OK, so we’ve been seeing Dr. Kelly for half a year or so I’d guess. He’s seen her 3 times. The first time, as I’ve said before, was abysmal as Sophie was sick. The subsequent times he’s made observations about Sophie indicating that she is PDD or ASD or Autistic. Everytime he makes one of these “observations” Sophie tries to change the behaviour… on her own. He thought she shouldn’t be co-sleeping… Sophie decided to sleep in her own bed (suddenly). It’s turned off cold here now and she’s back to sleeping with me (particularly when Jim’s working) but she still starts out in her own bed when Jim’s home and sleeps a decent portion of the night alone.
Dr. K’s latest observation has been that Sophie doesn’t have interactive conversation. Yes, in one of my earlier posts I mentioned that the one thing I really wanted was to have a real conversation with Sophie. Well guess what? It’s starting to happen!!!
In the past couple days, I’ve noticed that Sophie has been much more thought-full when choosing her words. She’s framed somewhat different questions than normal and has seemed much more observant about the actual condition of the people around her. I thought it was interesting, and made a mental note to mention here. Well, yesterday I took Sophie with me to Beckett’s first ever dental appt (long story as to why, you can read about it at the other blog). At first I thought it was just going to be a horrid experience, Sophie focused in on the game room right off the bat. There was a little boy in there playing already and she walked right up to him, asked him his name (Nicky), introduced herself and off they went. She was playing so well with him that I was certain there would be a minor meltdown when I asked her to leave, but she just said bye and came right with me (weirded me out something fierce!!).
So in the exam room Sophie was all about telling Beckett what was going on and what everything was. She would point at the toy basket and tell him how he could pick a toy “if Beckett’s good boy!” and then showed him the toothbrush and pointed out the various painted things on the walls. When the tech came in to actually do his cleaning, Beckett totally freaked out and Sophie was quick to jump up and start patting his hand and leg she kept saying “ohh it’s ok Beckett… now hold still… it’s ok!” and trying everything she could to soothe him. At one point she just climbed into the chair with him! I was really impressed!
But what impressed me even more was that the tech asked Sophie several questions that Sophie answered clearly and with original thought. She was almost, dare I say it???
Normal.
When we left I had to pry her away from the play room again (but I think that would’ve been somewhat normal for a typical kid as it’s a really cool play room!) but she came with me without a major fuss. From there we went to Target, Earthfare, picked up Jim from school and then went out to Saffron for lunch. Sophie was great the whole time. No meltdowns, no fixations, she was a perfectly wonderful shopping companion.
My only mistake the whole day was in letting her get marshmellows. Somehow she’s gotten possessed with the idea of going camping, having a campfire and roasting marshmellows. Interesting thing is… we’ve never been camping.
Ever.
So after about 4 fair sized meltdowns today we finally caved in and let her roast marshmellows, or rather, let her watch M roast marshmellows in the gas heater in the living room. We even made s’mores. Yeah, it’s crazy. Especially since she doesn’t even like roasted marshmellows. It’s the process you understand. ;)
So our day is winding down and Sophie is actually starting to suggest that maybe she should have a bath and go to bed.
Initiating conversation…. I don’t know if I can stand it.
