Hello again
When I sent out the update a couple of days ago, I forgot to mention the Potty. So because this is one thing that some of you are very curious about, here's the story.
WARNING: Reader discretion is advised! Some of the content in the upcoming update may cause some readers to feel uncomfortable or grossed out! Parents who have gone through the process of potty training have already been desensitized and have nothing to worry about.
Well basically the Potty Training has come to a plateau. Mason will go pee on the potty when we ask him to, but won't initiate it. He is usually quite cooperative. Poop, on the other hand, is still happening in the Good Nights diaper. It wouldn't be so bad if it only happened once a day, or stayed solid.
MARTENS FAMILY NEWS BREAK!!
Twice now Mason has self-initiated going pee. :) :) :)
Today was the second time. I heard the bath water running. (He will sometimes have 2 or three a day, then other times will refuse to bath for days on end) Anyway, back to the bath running... I went to look, and there he was, standing buck naked with yellow water in the toilet!!! Isn't that exciting?? I sure was excited! Didn't think of taking a picture. Oh well, I guess you don't mind seeing that one..... SO, he knew he wanted to take a bath, and the routine is to go pee before a bath, and that is what he did! Had a bath. And went pee first.
Shirley
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Friday, August 22, 2008
Medication and Psychosis
Hello dear friends and family!
Now that I look to what I've written, you better grab a cup of coffee while reading this!! It turned out a tad longer than I had planned.
So much has been going on with Mason, it's just incredible! But first I want to begin with a prayer request. I don't want to be too generic, because we really covet your prayers for us and with this you can pray specifically.
After being on the same 2 medications for many years, Mason has started having some rather disturbing side effects from one of them. They include normal tantrums turning into violent episodes. He looses control to where we can't do anything to stop him or calm him down. Throwing things (like furniture and rocks etc), kicking, screaming, hitting, etc. He is about 65 pounds and very strong. This also happens in the car where it feels like he'll kick my seat loose and smash the window out. He was doing this kind of thing up to several times a day. I went down a dose on the one medication when I read about it's possible side effects.
Another thing that started recently is that he is having episodes of hallucinations. Three of them happened about 6 am, lasting about half an hour or so. Among other things, it looked like he thought his bed was attacking him, screaming, look of intense fear in his eyes, etc. He also pushed me away, screaming etc. I must have been part of the hallucination as well. There was some other stuff going on as well, but you get the idea. The most recent episode happened in a fast food restaurant. It was much shorter, thankfully, although he spent the rest of the day VERY grumpy and difficult to manage with several violent outbursts.
The doctor is having him go down on that medication very quickly and up on the other one (which is a 'good mood' drug). So pray that this is the answer, otherwise I suspect it could be a change happening in his seizures, which could be much more difficult to control.
.........
Sooo, in spite of these difficulties, we have had a great summer! Mason continues to surprise us with new words, even putting 3 words together into a sentence!! " you... 'cared.... me" you scared me is a complete sentence!! isn't that great?!?! I believe he actually thinks in sentences like we do! But the abnormalities, seizures and delay from the seizures makes it hard for the whole system to work properly. And yet, we are seeing constant progress!! :) He understands so much!!! He catches on to stuff we had no clue he knew! Even using new words appropriately.
Oh and he likes to do everything himself! And everything he sees us do! Pour his own cereal and milk. A little messy at times! Toast into the toaster, and spreading his own jam. He now has figured out that he can go into the pantry and scrounge for snacks. ( He can't have learned that from me, could he??) He even mows the lawn by himself. Well, some of it. Let's just say it's a rather unique pattern, that I have to go and 'fix up' later!!
Something else that is absolutely fantastic is that he is understanding the concept of time!! "Later", "Tomorrow" , "In the morning", "Wednesday (or any other day of the week), are concepts he now understands. Although he doesn't know when Wednesday (or any other day of the week) is, he knows it's a different day than today. For example, if we would mention the word 'trailer' or 'Grandpa', he would totally flip out if we didn't go right then. Now, we can say, "we are going to the trailer tomorrow, or Thursday, or whatever" and he is satisfied! We don't have to be as cautious in what we say. We can reason with him a little more.
