Happy Halloween!!!

Let's start last Sunday...as I said in the previous post Devin has had tummy troubles, well a week later he was still having major issues so I took him to the doctor and his weight was only down a few ounces(although it takes him a thousand times longer to gain back ounces than a kid who actually eats more than 5 things) he wasn't dehydrated...and ultimately the diagnosis was a SUPER nasty viral infection and yeast infection, so we left with some samples of a pro-biotic powder and a prescription for the infection.  That night was the Johnston Halloween party.   Elizabeth had lots of fun with her cousins, and loved seeing all the fun costumes....Devin had a VERY rough night.  Right after dinner for completely unknown reasons he went nuclear! As in nuclear meltdown that lasted probably close to an hour!(although it felt like four hours!)  After I finished eating I traded with Tony so he could get some dinner...I tried everything to calm him down but everything I did only made him more upset...he was screaming so hard he was gagging and I was afraid he was going to throw up...luckily he didn't.  Eventually came back down enough that I was able to do some deep pressure messaging on him as well as joint depressions(I was basically helping him feel put back together) then he let me pick him up and I did tight bear hugs up and down him.  This got him to the point where a cookie got him to fully calm down and come back to us, though he did still need his sunglasses as  he still needed to hide from everyone else.  By the end of the night he was back enough to give some hugs and even some kisses!  So it was still a pretty good night!  I felt so bad though as I really don't know what set him off but it pretty much took us out for most of the party, so we weren't as social as we wanted to be.  He hasn't gone that far off the deep end in a while....in fact I don't think he's ever gotten that bad, to where he was physically hurting himself by banging his head on the floor and pinching, scratching and even biting himself.  I was honestly terrified.  I just can't stand feeling so helpless and useless, it made him more upset every time I stopped him hurting himself but I just could not allow him to do it.  You see Devin is both hypo AND hyper sensitive in different areas, so sound, tactile(simple feeling) and visually he's hypersensitive, meaning he can't process very much at a time, but as far as pain and pressure feeling go he's hypo-sensitive so it take a lot for him to register it...therefore he basically craves it(which is why deep pressure massage calms him) which is why he bangs his head, spins and tries to "hurt" himself he literally just want to feel.
 Anywho here are the pictures!

  On Monday I talked with his OT Dani about it and luckily we've been concerned about it for a while even if his meltdowns have never been THAT bad before, so she had brought with her a weighted vest, which provides that deep pressure he craves without having to hurt himself, it also helps him feel calm and put together.  It's really hard to explain here and now but basically some Autistic kids(and Devin)often feel like there simply not put together, so I do joint depressions a couple times a day as that gives him the feeling of being put together.  The weighted vest also helps with that!  It has made an incredible difference for Devin and it will definitely be a permanent part of his sensory diet!  He only wears it for a coupe of hours then it's off for a couple hours and he doesn't sleep with it, so it doesn't loose it's affect on him.  We're also going to start him doing behavior therapy in a little while at The Children's Center, and once he's two there is more they can do for him there as well.  Devin had an extremely hard about half week, and it was extremely draining and exhausting for me, luckily he's been doing  better the last few days.  Elizabeth had basically fall break this past week so we just did fun Halloween things Monday through Wednesday....we read Halloween books, listened to fun Halloween music, watched Halloween movies/shows and did LOTS of fun Halloween crafts!  It was a lot of fun!  Oh our point and shoot camera died Monday afternoon, so most of the pictures are off my phone which is why they aren't great pictures....but never fear for I have finally moved up in the camera world!  I'm still not quite to an SLR but it's close!  It's kind of a crossover between a point and shoot and an SLR.  It's a Fujifilm Finepix 4500(I do believe)and I absolutely LOVE this camera!!!!  But here are the pictures from all our Halloween fun during the week!

On Halloween the kids wore their cute Halloween shirts, after breakfast they danced to the Little People Halloween CD and had a lot of fun with it too!  We read some Halloween books, and watched "It's the Great Pumpkin Charley Brown", then went outside where the kids had lots of fun playing in the leaves together, they were being soooo cute!  For lunch Devin of course had the same old, but Elizabeth had a special Halloween lunchable(I can't even describe how excited she was for it!) After lunch Devin went down for his nap and Elizabeth and I had a little Halloween party!  We did a puzzle, and crafts and art, and played a bean bag toss game, and played pin the (smiley)wart on the witch, we made Halloween brownie bite cookies which she ate for snack while watching a Halloween movie!  It was a great day!

Then when Tony got home from work we got the kids into their cute costumes and drove over to our church parking lot for the trunk or treat.  Elizabeth had such a great time, and was even good at remembering to say thank you!  Everyone loved her dress(it is after all absolutely amazing!) And everyone said Devin was the most adorable lion they'd ever seen, although he was a very cowardly lion as he was terrified of everyone, but that being said he did really good he even said "rawrrrr" for some people while gripping one of our fingers for his life!  All in all it was a really great Halloween!

And here are a couple videos from Halloween.  One is of our cute kiddos doing the monster mash!  And the other is of the fun they were having outside in the leaves!