Am I getting Punk'd?

I met with the apartment manager yesterday.  Boy, was she ever so helpful. (NOT)  When she found out that we still had five more months of Brain Balance, she seemed out of sorts.  Then she mentions that she will check it out with her regional office and see if they can offer to transfer me to a first floor apartment without having me pay the 'transfer fee'.  So, what do I do when the new neighbors start complaining that he is loud?  That doesn't seem like a good option to me. I have contacted a real estate agent to inquire about renting a home in the area.  That way, Spencer could scream his little heart out int he early morning hours and not worry about anybody but me.

Hopefully, I will be able to get a house before the first of the month, then I could give the apartment their 30 day notice and get my focus back on my little guy.

Channeling Cee Lo Green

In a big F U to the neighbors, Spencer got up at 4:30 this morning.  He was ready to roll.  His first order of business was to go into the kitchen, with hardwood floors that amplify the sound, and jump up and down.  I'm forced to stifle a laugh and try to tell him, "shhh".  But the more I shh him, the wilder he becomes.  He runs several laps around the apartment, jumps through the kitchen, jumps in and out of the master bathtub several times, and then proceeds to lay down in my bed with a very loud case of the giggles.  Like he somehow knows he is ticking those people off.  (All of this BEFORE 5 am, mind you!!)

I'm still not sure what I am going to do.  I need to talk to the leasing agent.  Spencer is not going to get any quieter, in fact he will only get louder.  I need to be giving him additional supplements in the morning.  He does not tolerate these well and I will need to chase him and force him to take them.  Yeah, that's going to be real quiet!  I do understand my neighbor's position, but really.  It is an apartment complex and you need to expect that you will hear people and they will hear you.  I guess I will have to start documenting any noises I hear from their apartment. (And yes, I hear 'noises' from them. And the crowd collectively says, "Ewww".)

Will keep you posted on the saga...

It's not you, it's US?

Nothing like reality to drag you down from a euphoric high.  Yesterday, I received Spencer's one month progress report from brain balance.  It was stellar!  He moved up a level in seven tasks. (a level is equal to an age) He is still below his biological age, but he progressed a whole year of development in just a month.  We don't expect this every month, but it does make it easier to handle the familial separation when you receive results like this.  Even on the tasks that he didn't move up a whole level, he showed progress.  That makes me one very happy lady.  Until today...

Around 11, I received a phone call from the apartment complex.  Seems my neighbors below me have lodged a complaint that Spencer wakes up too early in the morning and makes too much noise "crossing the apartment".  I asked if it was explained that he has autism, I can't make the kid stand still all morning.  Besides, the bus picks him up between 6:15-6:30; so he can't sleep that much later.  What makes this so incredible to me is that we are VERY close to an active rail line.  Trains pass by here all night long.  You can sleep through that, but not my 50 lb kid walking across the apartment? According to policy, I was supposed to receive news of the complaint by letter, but the leasing agent "didn't want to do that to me".  What do I do now?  Like I really needed that ripple.  Seems like they are just building their case to evict us.  Thanks.

He's allergic to WHAT!!!?!

Friday I received the results of Spencer's recent blood test.  I was so overwhelmed that I left my laptop at Brain Balance and am just getting it back today.  Okay, here is a list of items that my son is 'off the chart' allergic to:
Casein (milk protein)
Milk (not the same as above)
Chicken
Wheat
Mustard
Malt
He is also severely allergic to soy, just not 'off the charts'.  He is moderately allergic to the following (we still need to avoid):
Eggs
Barley
Peanuts
Asparagus (like this one is going to be hard!!)

Needless to say, my head is still spinning.  No more prepackaged food, the mainstay of my life!  Everything is going to have to be made fresh.  And we will have to start shopping at Whole Foods.  There goes my shoe budget right out the window.  I still need to do tons of research, preferably when Spencer is not hanging all over me.  I will be making my first field trip to Whole Foods tomorrow (it is about an hour away)  There may be reports of a deranged woman cruising the aisles and muttering to herself, "what are we going to eat?"  Yeah, that would be me.  Wish me luck!

For my next trick...

I will single handedly pee out a forest fire.  With all that is being asked of me recently, I do not feel that this particular task is beyond the realm of the possible.

Yeah, well the honeymoon period is over for Spence at school.  He still likes it and his teacher, but he has started 'testing' her by small acts of misbehaving.  I guess he is trying to see how much he can get away with.  I am glad to hear from the teacher that she doesn't let him get away with any of his little tricks and he doesn't seem to hold it against her.  (He still kisses her goodbye when she puts him in the car.) And Brain Balance has stepped up a little bit, as well.  There are exercises we are supposed to do daily, but due to Spencer's non-compliant attitude, we have never been able to fully complete the task.  Also, he has supplements to take due to his nutrient-poor diet.  Seriously, where is that forest fire?  That has to be easier than trying to get Spence to 'shoot' his vitamin cocktail.  The stuff smells like mangy dog.  They suggest you mix with a strong juice such as pomegranate.  Uh-huh. Now it looks like dirt and smells like shit.  Come here baby and take your vitamins before Mommy wretches from the stench!!  He does take his amino acids well.  Thank goodness, because he has to take those twice a day.  We also have liquid b-12 (hold under tongue for 30 seconds- Haha) and fish oil (real oil folks- and you can bet he doesn't like the texture of that!) Oh, and there may be more to come once we get the results from his blood test back (this Friday.)