Mason is very much at the 2 - 3 year old age developmentally, although there seem to be things he does that are typical of 9 year olds. The bodily function noises continue to amuse him, as do other 9 year olds apparently! :)
He can maneuver his way around a computer better than some adults! I won't mention names here..... :) He was out at Starbucks with 2 dear friends of mine and his laptop. Apparently they tried figuring that thing out for 15 minutes and finally gave up and Mason just did this and that and had it going in no time. "Not only was I outsmarted by a 9 year old, I was outsmarted by a child with special needs!" was roughly what I was told by one of the women. Once again, I won't mention names here!!! LOL :)
We've been spending a lot of time down at our trailer ( in the US, south of Bellingham). Mason just LOVES it there. There's a 15 year old boy that looks after Mason for me down there, so I get respite breaks there as well. And Mason just loves him and has a great time. Mason has spent a lot of time in the pool there, pouring water from one container to another and lots of jumping in. What's been really neat this year is that I can actually lounge and relax while he plays on his own in the pool (with a life jacket on).
Because Mason wants to do everything we do, we purchased a Trail-a-bike. It's attached to our bike and he rides along with a huge smile on his face!!
In June, our friends, Dave and Wendy got married! Mason had the honor of being Dave's ring bearer! The rehearsal was quite interesting! We were in the little church practicing. As Mason was walking down the isle with the little white satin pillow tucked under his arm, the music started. And so did the boy! The other direction! He ran straight out of the church, out to my car, which was locked, but had a window open. He threw that nice pillow into the car and stood there, refusing to move. After bribing him with ice cream later and telling him Dave needed his help, Mason complied and went back in. As he adjusted to the environment and it's sounds, the real Mason showed up! He would stand on the stage up front with Dave and when he saw the main doors open he began his job as wedding planner! He crooked his finger and told the cute little flower girls, "Girls! Come!" in his usual boisterous voice. He bossed everyone coming down the isle in this manner, including the bride! LOL When everyone was up on stage his directing continued. If someone wasn't facing the pastor, he would make sure they were facing the right way. And so it went. It was a very entertaining evening. As a last minute addition, Wendy decided that Asia and Sydney would also be in the wedding as Mason's attendants. We just didn't know if he would walk down the isle on the day of the wedding, so the girls assisted him.
So on the day of the wedding Mason went all shy on us while walking down the isle! Walked super slow while looking at all the people with a little grin on his face. Good thing the girls were helping him move along! So up at the front he did some of his directing and motioning. When Wendy's daughter, Anna, appeared, Mason shouted out "Anna!!" Everyone broke out in laughter. Most or all of the guests knew or knew about Mason, so they understood.
Later during the message Mason stood up with his 'cell phone'. It's a demo, so it looks and feels real. He held it up as though he was taking pictures and video of the wedding. And seeing as we were in the second row, everyone could see it. Lots of smiles around the room!
Over all, he did remarkably well. You just never know with him, and Dave and Wendy were very well aware of that when they decided to have him in their wedding. It was a fantastic day!
Daryl has designed a new website for these updated. So if you want to check it out, it's www.masonmartens.com Sometimes I add stuff there that I don't send out in an email.
Other family stuff:
Asia is going to high school! Our baby is growing up! Grade 9 is just around the corner and she is very excited! Along with the regular academics, she has also signed up for the school sports package and Spanish! She was tired of French and wanted to try Japanese. We had a little chat with her and she came to see how much more useful Spanish would be for her. Our church sends out short term missions groups to Mexico quite often, and our friends are church planters in Spain. So those opportunities seem more realistic to her now. She is taking this year off electric guitar lessons, soccer, and cheerleading. So that will also mean less driving her around. She is also eagerly anticipating the activities of the high school youth group at church.
