Challenging Child - Part Two

Feel a little like I dredged up ancient history yesterday and then just left it hanging. So, now while baby is sleeping I am going to ignore the laundry, the kitchen floor, the dusting etc and try to organize my thoughts. I'm hoping by writing this all down, I will come up with some ideas of what to do.

Anyway, throughout his babyhood, Galileo was a challenge. He didn't sleep on a regular schedule, only napped in the swing, screamed bloody murder when every time he rode in the car etc. Everything that was supposed to soothe a fussy baby just made him scream louder. He was a good solid food eater, but that was about the only thing that wasn't a struggle.

As he grew into a toddler, I started having more concerns. He walked rather late, but I kept telling myself it was because he could get everywhere he needed to go by crawling and climbing. He talked very late. In fact at one year old he became virtually silent. No babbling, no gesturing etc. I had him on a waiting list for a speech eval and was doing every autism spectrum checklist I could find. I knew he wasn't autistic, he was a social child, but he was never happy and I *knew* something was wrong.

In music class he would cry at the start and then just run in circles around the room. One or two other kids did it too, so I tried to convince myself it was OK. The teacher told me it was just a way that some kids react to the music and not to worry. He never tried to participate in the songs with motions, only wanted to be in my arms during the dancing and in general didn't seem happy to be there. I would have stopped torturing the kid by making him go, but he did like to listen to the cd's in the car and at home. In fact, they were the one thing that made car rides bearable.

In Gymboree, he never wanted to do what the group was doing and avoided the parachute like the plague. He loved climbing on all the equipment, but wanted nothing to do with doing the obstacle course with a group. By the end he almost always had a melt down. Yet he did enjoy a lot of his time there.

At birthday parties, he always had a melt down. He would scream and cry and tantrum over the most seemingly inconsequential thing. He usually couldn't tell me what was wrong. I would spend the time cringing with embarrassment and trying to cajole him out of his problems. After an activity was over, he would often get upset that he hadn't done it and yet at the time it was going on he would have nothing to do with it.

He was miserable in many of his messy art classes. If he got one speck of shaving cream, paint, glue, goop or whatever on his hands, he HAD to go wash it off. If I tried to get him to stay with the activity he would completely loose it. There were many a class that we had to step outside to calm down.

He had to quit a kids wood working class because he hated it so much. I knew then that he was sensitive to loud noises, so that one didn't surprise or upset me too much. He loved it the day they just did sanding and gluing, but the instant the hammers came out and the pounding started, he was out of there.

We could never go to places that I had looked forward to taking a child. Kiddie rides at amusement parks, the natural history museum, movies, chuckie cheese, somedays even Costco or the mall were all too much for him. He also hated swimming and his swim classes, although the bath tub was one of his favorite places.

It wasn't just that he had these quirks, it was his completely over the top reaction to them. (more later, baby crying)