We started Leelo on the Addderrup yesterday. Babysitter A swears that his sentences are more complex. I have noticed that he is singing much longer and more complicated songs--not necessarily articulating all of the words, but definitely getting the entire melody down and singing tunes like "Tingolayo" all the way through. Very cool. In the afternoons he seems to get quite mellow (we dose him during breakfast).
HowEVER. Leelo is much more intensely emotional. He spent a good day of yesterday sobbing for his daddy in a completely undistractable fashion. I think this is because last Friday Seymour left the house and then did not return for four days. Leelo now thinks that every time Seymour leaves, it may be days before he returns. Poor bit.
Today Leelo's emotionality was even more pronounced. I am glad that TLF is visiting and is willing to tend to Mali while I deal with Leelo, because I have never spent a non-travel, non-hospital procedure day with Leelo that stressed me out so thoroughly or that so required my undivided attention. I even created and quaffed a new drink, the Daddy's Home (dark rum, tangerine juice, pear soda), the moment Seymour returned home from his and Floyd's mountain biking session and was able to take the boy. Leelo did calm down once Seymour was home.
Leelo was violently inconsolable the entire time Seymour was was mountain biking--almost six hours. Babysitter A, TLF, and I managed to distract Leelo slightly with a hike to the Heritage Grove in Ha Londa, but once we returned home and Babysitter A had to leave, Leelo completely lost his head. He beat the shit out of me, and when he wasn't hitting or pinching, he was demanding that I give him every last iota of my attention, e.g., letting him sit on my lap while on the swing. If I didn't accommodate, he exploded even further.
I was very careful to explain to Seymour that the hickey-looking bruises on my chest are from Leelo pinching me, rather than from anything pleasant.
So, the meds do not seem to be helping Leelo's emotional state, but perhaps that evens out over the inital settling-in period. The Adderrup also seem to make Leelo more attached to his stim objects, which right now are either plastic straws or chewy tubes. Which is fine--he is not endangering anyone by fiddling with or chewing on a straw all day long.
In conclusion, I am not yet impressed by the meds, and in fact I am extremely worried about Leelo huring someone--his sisters or a classmate, specifically--during one of his prolonged emotional storms. I will talk with Dr. S on Tuesday and get her take.
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In cheerier news,
Mali hit 18 months yesterday. We're still surprised and elated that she's here. I was less elated during this past week's grumpy shits episodes, which had her waking and nursing several times each night, and shooting jets of liquid sulfur out of her bottom several times each day.
A few notables: She now says "Fish" instead of "Pish." She greets most strangers with a big "Heyyo!" She has an uncanny memory for faces, and will greet people by name or identify them in photos after being introduced to them only once. She wakes up in the morning by fussing, and then sits bolt upright and demands, "Eat?" She is a certified goofus, as you can see by clicking through the photo series above. She still has that weird wispy cloud of curls on her head. She watches too many videos, but there are worse ways for a parent in my situation to manage the herd.
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As for me, I have been busier than busy these past few days, making my Crappy Correspondent card extra-valid. I have completely cleaned up my garden, weeded it, removed all plants designated sickly no matter what or who they symbolize, fertilized everything, cut everything back. TLF and Floyd are here, and I'm more interested in hanging with them than turning on my computer.* I am giddy just thinking about tomorrow when Floyd and Seymour sit on the kids all day long, and TLF and I hit the Sevatop0l farmer's market and otherwise plunge into the area's creative tide.
This morning we had a great brunch at our house in which Godmother Stacy, her belly, and her partner Arnold plus their two cute babies Victoria and Elizabeth; Gouda and partner Heinz plus their cute three-month-old munchkin Sandy; and Floyd and TLF (and her belly) made us extra-happy to have Mali around, because at least one of our kids will be in the same relative age group, and will want to play with, all of theirs.
*Though Iz and Floyd are obviously more than happy to hook up my MacBook Pro:
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