cheap fun

While the boys were in school a friend and I went to Five Below - this store has pretty much everything and all kinds of neat -to -have stuff that we really don't NEED but ...
I got a pack of little whirly - helicopter rotor on a stick toys ( 3 for a buck) and rewarded Dima's third sticker in a row with the toys. They were inspired to eat their lunch in record time so they could get out to play with them and now they're out running around like madmen trying to use them. At times they're getting whacked in the face and sometimes they're doing better than I did with them. It's only a matter of time before they'll have them flying all over the yard. I also found beach towels and a bocce set that I might save for Josh's birthday. That should be a good family game that's also good for their eye-hand coordination. Josh'll have that mastered in no time. We've got a great yard for that stuff and they need something to do while they count the days til we can get out the baby pool and Slip and Slide. Josh is now asking for a new color of helicopter thingy since he can't flick that one
Gotta go out an help him.... to be continued

The last segment was while we were home between school and skating lessons.

Meanwhile back at our house... Josh is resting in his bed and thinking about NOT jumping on his brother anymore... something he got a time out for doing just yesterday and then he did it this afternoon from pretty high up on the jungle gym. Since both boys behaved well at skating I decided to reward them with a trip to our - ok my - favorite park so they got to play on the jungle gym and while there were climbing and sliding I was thinking back to just after we moved here and Josh was so little that I had to follow him around to spot him and be sure he wouldn't hurt himself today he was whizzing up a rope ladder where he used to just pull himself up on the first rung and kind of go sideways to the next opening on the thing and at the time he thought that was great - it's amazing how quickly the time flies.

During our excursion to Five Below I got Josh an alarm clock and made a picture schedule so he can get into the same routine that Dima's in first thing in the morning. Dima's really good about turning off his alarm, getting out of his P.J.s to put on the clothes that were laid out the night before and coming downstairs on school days. Lately Josh has been whining for me to help him and I think he's big enough that he can start to do more for himself.

He just used his alarm to get up from nap - got his pants on without help and is downstairs on his own. He's looking for a toy that he had this morning and he's walking around in the playroom saying "I'm getting warmer". Funny, funny kid!!

our visits to Dr. Wiley

Almost a month ago we had a consultation with Dr. Peter Wiley and AD/HD specialist at CHoP to investigate the possibility that Dima has AD/HD . The more I read about it and talked to other people about it the more convinced I was that it would come to this. Once I read about kids who have it lacking the inner voice that tells most of to stop things that get them in trouble I could imagine Dima's picture in the book next to that entry.

The first visit was for testing and for Dima to be interviewed. Some of it was done while Chris and I were in the room and a major portion of it was just him and the people who were interviewing him. He had several breaks while they were together and it lasted at least four hours.

Since seeing Dima’s dr yesterday – yes, he does have mild AD/HD - I’ve been copying his reports for Dima’s teacher and the therapists at school because he thinks that Dima would benefit from speech and occupational therapy and so I have to get that ball rolling. I also faxed a copy to his pediatrician to see if she could prescribe medications for him but, no of course it couldn't be that easy, now we have to find a doctor who psychiatrist who treats kids to do the prescribing.

Dr Wiley was very thorough and he went over each test that he did and explained the results and what they mean as well as noticing trends in how he's learning and where he's lacking. I liked his approach with explaining the pros and cons of the medications with out saying that we HAVE to use them, just providing information to allow us to make an informed decision. The pediatrician and Dr. Wiley have both said that they've seen results with behavioral therapy combined with the medication.

So many people have a bad impression of what the drugs do but the way he explained how they work is different from anything I’d heard and it really made sense. Plus there are different things to try depending on how they affect him to see what works the best and at what dosage. After reading up on AD/HD I had a feeling it was coming to this. I should have recorded the visit yesterday cause it was just filled with information.

After yesterday’s appointment my mind was just swimming! In a way it’s just the beginning of more doctors and more therapies but I feel closer to an answer to helping him get a grip on himself. The bottom line is that with no one to talk to him and to nurture him and to really take care of him until he was almost three profoundly effected the formation of his brain and so his functions differently than others especially in terms of impulse control.

When I brought the kids home today I gave Dima a pair of heavy duty scissors to go out to our forsythia to trim some to bring inside - when you give him specific instructions about something like that he can do very well as long as he's not already wound up. He very carefully went out into the yard carrying the scissors the right way and being sure not to run it was kinda funny to watch him walking back with scissors in one hand, branches in the other using almost a tight -rope walk type step. Now he checks on them every few minutes to be sure the cats aren't chewing them or just obsessing over whether we should give them more water or take them out of the water because he knows you're not supposed to over water.

He got two stickers so far this week and if he can get two more I told him that he and I can go out to a restaurant of his choice on Friday night when Josh goes to see the Reading Royals game with his Papa. I'm going to try to set reachable goals for him so that he doesn't feel like he'll never accomplish the ones that are set too high.

