When we decided to take Monkey off Celexa, hoping that he might qualify for the STX 209 trial, you might remember I was a little apprehensive. OK, maybe more than a “little.”
I’ll be totally honest, I’m still waiting for the $hit to hit the fan but so far, so good ((And, yes, I did probably just curse us! Thank you for noticing and please send wine. Lots and LOTS of wine. Just in case.)).
We’ve tried to continue pushing Monkey a bit, while also keeping in mind that he’s dealing with a cwap load more anxiety than he has been for the last 18+ months, and he continues to impress us. We took him to the zoo this past weekend with his Grammy & Grampy Welin and he did awesome.
The Franklin Park Zoo is pretty large and open and it’s familiar so it was a good choice but it was exceptionally crowded for a few reasons:
- It was a beautiful sunny day.
- It was a beautiful sunny SATURDAY.
- The 39th Caribbean Festival was taking place (literally THOUSANDS of attendees, loud music (the bass could be heard very clearly at all times) and very slow traffic/weird traffic patterns.)
There were moments when he was less than thrilled but it was a typical toddler who won the award for going into “Bat$hit Crazy Meltdown” mode ((She was tiny and she had both parents struggling and racing for an exit. They could not even physically get her into her stroller. I felt really bad for them and really, REALLY glad it was not my kid!)).
He walked through a “jungle” looking at animatronic dinosaurs (moving and randomly making loud roars) very, very happily…he was enthralled, even. He visited just about every exhibit in the zoo. He played on the ridiculously huge and very crowded playground. He even went into the Tropical Forest exhibit which is inside, dark, humid and a little stinky which he never does ((We did bribe him with Ms but still, you canNOT bribe a child with FX into doing anything if they are struggling. Cold hard truth right there that so many people do not grasp.))!
Overall it was a great day and he ended his day by coming home and cuddling on the couch with Grampy. Does it get any better? Grampy, for sure, would say no 😉
The real test, most likely, will be school. Which starts next Tuesday…which also just happens to be his first day with no Celexa at all. Perfect planning, eh?
First day of school = first day without any anxiety meds? Cwap. We did the same thing a year ago, weaning off the meds in order to do STX209, but our days didn’t line up quite as fantastically as yours have. Will be thinking of ya!
LOVE when someone else’s kid has a meltdown <3
I’m so happy he’s doing well. How pathetic that two parents can’t control a typical kids. lol
Can I just say…I love point #3 the most? This has been THE BIGGEST hurdle for us over the years. Realizing that no matter what we offer, if a dislike is motivated by sensory overload, there is no prize big enough 🙂 Love you guys. So glad C had an awesome petting zoo experience! He’s adorable by the way.
We fall into the trap sometimes too, we will be talking to him and trying to reason with him when he’s struggling. Duh! One or the other of us will just say “Too many words,” very quietly, and we’ll back off. MUCH more effective but it really does go against peoples’ first instinct!