"I want my soft pants!!!!!"

Okay, I need to journal a bit more about Bailey's condition.  

When we got back from NC he had a rough time adjusting, and I wrote about that on the other site.  All has been very calm the past 2 weeks, but his teacher and I decided that if he had another bad day, she would call and I'd come right away.  

Yesterday I got a call from his teacher saying that he was having a rough day.  The only problem was I was in the middle of teaching at PWOC.  

By the time I was done teaching it was time for me to pick him up.  I headed over there and the teacher, Bailey, and I had a conference.  He had hit one of the children (thankfully it was a child we know and I was able to apologize to his mom...she just roller her eyes and said, "Boys will be boys!! No big deal!").  Still, it broke my heart for Bailey to have been a bully.  

As we were about to leave, his teacher said, "I wonder if he's coming down with something.  He was very whiney today."  

That's when it hit me.  There had been an "incident" at home that may have been partly responsible for his strange behavior.

With his condition - Sensory Processing Disorder - things that feel different on his body (shoes, socks, pants, coats, etc) can stress his body out without him even knowing it.  For the past 2 years, he's been especially fond of his "blue pants" which are jeans.  I have been so thankful that our church is a causal one, because he only wore jeans. 

When we went  back home over Christmas he got some "soft pants."  These were wind suits, sort of like what basketball players wear.  I didn't mind, and neither did Bailey.  I didn't notice anything wrong with him having these until Sunday when I told him he needed to wear jeans to church. He threw a massive fit and because I was on the phone with Matt and running late, I just gave in.  But I resolved to break him of this new addiction.  (As a parent of a child with SPD, I have to pick my battles, and this is one I'm willing to fight.)  

Let me preface the following with a fact so that you don't think what I'm about to say is just horrible.  About 2 years ago, my three unique sons decided they were done with pj's.  They began getting out of the bath in the evenings and putting on their clean clothes for the next day.  Monday evening I told Bailey all his "soft pants" were dirty and that he was going to have to wear "blue pants."  (I decided it was better to get the battle out of the way the night before school and that way he'd be used to the pants by time to leave home.)  He had an absolute meltdown. He screamed and cried for about 30 minutes.  I did the brushing technique that I have been taught by the OT, I put lotion on him, I rubbed his back, nothing would console him.  I told him that if he didn't sleep in the jeans that he wouldn't get to listen to Adventures in Odyssey while falling asleep.  That's a kid's CD of Bible Stories my kids absolutely LOVE!!!  Anyway, he finally settled, I turned on the CD, and he went to sleep.  

All seemed fine and he never complained the next morning.  In fact, I was rather proud of myself for thinking ahead and getting the battle out of the way the night before.  

However, a friend and I were discussing this screaming fit, as her son has SPD as well, and even more severely than Bailey.  Basically, even though Bailey was not conscious of the pants bothering him, they could have still be wreaking havoc on his nervous system as it was trying to get adjusted to them again.  

Then, to top it all off, he vomited last night in his bed, so he has come down with something on top of that.  (Not that I'm glad he is sick, but it is a bit relieving to have a set of reasons to explain Bailey's behavior yesterday.)

Oh, and he did not get to listen to his CD last night before bed, and he cried for a few minutes.  He will remember that next time I use it as a warning!

One final note:  Matt is in Kuwait, so he could be home as early as tomorrow or as late as Saturday.  I'm telling the boys he'll be home sometime next week, to provide a buffer. 

Here is a series of prayer requests:

• That Bailey stays well from now on.
• That no one else gets sick
• That Bailey adjusts to his "blue pants"
• That Matt's flight from Kuwait is SOON but more importantly, safe.
• That there are no delays as he travels home.  One of our friends had a 10 day layover in Spain due to plane trouble
• That our reintegration is smooth!  

You are a blessing to our family!

~Jennifer