Josh: the star of the show

Our German dance group held their Spring fest on Saturday and Josh was a huge hit. They tell me that even people from the bar were coming into the hall once word spread that he was out dancing with the kid's group.
I know I'm biased but he was really cute. Our friend taped him and I figured we better put him on youtube before someone else does. Even after he was done dancing he was going around the room and people kept complimenting him and high-fiving him all night.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_NAbgYrjJI

There's potential for America's Funniest Videos too, maybe we should send it in - could potentially add to his college fund. He had a good time running around the place with his friends before we had to slow him down as people started coming in. We stayed in a hotel near the fest and Josh always likes doing that. The boys had another late night last night with going to a Reading Royals game - again Josh became the center of attention for a while as the "Funny Guy" -the mascot came over to play around with Josh and his new long purple plastic horn that is quite a bit like an alphorn and he is actually good at getting notes out of it.

His busy weekend certainly caught up this morning when he was throwing himself on the floor refusing to get his coat on to go to school - then I was regretting allowing him to go to the game on a school night. He actually wanted to go back to bed - why can't he do that on a day that he can sleep in?? I would have gladly let him go if I could have or brought him into my bed and we both could have gotten some rest. I'm hoping that naptime goes well and he gets caught up on his rest, partly because I'm pretty tired too after two late- late nights.

I throw up

While sitting here at lunch I started playing a game with the boys where we take turns coming up with words that start with certain letters. As part of the game I told Josh that he could give up his turn if he didn't have a guess and especially since most of his guesses are letters that are close (b versus v) he said he wanted to throw up meaning he wanted to give up. He must be getting ready for a growth spurt cause he's eating like a fiend. Right now at lunch he's already had two hardboiled eggs and half of a sweet potato as well as a fruit roll up and now he's started to peel an third egg. I think part of what he likes about the eggs is being allowed to peel them. It really appeals to his Mr. Destructo side. Dima's further along in his meal and is having apple newtons and Josh is asking for five of those!! I'll give him one at at time to try it but he's really chowing down.

Ok, now he just asked for another egg. There are times that he eats so much that his belly bulges out. He loves his pancakes and French toast and can really put that stuff away.

We're still sitting here about twenty minutes after lunch actually started and he did finish the five apple newtons and has asked for another egg - I'll let him eat as long as he's still hungry, I figure his body must need it if he's going and going like this. Weird combination though, he was taking a bite of newton and a bite of egg while he had both going - yuck!!

If he keeps this up he might actually BE throwing up instead of giving up on our game. Surprise surprise, he's gotta poop now!!

Easter weekend and Pastor / Coach Becky

Josh and I had the chance to spend some time with my parents this weekend. He had the chance to take part in an Easter egg hunt on the very playground where I did that kind of stuff when I was little ( though wen I did it we used real, dyed eggs, not plastic ones and ours weren't sponsored by Crayola- each kid this year walked away with a nice crayon box filled with Peeps, crayons, markers and a little note pad) . The place looked like a wonderland when we first got there with the baseball diamonds and the play area covered with eggs and with a gazillion other kids from the neighborhood all over the place. Josh did nicely at the hunt as well as playing that afternoon with the boy next door to my Mom and Dad.

He's super exhausted today cause he got little rest compared to what he's used to over the whole weekend. He made lots of noise on Friday night as he was supposed to be settling into bed and it was almost 11 by the time he actually did get to sleep where it's usually 8- 8:30. Of course the moment he realized where we were in the morning he was asking me every two minutes if he could go to my parent's room. I told him not until it sounded like they were up and Josh was scrunching up his face cause he was mad at me and putting his legs over me while we were both still lying there with me still trying to sleep. Since he was having a good time and was playing nicely on Saturday afternoon I decided to let him skip his nap - while I took one and Gramma and Poppy watched him play with the kid next door - and then yesterday he missed his nap again so he was beat when we got in last evening and it didn't take long for him to get to sleep. The boys both had to go back to school today and when we got back I decided to let them play outside since it's pretty nice out today and not as windy as it had been last week. Well, they played a while with Josh going around on the battery -powered Jeep and then getting distracted by Dima suggesting other things to do. They both picked up sticks and started poking around near the shed with them and I had just said to both of them that I didn't think that was such a good idea when all of a sudden Josh is standing there wailing and I had to get him to calm down to figure out that he got a pretty big splinter in his left index finger. He must have pulled at it cause by the time I got to him it was mostly gone above the skin but I can still see some of it below the skin. He was adamant about not letting me touch it and I ended up giving him the option of letting it there and letting it hurt or taking it out and he wants to let it there. I'm thinking it might work itself out either at bath time tonight or we can hold him down when there are two of us and put some honey on it to get it to come out on its own.

