Post-Christmas Cabin Fever

We had a great Christmas here! Oddly enough, it was a WHITE Christmas! I think its been about 30 years since our last one! Mike thought it was great.......I thought it was WEIRD. :) The kids had a great time, we had a good time with family and..........AH........its over! My neurotic housekeeping tendency took over on Friday morning and we got the tree out and the house is back to "normal." I know.......some of you think thats spoiling all the fun, but my neat and clean tendencies HAVE to have organization. I can only stand things being "out of place" for so long.

But I have to admit that we've all got more than a touch of cabin fever. While it is nice to be home for a few days, our family is just not used to being together quite this much. We're so often on the go-go-go.

And Jennica has had a rough weekend. She made it through Christmas fine, but the behavioral issues started a bit on Friday, worsened on Saturday, and came out with a vengeance today. It's very frustrating! We're busting our fannies to keep up on the "prescription" of the GFCF diet, the gross motor input with emphasis on rhythmic activities and upper body exercises, visual support, and on and on. It hasn't been working! I don't know. I wonder if maybe she would be even worse without our efforts. I try to remember what "the worst" was, and wonder if this compares and how. And we analyze and analyze and analyze. Is there noise that she's hearing that we don't? Is there visual support that we should be giving? Is there something we're missing?

We have made strides, which further makes us question when she is "off". We figured out that the smell of bacon sets off massive hiding-under-the-table type of behaviors. And we figured out that the sound frequency of the fan over our stove also causes a meltdown if there are multiple other noises ongoing. Okay......we've got that, and we need to understand some of the triggers in order to help her learn coping mechanisms to deal with these things. It is simple reality that she will again encounter the smell of bacon and the sound of an annoying fan running. But what about all the other gazillion million things that set her off? And what about the ones that she does to HERSELF? For example, she stripped her pajamas off before breakfast today. This is pretty normal, as she is a sensory-seeker and likes the feel of the air on her skin. Okay...........but then she was so cold at breakfast that she wouldn't eat, refused to put her pajamas back on or get dressed, but then was mad because she was hungry. Now.......its REALLY hard for me to not step back and say, "You're going to have to figure this one out!" I'm kind of a "logical consequences" sort of person. But then again, tactile processing issues are not necessarily going to allow her to make the "logical" connection that she can be warm AND get breakfast if she just puts her pajamas on. Her brain doesn't necessarily work like that! A lot of these logical connections have to be made for her right now!

And then there are all the things that I don't have a clue why she is reacting like she is. She's beginning to demand to come home in various settings in the outside world. While I know that the orderliness of our home is a great benefit to her, I'm also wondering if it is making her less tolerant of the lack of order in the outside world? I don't know! And what are the hings that her nervous system perceives as a lack of order? The singing in church? The visual stimulation in large groups of people? I don't know! The more I learn about Sensory Processing Disorder, the more confused I feel like I become!

So.........tomorrow, we have a visit with our OT. I can hardly wait! I have SO many questions and she calmly always seems to have the answers! It is wonderfully soothing to spend time with our OT, as her sheer existence is a huge reminder that Jennica is not alone in the world! And for the moment, I need to know that we're not alone! Because this weekend has felt like we're busting our fannies cooking a GFCF diet, our house is beginning to look like an occupational therapy clinic with all the "stuff" we are gathering for exercises, and yet...........it sure as heck doesn't seem to be helping!!! At least not today. It will get better, but boy oh boy oh boy.........the places we go to get there!