Sensory overload

First a couple of funnies...

Katie Rose got out a pack of Joseph's diapers. I was busy with laundry so I just let her be. I came back to the living room and she had them lined up side by side all across the length of the room. She was covered in a blanket beside them and exclaimed, "It's a pajama party!" I really do question why in the world we buy the kids toys. The best games to them seem to be using just regular stuff they find.

I swear the older boys see my mouth moving but do not hear what comes out sometimes. We were leaving the grocery store. When I got to the light, I switched to the lane to go straight because the turn lane was changing to yellow and I wanted to get home by a side road rather than wait for another light. David said, "We're going to Para (the building with the local library branch and swimming pools)!" I explained my reasoning for taking a different way. As soon as I finish with my explanation, James pipes up, "We're going to the library?" I just hung my head and David got so tickled over it. Repetition is definitely necessary. Who knows what they got the first time?

Katie Rose went inside and participated in her first Taekwondo class. We had tried several times before but she was not having any of it. I was so disappointed because she would practice punches and kicks with the boys at home. We gave up for a little while but after watching her interact with a little girl at the park, I wondered if maybe she was up for taekwondo now.

We went to class and Mr. S came up to her to try to put on her belt. She ran over to the seats and would not get up. He said to have her come in when she was ready. Instead of trying to convince her to go inside, I went over and sat down with her to watch the other little kids in class. They were doing lots of jumps. I was asking her, "Doesn't that look fun?" We sat for a few minutes and I decided to take it one step at a time. I asked if she wanted to put on her belt. She enthusiastically said, "Yeah!" James helped me get her belt tied. I asked if she wanted to go in with the other children and she started walking towards the training room door.

Mr. S came to the door to greet her and all of a sudden, she was not going in. I realized that it must be intimidating to her. Mr. S is a tall man that simply looks like a kind instructor to us but to Katie Rose, he must look like a giant. I asked if I could go in and sit with her in the back of the class. They agreed so we sat down and Katie Rose clung to me. The noise level was severe. They encourage the children to yell, "Yes, sir!" and the room seems to amplify the sound. Katie Rose has improved so much in language and social skills that I'm sure that she would never qualify for an official autism diagnosis but I can see the sensory processing is still a challenge. But I'm so proud of her for trying to overcome it.

I prompted her to participate in the stretches that the other children were doing. When the children lined up, I asked Katie Rose if she wanted to sit with the other children and she looked back several times but ended up lining up and then participating in the rest of the class with a few prompts from the instructors. I even saw her mouth move when they yelled, "Yes, sir!" I don't think any sound came out but she knew what she was supposed to do.

I sat inside the class for a few minutes so that she could look back to me for confidence. So thankful that Joseph was asleep so it was easy for the older boys to look after him. And thankful that John Micah didn't pitch a fit that he couldn't go into the training room. He still has a year and a half before he can take a class. But he's already copying the stances. After watching the boys for another year and a half, he'll be quite advanced starting out.

We gave Katie Rose a lot of praise afterwards and when Daddy got home. This morning, she brought me her white belt and talked about her sticker which says, "Future BlackBelt." Starting out this early, who knows how far she'll go!