seasonalkat

03:22 pm: And one thing on which I never hoped to post...
E is in the bathroom last night, had to get up during dinner for a "sit down", so to speak. He's in there awhile, as usual, and then we hear the dreaded "uh oh...Mommy?" and he's ready to go into an hour long discussion on why what happened did happen WITHOUT telling me what actually happened!

We interrupt, tell him to tell us what it is.

He was playing with one of his sister's plastic bath animals WHILE having his sit down. And yes, you may have guessed it, it fell IN THE TOILET. After he was done! His defense "it's not near the poop though!", and he's right, it wasn't, but so much for eating the rest of dinner.

Thank goodness for plastic forks (great for scooping up poor antelopes from the toilet) and then easily discarding.

Ewww. And again I say EWWW.

01:00 pm: cute things to note
Tuesday night E mentions how much he would like, when it is "apple season" to make: apple pie, apple cider, and apple crisp. Oh, and to eat APPLES. I told him that time was now and he was quite excited. Yesterday after I took D to the doctor for a follow up, we hit Trader J*oes and got a buttload of yummy apples and cider. When she picked E up yesterday, they set to work making a pie. E was ecstatic and while they were preparing it, proceeded to eat two apples. After dinner, he had his piece of pie (yummy) AND his sister's piece as well, because she declined it after 2 bites. DANG.

A arrives at school the same time today as her best friend "K". K is a boy and is on the smallish side, but they obviously adore each other. They both wait for each other to put their things in their cubbies and head out together to the playground. Whereupon A immediately slings her arm around K's neck, his arm around his waist, and they do that "awkward teenage walking with our arms around each other" thing. ALL OVER THE PLAYGROUND. It was freaking adorable and hilarious, making all the teachers and I wish for a camera.

02:44 pm: surgery is over
Surgery went well yesterday, D is doing much better today now that she has had the packing pulled out and can finally get more air. Poor thing, she didn't sleep much last night and I was marginally better. Mom kept A, thank goodness, and she took her to the ped. this morning because she just wasn't herself. She's got a sinus infection, poor bug, and mom is kind enough to keep her tonight too because D is having a harder time than expected.

While A hasn't been 100% for awhile now, mom told the ped that she's been like "this" for a month. NOT TRUE! So now we look like horrid parents. Ugh.

03:28 pm: To save for posterity
Thank you Sarah Palin for this bit of wisdom about why the economy is tanking...

“That’s why I say I, like every American I’m speaking with, we’re ill about this position that we have been put in where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out,” she explained. “But ultimately what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy. Helping the — it’s got to be all about job creation too, shoring up our economy and putting it back on the right track. So health care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions and tax relief for Americans and trade — we’ve got to see trade as opportunity, not as competitive, scary thing, but one in five jobs being created in the trade sector today — we’ve got to look at that as more opportunity.”

11:19 am: Needing a portable booster seat
We're realizing that E may occasionally be riding in other people's cars and need an inexpensive, easy to install, booster seat. Note to self, start researching!

10:37 am: Things have improved
After much back and forth with everyone concerned, E's teacher began on Friday sending home a description (smileys or stickers) of how he did throughout the day. She is amazing, she covered every single period of the day, which is so incredibly helpful. He did well on Friday, the only times he didn't get a smiley is recess/lunch, when at some point he and another kid got into a fight and E got a kick/scrape to the FACE. Yesterday he came home with all smiles, and his teacher emailed me that he had a great day. FINALLY, positive email! He is still struggling with impulses and aggressive lashing out, but at least on Sunday he used the phrase "I am taking deep breaths" to get control of himself and did not hit his sister. HURRAY! We are using reinforcement (go little bar pressing rat!) to keep the progress going. If he gets another day of smiles today he gets a reward. What that will be I am unsure, but I'm sure D has a good idea.

Speaking of D, she is scheduled to have the sinus surgery on Thursday. She's been fighting off yet another cold, so this cannot happen soon enough or she'll be headed for yet another round of antibiotics and prednisone. Please think good thoughts for her Thursday morning, and for all the rest of us who will be dealing with the aftermath. :)

The girl has hit the terrible threes early. I am not going to be able to fool myself by calling them the terrific threes, because seriously she is being a monster. It's going to get better, it will. Luckily for her, when she's cute she is VERY cute and snuggly. Oh that is her saving grace.

09:28 am: Needing a hug/cuddle
I need a hug.

09:16 am: More and more
Yesterday I had several email exchanges with E's teacher, still more of the same. I picked him up from afterschool care and the director made a point in introducing himself and talking about how E resorts to hitting when frustrated and how they're working with that. I'm noticing this behavior more and more, if anyone encroaches into his physical space or touches him in an ambiguous way, E resorts to using his body in inappropriate ways. I saw it last night with his sister. He's turning into a boy who is more sullen than happy, more bristly than kind, more physical than not, and I am deeply unhappy.

