Children's Museum

Last week I decided to take the kids to the Chicago Children's Museum at Navy Pier.  We had my nephew Andrew overnight and Mitchell was at camp so I figured it would be a good chance to venture out.  Caroline's friend Jaime knocked on the door in the morning so we brought her along too.  There were 2 vacant seats in the car so had anyone else stopped by they could have joined us as well.  So off we went.

My original plan was to take the train but by the time we got Mitchell to camp we wouldn't be downtown until noon so we took the van.  The kids all behaved very well in the car.  Guess they knew not to mess with the crazy lady driving downtown.

The museum wasn't as crowded as I anticipated considering how the rest of Navy Pier looked.  The kids immediately started climbing and playing and investigating.  From fire safety to circus,  giant dominoes to treehouse and CTA bus.  All the kids really enjoyed themselves.

Steve met us for a bit and was tagged as an Unaccompanied Adult to be sure he did not leave with any children.  Creepy old guy coming to museum by himself.

We left the museum to eat lunch in the Navy Pier eatery.  Our lunch bill was not as high as the $200 Steve projected but its nice how certain McD's don't follow the special prices you fund everywhere else.

Watching stupid people who can't read

After a little more time having fun, dad had to go back to work and we stayed as late as we could before heading home to take Mitchell to therapy.  We picked up cotton candy of course on the way out.  Driving home I was reminded of the video I saw of guys singing the Gotye song "Somebody That I Used To Know".  All the kids were jamming and none were singing the right words.  I tried to video it (yes as I was maneuvering on the Ryan) but everyone stopped when they saw the camera.

After taking Mitchell to the zoo or even a park and chasing him around, it is a cakewalk taking 5 neuro-typical children into the city. 

Body Parts

As long as I can remember Mitchell has never been able to point to a body part when asked.  He probably was able to point to his head or belly button before Autism took over at 15 months but I didn't note this accomplishment, looking back I should have.  This goal has been on his IEP for 3 1/2 yrs and I was just saying after we received the summer school report that it's still there and he probably won't ever be able to identify them and I wasn't all that concerned.  Imitating is not Mitchell's strong suit and we have bigger fish to fry, right? 

Well yesterday at therapy we had a break-through and Mitchell pointed to his eye, nose, stomach, ear when asked to.  Julie, his therapist and the director at By Your Side, was so excited that he finally responded to the prompts.  This is such great a milestone for him!  At home last night he repeated the feat with Steve and even wiggled his fingers by his ears when Steve did it.  This is just amazing to see.  I am tearing up as I write this because my little boy is simply doing something any typical 2 yr can do but he has struggled so hard with.  I can't wait for school to start and we can remove this from his IEP.  It's a good day for the Iveys!

Melatonin

I have been going back and forth for about a year wondering if we should help Mitchell with his sleep or wait until it works itself out. As far as kids with Autism he is considered a good sleeper. Many kids on the spectrum only sleep 2-3 a night, every night. He goes in spurts where he wakes up in the middle of night for hours but it is inconsistent and the same is true for his bedtime which fluctuates between 9pm & 11pm. Several months ago he was in the routine of putting himself to bed at 8:30pm. So due to the changes in has sleep patterns I wasn't sure medicating him at night was the answer, he just seems to need a different schedule every so often.

Well in recent months we have all become tired of not sleeping like normal people. Mitchell will stay up sometimes until midnight and wide awake too. Fighting him doesn't do any good, he's either going to sleep or he's not. Steve does not have the patience to lay with him for hours and if I do then I fall asleep with him and have to get up early to get Grace when she wakes and wants to be moved to another room (whole other issue.) It's just easiest to let him tire and want to go to bed, plus he gets all the sleep his body needs, not lethargic during the day at all -hence nicknamed energizer bunny.

I had heard of melatonin about 9 months ago and thought it was crazy to drug your child to sleep but have since changed my view. After researching it myself and talking to parents who have used it I warmed up to the idea. Today I called the health food store and they were out so we went to CVS & Walgreens before we found the liquid form. I decided we should try it before school starts in case there were any adverse affects or we need to adjust the dosage.


So how did it go? At 8:26pm I added 1mg to Mitchell's juice and watched him slooooowly drink it. He tossed it to the side a few times so I tried it in case it tasted bad but it was fine. With half his cup left at 9:11pm he grabbed my hand to go to bed! Beginners luck? I'm not sure but I'll take it with a smile. I'll let you know how it goes.

Supposedly it only take 20-30 minutes to set in and it seems pretty accurate. My only concern is that Ethyl Alchohol is the preservative used in the liquid form. I looked it up and it appears to be a safe common preservative. I read most liquid forms of melantonin contain this but I'll check the health food store when they get their supply in. I also read melantonin supplements have been known to stop the beginning of Alzheimer's which I found interesting because Autism and Alzheimer's have many similarities. Could it be a lack of melantonin? Could be a start in the right direction. Of anyone has anything to add about melantonin let me know.

