Tuesdays

Every week we will be taking Anna for an occupational therapy session from 4:30 to 5:30pm on Tuesdays.

Here's how it went yesterday.

Preparations: Sunday morning I realized that the car we usually borrow from friends at church wouldn't be available this Tuesday. Anna was still recovering from a bad cold, so she and I were not at church.   I called Scott after the end of the service to ask him to talk to the other friends who had offered their car for these appointments. He talked to them and made arrangements to pick up their car Tuesday afternoon.

Monday night, Scott put ice packs in the freezer in preparation for cold drinks in the car for the trip.

Tuesday morning, I wrote a note telling Anna's teacher that we would pick her up at 3:20. We had our first appointment two weeks ago, then the occupational therapist (OT) was in Paris last week. So, none of us is used to the schedule yet.

I forgot to get the note into Anna's backpack and had to call Scott since he took Anna to school Tuesday morning (they rode scooters) to ask him to tell the teacher. She said no problem.

Tuesday afternoon, we got out the cooler and bought store brand Orangina and store brand Pringles to help Anna get through the hour long car ride. Her last appointment didn't go well, and in addition to communicating some suggestions to the OT, we tried to think of ways to make the trip more pleasant. We packed up a bag with magazines, a notebook to draw in, and Justin's DS (cannot locate hers).

I put this drawing in to represent Anna's drink in the car. I like her choice of color for the drink and how small and cute the lemon is and how the ice cubes are all lined up.

We walked over to the church to get the car and found that the garage was blocked by another car. There is a mechanic next door who sometimes parks cars in front of our door, so Scott popped in to ask them to move the car while we pulled out. Unfortunately, it wasn't their car.

Fortunately, the driver of the car blocking us had not locked the door of his/her car, so Scott got in, put it in neutral, and with the help of two men at church, we pushed it out of the way. The guys put it back after we got out. Craziness. We drove over towards the school.

Here's a corner view of the church. The garage is way over to the right.

Here's a close-up of the door of the garage with the do not park in front sign clearly marked.

While Scott was stopped at a red light up the street, I ran in to the school to pick up Anna, still mostly on schedule. We wanted to get to the appointment early to allow Anna a little time to recover from the car trip. Unfortunately, Anna wasn't waiting in the office. Someone eventually went up to get her.

While I was waiting, the physical education teacher and the director of the school were talking in the hallway. The p.e. teacher told me about an incident with Anna involving her unwillingness to play American football (which I think is clever on her part; she tried to change places in line so she could play defense instead of offense). If she does it again, she'll miss five minutes of recess. I probably need to have the OT talk with him. The director confirmed a meeting that we have with her Friday afternoon. Finally, Anna came down. She had been painting a pebble after studying prehistoric cave art and had to clean up. Her pebble fell down and broke when she was cleaning up.

We had a few mishaps getting into the car--spilled drink, accidental wack in the head, store-brand Pringles not meeting expecations, and I think someone yelling at us for not moving the car off fast enough (Scott had circled the block several times while waiting; there is no place to park in front). But in the end, we drove off with relatively little drama given what we had all experienced up to this point.

The trip took exactly one hour. There are a few stops for tolls, but otherwise no stops once we are out of Nice. We rang the bell at the office at  4:30, which felt like a small miracle.

This represent all the dangers and barriers on the way to the OT appointment yesterday.

And there was no answer. This was the first time we had traveled without the phone number of the OT with us, so Scott went over to the pharmacy to get the number from a phone book.

While Anna and I waited outside, the OT drove up. She had been meeting with teachers at a nearby school and had gotten stuck in traffic.

The appointment itself went very well. Anna started by showing off her violin and what she learned during her group violin class at school earlier in the day. She was super cooperative; the activities were game-like, so she persisted even when fatigued. 

We discussed the weighted blanket. The jury's still out on how much it's helping, so we will pursue melatonin. It's difficult to get it here, but it works for lots of kids with sensory processing disorder. 

I had to rotate this photo as I took it upside down, then noticed the hearts.

Anna read and then fell asleep in the car on the way home. Scott dropped us off at seven, filled the car with gas, picked up Justin from basketball, and dropped the car off at church.

We are on a waiting list for an OT in a town closer to us; she said maybe in six months. Depending on where her office is located, we could take the bus or train. There is no one doing treatment for sensory processing disorder in Nice, so our Tuesdays will look like this (hopefully minus a few mishaps) for a while.

I think it feels especially crazy because we have lived without a car and have made an effort to keep kids' activities close by--as in walking distance--until now. This drive feels like we're going to the end of the world.

Sleeping with Lentils

I mentioned in a previous post that Anna has always had trouble sleeping. She can lay awake in bed for hours, looking at books, trying to stay still and quiet, coming out to go to the bathroom...at times until midnight. Fear can play into it; she will be fearful of an image from a movie, most recently Wallace and Gromit's The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. We have a big star night light in her room, stick on glowy sheep on her walls and ceiling, evening routines, etc. We've gotten mostly used to it, and Scott, being the patient adult after 9pm in the household, sits in her room with youtube sleep music playing on the computer while she drifts off to sleep.

This summer, as I researched sensory processing disorder and sleeping, I came across weighted blankets as a sleep aid.  Weighted blankets have some kind of heavy filling sewn in them--pellets, beans, lentils--so that their weight is evenly distributed. The theory is that the pressure the blanket gives causes some people to produce neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin which have a calming effect on the body. The blankets are available for sale, but there are instructions online for making them at home as well.

When I read about these, I was discouraged. They aren't cheap. And although the directions for making them are manageable for someone with a sewing machine and experience with this kind of thing, I have neither. The money and/or the hassle would be well worth it if I knew it would work, but there are no guarantees. They work for some kids, not others.

So, at our first face to face meeting with Anna's occupational therapist, we said we would like to prioritize helping Anna get to sleep at night. The occupational therapist went behind a curtain, and came out with this...

The O.T. made it herself, and each square is filled with a precise amount of lentils. It is small, reaching from Anna's chin, just past her feet. She has been sleeping with it for six days now.

Does it work? Well, for now Scott is still sitting in her room with sleepy music playing every night (actually me tonight). But, on the second night, Anna  got into bed before anyone was in her room. She seems to be feeling more secure. And she likes it.

So, we'll wait and see. It would be lovely for her and us if she could pop into bed at night on her own and be asleep within twenty minutes.