Life keeps moving forward, no matter how many times I reach out and try to find the pause button. Nixon's had 3 meet and play sessions with his ABA therapist. They're building a relationship that will expand to more demand-based play. For now they play games and sports during the sessions. Nixon gets frustrated but his therapist works with him and Nixon responds.
One of their session days, our community was getting the weekly lawn care done. It wasn't safe for them to be playing in the yard while the yard guys were mowing, especially because there's always stuff in the grass getting tossed up by the mowers, so I suggested bubbles on our balcony for a bit. However, again lawn guys mowing, I offered Nixon his headphones to help cancel out some of the noise from the lawn mowers.
This is what that looked like:
Nixon also had to go to the dentist last week. That was...not fun. His dentist is amazing! She was wonderful with him, very patient and understanding of his autism diagnosis. I brought my ever-growing bag of tricks, which now also includes a weighted lap pillow, which in a former life was a pillow pet. (One night, a zipper, polybeads and my sewing kit made it all happen)
The end result of the trip was a cleaning, some fluoride, and learning that all future treatments beyond cleanings will be done in a hospital setting under sedation. That is, Nixon will be sedated, not me, though after last week's visit I wouldn't be against a mild sedative for myself.
Unfortunately, Nixon also had an abscess that had drained itself naturally, but his dentist wanted to treat him with a round of antibiotics to be safe. This is for a couple reason but largely because Nixon never mentioned any pain in his mouth at all, and having had an abscess once myself I'm amazed and shocked by that. He registers pain differently which makes treating some ailments harder, like an abscess. He was given amoxacillin in addition to a second, back-up only fill if needed, prescription. Why? Well, I have an allergy to both penicillin and amoxacillin, and my dad has an allergy to penicillin. Nixon's never been on either (never needed one before) and the doctor was understanding of my concerns.
Yep, he had a reaction to the amoxacillin. It started with a stomach ache and the next dose he had a couple blisters form around his mouth, but it took him being on the medication for almost 3 days before the reactions started.
Thank gods for that second prescription!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mac was off this weekend and thanks to a good friend who adores Nixon, he and I had a date for the first time in months. And it was lovely!
Today we had a family date. We went to the Brick Fair in Virginia, not a Lego sponsored event, but lots of Legos there!
Nixon was good, he had a few issues mostly waiting in lines or trying to see displays when people wouldn't move. He did get upset when we were asking him too many questions (we were trying to give him options for items to purchase for him, but it was too much for him). He always managed to stop himself before he got too upset. He'd refocus on something else and deescalate. And in the end, he decided when he was ready to go and asked if we could leave now.
We left.
 |
| Trying to amuse him while waiting to get a clear spot to view the moving setups. |
 |
| Trying so hard to keep it together while waiting to go into the bounce house |
 |
| Nixon bolted from me when he saw this! |
 |
| Sliding a block down the ramp in the play area |
 |
| Good night kisses for my boy, BeBe in hand and fingers in mouth. |
