Getting Artsy

I am still trying to catch up on summer posts.  Hopefully, I'll be done before Thanksgiving. Argh.  But here is one coming at you, chock full of photos!

This summer, Lochlan and I participated in a parent-toddler art class at the Perot Museum of Science in Dallas.  The museum is about a 45 minute drive from our house, but I wanted to do some mommy-son activities with him while I was home in the summer SO I committed us to eight weeks of Monday morning art classes.
The children in the class ranged in age from one to almost three years old and the class was comprised mostly of girls.  There was only one other boy besides Lochlan.  I wonder why this was the case.... do mothers already decide that art is too "girly" for their sons at such a young age?  That would be a disappointing conclusion to draw about gender stereotyping.

I have so much to say about our experience at art class that it's hard to know where to start.  Here's an overview of the structure: Each class began with circle time where we sang a welcome song that greeted each student by name.  Then the museum instructor explained the day's art project to us.  The course had a food theme to it, so all the projects we created were centered around the concept of desserts or sweet treats.  After the circle time, we would proceed to gathering our materials and working on the art. Class concluded with a parachute song and some musical instrument/song time.

Sometimes I think I must have been on drugs when I signed us up for this class.  Did I really think I'd be able to corral Lochlan and get him to participate in such a normal setting?  Our first art class together was a huge wakeup call to the challenges I'd be up against. 
Well, for starters, circle time was NOT his thing.  Lochlan loves to be mobile, so it took every ounce of strength I had to keep him in my lap.  I was actually sore throughout my body the next day!  I noticed the other mothers looking at my subtle attempts to wrestle him back down each week.  I got wise after awhile and started giving him my cell phone to look at so he would be more likely to stay put. 

The art projects themselves were hit and miss with him.  He didn't mind getting his hands messy, so that was a plus.  I'm glad he doesn't have extreme sensory issues.  He was actually rather intrigued by the different materials we used, such as paint, puffy glue paint, shaving cream, etc.  Sometimes he stayed in his chair, others times he would make a break for the door if I wasn't watching him like a hawk. 

Getting to him to use the materials as intended was difficult.  I did a lot of hand-over-hand with him.  Probably the most discouraging thing was his tendency to eat paint if I turned my head for even a second!  One time, I looked at him and to my horror, saw that he had stuffed a paintbrush loaded with gobs of thick paint into his mouth.  There was seriously red paint oozing out of his lips.  To the sink we sped, to wash his mouth out.  

Another time, he got mad that I took his paintbrush from him before he could eat it.  So what did he bite instead? Mommy's hand!  Sigh.  He RARELY bites but boy, that one was a doozy. 

And in general, I left every art class sweaty and completely covered in paint from all the wrangling I did with Lochlan.

Ok, but the positives are we made a few cute art projects.  

 Oh and parachute/music time.  Lochlan LOVES parachutes.  He always started beaming as soon as the parachute came out. He liked to mess around with the musical instruments as well.

I guess, overall, I am just proud that I attempted and survived this art class. I felt like a mommy warrior each week.  And I'm glad I got some quality time with my little guy. He looked REALLY cute in his smock.  :)

P.S. The Perot Museum has the best sweet potato fries EVER.  

Boston Children's Museum

I am doing some of my posts out of order but I am trying to catch up on some of our summer activities before we head further into fall!

In mid-July, we took a trip to Massachusetts.  The flight was about 3.5 hours from DFW to Boston, which made it Lochlan's longest flight to date.  We flew JetBlue, which was so wonderful.  (I wish they would expand their offerings from DFW!) I had been worried about whether Lochlan would fuss on the flight but he did pretty well.  We had lots of snacks, books, little toys (if you are ever taking a toddler on a plane, definitely bring a mini-slinky!) and of course, our iPad.  Lochlan's favorite app is called Paint Sparkles and it will settle him down anytime he is rowdy!

We spent the first day of our trip in Boston itself, before heading out to Cape Cod.  While in Boston, we met up with one of my college roommates, Marie, her husband Dan, and their two-year-old daughter Rita.  Marie and I haven't gotten to see each other a whole lot since graduating Vassar, so it is always good when we can catch up.  She and Dan were actually finishing a week in Cape Cod themselves and we were happy that our trips to MA overlapped by a day!

We decided to take the kiddos to Boston Children's Museum.  I LOVE children's museums in general so this was an easy choice.  The museum has a unique layout and each floor is packed with activities that will appeal to kids of different ages.  Our toddlers were pretty interested in the bubble making section where they got very soapy!  We also took them to another floor that had a special area for kids under three.  There were slides, cars, bead mazes, play kitchens, and lots of other fun things for toddlers.  Lochlan seemed kind of oblivious of Rita but he was excited to run around and explore the museum.  

