Well, Owen made it to a little after four in his bed. That’s one of those kinda good victories we celebrate and then he slept for a couple more hours in my bed before we had to get him ready for school. He’s like an octopus that is working a Rubik’s Cube while eating pizza, dancing, talking on the phone, and deciding what we are going to do for the next month of Sundays. Busy is the word that comes to mind when he sleeps. I guess he is always trying to find the right spot that allows his body to rest. Owen is now having a hard time touching things like elevator buttons or putting his arms through his coat when only a month ago he couldn’t wait to push the elevator button and he didn’t love putting on his coat but putting his arm through the sleeves were no problem. I’ve heard people that have sensory issues or sensory processing disorder describe the feeling like they are having bugs crawling on them. They don’t want to stop moving because their skin becomes alive. I wonder if this is what is happening for Owen. And I can relate to this feeling. I was born with hemihypertrophy, the right side of my body is larger than my left. My right leg especially feels like it weighs a ton and for me to touch my leg feels like an out of body experience, like it’s not even my leg. I wish I knew how to help Owen through these moments. We are slowly moving into spring so he won’t have to wear a coat for a while, but this then brings on the challenge of getting him used to wearing shorts or even if I let him wear pants all the time seeing me in shorts causes many transitional moments that can lead to meltdowns. When I put pants on Owen in varying lengths if they do not fall exactly as expected on his shoes it causes him to tug at his pants trying to adjust them. The same for me. If I wear shorts around the house instead of lounge pants he will tug on them until I change or even go through my clothes trying to find something he thinks I should be wearing. I take a deep breath trying to wash away the sadness because it’s so hard on my sweet baby O. Knowing that clothes have caused him hours and hours and hours of meltdowns brings tears to my eyes and a lump in my throat. All I can do is try to explain to him that it will be fine and that we can work through it together. I pray this year I can find a way to explain to him that we no longer need our coats when we walk out our door and that it’s time for us to wear shorts. His communication skills are improving every day. I’m hoping that will help with the connection to the seasonal change. We talk about the weather every day and I know that we will weather any storm that comes our way. Find your strength, be courageous, and know that you can do it. Smiles to all and donut daze!
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