Weighed blanket=success!!!

Kenz gets overwhelmed very easily and sometimes has a very difficult time calming down because of her anxiety from the selective mutism. She freaks out in the car if we take a wrong turn from the usual way, if something is bothering her, and she has difficulty sleeping. After much contemplation I decided to try a weighed blanket from my wonderful friend Sabrina who owns Squishy Butt's Baby Stuff. Kenz is easily calmed my chewing on tags of clothes or rubbing them between her fingers. Sabrina was great and made Kenz a custom blanket for her size and she put taggies at the top. The best part to Kenz was it was MONKEYS!!! The day we got it in the mail Kenz was having a meltdown because she didn't let the dogs in and I got the mail. She went in the bathroom and shut the door and cried forever. I tried comforting her but she didn't want me. Finally I opened the door and threw the blanket in. Less than 5minutes later and there was silence. I cracked the door open and seen her laying on the floor covered with the blanket and chewing the tags. She was calm and came out. Ever since we got the blanket last month it goes everywhere with us! She sits in her carseat and rubs the tags if she needs to. Check out Squishy Butt if you are interested! She als makes the cutest diapers and crayon holders :)

http://hyenacart.com/SquishyButts/

dance=not so great. Toy Story=great

A few weeks ago Mackenzee started to have fun in dance and I was able to sneak out for the first time!!! The other parents were so surprised and proud of her. Now she is paranoid I am going to leave her and stays right at my side. This week they wanted a class picture of all the girls and even though I was right there she kept crying and not wanting to do it. She absolutely loves dance and sings the song for their recital all the time, she knows all the moves. But I'm having a feeling the recital will be a no go for her. Shes supposed to be in 3 different recitals, I think if she gets through one it will be a miracle. I just wish she was able to show the world the silly girl she is. Unfortunately not many people see the full Kenz we do or my parents do. Shes in such a funny stage right now.

She is obsessed with Toy Story!! Last weekend I took her to Toy Story on Ice and she loved it!! She enjoyed walking around the Palace until a lot of people were there then it got to be too much so we went to our seats. Shes always doing Toy Story puzzles. My most favorite thing is she constantly quotes Toy Story. Her favorite to say is,"its a lunch box! He got a lunch box. Who invited that kid?"

Worries of a parent

On a daily basis I tend to worry or think about Kenz's future. It is usually after she does something silly or learns something new. Shes such a bright little girl but I worry if she will ever share her knowledge with the world around her. Next year she will be starting preschool and I worry about her talking to her teacher. She is such an absorber of knowledge. She learns so much when at daycare or school as she calls it and in sunday school. I feel like I am always telling people about new things she learned, it would just be nice for them to hear it firsthand. I just don't want Kenz looked over in a classroom because she doesn't talk. I'm hoping with continuing therapy she will blossom and become the chatter box she is at home everywhere she goes.

1/25/11: the ups and downs of SM

Therapy this week was amazing!! I couldn't of been any happier with the way Kenz was responding and being involved. She was cracking up laughing at everything. She kept dancing and showing off her light up shoes by jumping. It was incredible for me to just sit there and watch her be so involved with another person just the way she would be with me. Kenz loves using the copier and making pictures, as she calls them of her hand or other toys. One problem has been she will never ask her dr to make one, in the past the closest we have gotten is her pointing or telling me she wants one. As we pack up she requests to make one to me. I told her I am not the one to ask that she needs to ask the dr. She kept looking at him and after a few minutes I reminded her to ask for a picture. Then we hear, "picture" being directed at Dr. Wartel. She was so excited to know she was able to ask by herself for it and verbally, not just with a head shake. Therapy blew me away so I was having high hopes for dance class the next day.

My hopes were quickly stepped on and squished down when we walked in. It was observation week. Which means almost all parents and a lot of grandparents packed into the dance room. In Kenz's terms it meant her shutting down and anxiety sky rocketing. I tried to have a positive outlook still but it was difficult. She wouldn't do anything on her own. She wanted nothing to do with the gymnastic mats, which I think it was because she would be somersaulting or rolling towards a punch of parents. If I tried to get her to do something she would start shaking and crying. It was tough to watch all the little girls showing off their moves in front of everyone as Kenz just sits there. She shows off all her dance stuff at home, if only everyone else could see it. One thing that was really difficult was hearing another girl noticing Kenz being "shy." As we are leaving I hear this girl say, "look mommy its the shy girl who won't do things in dance." It was hard to hear someone else Kenzs age noticing that shes different. The parents didn't know what to say. Its hard for me because I don't want to constantly explain Selective Mutism to people especially when most people don't even know what it is. There have been many times when people look at me like I am making excuses for her.

01/19/2011

This week Fred took Kenz to therapy. I was curious id she would do differently since I have been the one to mainly take her. He said she started off not being involved but when her dr left the room and went down the hall and came back, she was herself and ready to go.

01/05/2011

Today was Jaxon's 1st birthday! For fun and memories before therapy I took the kids to 12 Oaks mall and we went to Build A Bear and played at their play place. Build A Bear was so much fun! It really helped that the store wasn't busy because Kenzee was fully herself unless an employee was talking to her. She even named her bear(Kat) and Jaxons bear (Fatbear). I think just doing something right before therapy helped her out. She went in there and was showing Dr.Wartel the bears and telling him about playing. It was a great day spending his first birthday with both of them. I still cannot believe hes a year old already!

I guess do what works:12/20/10

On Monday we went to a benefit dinner for Justice for Lily. There were quite a few people there but we sat at our own table and it was kind of off to the side. I could tell Kenz wasn't fully comfortable. We kept noticing her sliding down in her chair. When asked to sit up, you could tell she just didn't want to. I bent over and asked her what was wrong and I got her deer glare and I could see her playing with her tag. Kenz's comfort tool is playing with the side tag on a shirt. She just will rub it back and forth between her fingers. She told me she liked the floor. I had asked her if she felt more comfortable down there and she said yes. We allowed her to sit on the floor underneath the table(she was done eating). She just sat there smiling away when I would look at her. She was playing with her camera some of the time but she just sat there content.