We will definitely return to this museum again on future trips to MA!

Dixie Cups

Tonight I am in tears over Dixie cups.

But let me backtrack..

I am wrapping up my first week back at work teaching third grade.  It's been hectic and in the midst of all the craziness, we had Lochlan's Meet the Teacher night at his church preschool this evening.

When I sat down the other night to fill out a child information form in preparation for Meet the Teacher Night, the sadness set in.  The form had typical questions like: What does your child like to play with indoors? Outdoors? Does he nap? Does he sleep through the night? etc etc.  
The questions about playing were hard for me.  In truth, Lochlan doesn't really know HOW to play with very many things.  He has to be taught how to play, along with pretty much every other skill that other two-year-olds naturally acquire.  
Lochlan started an ABA (applied behavior analysis) program this summer where he does 6 hours a week one-on-one with a board certified behavior analyst (BCBA).  My husband's insurance doesn't cover ABA at all so I am waiting for my school insurance to kick in at some point to cover at least part of the cost.  I don't even want to tell you how much we are paying each week out of pocket right now.  It is sickening.  HOWEVER, so far, I feel it is well worth the money.  Our BCBA, Ms. A, (I'll call her that for privacy) is wonderful and I have seen some progress already in Lochlan's ability to focus and his imitation skills.  Eventually, we will try to get him going for the recommended 20 hours a week but for now, M-W-F for 2 hours each session is all he can manage.  I took him while I could during the summer, and now it is my parents who will be taking him three times a week.  The other two days a week, he will be going to his church preschool.  We hope that exposure to other children and participation in the fun activities there will be beneficial to his development and give him an opportunity to practice his skills.

Well, back to the school form.  Lochlan doesn't know how to play with much and we continually work on teaching him to play with things like blocks and stacking pegs.  He has some interest in puzzles but most of the time, left to his own devices, he will find a door on a dollhouse in a playroom and open/shut the door until someone diverts his attention.  As for outside play, if I was being honest, I would have written that his favorite outdoor activity is chasing his shadow and laughing at it.  Sigh.  Instead, I wrote slides and splashpads, because he does like those too..Does he sleep through the night? Yeah, most nights.. Except for those random nights when he wakes up screaming uncontrollably for no apparent reason and it takes both me and Sachin working in conjunction over the course of 40 minutes to make him stop.  (How? Usually a combination of Sachin restraining his kicking/flailing while I blearily sing a cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" that he really likes.  That's how we roll at 3 am in KamathLand).

I decided to write a separate attachment for his school form so that his teachers in the 2 yr old room are fully aware of his special needs and the assistance he may require.  Writing that attachment was really painful.  Actually, it is hard for me to find words to tell you how extraordinarily painful it was.  Writing down in detail all the ways my little guy departs from the norm HURTS.  Acknowledging his poor motor coordination, his propensity to eat paint, his inconsistent napping, his complete lack of conventional speech, etc etc really made my heart HURT.

Did I write down positives about him? Of course.  I wrote about how they will find him to be a peaceful, easy-going little boy.  I wrote about his how joyful shrieks and delighted smiles are heartwarming when he is happy.  I wrote about his love of music and how it is a great way to get him interacting and attending.

But my heart still ached.  Tonight, we met his teachers at the school.  They seem very friendly and kind.  But the packet of information I brought home from Meet the Teacher night let loose another wave of heartache and concern.  One of the items on the papers mentioned that we don't need to send sippy cups because they will have the kids drink out of Dixie cups.

Dixie cups? Lochlan has ZERO ability to do that right now.  He doesn't know how to hold a cup, even a small one like that.  He would only squish it or tip it over.  And even if he managed to pick it up, he wouldn't understand how to sip water without spilling it all over himself.  
I know that if I let his teachers know this, they will say it's fine to stick with his straw cups for now.  But that's not the point.  The point is that I feel that he is at an age where he should be learning these skills.  And I don't even know how to really teach them to him.  Yes, we will start by buying some Dixie cups and working on getting him to hold them.  But I am anxious.  And don't even get me started on the potty training handout they provided!

I truly have the anxiety of a special needs parent now.  I LOVE my son and we see great qualities in him.  But I worry so much that others will only see his deficiencies, his differences, and view him as a burden.  I worry that others will be impatient and frustrated when he doesn't look at them, doesn't come when they line up, doesn't carry his backpack to his cubby, etc.  I pray that his teachers this year (and in the future) are able to love him and that they are patient with him.  

