Homemade roasted tomato soup, beef bourguignon, and Ginger Pumpkin Tiramisu (I just made that one up as I went along) are in the refrigerator. The Homemade Granola is toasted a cooling in the kitchen. If Diva Frog ever goes to sleep, I'll get to help Santa with his wrapping and tomorrow night I might even get to sleep.
We had a long couple of months leading up to winter, but most everything is settled now and we plan to enjoy the holiday before the real work begins. Little Frog has been having sever itching/pain attacks that we are still trying to figure out. When he gets stressed, red splotches begin to appear on his body (sort of like hives, but less defined and not raised). He scratches, and then screams. When he screams more splotches appear and he scratches some more and screams louder. Episodes can last between 5 and 30 minutes. When they are over, he laughs or picks up a toy and plays and the splotches fade away. Other times, he starts screaming out of the blue grabbing at his genital area in what appears to be extreme pain. These episodes are usually shorter. We've spoken to the doctor, but she needs to see him in the midst of these attacks. Other providers and caregivers have suggested wheat intolerance, yeast overgrowth, anxiety disorders, testicular torsion, allergies, or dry skin. When I put his symptoms into the medical website searches it comes up "rabies" - I don't think so. We are looking into referrals for a pediatric urologist, gastroenterologist, naturopath, developmental optometrist, and who knows who else. Any other ideas out there?
We've lost a nanny (had a healthy baby boy early this month), and a DIR tutor in the last six weeks. Little Frog also picked up an Apraxia diagnosis. The school SLP, of course, is skeptical and tells me that the diagnosis does not change anything - her last idea was to teach him sign language using verbal behavior techniques that require teaching four signs at one time and giving him a maximum of 3 seconds to respond with the correct sign. She had seen video tapes at a two day conference. I asked her how that was going to work with a child who has severe motor planning issues and auditory processing problems. She had seen the videos - that was all she needed to know. We also have issues with the special ed teacher who is having trouble reconciling our DIR methods with her "highly structured ABA" - not - program. Living in a small community, there are not a lot of options, but I've been very bummed out thinking about how hard it is going to be to educate all the special education and general education staff we will work with in the future when we are having this much trouble with an SLP and a special education teacher who specializes in ASD kids.
To top it all off, due to the rather dramatic slow down in the local real estate industry, it looks like I will be dusting off the old law degree next month to generate additional income and provide further employment opportunities for those who work for my family's business. I'll be the newest (and in some cases only) disability, education and elder law attorney in town.
Hope everyone is having a happy holiday, making lots of memories, and enjoying the company of family and friends. We are treasuring Diva Frog's excitement (as much about giving gifts as receiving them this year) and Little Frog's new found delight in Christmas Light displays and Christmas Trees.
I wish you a New Year filled with peace, love and happiness -
