This picture of Iann also serves to remind me of what a sweet, innocent little boy he is.
The last few weeks have been REALLY hard with him, but he doesn't mean to get out of control. He doesn't do it on purpose, his body just goes a little haywire sometimes. We weathered this storm last summer, when the same thing happened and I think we are seeing the laughing tantrums rear their ugly heads less often: only one major one today. And, nothing at bath time.
You may be asking what is the deal with laughing? Well, it's not funny laughing, it's 'my body feels out of control, so I'll laugh,' which turns into kicking, headbutting, terrorizing the dog etc. Thankfully, he isn't actually being aggressive with this; the kicking and headbutting are things that give his body input and sometimes we get in the way while helping him calm down.
So we try to give him input in other ways: Jon set up our trampoline, I am giving him big hugs and squeezes all day and doing some other OT type things. Also, his behavior therapist has really seen some of his doozies in the last few weeks and has helped us learn how to deal with them and calm him down, or even stop them before he escalates.
It isn't easy. This is one of the times when I don't think life is easy.
See, during calm periods - which we tend to have more of than not - I secretly think my life is easy compared to others: a friend with a 7 yr old and twin 3 yr olds, or my sister-in-law with twin 2 yrs old and a newborn! But then we move into one of these cycles and I take it all back.
This is hard.
But, this is the life God has for me and, as Jon's Nana likes to say, "This too shall pass ..."
No comments:
Post a Comment