CNY

Yesterday's Chinese New Year celebration went really well. It was beyond noisy and she did great! She said her line and loved being on stage. She waved to her sister in the audience and yelled her name. When the lion dance started abruptly with an explosion of sound, she jumped(along with the rest of us) and clasped her ears. I had her take her hands off of her ears so someone could take a picture of her and she kept them off the rest of the time. I am so proud of how well she adapted. We were there a total of 5 long hours and she was well behaved the entire time. I doubt we will go again, it's just too long for everyone. It's really nice that she can perform, but just not worth it to be there 5 hours. We got home late and it was really hard getting up this morning. I hate starting a Monday that way. I think we will have no excuse to re-start our program today, even though I am exhausted and it's only 1pm. I wonder what her reaction will be when I tell her it's time to do our exercises.

Chinese New Year

Today is our Chinese New Year celebration with the Chinese Language class and our local Chinese community. S is really looking forward to saying her little phrase. I am still not feeling great, I went to the doctor on Friday. My house looks like a tornado blew through it, I'm so frustrated. Cleaning is the last thing I feel like doing now that I have an ounce of ambition. I'm grateful that I am not sick and can attend. We still have not gotten back to our NR routine. I must admit that as much as I want to be finished, it is hard to plug away at this last part. I had hoped to be full swing into iLs at this point. We are doing minimal, which is better than nothing. S is doing so well at this point, we are not in panic mode anymore to get to a certain place just to be functional. My goal is still to start next school year anew, just like any other kid. Tuesday is the 100th day of school party, no parent invitation extended. I want her to go to a school where I can have pictures of all of these little life events, just like her sisters had. It's really hard to believe that this school is so closed to parents, makes you wonder why they don't want parents? It's not completely closed, but the classroom stuff seems to be. I did see video of her in class, and she is very comfortable. She is thriving, so there is nothing other than my own discomfort with the school that makes me want to jank her out. The acedemic part of her school is like first grade level. I think I am going to soon post the link to this on the neuro group. There are questions that come up often that I believe can be answered by looking back at some of my posts. That is, after all, the reason I started this blog, to document our journey and encourage others. Now that we are almost finished, I don't have to worry that I have kept up with it. There is already enough on here for people to decide if it will work for their child. Almost everyday, I read about someone else who could benefit from NR. I hope one day it becomes mainstream so that everyone can benefit from it who needs it.

My Turn to Be Sick

Ugh!!! Now I got sick. I haven't been this sick in a long time. If I didn't have a flu shot, I'd swear it was the flu. Body aches, chills, and a cough that hurts. It would conveniently coincide with my husband going to work, so I had to get up and drive the kids to school and do everything myself. I could barely get out of bed and couldn't wait to get back in at night. Today is a little better, my body hurts less and my cough is a little better. It doesn't help that I have some sort of appt everyday this week. Our 15 year old dog is not doing well either for the past 3 weeks. Tomorrow, the cat goes in to be neutered. When it rains, it pours.

Attachment 101- I remember reading about parents pre-emptively telling their children they were safe and that they were good parents, etc, etc. I also remember thinking how crazy they were. Wouldn't that just be obvious? Wouldn't they be instilling doubt where there might be none? Well, wouldn't ya know, my daughter would need to hear these words. If I only knew. I remember banning the Barney program in my house because my first child LOVED the dark and thunderstorms. One day Barney was teaching kids not to be afraid of those things. Who wanted to put it in her head that you could be scared of those things to begin with? I turned it off and decided that would never be on in my house. Well, it was effective for my 3 birth children who were loved and secure from day 1. I could have never imagined that life could be so different for a neglected and traumatized child. Your brain can't go somewhere that is so unnatural. You don't ever want to believe that love can't quickly fix what happened before, that your child would have to be told they are safe and that no one will hurt them. That you will never leave them, that they will always be your precious baby, that they can rely on you for everything. Last night, while we were lying in bed, S says to me, "You'll always keep me safe and you won't XXXXXXXXXXXXXX. right?" "Yes baby, mommy will never let anyone do anything bad to you, ever." At least I can comfort her now.....

