bio-miracle needed

For all who have been on depression hiatus, the sun is peeking through again.  Things are going much better in the last week!  Your prayers are felt on every level.  Jack's cold has subsided and his disposition is much more agreeable.  His language/communication the last several days has been adorable.  He is trying to say lots of things, doing great with imitation, having pretend conversations with his cute babble sounds, and indulging nightly in his favorite bedtime ritual: taking all of his clothes off and running around his bedroom naked with Livvie, while we toss them on the bed.  It is night and day difference around here from 4 weeks ago.

And here's a really great update - we have conquered the coat issue (knock on wood)!  We have been getting him to wear a coat and boots with less and less drama each time.  We do it together - everyone gets their boots and coats on, and he seems motivated enough by the idea that we're all going somewhere together to eventually tolerate wearing his.  So yippee for that!  But along that vein, here is what is not going so well:

I think I need body armor.

I mentioned in my last post the hat and mittens thing is a big problem right now.  He just hates them so much.  I can't get them on.  I've tried everything - different kinds of hats, different kinds of gloves, candy, cookies, going outside without him...nothing works.  I've even let him go outside without them for a bit, so he can see how much fun it is out there, but his fingers get wet and cold and after 5 minutes he's crying to go inside.  It seems at this point there just isn't anything that is motivating enough to outweigh how much he hates the way they feel.  And however frustrated I get in the moment, it must be ten times worse for him.  He resists with such fervor that the psychological distress I could only guess he is experiencing becomes palpable.  If he could tell me about it, I think this is what he would say:

"Mom.  I HATE this freaking hat.  I can't stand these stupid gloves.  I want to wiggle my fingers.  They are touching my wrists.  I want to pick stuff up.  This hat is driving me crazy.  It makes my head feel itchy.  I don't like how it touches my face.  It covers my ears and makes things sound funny.  Pleeeeease stop making me wear this stuff!"

So this morning I dropped Livvie off at preschool, came home and put Camille down for a nap so we could work on it together, just Jack and me.  It did not go well, and every attempt ended with hysteria.  Today I surrender, at least until dad gets home!  If it were just Jack, I swear, I would stay inside all winter if it would spare him the torment of getting all covered up.  But Livvie is in love with the snow, and it's so good for us to get a break from the indoors when we can.  She wants to play with her brother and her mom and dad without all this hysteria.  So I guess we will keep trying until we get there!

In the meantime, what we need is a biological miracle (thank you Adey, perfectly put!) Here's how we're praying:

Jesus, help Jack!  Would you lessen the severity of this specific sensory issue?  Help him be able to tolerate a hat/gloves/snow pants so that he can experience how much fun it is to play in the snow.  So that he can chase Livvie and build tunnels and ride in the sled and just burn his wonderful insane level of boy-energy in a really enjoyable way.  Bring peace to his sensitive little body!

Thanks for your continued prayers, we'll let you know how it's going!