We are most definitely pursuing the child behavior specialist's requests of providing more information. I haven't filled out the questionnaires yet as I need to be as unbiased as I can be and just report an answer to the questions without overthinking and interpreting, and right now I cannot do that. His teacher will fill them out this weekend, so I have until Monday I think to do it.

It is looking more and more like he needs some more of a drastic intervention, and I am having a lot of trouble separating ME from him in this equation. I am grieving his behavior because he is not the boy I know right now, and I just want to hold him and wipe it all away with my love, and that isn't going to work. I need to stop blaming myself for what's going on, because inherently I feel like this is my fault and like I "broke" him. Intellectually I may know that isn't true, but in my heart I am screaming that out. It's my fault. My genes. My screwed up family genes. I caused this. And now he's paying the price.

Again, I *know* in my head that is not the case, but getting my heart to understand that is proving more difficult.

02:04 pm: EKG update
D had her results faxed to her allergist as her primary is out of town until Monday. TIMING! Allergist says he doesn't see any cause for alarm, but that he is deferring to her primary. At least it doesn't look like there is anything serious, but we just hope also that her surgery isn't postponed or delayed as another round of antibiotics/prednisone is imminent!

09:17 am: Meeting with the child behavior specialist
Yesterday was our first meeting with Dr. R. We picked up the boy from school at 3, and I ran into his teacher in the office who told me that E had been having a hard day. Great. We made it to the office just in time for our appointment. There was some toys there and E jumped in and started playing. Dr. R. came to get us and we went back with him, leaving E up front under the watchful eye of the staff.

We talked about what was going on, described him and his behavior patterns, and spent a good hour just addressing all the things we were concerned about. He asked excellent questions and I got the sense that he was wanting to understand the whole picture. He then went to get E and brought him in. E was being fidgety and somewhat shy so he didn't say much. He was asked what type of things he is good at, to which he said "riding my scooter" and what he would like to do better at "riding my bike". Hm. After a few minutes he walked E back down to the waiting room, and E talked much more on that trip than in the office. Dr. R. noted that E was blinking repeatedly in the office, and also saw the distractibility in the two walks he took with him.

We are going to fill out some questionnaires about E's behavior (as we are the ones who can see it day in/out) and ask his teacher to also fill out some, and we mail them in and have another appointment on 10/10 to evaluate what information we have sent in.

As if that was not enough for one day, D got a phone call in the meeting from her surgeon's office telling her that the pre-op EKG they did on her for her scheduled sinus surgery on 10/2 came back 'abnormal', but that's all they could tell her. Needless to say when you're told that your heart may not be working right, it definitely adds to the tension. She did a ton of reading last night on the effects of prednisone, as she has been on it most of the summer, and it can cause an irregular EKG. Of course her primary m.d. is out of town until Monday, so D is a ball of stress. I just told her to call her allergist and see if they can read it and tell her if she's okay or not.

ARGH!

08:54 am: Fever's gone for now
The boy woke up at 7:30, right after D and his sister left. I was hoping he'd be able to sleep later, but he seems in a good mood. He's still hoarse, but is feeling MUCH better than yesterday. Keeping him home is a good idea to make sure he doesn't spike another fever and it gives us some time together. I think that is the best medicine of all.

I'm "working at home" today so as to not take a sick day. D is having sinus surgery on 10/2, so I'll be taking two days off then and potentially more, so I don't want to be cashing in the sick days right now. Luckily the boss is out of the country and not reachable by email. Hurray for favors!

Maybe sometime today I will be able to thoroughly clean my bathroom! :) A girl can dream, can't she?

10:29 pm: new school, new cooties
Monday E sounded a little scratchy, Tuesday he sounded hoarse, and today he wanted to come home and go to bed early. Wow, who is this kid? He's got a fever and had some soup for dinner before hitting the hay early. Looks like tomorrow I'll be staying home with him, and we'll be pondering a trip to the doctor to check for strep.

Poor guy, he's so doggone adorable and cuddly when he's sick.

12:03 pm: Soccer!
This weekend marked the beginning of E's venture into the world of team athletics. He's done soccer before, but as an instructional thing, not as a "play a game" type of thing. This is through the Y, is co-ed, and practice is half an hour before the Saturday games. He seemed to do pretty well at it and enjoy most of it, though he was MAD we wouldn't let him stay and play on the playground (elementary school) afterwards. We were on a tight timeline, so no can do, but hopefully this week we'll have time and all will be right in the universe. It was fun to be a soccer mom (shudder) for a time.

09:39 pm: following in my footsteps
As of Day 15 of school, E has now officially had freaking DETENTION twice. In Kindergarten!

Me?

I ditched K one day when I was his age.

I could live without this kind of emulation!