Sydney is going to grade 7. She had a big growth spurt this summer. 1 1/2 inches! I guess we have to do some serious back to school shopping for pants! She will also be getting glasses this next week. Her eyes have difficulties focusing and the options are glasses or vision therapy. The therapy is very expensive and kinda in the grey area of medicine. We have not yet found enough information to justify the cost. The glasses will just enlarge what she's reading so that it's easier on her eyes. Sydney is continuing with her piano lessons, but was very heartbroken in June when she could not perform at her recital due to a very large blister on the palm of her hand. :( She is very excited that she can join Vertical Edge, the youth group at church for grades 7 & 8.
Daryl is still at Linwood Homes doing a lot of computer stuff. He tells me all about it, but had a lot of technical words and descriptions that I try really hard to understand! I know he does their web designing and loves that. He does some on the side as well. www.3six3.com And then there is golfing. He shot a 78 this summer! There too, in describing the WHOLE round to me, he uses words like birdie and eagle and boggy. I know they mean one or two over or under par. You'd think I'd get it by now, after 22 years married to him!
I, Shirley, along with being mom and wife, am still very involved in the women's ministries at our church, the main focus being Oasis on Wednesday mornings. We'll be doing a Beth Moore Bible Study this fall as a whole group. I started already and am very excited for this fall! I have also been asked to be the main speaker/facilitator at a weekend retreat this October. I think it may also involve leading workshops, but the details will become clearer in the next while. I'm very excited and will get nervous yet! I'll be speaking four times on the Thanksgiving weekend. The retreat is for families of children with special needs, so of course near to my heart and experiences.
I can't leave out Princess and Bindi, our two cats. They like to eat and sleep and run around like crazy when we are trying to sleep. The girls just adore them, of course. Princess sleeps with Sydney and Bindi sleeps with Asia. It's really funny when Asia comes home from babysitting or has been away. She'll go up the stairs, and when Bindi notices, she zooms up the stairs ready to crawl into bed as well! Mason likes to chase the cats and pull their tails. Typical boy.
Daryl and I are on day 4 out of 5 days straight without any children. We've done lots of relaxing and reading. Much needed. We continue to be extremely thankful that we receive respite funding from the government to be able to get breaks from the constant needs Mason has. Even though he is doing extremely well developmentally, his challenges just change, and we still have to watch him very closely. With no concept of fear, he will still run out onto the road, or lay down in the middle of it, or do other random dangerous things.
I could go on with more stories, but your eyes may have glazed over by now. Daryl says I should perhaps do this in two parts so I don't bore people. So I put a picture in to divide it. LOL
Well by for now!
Now that I look to what I've written, you better grab a cup of coffee while reading this!! It turned out a tad longer than I had planned.
So much has been going on with Mason, it's just incredible! But first I want to begin with a prayer request. I don't want to be too generic, because we really covet your prayers for us and with this you can pray specifically.
After being on the same 2 medications for many years, Mason has started having some rather disturbing side effects from one of them. They include normal tantrums turning into violent episodes. He looses control to where we can't do anything to stop him or calm him down. Throwing things (like furniture and rocks etc), kicking, screaming, hitting, etc. He is about 65 pounds and very strong. This also happens in the car where it feels like he'll kick my seat loose and smash the window out. He was doing this kind of thing up to several times a day. I went down a dose on the one medication when I read about it's possible side effects.
Another thing that started recently is that he is having episodes of hallucinations. Three of them happened about 6 am, lasting about half an hour or so. Among other things, it looked like he thought his bed was attacking him, screaming, look of intense fear in his eyes, etc. He also pushed me away, screaming etc. I must have been part of the hallucination as well. There was some other stuff going on as well, but you get the idea. The most recent episode happened in a fast food restaurant. It was much shorter, thankfully, although he spent the rest of the day VERY grumpy and difficult to manage with several violent outbursts.