Another Sick Day

Yesterday, S was playing with some out of state friends. She had played with them a couple of other times earlier in the week, and as usual, had a really hard time when the playdate had to end. If I breathe a word of needing to go, she abruptly wants to end it, get it over with, poof! I was reminded that it's better to have that reaction than whining and complaining about leaving. Although that may be easier, it's ignoring that she is having more intense feelings than the next kid. So last night, we did the first part of our NR routine, then her big sister came in and they took a little break. When it came time to get started again, S started half crying/half wimpering. Her big sister has traditionally the only one to make her cry sad tears, so I thought some of that was going on. S rarely cries, so each time she does, it is analyzed by me. It is always seen as a good thing since she is allowing herself to feel sadness. Wow, a mother who wants to see her kid cry? Who would have ever thought I could be happy with sadness. My entire way of thinking has been tuned upside down by this precious child. I had no idea how much I didn't know. What else am I missing by not being able to experience other obstacles, feel empathy for others in their own situation? Anyway, she was on the floor and didn't want to be comforted. Big sis came back in the room and said when they were playing, S felt hot. I took her temperature and sure enough, it was a fever, about 101. So I announced she would need medicine and that upped the emotion. I held her in my lap and she proceeded to cry a cry I hadn't really hear before. It was almost like she was mourning. So I got to thinking about what had gone on that day. Her daddy went back to work after being off for 6 weeks. When he said goodbye to her, it was the first time she looked sad. She also fell asleep in the car on the way home from school, another indication she was getting sick but I didn't know it. Then I remembered what was said when she was playing with her friend. The friend said her favorite animal was a panda because she was from China. So I thought the perfect opportunity presented itself to mention to S that her friend was from China just like her. She said, "She was a baby?" "And she cried?" I answered yes to both. I just wonder if she was maybe processing some of that. I haven't heard her cry like that before. Maybe it was because she had a fever or maybe just a combination of things. She doesn't cry when she is sick though, so it wasn't that alone. Today she is home from school because she still has a fever. No other symptoms, I don't know what to think of it yet.

Good news, I was able to reach the AT. Hopefully she can get us over this step.

New Program

Our new program is really part of our old program. We are doing creeping, cross homolaterals and tonic neck pattern. The cross homolaterals have always caused problems. S gets really upset before we do them. She was saying very negative things which I can't even write down. I played it out with her, trying to stay positive. In the past, I just repeat over and over that I love her no matter how she feels and that I will love her no matter what. If I engage her in conversation to try to talk it out, she talk in circles around me. We get nowhere. We finally resolved it, but it took a long time. Every opportunity she has to make me mad at her, she tries. If she is disobedient she says, "I'm bad, you're mad at me." I tell her that I knew she wanted me to get mad at her and that it just wasn't going to happen. She wants me to affirm what she believes about herself and I flatly refuse to do it. It does stop her, but sometimes she will try wording things a little differently to get me going again or to get me to slip up. Sometimes I tell her she is making my head spin and she has to stop. This usually results in comic relief. I never had any idea how sharp I would have to stay to keep myself above the situation. I have nearly mastered the art of holding my tongue. That can only be a good thing overall in every area of my life. I know this phase of her life isn't going to be short lived. Our attachment therapist has been unreachable. I have heard through the grapevine why, but no direct communication from her. Apparently she had not communicated with any of her clients. I have been on my own for most of this, so I should be used to it. We will plug away with our NR, so hopefully I can say we have this huge part behind us in May. I am thinking my family should do a week-long attachment intensive this summer. Will that make things a lot better? I have heard that huge strides are made when families do these intensives. I will have to ask Bette what she thinks of these emotions coming up at the start of our daily exercise routine. I think it's just that she knows that it is just her and I and that she has to go through with it. I think it may be 100% attachment related. It's so hard to know, maybe no one can ever tell us for sure.

