Don't Lick That!

Little Dude has always had massive amounts of energy. Even when I was pregnant ultrasounds were difficult because he would never sit still long enough to get a clear picture.This is just his personality.

From the moment he was mobile he was testing the limits. He started climbing things very early and still climbs anything he can. The other day I walked out of the bathroom and found him standing on the back of his rocking horse reaching on his tiptoes for something on the kitchen counter. If the horse hadn't started to slide on the tile floor causing me to lunge to catch his, I might have stopped to take a picture. This kind of thing is a daily occurrence though, multiple times a day in fact, so I have plenty of pictures. I've developed a calm (exterior) approach when reacting to his dare-devil ways. If I say "no!" too much or too emphatically he tests it further. "Oh mom is excited about something! Let me see how excited I can make her!" So I try with all my might to calmly say "please get down", "please don't touch" (unless he's in danger of course). Sometimes I have to let him touch and let him test though. I have to pick my battles. If I didn't he'd constantly be hearing the word no, and I really do want him to explore and learn his limits. So if he wants to slide a dining chair around the house and use it to climb up and test all the light switches, then go for it Dude. If he can run instead of walk, he does. If he can jump instead of sit, he does. Constant motion.

This is his personality in a picture.

He saw an opportunity and took it. He was half way to the roof before I got to him. This was at 18 months old.

It's only recently that I started noticing some of his behaviors were a little more extreme than others. He would put everything, EVERYTHING, in his mouth. He started licking things too. That might make you giggle a little, but the things I've had to say lately are super strange. "Stop licking the dog gate!" "Stop licking the window!" I tried to remember when Squeaks outgrew the baby-everything-in-the-mouth stage and realized he is way past it. 

In my homeschool preparation reading I've come across sensory activities on many occasions. "Sensory" is a real buzz word in the preschool community these days. Sensory play, sensory development, and sensory disorders. Then one day I came across this article and it ticked a lot of boxes. I believe Little Dude may have a very mild sensory disorder, more specifically he is a sensory seeker. The input he's getting from his surroundings isn't enough for him. He needs more. 

I'm at the very beginning of learning about what this may mean for him, but like I said, I believe he has a very mild case. I've already made a few changes that have been helpful for him.

1. More outdoor time.

Outside play is important for kids anyway but even more so for a sensory seeker. The variety of landscapes, textures, sounds, smells, it just doesn't compare. Since we live in California, heat is generally the main thing that keeps us from being outside. But lately, I've started just opening up the back door and letting him loose anyway. If he looks hot I make him drink water and ask if he wants to come in, but if he's happy I just let him do his thing. As a bonus this has also improved his independent play. Sometimes Squeaks would rather be inside while he's out, so if he wants to play outside he's on his own (well, with me anyway). 

2. Chew-lry

Chewable jewelry. This was a suggestion from a friend whose son has a pretty severe sensory disorder. He also had issues with everything going in his mouth, chewing on weird stuff, licking, etc. This I think is Little Dude's main sensory need. If his paci isn't in his mouth something else is and it drives me crazy. So I went in search of a safe alternative and found this ridiculously cute silicone shark tooth. It's made specifically for toddlers to chew on. Score! And he loves it.

Diggin' on his chewlry while watching a movie.

3. No more artificial food dyes.

This one was easy and something we were actually going to do even if LD hadn't had sensory issues. I've read so much about how artificial dyes affect kids behavior it's crazy. Did you know they're even illegal or at least require a warning label in Europe!? New info to me. About a month ago Little Dude had a particularly rough few days. In addition to his normal bouncing off the walls, he was whiny. Super whiny. Like I was tempted to lock him in a closet just to get away from the whining. Then I came across an article about how artificial food dye is basically poison and has a huge list of side effects. Asthma, sleeplessness, mood changes, it goes on and on. So I went digging through our cabinets in search of food dyes. I found very little because we shop at Trader Joe's for 99% of our groceries and they don't use artificial dyes in their products. But much to my surprise I found red 40 in the children's Tylenol I had been giving him when he was cutting molars. Ugh!! So we stopped using it and the whining subsided. I mean, he is still two years old, so there's still whining, but it improved greatly. No more artificial dyes for us!

4. Probiotics.

This is not new information for anybody. There are endless blog posts and articles about the benefits of probiotics for every aspect of life. Improved sleep, digestion, mood. So I did some research and found a good children's probiotic. This is the kind of thing you really have to stick with to see results. It's not an overnight improvement. LD has been taking them with breakfast for a few weeks now though and I believe I'm beginning to see benefits. He slept through the night five nights in a row! Before this I could count on one hand how many times he had slept through the night since he had been born! Woohoo!

