“So, there’s hope,” my friend joked, glancing between my six-year-old son calmly playing by himself and her sweet little two-year-old boy running around the play place wreaking havoc (as he should!). YES. In Wesley’s words, I agree ‘ten thousand.’
We’d met at a little cafe that had opened just a few days prior called ‘Inspired Play Cafe.’ I learned later that the woman working the counter, Bianca, had opened the cafe literally for me and my girlfriend, so to speak. She designed it to give moms like us a place to get yummy food and coffee while entertaining our kids with stuff that promotes creative thinking and exploration. Score! Yes, please, sign me up!
That little cafe experience caught me completely off-guard. I enjoyed the yummy food and fun environment. I enjoyed the coffee with whip cream on top. What I didn’t expect was to see the breakthrough my son had that day as I watched him in awe, mesmerized. He invented one thing after another in rapid-fire succession. Sitting at the cafe’s craft table for several hours he built stick creatures; block mansions and towers; houses on stilts; you name it, he built it. So unlike his typical reaction to places like this where he may push a few things around then ask to go home. His psychologist shared that it’s often easier to opt-out of things and stay home instead of taking a risk OCD will show up and bother him. I was the one inspired.
The OCD Flea only reared his ugly head once when Bianca brought over a magnetized building set just for him. He glanced quickly at it. Then he ignored her attempts to teach him what to do with it and relocated to the opposite side of the table further away from us. Confused and feeling guilty about Wesley’s reaction, I took one of the tiny cylinder magnetic pieces and held it up to Wesley. “How much does OCD not like this on a scale from zero to ten?” “Zero.” OK. Still puzzled. “What about this one?” I asked, holding up a shiny silver magnetic sphere. Immediate rejection. “OCD REALLY doesn’t like that.” There’s something about circles! Ack. Sitting at the Inspired Cafe craft table is definitely not the time for a new exposure therapy exercise.
Wesley was able to move on and build a series of other great things with ease after I returned the magnetic set. Earlier in the week, we had started him on a low dose of an ADHD medicine to complement his Prozac. The doctors have been hesitant to do it out of concern that stimulants could exacerbate his OCD symptoms which is the tougher opponent for us. The advice to hold off had been firm until a recent counting and math compulsion surfaced. I don’t know to expect longer-term with this combination. However, what I DO know with absolute certainty however is that I felt like I won a little more of my son back sitting there at Inspired Play Cafe.
There is most definitely hope. It might not mean it will ‘get easier,’ but there IS hope.
Peace & Victory
JM
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