Tics

When we visited Minnesota in 2012, Aunt Kathy or Uncle Terry (I forget whom) pointed out that Simone did something periodically on her face. I think it was a blink or or squeak.  I paid no mind to it but then she started doing more tics when we got to Florida.  A quick search on the internet calmed my fears that maybe she had a problem.  Many kids apparently have simple tics that eventually go away.  The time to worry is when the tics become complex and require a lot of different movements to complete.  So far the tics have just been little jumps, or a squeak, or an eye roll.

Max has tics too but at first I just took it for his admiration for his sister.  If she does something, he  wants to do it or something similar too.  But he kept up his tic of checking his eyebrows with his fingers (for fear that they had disappeared) for so long that I think he truly did have a tic.  Max actually developed a multiple tic in which he yawn and touched his heart right after he checked his eyebrows.

Michael realized one night that the tics come from ... ME!  I was watching Game of Thrones with my headphones on and he heard me making a snorting sound.  I also make this sound when I watch Walking Dead or anything else that causes me anxiety!  This made me wonder if my family has tics and I realized that yes, indeed they do!  Well at least my dad does.  I remember him making a quiet sound that Grace described as "tuhnt."

One time we were riding in the car somewhere Max informed us that he had a new tic.  Michael asked him to describe it. "I close my eyes and then I open my eyes and then I close my eyes and then I open my eyes."  Michael and I were in the front and only heard the description but did not see his physical demonstration.   We didn't have to have seen it because Simone soon commented, "Max ... that's called 'blinking.'"

So far Simone has stopped eye-rolling and Max no longer checks his eyebrows.  I've stopped snorting but that's because my favorite dramas are on their mid-season hiatus.