The doctor is having him go down on that medication very quickly and up on the other one (which is a 'good mood' drug). So pray that this is the answer, otherwise I suspect it could be a change happening in his seizures, which could be much more difficult to control.
.........
Sooo, in spite of these difficulties, we have had a great summer! Mason continues to surprise us with new words, even putting 3 words together into a sentence!! " you... 'cared.... me" you scared me is a complete sentence!! isn't that great?!?! I believe he actually thinks in sentences like we do! But the abnormalities, seizures and delay from the seizures makes it hard for the whole system to work properly. And yet, we are seeing constant progress!! :) He understands so much!!! He catches on to stuff we had no clue he knew! Even using new words appropriately.
Oh and he likes to do everything himself! And everything he sees us do! Pour his own cereal and milk. A little messy at times! Toast into the toaster, and spreading his own jam. He now has figured out that he can go into the pantry and scrounge for snacks. ( He can't have learned that from me, could he??) He even mows the lawn by himself. Well, some of it. Let's just say it's a rather unique pattern, that I have to go and 'fix up' later!!
Something else that is absolutely fantastic is that he is understanding the concept of time!! "Later", "Tomorrow" , "In the morning", "Wednesday (or any other day of the week), are concepts he now understands. Although he doesn't know when Wednesday (or any other day of the week) is, he knows it's a different day than today. For example, if we would mention the word 'trailer' or 'Grandpa', he would totally flip out if we didn't go right then. Now, we can say, "we are going to the trailer tomorrow, or Thursday, or whatever" and he is satisfied! We don't have to be as cautious in what we say. We can reason with him a little more.
Mason is very much at the 2 - 3 year old age developmentally, although there seem to be things he does that are typical of 9 year olds. The bodily function noises continue to amuse him, as do other 9 year olds apparently! :)
He can maneuver his way around a computer better than some adults! I won't mention names here..... :) He was out at Starbucks with 2 dear friends of mine and his laptop. Apparently they tried figuring that thing out for 15 minutes and finally gave up and Mason just did this and that and had it going in no time. "Not only was I outsmarted by a 9 year old, I was outsmarted by a child with special needs!" was roughly what I was told by one of the women. Once again, I won't mention names here!!! LOL :)
We've been spending a lot of time down at our trailer ( in the US, south of Bellingham). Mason just LOVES it there. There's a 15 year old boy that looks after Mason for me down there, so I get respite breaks there as well. And Mason just loves him and has a great time. Mason has spent a lot of time in the pool there, pouring water from one container to another and lots of jumping in. What's been really neat this year is that I can actually lounge and relax while he plays on his own in the pool (with a life jacket on).
Because Mason wants to do everything we do, we purchased a Trail-a-bike. It's attached to our bike and he rides along with a huge smile on his face!!
In June, our friends, Dave and Wendy got married! Mason had the honor of being Dave's ring bearer! The rehearsal was quite interesting! We were in the little church practicing. As Mason was walking down the isle with the little white satin pillow tucked under his arm, the music started. And so did the boy! The other direction! He ran straight out of the church, out to my car, which was locked, but had a window open. He threw that nice pillow into the car and stood there, refusing to move. After bribing him with ice cream later and telling him Dave needed his help, Mason complied and went back in. As he adjusted to the environment and it's sounds, the real Mason showed up! He would stand on the stage up front with Dave and when he saw the main doors open he began his job as wedding planner! He crooked his finger and told the cute little flower girls, "Girls! Come!" in his usual boisterous voice. He bossed everyone coming down the isle in this manner, including the bride! LOL When everyone was up on stage his directing continued. If someone wasn't facing the pastor, he would make sure they were facing the right way. And so it went. It was a very entertaining evening. As a last minute addition, Wendy decided that Asia and Sydney would also be in the wedding as Mason's attendants. We just didn't know if he would walk down the isle on the day of the wedding, so the girls assisted him.
