I also found this really interesting therapy tool called the Hot Diggity Dog while I was there. It's an aromatherapy stuffed animal that goes around your neck that is scented with Cinnamon, Eucalyptus and Clove. It can be put in the microwave and warmed up or in the freezer for cooler comfort and can be machined wash and dryed. It also comes in a teddy bear called Buddy Bear, and a cat called Cozy Cat. I'm going to ask his therapists what they think if it might help soothe Noah when he's distraught and is on sensory overload. They are a little pricy, so I want to make sure if I make the investment that it will be something that might really help Noah.
Hopefully this is all just a phase that I can get Noah through. I remember having to bounce and constantly move him as an infant to soothe him, and give him vestibular motion that he needed. I thought those were hard days, and now I've moved into another hard phase. I can't bargin with Noah, I can't negotiate with him to be calm, or coax him with a cookie or a treat. I admit there are days when I just want to cry with him because I don't know what to do, or can't figure it out fast enough. And I wish in everyway it was different for him. I want to make him all better in an instant. I want everything I'm trying and doing to be working. All really all I can do is turn it over to God, so much of it is simply out of my hands.
Granted Noah still needs vestibular motion, which we do in therapy or at home. We still rely heavily upon platform swings and bouncy balls. Still all the while working on head and trunk control, and trying to get him to balance to sit. It's really exhausting sometimes, but I'm so glad Chris is my other half. He participates equally in helping Noah. Even though I'm the one primarily taking him to therapy or am here with his in-home therapists, Chris still comes home after working and helps him play with knobbed puzzles, hold triangular crayons, and work with speech on his Ipad. He spends a large amount of his weekend being my right hand, we take turns doing this dance of taking care of home repairs, therapy with Noah, grocery shopping and finding a way to at least get the laundry done, even if it seems to pile up clean on a bed for days at a time. I don't know how we find a way to make it work some days but we do. It's a marriage filled with love, and we're in perfect harmony of doing what just needs to be done. Each of us rarely complains and if we do, it never has an ounce to do with Noah - it's usually related to economical or insurance circumstances. We always wish that we could change things for the better not only for Noah but for all that are like him.
We're hoping the essential oil that I bought will make a difference, it's still too early to tell if it will have any kind of an impact. I know I can't expect this to get better overnight. But hopefully with time I'll be able to get Noah to work through this. Thank you all for continuing to pray for Noah and our family.
Love,
Noah's Miracle by Stacy Warden is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.