10:02 am: Only I could do this
Hurt/pull my thumb while working out. Mind you, I was WALKING at the time. The only way I can imagine that I injured myself? Turning the wheel on my Ipod.

I am hopeless.

09:58 am: Tornado sirens = panicky boy
Last night while both the kids were in the tub, the tornado sirens went off. I quickly checked the TV, nothing near us, but hustled the kids out and downstairs. E immediately FREAKED out and kept "what if"ing us to insanity. We spent half an hour or more trying to ease his fears, before going back upstairs with him and finishing the night time routine. A full dose of benadryl was needed in order to get the boy to sleep.

He woke me about 45 minutes after I had fallen asleep to help him find his sock. YAWN. What the heck?

Delightfully cool outside, slept with the window open and the comforter on the bed. Ahh, FALL!

09:47 am: Scouting
Why are the boy scouts so anti-gay, but the girl scouts don't seem to be? I wish I could have my boy join scouting, but I absolutely refuse to be a part of that. He's clearly in need of some male bonding, so I spoke to his youngest godfather (he has 3!) about spending some guy time with E sometime soon. I would love to have him be a part of something like scouting, which I loved as a kid, but geez.

09:33 am: Recap of weekend
Saturday morning I went to a church retreat. I expected to be bored, but surprisingly I wasn't and I was sad I had to leave much earlier than I wanted to. E had a birthday party at an ice cream store, and I couldn't figure out what the heck they would do to occupy TWO hours! Came home, A was a little basket case and D was quite up to her limit on it. Turns out while they were out getting the birthday present for the party, D ran into 2 of E's classmates which was really a nice treat. Took boy to party, got to chat with 4 other moms in E's classroom, which was nice. One I really liked, so hopefully we can chat again soon. Came home and went outside to play. Our neighbors across the street were out with some friends who were visiting them, so they had their boy (15 mos), and two girls (4.5 and almost 2) who were happy to play with my two and everyone shared _really_ nicely. No one was upset when turns were taken on various ride on toys, and no one had any tantrums. Wow, that was such a nice treat!

Sunday started rocky, but once we got to church it improved immensely. Both kids were in Sunday school and I am taking a class too. When it came time for church to start, A was happy to be in the nursery and E, AMAZINGLY, did so great up in services. He was quiet, he appeared to be listening, and he was CUDDLY. I love that I get all that extra time just to snuggle and cuddle with him. He was wonderful the rest of the day, which was just such a treat. Came home and had lunch, they both napped while D took a trip to Tar*get to get his Halloween costume (he's into all things Star*Wars of late). When they both woke up we went outside so D could mow and the kids could ride bikes. Older boy up the street seems to delight in teasing E somewhat. We are up riding around the island of the street, and as soon as we're spotted, kid comes out riding his motorized scooter all around us, but not interacting at all. He and his sister have a Disney type set up of wonderful things to play with both riding toys and things in the backyard, and of course both of mine would LOVE to play, but these two kids NEVER have spoken to mine. So frustrating! I understand, you are older than my kids, but don't come out and TAUNT them and not even interact with them. Grumble.

I ended up just being hit with a wave of exhaustion when we came in and it was a huge effort just to eat dinner, let alone do all the nightly tasks. I fell asleep at 9:45, but had to wake at 2 because E had a bad dream. I think I finally got back to sleep at 3, only to feel wiped out this morning. E also felt the same as he started the age old "just 5 more minutes Mommy!" thing (tee hee). I told him "honey, you won't feel any differently in 5 minutes". Mean Mommy.

04:29 pm: here mousie mousie
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10:19 am: No news from the teacher yet
I keep hoping to get a good email from E's teacher, but I haven't heard a peep since I sent her an email a few days ago. E indicated he had a better day yesterday, didn't get into trouble as much, and actually helped clean up in his after school program (earning him some points, don't quite get what they are for, but it is a good thing). He was also not horribly crabby for the first time when I picked him up after school. Hurray! We had a good night and he crashed as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Yesterday at the gym I ran on the indoor track under my own power for the first time in months. I've been using a treadclimber, but not doing any running. All the machines were full when I got there, so I chose to hit the track. I ran a mile in under 10 minutes, which was awesome considering I haven't actually run in quite a while. Then I walked for half a mile, and ran for another half, and walked about one more half. All of this in less than 30 minutes, so I'm making myself proud. Of course at the end my legs were like lead and today I am definitely feeling the effects of the running and the impact in terms of sore thigh muscles, but still, yay for me!

Today it is pouring rain and D had to leave early for a big meeting where she had to wear a suit. Yee haw, cute! I got to do everything this morning and managed it, despite the dog not wanting to go out in the rain to pee and getting E to the bus stop (waiting in the car). A bit frustrating to find I needed gas, so another stop, and I was fairly damp by the time I got A to school and myself to work. Still, I accomplished much in an hour! :)