Goldy-Cozy and the “just right” bed.?? Sweetie is probably wondering when I am giving her this doll bed back.?? I am thinking maybe never.?? 🙂

My own OCD issues compelled me to continue a Wonderland title.?? Couldn’t help myself.?? Sorry.?? 🙂

A couple of funnies for you….

My mom, Tanner and I can’t quit clearing our throats.?? Tics are contagious.?? 🙂

When Dusty heard that Ty “might” have Tourettes (this was before the formal dx) he called me and said the following:

“Doni!?? This couldn’t possibly have happened to a worse person.?? You are so psychosomatic.?? You are going to be clearing your throat all the time now.?? Did you know that Michelle and I have been playing a game with you for months now??? We make a point to scratch in front of you and just wait and see how long it takes for you to start itching then we laugh at you later.”

Nice.?? Ha Ha.?? Sheesshhh….joys of having younger brothers.?? And no, I have never picked up on this little “game”.?? 🙂

Another funny was when I explained all this to Tanner.?? When I first started describing the problem, Tanner jumped in and said “I know.?? Ty has something wrong with his throat”.?? I explained otherwise and told him that the throat thing was a tic.?? Tanner then says ” But mommy I don’t think most people are going to know what a tic is.”?? 🙂

Later, IN FRONT OF TY, Tanner says “Hey mommy!?? (He does call me mommy still sometimes – yeah for me) Ty kept on shaking his head and I didn’t say anything to him!”?? Woohoo Tanner.?? So glad you caught on and told me what you didn’t do RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM.?? Ty subsequently starts the head wagging.?? (The best way to describe it is picture Stevie Wonder playing piano – it looks similar to that).???? No biggie, as I explained in an earlier post, Ty doesn’t believe us that he does this anyhow.?? 🙂

So what do we do?

When you see Ty express tics as I have now described to you.?? SAY NOTHING.?? Don’t point it out to him and don’t try to get him to quit.?? If he is doing something socially inappropriate, realize that he probably does not realize (I say probably because he is still five and kids are kids) it and do something to distract him away from it without him realizing what you are doing.

Explain to your kids that tics are kind of like needing to cough or sneeze or scratch an itch.?? If you feel the need, you just gotta do it.?? It is really hard to hold them back and people with TS can’t hold them back (not for very long anyhow).

If you are casual about it they will be casual about it. For those in Ty’s immediate circles, I would prefer that we not inundate cousins with EVERYTHING.?? I don’t want to draw attention TO it but I do want to educate them on the tics they may be tempted to comment on.?? All the kids are used to the head movement thing and they never say anything but the throat clearing is another matter.?? Use that one as the tic to explain.?? I have also told Tanner that if he hears anyone commenting on Ty’s tics, he is to say “It is just a tic, it’s no big deal”.

Hopefully we are not going to have to deal with more disruptive tics in the future because I know that can be hard for other people but more importantly (and more significantly to this mom), it will be very hard for Ty and I don’t want any more suffering in my baby’s life.

Here is the awesome thing though.?? God placed Ty smack dab in the middle of some of the most wonderful people anywhere.?? My family is honestly just the greatest.?? I have had so many phone calls from family about this and without exception, everyone is anxious to learn what they can do to love Ty through this.?? Further, most of the people we go to church with I have known since childhood.?? Ironically, another family in our church had their daughter diagnosed with TS this summer as well.?? As a result, our little church family is getting well educated and we have a sense of being “in this together”.?? On Sunday, I so apprecaited the fact that I could walk into the children’s classroom and talk to my sweet friends Belinda and Amanda and know they were on the same page with me.???? They recognized the behaviors I was talking about and were armed and ready to love Ty in Ty language.?? I adore that about them.?? All of them.?? Seriously.???? God padded Ty’s whole circle with a huge amount of love and grace.?? But when it comes right down to it, I am utterly convinced that Ty gives us more love than we would ever have any idea of how to reciprocate.?? He is a gift to us.?? Dad is already planning what he will say from the pulpit because in our small church family, we actually have quite a few kids with varying disabilities and we need to be prepared to love each other through this season of our lives – and love these kids – love them well.?? Filled up and over flowing.?? It’s going to be quite a ride.