Vacation Day #4

Oh, this morning was the roughest morning of all! Both boys were bouncing off the walls...and they were driving mom and dad completely nuts! How are kids so easily able to just "push those buttons" that really just irritate the crap out of you? Well...Carson and Logan have perfected it to the tee! They are so good at it that even mom and dad are irritated with each other and everyone around them! Apparently, it's the kids who are in charge and have mom and dad wrapped around THEIR fingers...'cause believe me, this morning, these boys were running the show!

I was trying to fix the boys some pancakes for breakfast, and they were irritating me so bad that I had to go put MYSELF in time out! "Dad, I'm going outside for a breath of fresh air!" I just had to go re-group and "get MY body together" (what I am forever telling the boys to do). You see the thing with this cabin was there was NO place to go to get any sort of privacy. And...that's OK for a cabin, but thank god we have some private, quiet places in our own home!

OK...mom has re-grouped. Let's get these boys some food! OK...we're all doing a little better. Get mom some coffee and some pancakes and I'm ready to go!

The whole time we were on vacation, we did NOT have the boys wear their SPIO suits. I'm not sure why, really. We just didn't. They were outside in their skivvies in and out of the water. They were in a more relaxed environment with less expectations put on them. Maybe we thought that they could just handle things better while on vacation, I don't know. Well, guess what? We were wrong!

After breakfast that morning, I pulled out the SPIO suits and emphatically told both boys to put on their "super suits" (as we call them)! Whine, whine, etc., I didn't care, this was our only hope for saving our day! We put the suits on the boys, then made a b-line for outside. Daddy, we're going to the park...let's go. SPIO suits and the park...is there any better combination for proprioceptive input than that?

For those of you who are not familiar with SPIO suits, check out the section off to the right of this post under "Want to learn about SPD" and look at the two SPIO links to learn more. Also, below are a couple of photos of the boys wearing their SPIO suits...they look like a couple of 007 agents, huh?




The suits and the park really made all the difference! Things slowly looked up from our horrific morning. By the next day, Carson in particular, was a different kid. His ENTIRE demeanor changed...just like we changed a lightbulb (not as quickly), but he was comparable to two complete opposite people...Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

These suits help provide "input" to their bodies...which send messages to their brains that help them organize their brains. Without SPIO, they have a hard time accepting all of the input in their life (expectations of parents, daycare, how to act, what to do with your body, how to filter noise, how to listen, how to focus, how to speak, how to be socially appropriate, etc., etc., etc.,) and having their brains organize/file/sort the information in such a way that they function appropriately. Without SPIO, they can appear as "out of control" boys...the boys that need "better parenting" or boys with ADHD. When you get down to the crux of the matter, that's not it at all. SPD is the issue. I could ramble and ramble forever, but I would hope that you've gotten a glimpse of my message by now. Again, check out the links under "Want to learn more about SPD" to learn more.

So...I digress! Once we got back from the park, we had a lot of fun! The boys caught more fish, Kelly took the boys for kayak rides and Carson actually learned to navigate a kayak BY HIMSELF!





Carson has amazing balance! Once he got a hang of the kayak, he was all over that lake! Dad would periodically have to go after him to re-direct him toward our dock, but all in all...Carson did AWESOME! Never once did his kayak tip or even come close to tipping. IMPRESSIVE for a 4 year old!


Now, Logan's balance is a completely separate issue! As you can tell from previous blog entries...Logan is lacking in the "balance category" as is seen by his many pummels off the dock! Despite that, Logan still had a great time as well. He also has a knack for falling asleep on kayak rides (yep...take a look at that photo one more time!)

Carson caught another fish and he helped Kelly take it off the line to toss back into the lake....the fish didn't survive the trauma! However, Carson found himself a new friend! Yep...the dead fish! He was quite content playing with that dead fish for a while....talking with it ("hello there fishy"), making it do what he wanted, etc., LOVELY!


As the boys napped, Kelly and I packed up the cabin and the van...when the boys woke up we headed back home!...back to our reality! Vacation was fun while it lasted!

It's good to be back home!