So on the day of the wedding Mason went all shy on us while walking down the isle! Walked super slow while looking at all the people with a little grin on his face. Good thing the girls were helping him move along! So up at the front he did some of his directing and motioning. When Wendy's daughter, Anna, appeared, Mason shouted out "Anna!!" Everyone broke out in laughter. Most or all of the guests knew or knew about Mason, so they understood.
Later during the message Mason stood up with his 'cell phone'. It's a demo, so it looks and feels real. He held it up as though he was taking pictures and video of the wedding. And seeing as we were in the second row, everyone could see it. Lots of smiles around the room!
Over all, he did remarkably well. You just never know with him, and Dave and Wendy were very well aware of that when they decided to have him in their wedding. It was a fantastic day!
Daryl has designed a new website for these updated. So if you want to check it out, it's www.masonmartens.com Sometimes I add stuff there that I don't send out in an email.
Other family stuff:
Asia is going to high school! Our baby is growing up! Grade 9 is just around the corner and she is very excited! Along with the regular academics, she has also signed up for the school sports package and Spanish! She was tired of French and wanted to try Japanese. We had a little chat with her and she came to see how much more useful Spanish would be for her. Our church sends out short term missions groups to Mexico quite often, and our friends are church planters in Spain. So those opportunities seem more realistic to her now. She is taking this year off electric guitar lessons, soccer, and cheerleading. So that will also mean less driving her around. She is also eagerly anticipating the activities of the high school youth group at church.
Sydney is going to grade 7. She had a big growth spurt this summer. 1 1/2 inches! I guess we have to do some serious back to school shopping for pants! She will also be getting glasses this next week. Her eyes have difficulties focusing and the options are glasses or vision therapy. The therapy is very expensive and kinda in the grey area of medicine. We have not yet found enough information to justify the cost. The glasses will just enlarge what she's reading so that it's easier on her eyes. Sydney is continuing with her piano lessons, but was very heartbroken in June when she could not perform at her recital due to a very large blister on the palm of her hand. :( She is very excited that she can join Vertical Edge, the youth group at church for grades 7 & 8.
Daryl is still at Linwood Homes doing a lot of computer stuff. He tells me all about it, but had a lot of technical words and descriptions that I try really hard to understand! I know he does their web designing and loves that. He does some on the side as well. www.3six3.com And then there is golfing. He shot a 78 this summer! There too, in describing the WHOLE round to me, he uses words like birdie and eagle and boggy. I know they mean one or two over or under par. You'd think I'd get it by now, after 22 years married to him!
I, Shirley, along with being mom and wife, am still very involved in the women's ministries at our church, the main focus being Oasis on Wednesday mornings. We'll be doing a Beth Moore Bible Study this fall as a whole group. I started already and am very excited for this fall! I have also been asked to be the main speaker/facilitator at a weekend retreat this October. I think it may also involve leading workshops, but the details will become clearer in the next while. I'm very excited and will get nervous yet! I'll be speaking four times on the Thanksgiving weekend. The retreat is for families of children with special needs, so of course near to my heart and experiences.
I can't leave out Princess and Bindi, our two cats. They like to eat and sleep and run around like crazy when we are trying to sleep. The girls just adore them, of course. Princess sleeps with Sydney and Bindi sleeps with Asia. It's really funny when Asia comes home from babysitting or has been away. She'll go up the stairs, and when Bindi notices, she zooms up the stairs ready to crawl into bed as well! Mason likes to chase the cats and pull their tails. Typical boy.
Daryl and I are on day 4 out of 5 days straight without any children. We've done lots of relaxing and reading. Much needed. We continue to be extremely thankful that we receive respite funding from the government to be able to get breaks from the constant needs Mason has. Even though he is doing extremely well developmentally, his challenges just change, and we still have to watch him very closely. With no concept of fear, he will still run out onto the road, or lay down in the middle of it, or do other random dangerous things.
I could go on with more stories, but your eyes may have glazed over by now. Daryl says I should perhaps do this in two parts so I don't bore people. So I put a picture in to divide it. LOL
Well by for now!
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