Sensory Processing Disorder

After two years of concern and fear and frustration we finally have an answer to explain Logan's difficulties.  After a year of doctors and therapists and neighbors and friends looking at Matt and I like we were crazy. After a year of Logan struggling so much with daycare and kids and lets be honest, life in general.  We finally found someone who would listen and understand.


Back at the end of the summer Logan's daycare insisted that there was something wrong with Logan and that he needed behavioral therapy.  We started talking to therapists and got him enrolled in a special needs preschool through our school district to try to help with his behavior.  But it wasn't enough.  So in November we talked to Logan's pediatrician who like everyone else thought we were crazy and overreacting but referred us to the Children's Center.  The Children's Center then referred us to the Primary Children's behavioral clinic in Taylorsville and the therapist finally put all the pieces together.  Logan has a sensory processing disorder.


It's like the light bulb has gone on, I don't know how else to describe it.  The therapist at the Children's Center said he has symptoms of ADHD, anxiety, OCD, autism, and behavioral defiant disorder.  All of the symptoms he is exhibiting are ALL symptoms of sensory processing disorder.  Every single once. 


The therapist from Primary Children's thinks he has a sensory modulation dysfunction meaning he is overly sensitive to sensory information.  This explains about 90% of his strange behavior. Like how he walks on his toes, or why he rearranges decorations in the house or why he is afraid of trees and pumpkins and a red ring bath toy or why he cries when I wash his hair and most importantly, why he is being aggressive and violent.


As I type this out it seems so weird that we would be so happy about this diagnosis but I'm so happy I could just cry (and I have been).  Finally someone can help us to understand why Logan is the way he is and how we can help him.  Because we have a diagnosis the daycare can now apply for state funding to have an aid worker be with Logan every day and give him the one on one attention that he needs right now.  And he is going to be in therapy twice a month with a therapist who is trained to help kids with SPD. 


Logan is such a great kid but he has been so misunderstood the past year.  I'm so excited that we are going to get Logan so much help so that everyone can see what an amazing kid he really is.

Daniel Tiger is Confusing my Children

Don't get me wrong, Daniel Tiger is very well loved at my house, even by my husband and me.  Mickey Mouse Clubhouse used to be the show constantly on at my house and it drove my husband and I crazy.  Daniel Tiger is such a breath of fresh air.  The lessons are good, the songs are catchy and way less annoying then "bubble up bubble up bubble up".  Gag me!


So we were thrilled when BOTH of my children fell in love with Daniel Tiger.  They are three and five and Daniel is the only show the both of them like to watch together.  It plays at our house almost every single day and we sing the songs like crazy and Logan is even getting a Daniel Tiger birthday party.  But is anyone else's kids getting confused by the show?


Like for example, the new episode that talks about food allergies.  In the episode Daniel learns he is allergic to peaches and they talk about what to do if you have an allergy and so on and so forth.  Great educational episode.  Except now both of my kiddos think they are allergic to peaches and have told their teachers at daycare that they can't eat peaches and downright refuse to eat them now. 


Or a second example, the magical garden where all the neighbors go to pick fruit or vegetables or whatever for free, whenever they would like.  So when we walk by someone's house Logan can't understand why it is not okay to pick apples off people's trees or why we can't pull the carrots out of the ground at Wheeler farm or why we can't pick flowers out of people's gardens. 


Or my absolute favorite example.  The episode where Mom Tiger is pregnant and having baby Margaret.  Logan has latched on to that episode for some reason and watches it way more than the rest.  But now the problem is he is convinced that he is getting a baby sister too, just like Daniel.  And he is telling everyone!  I'm absolutely thrilled if you can't tell.


I love that my kids have found such a great show to love so much but I think their obsession may have turned over to insanity.  Daniel Tiger, how you make our world go round.

Best Husband

This summer was, well a rough one.  And not with the kids or our families or anything.  I can blame my job one hundred percent for the rough summer.  Okay well maybe not 100%, but I'm giving it a good 98% then. 


My company has been building a new commercial building and re-skinning a smaller building and parking garage. They open this fall. All of it! And we are struggling to get it all done in time.  This summer my life was my job.  When I was at work I was working as fast as possible and always having things fall through the cracks.  When I was home I was checking emails or making mental check lists or stressing about funding and change orders.  It was awful.


I handled it okay for the majority of the summer but I think I lost my mind a few weeks ago and haven't been able to keep anything together.  And my sweet husband is the best about it.  He has just been stepping in and taking over everything I have let slip through the cracks. 


Two weeks ago he called me up to tell me he had booked me a massage for that night and that he was leaving work early to get the kids and would take care of them for the night so I could have a break. He let me crash a few Sundays ago and sleep most of the day while he took care of the kids and cooked dinner by himself.  Last night I picked up the kids, hit Walmart and then got home to find that Matt had made dinner, cleaned up the house and had laundry already going. 