I once read a quote for teachers that said, "Every child in your class is someone's whole world."  How incredibly true and how worth remembering.  As a teacher myself, I know it's easy to lose sight of that sometimes, but as Lochlan's mommy, I can tell you that he is my world and I want him to always have teachers that are gentle and loving and appreciative of him.  I urge all my teacher friends, now as we are starting a new school year, let's remember this quote and particularly for our special needs kids, our quirky kids, our "odd ducks," let's be compassionate and understanding when their parents seem overly anxious (because hey, I AM that parent now) and let's open our hearts to those kiddos.  Not see them as an obligation, a test score, whatever.  Let's remember to see them as someone's whole world.

Wish me luck on the Dixie cups, friends.

Baby Bugs

I made the decision earlier in the spring to sign Lochlan up for some summer classes to help get him out of the house and expose him to new things.  One of the classes we signed up for was called Baby Bugs.  It was a four session class for children 18 mos-3 years old offered this summer at the Dallas Arboretum.  Though Lochlan fell right in the middle of the age range, his skill levels are behind the group but since it is a parent-and-child class, we figured one of us would be there to assist him with activities anyway.

Originally I was going to take him to these Arboretum classes, but Sachin ended up doing them as I was still working the first week and later had my hands full enough with the other class we signed him up for.
So I don't really have much information to offer about the Baby Bugs classes since I wasn't there, but Sachin took a few photos from a couple of the sessions.  Each week has a theme, like "Marvelous Mud."  Basically, the Arboretum staff does a song, a nature craft, a hands-on activity, and a nature walk.  The "nature walks," according to Sachin, were kind of the low point because the toddlers were all less than thrilled about going out in the heat.  (The course we attended was during month of June and it started to heat up pretty early in the morning!) From what Sachin told me, the sensory components were interesting to Lochlan.  Working with different textures and getting his hands messy is appealing to him.  I have a Pinterest board full of sensory activities- I better get on that!

Overall, I like the concept of the summer program offerings at the Arboretum, but I'd be more likely to participate in them if they were offered during fall or spring weekends.

*Kudos to Sachin for taking Lochlan to these classes and being the only dad there!  

Here are the unedited smartphone pics that Sachin took.

C.R. Smith Museum

We had a busy Fourth of July weekend.  Sachin's mom and uncle came over from North Carolina and spent time visiting with us and Lochlan.  
We decided to take an afternoon trip to the American Airlines C.R. Smith Museum in Fort Worth.  I had heard that it had some activities for young kids and we are always looking for things to do with Lochlan so we thought we'd check it out.  
There is a Lego exhibit at the museum that Lochlan enjoyed.  He dove right into the bins of Legos without hesitation.  He did, however, get a little nervous about the crashing sounds coming from a racetrack at the exhibit where kids can send Lego cars racing down ramps.  Every time a car crashed at the end of the ramp, Lochlan did a weird little marching hop.  I've learned that he does that when he is nervous about a loud sound, which really isn't that often.  I guess we are lucky that his sensory issues aren't too bad right now.  He is generally more of a sensory seeker than a sensory avoider anyway.  
Side note-- Lochlan's issues have really led me to examine my own history, and I am starting to realize that I have had sensory avoidant issues in my life, albeit on a milder level, relating to smells, textures, and sounds.  When I was a child, I really disliked working with crayons and avoided PlayDoh at all costs because I hated the way they smelled.  I can't stand scented candles and have a hard time being near anyone wearing perfume.  I never wanted to put on Chapstick or Vaseline on my lips because of the greasy way they felt and never wanted to use sunblock on my skin for the same reason.  And I recall on several occasions having to leave concerts because I felt that they were too loud for me to deal with.  Maybe we all have stories of sensory issues or overload such as this, but like I said, Lochlan's experiences have made me go searching in my past..
  
Anyway, back to our little outing.  I think Lochlan's favorite part of the museum was an open area on one side where there was room for him to run around.  His grandma had fun playing with him there, too.  That part of the museum had beautiful lighting so of course, I took a lot of photos.  
The museum has some other cute features too- a part where you can do rubbings with crayons of different aircraft, a big board where you can test your knowledge of all the 3-digit airport codes (I admit, I choked under pressure), and a really nice gift shop.  I hope that one day, Lochlan will start to like pretend play better.  When he does, I have my eye on a cute little airplane/airport set for him!

Here are some pictures from our visit to the American Airlines museum.

CRASH!

Lochlan likes to press anything that is a circle.