So do you have experience with sensory disorders? How has it affected your daily life and what steps have you taken to overcome it?

New Ways to Follow Along

A few of my links haven't worked in awhile and I'm just now getting around to updating a few details. You may have noticed (if you're OCD like me)  that my domain name finally matches to title of my blog. Yay! The same with my Facebook page, Twitter account, and Pinterest page. But wait! There's more! In addition to those classic social media favorites you can now my blog with Bloglovin AND I have added an Instagram account. If that wasn't enough, you may have noticed a new button on my side bar. I'm an Etsy seller! Homeschool printables and more fun stuff to come. For goodness sake, I'm practically an empire! So pick your favorite platform and keep in touch.

3 Things To Keep After Adopting

 If you've been reading my blog long enough you'll know Halloween is my least favorite holiday. After having kids it has gotten much more fun, but I'm still not a huge fan. This years Halloween was full of good memories though so I'll ignore the ghosts and spiders and focus on my happy kiddos.

Dory, Nemo, and the hungry caterpillar (or if you're using your imagination "Shark bait". wink wink.)

Now that Halloween is over, November begins a period of celebration I can really get behind. Like Easter, I have come to feel that this time of year is a special gift just for our family. For some reason God has decided to group life events in clusters for me and November holds a few that are dear to my heart. It's my mom's birthday month, Thanksgiving, Evelyn's birthday (I have come to a place where I can celebrate her!), and all month long we get to celebrate National Adoption Month!

I'm the kind of person that loves keepsakes. I get sentimental about the littlest things. For example, Josh and I have a shoe box full of little memories from our highschool years. Movie ticket stubs, a deflated balloon from our first Valentines day, a menu Josh made from the first dinner he cooked me. Theses are things I'll never throw away. My keepsake hording only increased once I had kids. Squeaks specifically has childhood memorabilia coming out the wazoo. 

In honor of Nation Adoption Month, I wanted to share a list of keepsakes you might not think of keeping for your adopted child. These are things I am super glad I have for Squeaks and I'm positive she will be thankful I kept them too.

1. Original birth certificate.
This might seem like a no-brainer once you think of it, but a lot of people don't do this. I don't know if this is the case in every state, but in California, once an adoption is finalized, the adoptive parents are put onto a new birth certificate with the childs new name (if they have chosen to change it). Squeaks' birth parents named her a completely different name and I wanted her to have that connection. I wanted her to see their names and the name they had chosen for her. It isn't  a legal document anymore but I have it. You may need to ask for the original like I did. Once it's changed it usually doesn't end up in the final paperwork.

2. Clothes.
Although we did get to go to the hospital and spend time with Squeaks birth family, due to extenuating circumstances she spent her first week out of the hospital with a foster family. We didn't get to put her in her leaving-the-hospital outfit. The whole thing was a hard pill to swallow at the time. But, just like most of our trials, we can look back now and see that God meant it for good. The night Squeaks came home she was dressed in pajamas the foster family had put on her. Pink long pajamas with monkeys all over them. Something I would have never purchased. But after texting some homecoming pictures to Squeaks birth mother, she was thrilled to see that Squeaks was wearing the same pjs her biological older sister had. Those monkey pajamas are now snugly folded into Squeaks keepsake box.

Squeaks in her monkey jammies.

3. Text messages.
I LOVE reading through the text messages from the day of and days after Squeaks was born. God's fingerprints are all over the place! These are the conversations that led us to her with the people who worked hard to bring her home. The first text messages I received from Squeaks birth mother make me cry even now. The strength and love is overwhelming. Text messages from our adoption coordinator, lawyer, and home study case worker are full of Gods amazing attention to detail. The majority of them have private detail that aren't mine to share. This one however is a favorite because it just goes to show how quickly life can change and how much God loves showing his perfect timing. Our homestudy had been delayed due to some misplaced paperwork. Not just for a few days or weeks, but delayed for months. It was driving me crazy and of course I thought it was all up to me to fix, it was going to derail everything, it was going to keep us from getting a child! I completely let my head run away with itself and forgot my God is bigger than paperwork. Then I got this text message the morning of January 8th completely unaware that Squeaks birth mother was in labor with her at that very moment. We got the call that night. That's the kind of thing that makes you all giddy inside. Knowing God had a plan all along and that every detail is in his hands. So ya, keep those text messages.

What about you? Did you keep anything out of the ordinary from your adoption journey?