But now I feel up to writing. So I will call an end to my hiatus. And try to get back into writing to some degree of regularity.
A couple of weeks ago, my "little" family of five and my parents journeyed to the Outer Banks for a vacation. My family hadn't been since 2011 so Elisabeth had never gone. It was an adventure, that's for sure. Elisabeth hated the beach. Hated the sand. Hated the ocean. Hated the sun and the wind. She didn't like being away from home and sleeping in a pack-n-play. She didn't like having to ride in the car for a long time. All in all, she wasn't a fan of the whole vacation experience.
At Evie's next therapy session, we mentioned Elisabeth's negative beach feelings to the therapist. It raised some red flags for her and after some further questioning, she recommended that we have Elisabeth evaluated and potentially start her in therapy for Sensory Processing Disorder.
On one hand, it certainly explains a lot of the issues we have had with Elisabeth. Things that we thought/hoped might just be her personality. Things we thought were just a phase. Things we hoped she would just outgrow. Knowing she has SPD (if she does) would give us the tools to handle her and a piece of support to help her. However, it would mean two of our three have it and it breaks my heart for poor little Elly.
Sweet little Ellynor, who already puts her sisters before herself to a fault. Selfless and kind, more than many children and especially uncommon when compared to a lot of other three-year-old's. Not only is she the middle and somewhat preordained to be left out and forgotten, but then with both sisters having "special needs" her needs will be even further overshadowed.
When Elly and Buffy share these sort of tender moments, it just makes me want to scoop Elly up and make her understand how wonderful and precious she is. She dotes over this baby, even when the baby is screaming and throwing toys and being pretty much as ugly as a toddler can be.
The therapist was asking me questions this past week about Elisabeth's outbursts and issues. She wanted to know if they were a typical toddler tantrum or more of an SPD meltdown. And I had to admit I wasn't sure. When Evie was a toddler, I thought her tantrums were normal. I mean, they were awful and scary and seemed way worse than the parenting books made them out to be. But isn't everything in real life worse than how it seems in black and white? Everything with Evie was. So I just chalked it up to one more thing on the list. Elly has always been Evie's polar opposite. I don't know if it's because she is "normal" or if she's just a really fabulous kid. I mean, beyond the obvious fabulousness of her. An exceptionally well-behaved kid. So, whereas Elisabeth's behavior runs a lot closer to Evie's, it's hard for me to say how far she is outside the realm of "normal."
So, next week, I will be going through another long evaluation, this time with Elisabeth. And then trying to figure out how to juggle therapy for two kids and still make sure the third one gets some attention and one-on-one time. It sounds overwhelming!