It's things like that which really make me grateful that I am married to Matt.  It's difficult with both of us working and trying to balance our jobs and our family and I'm so glad I don't have to figure it out by myself.  He is such a great husband and I'm so lucky to have him.

Jungle Jims

After having Tuesdays off for almost a year, I unfortunately have to go back to working five days a week, starting next week.  Since yesterday was my last Tuesday off, the kids and I decided to make it special and went to Jungle Jims.  Oh My Goodness we had a blast.  I took the kids about a year ago and they liked it then, they freaking LOVED it this time.

Logan was finally big enough for the bumper cars! Kid could not figure out to push the pedal down until it was almost over but he sat in the corner, turning the steering wheel and grinning from ear to ear.  He kept saying so proudly, "I drove it Mommy, I drove it!"

The airplane thingamajigs are always a crowd pleaser.

Logan liked the swings more than Nathan, I think Nathan was a touch bored.

K, so somehow Logan pushed the buttons just so and turned this video game on without paying!  It was a Batman car racer type game and I even checked, it was not a demo, kiddo was really playing!

Nathan asked Logan for a turn and Logan so nicely said sure! and let Nathan have a go at it.  I think next time I will just pay the money and let them play since they both enjoyed it so much.

Oh the bounce houses!  There were three and I could not get the kids out of the bounce house play land for anything!  Except when they were starving and I bribed them with lunch.

Okay, there is this "rollercoaster" that actually goes around in a circle pretty stinking fast and then it goes backward.  Nathan actually asked to ride it and look at those smiles!  They both loved it and nobody cried.  They are getting so big and brave!

It was such a great day to just play and spend time with the kids.  They are getting big so fast I'm so glad we could go and make some awesome memories.  Nathan is already planning that his birthday party is going to be at Jungle Jims so it looks like we will be back soon!

I Love Having a Five Year Old

I love having a five year old...well an almost five year old.  Nathan has grown up so much this summer I can't even believe it.  Don't get me wrong, he was an awesome four year old.  But the past month or so he just seems so much older I guess.  It's like I have a little buddy who talks my ear off and tells me the greatest things ever!  Like for example, he learned about space and the planets at school a few weeks ago.  He has told me the name of every planet, what stars are made of, all about how you need a rocket ship to go to the planets, and did you know that there is "dry lava" on Mars?  Not hot lava but dry lava and that is why it's red.  I have no idea what dry lava is but I love hearing him talk about it so much!

And then there was this morning.  I was running late and hurrying to pack my lunch.  Nathan looked up and me and said "Mom, why are you so stressed?"  I told him that I had a lot of meetings today and it was going to be a rough day.  So then he asks me, "What is your first meeting?" I tell him its a project coordination meeting.  He asks me, "What's your second meeting?" So i tell him a parking construction meeting.  Then he asks, "What's your third meeting?"  I tell him I have to spend the afternoon at the city getting building permits.  He thought about it for a few minutes and tells me, ya mom you have a busy day,  I hope your day gets better soon.

I just love so much that he cared what I was doing, even though he has no idea what any of it means.  It just means the world that he takes the time to listen to people and cares about what is bothering them.  Nathan does this sort of thing all the time now.  He is just so thoughtful and kind and caring I can't even believe it.

When I dropped him off at school I gave him a kiss and hug and told him to have a great day.  He says to me, "Well Mom, I will have a good day, and then a great night when we are together again."  Talk about getting me to cry first thing in the morning.  I sure love my kids more than words can say.

"Your Kid Needs Behavioral Therapy"

There are no words for when your two and a half year old's daycare teacher tells you that your kid needs behavioral therapy.  I couldn't speak, I couldn't rebuttal, and the silence on my end of the phone call was apparently the opening for his teacher to give me the laundry list of all the times Logan has misbehaved.

My heart is breaking and I'm choking back the tears as I mutter something stupid about getting an appointment arranged.  It's not like Matt and I don't know that Logan struggles.  We do know.  We deal with it day and and day out.  We have been working with Logan and therapists for over a year now, first with social skills, then sign language, then speech.  We knew he was having some behavioral issues but honestly we were chalking it up to 2 year old behavior as well as him having been so far behind.

His speech therapist talked to us at the beginning of the summer about some of his issues and set up a meeting with us and the director of a special needs preschool.  When the director met Logan she was surprised he was even being evaluated but told us to have his daycare teacher fill out an evaluation and bring it back at the beginning of October.  I haven't given his teacher the paperwork yet, I was still hoping he would improve enough that the teacher would give him a good evaluation.  Guess that's not an option anymore....

