A while back when Charlie was out of control one morning, I turned on some classical music to see if it would help calm him down. It didn't, and soon he was complaining "that music hurts my ears".
A few evenings ago we started on a home improvement project and we were using a Dremel saw, which makes a loud, high pitched noise. The longer we had to use it, the louder Charlie got, humming, singing, chanting, louder and louder. I knew it must be hurting his little ears.
While visiting with the Special Ed teacher at Charlie's school, she mentioned her room was always busier if a weather front was coming through.
Yesterday morning Charlie keyed in on the news that there might be storms during the day. I tried head off his apprehension by talking about what to do if he got scared at school. First thing he did upon arriving home from school was pull up WeatherBug on his computer. "Still shows storms," he commented.
As the evening progressed his noise level went up. The constant humming, singing, chanting and noise making began to hurt my ears. As the noise level went up, so did his level of defiance and disrespectful behavior. Even his new pet turtle was hiding under a piece of lettuce floating in his bowl! Thinking he was overly tired, I finally told him it was time to get into bed, but then he complained about the clock ticking too loudly (this is the same clock that has been in their room for 3 years!)
Randy left his council meeting early to come home and help Charlie calm down. As he drove he could see thunderclouds and lightening in the East. It was one of those "Ah-ha!!" moments.
Did the weather front and barometric pressure affect Charlie's ears? Because he seemed more interested in the weather report, did he feel it coming? With the front passing through, he woke up this morning calm and cooperative again.
Always something new to learn - next time we'll pay more attention to the weather forecast!
Until next time . . .
Stephanie
That's fascinating Stephanie. You should run that by his pediatrician. Wholistic doctors would know of such things I think. Might try asking Charlie what he's feeling at differnetnt intervals, say at the earliest point, then progressively further. The purpose is to get him to introspect and verbalize his emotional state. That done, then try to introduce a new competing feeling. Verbalizing will help him think about it and begin to be able to exert self-control :)
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