Spencer has gotten a fear of sleeping in his room by himself.  I am not exactly sure when it started, but now when he sees his bed all made up, he cries.  Not the fake whiny cry; we have real tears and almost hysteria.  As if I have just done the worst thing possible to this child. He then takes all of the linens off the bed and puts them on my bed.  Just what I wanted.  I have ended up sleeping in his bed when I can snag a blanket and a pillow off my bed.  This is not exactly as I planned it.

Friday, Spencer got bitten at school.  He cried which made the teacher (and his parents) very happy. Why?  Spencer does not feel pain like you and I.  It must be EXTREME for him to even acknowledge it.  So, when he got bit (the marks of which were gone by the time I picked him up), and cried, it showed progress.  He even wanted the teacher's sympathy and let her put ice on it.  Then he goes to Brain Balance and gets another star!  Unfortunately, he is ready to leave so I don't get to read it.  I think he mastered a few tasks at therapy and has moved on to more difficult things.  Awesome news.  Now if I could just get him to do his exercises...

There is NO accounting for taste

Really.  I would have thought that I had taught my son better than that.  I expose him to all kinds of music and what does he enjoy?  Sitting on his grandpa's lap listening to the most out-of-key-out-of-tune rendition of some by-gone country song.  And enjoying it.  My dad was glad Spencer was giving him total eye contact and paying attention, but now we will not hear the end of it.  "Remember when he was sitting on my lap and I was singing to him..." must have been the start of a hundred sentences while they were here.

Monday, at Brain Balance, my little rock star got a star for completing a task on his own.  He is doing so well.  I've gotten him to use the potty every morning, but I think he is lazy.  He knows where to go, he just can't be bothered to stop playing to go.

Hopefully, I will have more good news to post soon.

Bad Mommy, again!

As if the poor child wasn't already traumatized by his playground visit, I decide that he needs a local pediatrician.  Tuesday, I checked him out early from school in order to go to the new doctor.  Spencer was none too pleased, but he did behave better than he does at the doctor at home.  This was encouraging.  mind you, I didn't say he behaved well, just better than usual.  The doctor and his staff obviously had a lot of experience with dealing with children such as Spence.  They were calm and sweet and weren't the least bit rattled by him. (which is saying a lot!!)  I liked the doctor.  He wasn't in the least bit of a hurry and took his time talking to me about Spencer and the therapy program.  Mission accomplished.

By Thursday, Spencer is thinking that I am the worst mother in the whole wide world.  He is not allowed anything to eat or drink (he needs to fast for his blood work) We arrive at the testing site on time and they take him in the back.  This is when all hell breaks loose.  He has had this done before and is not a fan.  Thank goodness mommy dressed for combat.  Just when the 2 nurses and I get the needle in his right arm, he breaks his left arm free and rips it out.  The 3 of us are freaking out.  That had to hurt, but he feels no pain.  Now we need to stop the bleeding on the right arm and try to get the blood out of his left. We try a different approach this time, and once the needle is in, he lets out a series of the most blood curdling cries I've ever heard.  Time seems to stand still and it takes forever to fill the two vials needed.  Once we are done, he is soo ready to leave and go to school.  I try to give him something to eat in the car, but he is still too angry with me.  So, he shows up at school with bandaids on both arms, and bruises to match.  And he gets sympathy out the wazoo.  Spence is just happy to be back to his routine.

Friday was the big boy's sixth birthday!  My parents came in for the 'festivities'.  Spencer had a blast opening all of his gifts.  He wanted nothing to do with his birthday cupcakes, but he liked the candles.  I had to leave to attend a nutrition meeting.  All hell broke loose.  According to my parents, Spence was heartbroken.  He searched the apartment high and low looking for me.  My mother was trying to bribe him with Diet Coke (which he loves but is not allowed to drink) and he wasn't going for it.  After about 20 minutes, he calmed down.  He let them get him ready for bed and each one took a turn laying down with him (in mommy's bed) until he went to sleep.  When I got home, he was fast asleep and looking like the sweetest little angel.

New methods of child abuse

Here I am thinking I am going to be the best mommy in the whole world and we are going to enjoy the pretty day Saturday at the playground.  Spence gets dressed and in the car with no problem.  Once we get to the playground, it is another story.  He doesn't want to go. Period. I keep telling him its a playground and he can have fun, but he starts whimpering.  People are looking at me like I've just gotten finished beating the child.  I didn't think I was being cruel by bringing him outside to play.  We saw a little girl from his class at school and even that didn't cheer him up.  He was incredibly clingy.  He would hurry down the slide and run up to me and hold my hand.  Kind of like he was expecting me to bolt the minute he was out of sight.  And to make matters worse for the little guy, there were several dogs there.  Mind you, the dogs were on the other side of the fence from the playground and were tethered. It didn't matter.  Spence would go up to the fence and start whimpering.  He was obsessed with the dogs.  One nice gentleman actually moved his dog to the other side of the playground so Spence wouldn't be so upset by the dog.  I made him stay at the playground for about an hour (I think).  Then we went for a drive around Lake Kedron.  He seems to enjoy the pretty scenery around here.

We were supposed to have blood work done yesterday, but since mommy didn't catch the first urine of the day, I had to cancel.  The child thought I was nuts.  I was following him around with a plastic cup trying to get him to pee in it.  Then I wouldn't let him have anything to eat or drink.  He understood none  of this, just thinking that I was the meanest woman in the world.  After this ordeal, he got to go to school and wasn't late. I rescheduled his blood work for Thursday morning. Yet again, there will be no food or drink. BUT, I got the first urine of the day today.  Yippee! Now, I just hope I don't forget it on Thursday!

Today we ge to meet the new pediatrician.  I am thinking of taking Spencer off of his ADHD meds.  I just want to know if we can go cold turkey or need to step down the dosage.  Wish me luck!