the paint and water with me for a few minutes.




Our face project today was putting chocolate chip eyes on pumpkin cookies. I took this opportunity to work on Frog's pointing finger. I placed an eye and helped him make a pointer finger to push it into the cookie dough. I had him do 4 cookies (8 eyes). He did the last eye by himself.



We spent the rest of the afternoon in the pool - taking advantage of the sunny weather. He is playing the duck, duck, goose game with three people now. He is very tired this evening.