Why I sometimes use the TV as a babysitter.

Sam has a lot of meltdowns. To anyone who ever met him as an infant this probably comes as no surprise. Thanks to severe reflux, he was screamy for the first seven months of his life.* Thanks to sheer cussedness, he's a screamy toddler. He has spent most of this week screaming his heart out because his cruel and unfeeling mother won't do things like let him play with the stove, carry around my best cooking tools and climb up and down stairs at will while I am not looking. Instead I make him do things like wear shoes outside, have his diaper changed and eat something other than blueberries for dinner. The horror!

I know that every child has meltdowns, especially when they're toddlers but I want you to believe me when I say that this is beyond normal. 90% of every day this week has been a mental breakdown of some sort. When the Child Watch coordinator called me to set up Sam's speech evaluation appointment (Feb 4th) she mentioned that I would need to drive him to their office for the evaluation, which is about 45 minutes north of us. I expressed my frustration at the fact that no one will come to the house (apparently they don't do that for evals which I guess I can understand) and mentioned that Sam + carseat = nothing but screaming the whole way. I explained that we can listen to about one song between our house and the Wal-Mart and even that's enough to make him scream most days. The lady on the other end of the phone was lovely and very tactful as she suggested that Sam might have some sensory issues as well. I think she's right on the money. While I don't think Sam's got full-fledged Sensory Processing Disorder, I can see that he definitely has some sensory issues that other kids just don't. That's probably the reason he loses it for every diaper change (and now you know why we're trying potty training so early.) It seems like every day brings some new challenege to my boy that he can't handle, whether it's making himself understood or suffering through a sensation that is uncomfortable to him, he clearly needs help.

And I need him to get help too because a screamy child all day makes for a very shouty, bad-tempered mother. I want to give him what he wants but so often handing him the object he's been desiring simply causes him to collapse on the floor and scream until tears are streaming down his face. He is a bright and beautiful little boy (maybe too bright) but he's never been a laid back kid. If we don't get some help now, I'm afraid he'll be completely out of control in a few years. Right now, Feb. 4th can't come fast enough for anyone in this house.



*One nice lady at our church remarks on how big Sam is every time she sees him. Then she follows that up with a wide-eyed expression and says "I don't know how you made it through his infancy. I really don't. That was horrible!" It makes me feel kind of validated.