Simmi has been doing great as long as we keep her in her room with the curtain and blanket covering the window. She only had one difficult morning a few days ago. She wouldn’t get up from her pillow and I had to get into the crib and hold her till she stopped crying. She was a little “off” that day, but she still was very pleasant.
Both yesterday and today we had to endure some pretty heavy teeth grinding. It goes right through me when she grinds them and I can hear it from across the room.
She’s picked up a few more words and today when the speech therapist came, she was VERY talkative. I’ll be sure to post her session tomorrow. It was too cute. She had a little trouble focusing on looking at a book, but she enjoyed the other activities they did.
I have had a little more freedom over the last week and I’m starting to feel normal again. I’m still amazed what Simmi used to endure (and what we had to endure) when the house is full of light. We did take her into the rest of the a few times during the day, but it always results in her running all over the place and then not wanting to walk at all and screaming. Its not a happy scream either. It takes a little time before she gets to the point where she is totally irrational, but even the moments that lead up to the screaming get pretty annoying. I can only imagine what it must be like for her. I wish she could tell me how or what she is feeling. We’re trying to help her understand when she gets irrational by asking if she wants to go into her room or leave another area of the house because it is too bright for her. She is learning to nod her head yes to those kinds of questions. I’ve also tried to allow more light into her room by keeping her door open. When she starts getting agitated and starts pacing the floor, I’ll say “Do you want to close the door?” She’ll go and close it and within a minute she will let out a sigh and be ok again. I’m so glad to know that she doesn’t have some sort of behavioral problems. I used to think “What the heck does this child want or need? Why does she get so confused and nothing pleases her?” After being in a dark room with her for a week, I can honestly say that she doesn’t have behavioral issues…except for when she is in the light or is overwhelmed because we are doing and saying too much around her. If we keep things very calm, slow, and lower our voices, she responds beautifully.
Our next step is to get her in to see another eye specialist. Someone recommended I take her to a doctor that specializes in Retinal disorders. She is clearly photophobic and we need to get to the bottom of why she has such a strong aversion to light. Over the last two years of her life, she has had to endure the light but we didn’t think that it was affecting her as much as it was. Children learn to adjust, but how much adjusting did she really accomplish? She’s learning more now than at any other time in her life. I love watching her blossom and bloom. All of us look forward to each day as a new adventure in learning. We need to keep it real simple for her, but that’s ok.
Tags: tooth grinding
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