Vanderbilt behavioral therapists and my 2nd annual trip to Ikea

I'm a little behind because of all the activities that go along with Reagan starting kindergarten. Grant did have his appointment at Vandy with the developmental medicine department. I met with a developmental pediatrician and a behavioral therapist/educational consultant for an hour and a half. They had read over his file and evaluation so I didn't have to explain much. They came in there with all this knowledge and ready to put a plan together. After working with him for a little bit and talking to me they told me that they agree that he is dealing with anxiety. (Again no diagnosis as to why, but you gotta take what you can get). They also think that he is more of a visual learner, which I agree with, since he seems to not hear you once he is in a full blown fit and since his speech skills are not as high as his cognitive.

Two of the biggest problems we have with him are getting dressed and leaving/running errands. They suggested and are making him a visual schedule that will show him the order in which we are doing things. This takes his ability to argue with me about it. Essentially if it is on the schedule we have to do it. The visual schedule with have items that are interchangeable that way I can put down only the things that apply to that day. For example for running errands there will be cards that show pictures of Publix, Shell, Walmart, and Reagan's school. I can also make more if I need them because I have a laminate machine. After you get done with each place he gets to pull it off and move it to inside the file. This should lessen his anxiety of the unknown. The same idea applies in the grocery store so I will make him his own list. Even though he can't read the words he can cross of the next item as I put it in the cart. After a while we will start trying to lessen the use of these as he becomes more comfortable.

They also recommend that I go to a free workshop they are having next month on addressing challenging behaviors to maybe learn new ways to address some things he does that cause me a lot of frustration. They also put us on the waiting list for PCIT therapy, Parent Child Interaction Therapy. This would be to work on our back and forth sills, because right now there is very little back and forth conversation and to decrease unwanted behaviors. I'm really hopeful and they told me that they can get me back in anytime we need to tweak anything or if I want a session with the therapy area to show me how to do something.

Now onto my trip to Atlanta with Diana. This is our 2nd annual trip, mostly to go to Ikea which we both love. I got this for the playroom because it's such a mess.

While we were there we went clothes shopping and to dinner. Then we went to see The Help (movie) which was amazing. After getting back to the hotel we slept in as late as we could then we had breakfast in bed before coming home. It was very relaxing, but Scott didn't think so. He had a birthday party to take the kids to, but that wasn't the problem. This year was a little tougher on Grant and he was clingy and cried and kept saying "I want mama" quite often. Tonight even though I'm home he didn't want to go to sleep he wanted to sleep with mama. I think he was afraid that I would leave while he was sleeping. Maybe next year will be better because I really need that small getaway every year...