Recycle, disposer, garbage..which one?

So Grace is getting a little confused by all this new age crap.  She watches me go through the day throwing various items into the recycle bin, driving electronics to the electronic recycle facility, grind up food in the garbage disposer, toss trash into the garbage and yell at dad Steve because he can't seem to get it right. It's not rocket science!  Oh and old medicines get bagged up and taken the medicine incinerator drop off facility. 

They teach about recycling in school now, although it is rumored that the school does not practice what it teaches and sends everything to the dump.  The older kids can tell you plastics, aluminum, glass and paper go in the recycle but then we change the rules when we have parties and it all goes into the trash.  My rule of thumb is most foods can go into the disposer unless I think it will just gunk up the inside.  The rest is left for the trash.

Today Grace picked a block of cheese out of the fridge and I told it was old and needed to be thrown away. "you mean recycled" she says.  Nope it's food and yucky so we are going to throw it into the garbage.  A bit later she finished her apple and holding the core said "garbage?"  when I told her no she said "but it's food and yucky" so I told her it can go into the sink to be ground up in the disposer.  She gave me such a strange look, shrugged and tossed it into the sink.

I want to add a compost bin to the mix eventually but I can only imagine what might be placed in it by my family members.  I know many cities don't offer a recycling option so I am happy that our family is learning together how make our planet last a while longer even if it does make me look like a crazy woman in my own home.

I am not an Expert

Occasionally I catch a preview of Inside Edition, while watching Geberal Hospital, that grabs my attention so I record that too after GH. Tonight I watched I think it was Wednesdays episode (can't remember why now) and saw a story about Jenny McCarthy moving bank to Chicago. My first reaction is oh great, now she's going to be here full time spewing her "knowledge" of autism and letting everyone know how they too can cure their children. I don't blame Jenny for wanting to share her happy ending story, I would too if I had one, but I just don't want to see her all over the local news now because she's come back to town.

Anyhow it got me thinking about how she thinks she's an expert in Autism and how ibthink I know about the same amount if information she does and I don't claim to be an expert on Autism but I am an expert on Mitchell and his Autism. I know Mitchell inside and out and what makes him meltdown and what makes him cooperate. I know what strategies work for him and which ones don't. This is exactly what I would tell someone if they asked my opinion, not that they need to do everything we do or else their child will be a failure.

Right on cue, I get a FB message tonight from a gal I don't ever see anymore whose son has just been diagnosed. I am humbled the think people actually respect my opinion in the matter of Autism. I am happy to know I am an open book and have allowed people into our lives enough to see who we are and that we have stories to share and help to offer.

Messages like the one I receive confirm why I talk about Mitchell do much and how we as a family operate (disfunctional as it may be). I love that I can help someone else feel not so alone as others have done for me in the past and continue to do. I am not an Autism expert but I am an expert on who we are today, right now, being reeducated all the time.

Great Clips Responses

I am pretty impressed that I received response from Great Clips the same day I sent my email.  Looks like I got my point across :)

*1st*
Dear  Jen,

Thank you for sharing your comments about the service you recently received at the Great Clips salon.  Our promise is to serve our customers with the highest level of quality, and we appreciate your feedback, which is critical to helping us keep this promise.

The GREAT CLIPS salon you visited is a franchise, and is independently owned.  However, as the franchisor, our primary goal is to ensure good, consistent service at every location.  We will contact the owner of the salon about your experience, and you can be assured they will appreciate your feedback and will have a representative be in touch with you very soon.

Please accept our apology for your inconvenience.  We value your business and hope you will give us another try.

Very truly yours,
Customer Service








*2nd*

Hi Jen;

 

My name is Dave Kerlagon and I own the Great Clips in Lockport as well as five other salons.

 

Let me first start out by apologizing for your recent visit. You our correct when you say that the conversation you overheard was inappropriate for our salon. We do not gossip or talk about inappropriate or controversial topics in our salons. For this I do sincerely apologize. I will certainly have a conversation with Jenn regarding this topic. I do not know what else I can say or what I can do for you. You are right, and I have no explanation or excuse that would be acceptable because this type of conversation is not tolerated. I appreciate you bringing this to my attention and feel that maybe it is time for me to reiterate our policies, procedures and basic etiquette to my whole organization.

 

Thanks again! However, on a similar topic, all of our salons certainly do service autistic children. Our stylists (for the most part, and obviously not in this situation) are patient, gentle, sensitive and know how to deal with these children. Personally, my step daughter has an autistic son. I have seen the struggles, understand and am sensitive to this situation first hand.

 

All the best to you and your family! If there is anything personally that I can do, please do not hesitate to call. Although Great Clips does not accept appointments, I have in our salons taken appointments for autistic children, as I understand the difficulty not only for the child but for the parents as well.

 

Again, my sincere apologies.

 

Dave Kerlagon

630-648-9798