I know its stupid to avoid reality.  If he needs help then he needs help.  If he has anger and behavior issues then they aren't going to go away by ignoring them.  And I know it is better to deal with these kind of problems now, before he gets into elementary school.  But his speech has gotten so good that I just really hoped everything else would fall into line as well.

I feel like Logan just gets labeled as a bad kid or aggressive or difficult without getting to know who Logan really is.  Yes, he gets aggressive, yes he can be very difficult and stubborn but he can also be the sweetest most loving kid I know.   

The Fourth of July

I love holidays, I just do.  I love planning for them and making themed desserts and buying matching outfits for the kids specifically for that holiday.  And Matt rolls his eyes at my insanity but still puts on a smile and goes with it.  And the Fourth of  July is no exception.  What has been really fun this year is to see my kids get so excited with me.


This year we decided to do our own fireworks on July 2nd with my sister Emily, her husband Chase and their daughter Paisley.  It was awesome!  Last year Paisley and Logan were afraid of the fireworks, this year they could not contain their excitement. 

Logan cracked me up, he was so serious about the fireworks all night!

We were running low on lighter fluid so the boys ran to the store for more.  They took too long so Emily and I lit off a few fireworks without them (and scared ourselves to death).

Matt of course had to rig a couple of fireworks.  It isnt' a firework show with Matt unless something explodes.

Matt headed out of town Sunday night for a four wheeling trip so it was just me and the kids.  Our neighbors across the street started setting off huge aerial fireworks around 10:00 which woke up the kids so we headed outside in our lawn chairs and watched the most amazing firework show ever!  I was disappointed that Matt missed it but had fun with the kiddos.


On the 4th Matt was still four wheeling so the kids and I headed to Raging Waters with my mom.  I love going to the pool on the 4th because it's not too crowded and still gets us outside without dying from the heat at the park.  After lunch the kids and I headed home for naps and then went to my mom's house for dinner.  We then went home and just watched fireworks from our neighborhood which seriously did not disappoint.  People in our neighborhood are very serious about their fireworks and we had another amazing firework show.

He was such a good sport to let me take his picture.

Logan pouting because he did NOT want his picture taken by the flag.

Logan loved the poppers!



The Fourth of July is such a fun holiday but it is also such a good reminder to be grateful to live in America and to have our freedom.  It reminds me how much I love my country and how grateful I am to the men and women who fight every day to keep us free. 

Life is Good

To say that life is good right now would be an understatement.  Things are just....really good.  Really busy but really good.  Matt is loving his new job down in Provo.  Even though he is gone more and the commute is long he is happier there than he ever was at his old job.  But he is gone a lot!  Last week he worked late every night and didn't get home until 7:30 or 8:00.  But the kids and I are adjusting to having him gone more and are making it work. When Matt worked for UPMA he cooked dinner every single night while I bathed the kids or cleaned the house or what not.  Well with him working so much we are having cereal for dinner a lot more but the kids couldn't be happier about it.


Nathan is doing really great too.  He has grown up so much in the last six months.  He was a really hard three year old but has been a fantastic four year old.  He is getting more independent and better about listening and getting his chores done.  He has also gotten really sweet again.  The other day he went to the backyard and picked a few dandelions.  When he came back inside he told me that he picked beautiful flowers for his beautiful mom.  I will admit it, I definitely cried. 


And Logan is talking!  Like seriously talking!  He is saying words like crazy and is putting two and sometimes three words together at a time.  He can say just about any word that you tell him to now.  Logan is starting to have conversations with Nathan and the two of them are playing so much better now that Logan can talk.  He is still working with the speech therapist twice a month but hopefully we will only have to for a few more months.  Logan said I love you for the first time last week and just about melted my heart.  I'm so proud of how hard my little guy has worked at talking over the last few months.


Things have been good with me too.  Work is going pretty good, my boss switched some things around giving me and my coworker more responsibility and more independence.  I'm really enjoying running construction projects  by myself and have got several in the new 111 building that is being constructed.  It's stressful but I feel like I'm learning a lot and getting more confident in managing projects.


Of course the best part of my days are when I'm home with the kids and I got really lucky a few months ago with a schedule change.  I'm doing four 10 hour shifts instead of five days a week and it has made the biggest difference!  I feel like I'm getting so much more time with my kids and can balance everything better.  It is supposed to be temporary but my boss said that as long as no one complains I can keep going with it!  I'm totally looking forward to being able to take the kids to the pool during the week instead of just on Saturdays now.


And the big news......WE ARE GOING TO DISNEYLAND!  Not until June and Matt isn't going to come but my family is all going so Matt agreed to let the kids and I go.  I'm so excited and I think the boys are just going to love it.  Half the fun of a big vacation is getting to anticipate and plan for it and it's so nice to have something awesome to look forward to.


So that's the jest of what has been going on in our lives.  Hopefully I can start keeping this blog updated instead of writing once every four months.  No promises though...