More spirited toddler chronicles

Ben is now 25 months old.  The non-stop hours of crying have NOT returned.  He does still cry alot, as described below, but it is for discernable reasons.  I no longer have the gut renching helpless feeling when the crying starts, knowing that it will continue non-stop for an hour or more no matter what I do.  Ben does cry often as he has started having horrible seperation anxiety from me.  He must call "Mama" at least 60 times an hour, every hour he is awake.   He cries if I am not touching him or if I don't carry him with me as I walk through the house.  He also cries if Liam gets into his personal zone; he has the largest personal space need of any 2 year old I have met.

I remember when I found out I was having a 2nd boy, I was worried that he'd be less cuddly than Liam and would be more boy. Considering I need to touch him all the time and he is more attached to me than I thought possible, I guess I was wrong.
We had his Early Intervention appointment yesterday and re-wrote our IFSP.  They also are transferring Ben to the regular Early Intervention program.  Since he qualified, he was receiving services under Alaska's Early Intervention Program, Part E.  Part E is a program that allows children who don't meet the criteria for the regular (Part C) program to receive services.  The funding of Part E is in question.  Between the funding issue and the fact that after working with Ben, it has been determined that he needs OT, it was decided to trasfer him to the regular program.  From the Infant Learning Program website:

"Developmental delay of 50% or greater in one or more areas of development


Disabling condition with a high probability of resulting in a 50% or greater developmental delay

Child's development appears atypical and a multi-disciplinary team determines that the child is likely to have a severe developmental delay."

Ben's OT explained to me that his sensory processing and resulting meltdowns interfere with his life so much that he meets this requirement even though testing would not show him to be 50% delayed.  It has been confirmed that Ben has Sensory Processing Disorder, just like his big brother.  Ben's SPD presents a bit differently as he is almost primarily a sensory seeker (Liam sometimes seeks and sometimes avoids) and Ben has none of Liam's motor planning problems.  This mean Ben has a compulsion to climb, jump, crash, scream, hit, etc.  At this point, I would say Ben spends at least 70% of his awake time doing "butt flops" (jumping in the air then putting his legs out in a sitting position so he crashes on his butt).  He will even do them on hard tile.  If not doing that, he is running and sliding on his knees or running in circle (like at the moment) or climbing or grinding his teeth while hugging something as hard as he can.
As far as langauge, Ben is starting to show a delay, as he still doesn't use his name or pronouns (except for yelling "mine" when Liam tries to take a toy) and doesn't use many two word phrases.  He does have many scripted phrases that we hear regularly and he talks alot.  He seems to have created his own language, though I have figured out many of the words.