Re-evaluation

We had our re-eval yesterday and we are not quite ready to graduate. I was prepared for this news, so it's all okay. S got her two least favorite exercises back, but she knows it' s not forever and they are nothing new. So it looks like April may be when we finish. My goal was to be finished with everything by the end of the school year. I had to think long and hard to come up with anything we need to work on. It wasn't long ago that I needed to prioritize what was the most pressing issue. Now that we are near the end, I'm thinking of making the blog public. Now that is has ended up to be so long, I wonder if anyone will actually read it. I am so glad that I kept this journal, it will always remind me of where we started and how far we've come. By writing things down, it has allowed me to contemplate and figure things out that I may have otherwise overlooked. A couple of people have said that they wished I would write a book of our story. I wish I could accomplish that, but I didn't write enough details down. I have left out my daughter's personal memories to keep it private. If I weren't so involved in my kids lives, I would have time to write more. But when you have one child who takes up every waking moment and the you have to fit in time for your other kids and pets and household, there is definitely no time to write. I got an iPad for Christmas, so maybe that will give me more opportunity to write things down. I have also kept this rather clinical in nature because I thought about my daughter reading it one day. I wanted it to be something she could read and feel great about. Many bloggers get very personal and I would imagine that their kids would feel bad after reading about their trials. I understand that some kids with RAD are very difficult to live with and I'm not criticizing what they write about their families. It' s just not what I wanted to do. This started out very concise, just the facts but evolved into a little more. I guess it's because things changed for us along the way. Looking back, my poor little girl was keeping herself from feeling anything at all. She was just happy all the time. I think she is happy by nature, but it's just not normal to be happy all the time. She still hides sadness. We have a 15 year old dog who has possibly days left to live. We have been talking about death for several months now in anticipation of his inevitable death. I knew she needed to be introduced to it, as hard as it was to have to tell her. Something tells me she has been around death before she entered our family. It will be interesting to see how she reacts to this death. I know I will not be able to keep my tears inside. She gets very upset when anyone cries. I'm sure it will be worse for her to see me crying. I hope I will remember to post about it when the time comes. Life has been so busy lately, and I haven't had time to do much of anything.

Wrapping up for the year

We had a wonderful Christmas celebration at our house. The excitement leading up to it was so fun. We never thought she would sleep past 5am Christmas morning, but we were wrong. She went to bed late and must have been so exhausted from all of the anticipation that it wore her out. She didn't get up until almost 9am! Her older sisters were happy about that, they were afraid they would need to get up early. We start off the day with opening our stockings. She was the first to be handed a stocking. She grabbed it and hugged it tight, it was such a precious sight. When we started opening presents, she just wanted to start playing with the first thing she opened. It wasn't long until she was overwhelmed by it all, but her reaction to this was just to sit quietly. It was a really fun day for everyone. We have been taking care of a kitten which we decided to keep for S. We put him in a box and quickly brought him to her to open. When she opened it she exclaimed, "We got another kitty?" She wanted to know how we got him in the box, it was so cute. She wants to be able to take care of kitty herself and be responsible for him. She says she wants to be in charge of him like I am of her and to teach him right from wrong. I think he is going to be really good for her. He is so good natured, she can do anything to him and he just purrs louder.

I hope the close of 2011 brings a close to our NR work. I never imagined that we would have so much emotional work after we were finished with the program. I am not complaining though, it's just hard to see her have to go through this. We go back in January for hopefully our last re-evaluation. I am so glad we went through NR, now I can only wish that I could convince countless others to make the journey. It's just so hard to know that children can go through life with full potential after an NR program but instead function with lots of coping mechanisms and the appearance of being healed. I thought that parents who chose the 'cover up' therapies were just uninformed, but I was wrong. Maybe they lack the confidence to do it themselves, maybe it's lack of self-discipline, maybe they just don't believe it will work. I know I suffered from lack of self discipline and had big time compliance problems with my daughter. I just hope that we can be an example to others. Our journey is not as difficult as some, but I do know that is was a lot more difficult than many. Either way, I'm happy for where were are today and can't wait to write our graduation notice to the group!

What's New?

It's that crazy busy time of year, but I want to write an update before too much time goes by. S's school put on a singing performance for the parents on Thursday. We asked to watch or video a practice just in case she bailed out at the last minute. They agreed to video for us during a practice. We watched the video in amazement as she sang and went through the hand motions of the songs. We were prepared for her to get scared the day of the performance, which was also her daddy's birthday. She hesitated and said it was too loud(which it was), but bravely went up with the other children. We were not prpared for what we got to see. She was in the front, standing, and she belted out the first song, complete with hand motions. The did a song with sign language, which she did on cue. She sang the loudest and with more enthusiasm than the entire group combined. I watched with tears in my eyes that she was capable of such an amazing feat. She made it through the entire performance like a pro. I saw a side to her that I had only dreamed of. I was by far the proudest mommy in the room. Her arm motions were so enthusiastic, she would have knocked someone across the room if she bumped them by accident. My other kids were always pretty shy when they were young, and I secretly wanted to be the mom of the kid who sang the loudest and with confidence. I am so proud of her.

We went to Disney for 2 days. She went on familiar rides, but also tried some new ones willingly. she even went on tower of terror, but that was definitely a one time deal. She did okay, but doesn't want to go again. Yesterday, we went to our first Princess encounter. She was nervous leading up to it, and asked me to go with her when meeting the first princess. I told her she needed to go by herself and she did. She was very talkative and did great. She was dressed like Cinderella and the princess Cinderella was the last to meet. She was so excited to meet her and have her picture taken with her. They had a nice little conversation together. It was another 'first' for her and another proud parent moment.

A New Perspective

I was driving in the car today and I was thinking about a particular adoptive family. They are faithful people and prayed fervently for their adopted children. They have really run into relatively few problems and I began to contemplate my life. We prayed for our future daughter years before she entered our life, even before she was born. I prayed for an easy adjustment and a secure attachment. I had visions of adopting a slightly older child, probably potty trained, and more fun than actual 'work'. I got almost nothing I prayed for. I got what I didn't know I could have. It's like the description of heaven, no one knows what it's like because it is beyond what we are capable of comprehending, colors we have never dreamed of, wanting for nothing, etc, etc. I got what I didn't even know to pray for. I got a lot more patience than I thought I was capable of, I got educated on sensory processing disorder, physical therapy, occupational therapy, theraputic listening, Crossinology/BIT, feeding therapy, impacted ear wax, speech therapy, IEP's, McKay scholarships, attachment therapy, NR, retained relflexes, vision therapy, and many more. I got to appreciate what trust really means. I got the gift of love that is earned. I learned the impact of emotional trauma. I saw a child overcome more obstacles in 4 years than most people will see in 3 lifetimes. I didn't get what I prayed for, I got so much more, so much better. Occasionally I still wish that it was easier for her, but I think she will have a better perspective on life because of it. She is a fighter and she will go far. I love everyday with my darling daughter. She opened up my eyes to another world. I have a purpose beyond my family, I now have an opportunity to help the children left behind in the orphanages. I am reminded that when you don't get what you pray for, it's because God knew that you needed something different that what you wanted.

School Troubles

We are having some issues at school. It seems that the whole baby crying situation is the same. Yesterday, a child in her class cried and piched a fit which just sent her into a tailspin. She ranted about it the entire ride home. I immediately emailed the teacher. The teacher wrote back that she thought she had a great day and that the child who was the cause of all of the trouble did so at the end of the day and that it wasn't too big of a deal. I have a feeling what really happened is somewhere in the middle. I don't think they are willing to do what I ask, but I don't want to switch schools either. I will have this settled before the end of the year. Is it better to have conflict so S's issues can surface or do I isolate and protect her until she can better handle it? I am the type of person who wants to shelter my children. I would rather go that extreme than to throw them to the wolves and then have to deal with the aftermath. I do wonder if isolating her will just prolong the obvious. Looks like I need to consult with the attachment therapist. I hope I can give her everything she needs without making any mistakes. The poor child has been through too much in her short life, she doesn't need me making mistakes. She got in the car today proclaiming, "I don't want to talk about my day, okay?" I said okay and then asked her if she ate her lunch. She reacted by putting her arms in front of her face, squirming in her seat, and yelling, "I don't want to talk about my day!" She just wanted to go home and have something to eat. She hasn't said anything to me yet, I hope she will tell me later. I'm letting her have some time alone because she needs it after a long day at school. That's the lovely part of NR, it gives us lots of one on one time to have the chance to talk. I don't think anything would have ever come out had I not done NR with her. I thought the developmental catch up was difficult, I never knew how hard the emotional part would be. She was completely non-expressive with emotion until the recent past, it was so easy to not even realize that she had no emotional vocabulary. I hope this phase is over soon, it is completely draining me. It hurts me so much to know my precious little one has had such a hard time and may have some horrible memories.