Random Stuff About Mason

Overall, Mason is doing quite well right now. Here are the nitty gritty details:

Potty Training

Ughhhh. Will it ever happen? He tells me "poop" after the fact. I've been loaned a little device that sounds an alarm at the first sign of moisture. (I'll spare the rest of the details) The thing I'm waiting for is my memory. I keep forgetting to use it. 

Mason will be turning ten at the end of March. I figure that we've changed about eighteen thousand diapers in the last ten years. Many rather disturbing ones.

Nights

Not too bad. Mason is still waking every night, but he settles quicker most of the time. I have also been not turning on the baby monitor. So I don't get up until he's banging the walls and yelling "Mommy!!!". I go to him right away if he's having a bad dream and screaming from that. I'm not a totally non-responsive mom!  

Mason has been falling asleep within five minutes of going to bed. It would take him an hour or two to fall asleep over the previous months. He sleeps through the night 2 - 4 times per month. Last night was one of them! 

Then there are sleep positions. He falls out of bed every once in a while for moving around so much in his sleep. Last night I checked him before I went to bed. I so wished my camera battery had been charged! He was sitting cross-legged with his head on the bed in front of him - asleep! Another night Daryl got up to Mason's crying. He found him partially fallen out of bed with both hands on the floor, rest of his body in the bed, stuck.

Behaviour, Anxiety, and Seizures

Huge improvements! :) The doctors said I could play around with the Risperidone in how much to give Mason and when. So in the end, it works best for him in the morning. I can see when it takes effect. Mason often wakes up rather aggressively. He kinda explodes out of his room some mornings. After about 45 minutes I see the change. With each change I made in the

 medication, I saw his seizures increase quite a lot. I also know that it takes about a week or two for the side effects to diminish or go away completely. So I decided to wait it out. Sure enough, the seizures reduced again. In fact, we hardly see any now (2 - 4 per day?). And what we do see is so extremely mild. My theory is that the Risperidone has reduced his anxiety which has, in turn, reduced the seizures. Anxiety and excitement are well known triggers for increasing seizures in someone with Epilepsy.

Development

It continues to amaze us that Mason is still learning and progressing at a rapid pace! Speech is the most evident right now. Most of his words are still partial and we don't always know what he's saying. Sometimes, when we don't get it, he tries a different word that has a similar meaning or explains the first one he was trying to say!  

He is stringing words together to make partial sentences. He knows he's doing it, and he is trying so hard. There are days that he is an endless chatterbox. When my ears and brain start to hurt from it, I remind myself "this is a very good thing". 

All the speech also reveals to us what's inside his head. He has a sharp memory! We can't tell him something and hope he'll forget. He also understands nearly everything we say.

Burp! Fart! Two of his favorite words. Most uncomfortable when he shouts them out in public! But put him in the same room with other boys that find that funny!?!!! Boys are SOOO different than girls!  

Interests

Mason has to do EVERYTHING we do. If the girls are baking, Mason's right in there. So we have devised an alternative for him! We give him a bowl of flour, add some pepper or cinnamon, something that contrasts the white of the flour, give him a spoon and he is a happy boy stirring.

Mason loves to paint. "taint" in his language. 

Coloring is also a favorite. he even tries drawing certain things like hearts and circles and grass. :) A little while back I watched him draw and name the things he was drawing. I had never seen him do that before!

Hair. He loves getting his hair done up with gel. Loves getting his hair cut and highlighted. You should see him look at himself in the mirror!

Playing with cars, Webkinz on the computer, reading - well having us read to him , bubbles and baths are also lots of fun. :) Occasionally, he plays on his own for a while.

Medical Stuff and Doctors

So we had a few appointments with the psychiatrist. They went very well. We  got a partial evaluation and are waiting for an appointment for the big evaluation at Sunny Hill. So far they have seen indicators of anxiety, autism and ADHD. 

Blood work has not yet been taken. I have a sort of appointment for someone to come to our house this Tuesday, Feb 24 at 8 am. So if any of you want to use your powerful muscles to help me out that morning, give me a call! 

I've gone blank on some of the funny things he does. There are plenty of stories with this boy!

Well, I should go. He has plunked himself down in my computer chair, waiting impatiently to play Webkinz - lots of  noise in my ears here..... Did I mention that his volume control is broken?