Day 7

Such a little monkey, creating his own indoor jungle gym! Haven’t seen Josiah do this in years. The last time was when he was 4 or 5.  I found him swinging from the chandelier, buck naked and giggling.  Not sure what’s gotten into him, but lately we’ve noticed quite a bit more climbing activity. He climbs on the counters, he climbs on the back of the couch and now he’s back to climbing up on the kitchen table.

It’s kind of like having a toddler in the house.  Josiah requires constant supervision.  Turn your back for a second and he will get into something. Most recently he’s been hyper focused on closing doors and clearing the area around him.  Yesterday while I was scrambling eggs, Josiah got up from his seat at the table, opened then quickly closed the bathroom door, and returned to his seat.  A few minutes later he did it again.  Exactly 3 minutes later he did it a third time. It was as if he was compelled to open and close that door.

I’ve been aware this weekend, when one of us would leave the back door open a tiny bit to grab something from the garage refrigerator, Josiah would jump up and close the door behind us. It bothered him to have it ajar for even a few seconds. He’s been insisting his bedroom door stay closed as well.  This is totally new behavior for Josiah.

We’ve also seen a huge increase in self injurious behaviors.  There have been punches to his temples, jabs to his chin and very firm blows to his head. Josiah banged his head on the table more times today than I could count.  As often as we can, we block him, but it happens so fast it’s not always possible.  Where is this behavior coming from?  It’s heart breaking and frightening and dangerous.

When Chandler saw how much Josiah was hurting his head, she quickly ran to find his helmet. We had him fitted for one years ago when we saw some of these harmful habits developing.  But by the time the helmet arrived after being measured and fitted for him, Josiah no longer needed it. As if flipping a switch, the behaviors suddenly stopped.

Now they are back with a vengeance.  His teacher mentioned last week they are seeing some of it in the classroom as well.  In addition to throwing things and flipping tables, he’s hurting himself at school. What does all this mean?  Is he frustrated?  Angry?  Tired?  He doesn’t seem to be.  Most often he seems completely peaceful, then out of nowhere he suddenly hurts himself.

When I couldn’t get him to stop tonight, I suggested a ride in the van.  Josiah loves to go for rides.  I knew it would be the perfect distraction and hoped it would help calm him.  As soon as he was strapped in, even before I was buckled in my seat, I heard Josiah’s head bang hard against the glass a couple times. It wasn’t possible for me to block him so I removed the possibility by rolling down his window.  For an hour we drove slowly through our neighborhood. Thankfully, Josiah relaxed and fell asleep in his bed shortly after we got home.

For the next few hours, our sweet boy will not be hurting himself.  I have no clue however, what tomorrow will bring. I can only pray the switch will flip again and when Josiah wakes in the morning he will be back to ‘normal’.  I will definitely be calling his psychiatrist as soon as his office opens.

But that’s not all. Just to be on the safe side, Josiah is getting a new outfit: