Friday, November 13, 2009

I remember the days when Eliza used to walk into the house after school and drop her backpack.

NOW SHE DROPS HER DRAWERS!

She loves the sensory of smoothing out her diaper, then slowly closing her legs and watching the diaper crinkle up; then smoothing out the diaper again.  She does all this in slow motion.  It's a ritual; a stim; it's annoying; it's autism.  You can't always figure out why these kids do what they do.  Some times, it's fascinating watching and wondering; and some times it's just plain irritating because it's different...AND BECAUSE...

IF YOU KNOCKED ON MY DOOR THESE DAYS,
THIS IS WHAT YOU'D WALK INTO:


and this...


One with her pants down to her ankles, shuffling around the house, and one with her sunglasses on (even on rainy days and dark nights) and socks pulled up as high as they'll go!  On 2 different ocassions (how do you spell that word, the more I look at it, it looks wrong and no matter what I come up with, it doesn't look right?!),..anyway, on 2 different "whatevers" I heard both Derek and Allie say out loud, "She's not going out of the house w/ her socks like that, is she?"  You'd think they'd be used to what's not normal; sheesh, I mean, Eliza leaves both Barney and Pooh home now and just carries a diaper with her EVERYWHERE we go.  I laugh now because I don't even need to make sure that I have a spare diaper in my purse, Eliza carries her own!

So, Zoloft days 3, 4...up to 7 now, have continued as well as days 1 and 2.  Eliza's teachers have been equally pleased with her focus, vocalization, returned useage of signing and participating in social play.  That doesn't mean that Eliza is no longer autistic as demonstrated by the photo above (lol), uh really? 

And in case you're wondering, yes, I do pull her pants back up constantly (so does Derek, Allie and Ava).  She nods her head at me when I pull them up and say the words "pants up"; then she waits for me to walk away and pulls them back down.  Right after I took that photo of Eliza trying to get juice from the fridge, she heard Barney come on the tv and took off in a run only to forget that her pants were down and SPLAT, she fell.  That didn't stop her though from getting up and shuffling along as fast as she could.  It was one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time.
So, here's two pictures of my smiling beauties.   Tho Eliza's picture reminds me of a Whoopie Goldberg mask that my brother had one year at a family get together.  My dad had put it on and was riding one of the kids' bikes around and it is still a picture that makes me laugh out loud when I see it.   But any time I can get Eliza to actually look at the camera and smile on command is a prayer answered.  So, thank you Zoloft.  The sleeplessness still continues, however, and I'm waiting for that prayer to get answered or at least an understanding of why it's not getting answered!


8 comments:

Reena said...

Hugs Sarah!

Honestly, if it isn't worth the battle, why wage the war? So what if Eliza wants to walk around the house with her pants down. Lots of folks walk around in their underwear. What the heck.

Josie has taken to picking out her outfits and you should see what she gets away with-- especially during the work week when Daddy is in charge. She's happy though and thinking she looks like the winning contestant for America's Next Baby Model. What else matters?

Try not to sweat it. Easier said than done, I know.

Take care,
Reena

Rachel said...

Cute pictures!

The pants thing may be just a way of calming herself down. You may already know this, but for kids with ASD the world is chaotic and confusing. The diaper thing may just be a way for her to do something "predictable" that she understands how it works. That my help her relax after a day at school that is probably somewhat stressful for her.

Maybe you could take advantage of the situation and just take off the pants AND the diaper and see what that does for her!

Have a great weekend!

Jean said...

I love the socks over the pants- hahahaha! Yes, that is what Sarah did too!! I finally HAD to straightener her out- I couldn't stand it any longer!

Your girls are beautiful!!

The Montieth Family said...

Sarah-

I am laughing SO HARD right now that I have tears streaming down my face. You know that I understand "Atypical"!!!!

"Whatever" is Occasion...I think? Now that does not look right either.

I *love* Ava's shades. I am sure that she just wants to be like Eliza! Plus, cartoons must look cool with a pink hue. ;)
Her socks...OMG...what a crack up. Emma does the SAME thing with her socks at home and she ALWAYS has to tuck in her shirt and hike up her pants. She has tried it outside of the house and I just tell her that it is "dorky" looking and she will untuck until we get home. *lol*. If she sees Ava's socks hiked up in Charleston I know that she wil hike hers up too...it will be "very special". ;P

And, sweet Eliza...I *love* her beautiful smile and eye contact for the camera. Wow. Her diaper thing just kills me...it really is FUNNY!!! Emma does "those types of things" too and I just let her now. Their world is so frightening; if Eliza wants to carry around a diaper on errands so be it!

This was a wonderful sleep deprived, puncy post indeed and I loved every word and picture.

We have a call into a N.P. to discuss getting Emma on "the pill" so we will see....I'll keep you posted. Thanks for the comments on my blog. We had an okay week over all and G is home. Tomorrow is Sophie's (early) b-day party...should be interesting! *lol*. let's talk next week. I still need to respond to your email.

Hope Eliza sleeps for you soon. Emma was up from 11 pm -3am that I know of...who know if she was up all night. Ackkkk.

Love you! M

The Montieth Family said...

Oh sheesh...sorry for the typoes! Grrrrr.

Kristi said...

Oh dear....I sure do hope that you don't begin going through what I did last year. I tell you, age 4 was the most difficult year for us "autistically". Age 5 has been so much more, dare I even say it?, "easy". Viv truly is getting easy (or maybe it's just in comparison to when she was 4? Who knows?). Anyway, potty training a child with autism could likely have sent even Mother Teresa over the edge. It's so so so hard. I swear no one could convince me last year that at 5 years old, Vivianna would be taking herself to the potty. Hang in there my friend. As for eye contact in pictures - I wish you could see the lengths I go to to get eye contact and smiles for pictures. Boy, I could get the entertainer of the year award for sure!!

Truly Blessed said...

No matter what...pants down or socks pulled high, you've got two gorgeous, entertaining daughters!

And that's an occasion to celebrate!

Tiffany said...

Oh those girls are a riot..... SOOOO adorable! Lily wears her sunglasses NON STOP as well... dark or sunlight. She is also into wearing shorts with leggings underneath and socks pulled up really high on the leggings. Not sure where that fashion idea came from.

Love your jewelry!!!!!! Very clever!

Hugs to you all!

Happy Thanksgiving!