He was then playing with Dima in the play room cause he was scared to go back outside and when I told him it was time to eat lunch he had a fit and was lying on the ground crying that he wanted to play hockey and skip lunch. We really don't have a lot of time today since Dima has his turn at the rink tonight so I gave Josh a chance to get up and get eating or go to bed - Bed it was and he must have still been exhausted from the weekend cause he was crying and yelling and kicking that he was mad and within moments he was asleep. Very unusual for him to get quiet so quickly so I actually went up while Dima and I were starting lunch to check on him and he was OUT!! I'm wondering if I should sneak up there now and try to put something on the splinter to try to get it out or at least put antibacterial stuff on it. Then again I don't want to wake him up cause I really need my nap too. There's nothing like getting back to your own bed after you've been away for a while - it's also hard to rest fully with a 40 pounder taking up the center of the bed. Today naptime is for me too, I need to rest up since I have dance practice tonight and that - plus hanging out afterward can run late. I like the group and the fact that we all get along so well and people want to spend time together instead of running out the door when they're free to go. Our DC group was like that too, not only did we dance together but we also got together socially and just enjoyed each other's company. This coming weekend will be fun cause we have members of the DC group coming up for a fest with the Philly group, it'll be nice to have these fun people combined.


Any way, as I was getting Josh ready for school this morning I asked him what he wanted to tell his teacher about our weekend and he said he would tell her about going to Gramma and Poppy's -and my childhood- church (it was nice to see and talk to people that I've known for ages and to show Josh a off a little). He said he'd tell his teacher that we saw lots of "teachers" and Coach Becky - I think he meant lots of ..... um - older... ladies at the church and he was confusing the Pastor with one of the coaches at the hockey rink. While we were at church he did sit nicely and looked at books and played with a light that I happened to have in my pocket which turned out to be a good choice for church. The light is silent and after I told him not to shine it at people I gave him a book marker and he spent time shining it at that and watching the light move around on the picture of Jesus.

I'm told that Dima did well while he had his chance to be the only child. He usually seems calmer somehow when he's on his own. He helped Chris replenish our pile of firewood near the house, he did nicely at a restaurant they went to - except for a few moments that Chris was on the phone - typical of anytime you're distracted and he thinks he can get away with something - and did nicely with out a nap on Saturday too. He did get wild in church which is the reason we don't take him every week he just can't concentrate on a quiet activity long enough to not get himself in trouble by making noise or doing stuff he knows he's not supposed to do. His Learn to Play Hockey class was on Saturday morning which was the reason he didn't come with us to Whitehall. Today he told me that the sticker he earned in class fell out of his hand before he could stick it on his chart, before Spring Break he was telling me that they didn't have enough bracelets in the mornings for him to get one, there fore no sticker since he never had the wristband that they need to have at the end of the day to earn it. I don't know if he's making stuff up or if it really happens.

A break from Spring Break

The boys are off school this week for their Spring Break and one of the moms who was at the rink yesterday for skating lessons and I were talking and she was the one who said she needed the break from Spring Break and I couldn't agree more. We've been busy off and on while the kids are out of school. I've tried to have some low-key time here at home playing "school" where Josh and I had "book bags" and pretended to be riding on the bus while Dima prepared his "classroom" and then Dima was the teacher and told us what to do and what it's like when he's in school - I noticed he kept getting things out to do even before we finished whatever he had going- and I wonder if it's just him and his perception of how it is there in class or do they really bombard them with assignments.

They've also gone skating and bowling this week. Josh went to a friend's bowling party last Saturday and had a great time. At first he bowled for a short time then asked if he could go do something else - there were arcade games that he was interested in - but since we were with the party I told him to stick with the bowling and he did and loved it. The place was crowded and trying to get a group of 4 and 5 year-olds to do anything in any order is exhausting so we - me and the few parents who stayed to help out - just kind of let them go in any order they wanted and they had frame thingys that the kids could roll the ball down bu Josh wanted to hold it with the holes and really roll it and sometimes it was painfully slow watching it go down the lane but he would stand or sometimes jump around while watching it and chewing on his fingers. With the help of the frame he did get a strike and then after that he thought most of them were strikes. While we were there for the party I signed him and Dima up for "bowling camp" on Tuesday. A good idea cause it gets people to come out during break and it was only $10 per kid for two hours of bowling, shoes and lunch of pizza and all the punch, water or soda they could drink. Josh was so excited about going that he kept asking if it was Tuesday yet. He does know his days of the week so I would tell him what day it was and he'd count down. Then on Tuesday morning he thought that the same kids who were there for the party would be there again. Once we got there the kids we were with were all older but they were patient about helping my kids and I had to stand by to remind Josh not to walk right into the other lanes while other people were getting ready to swing their balls around. Of course all the hubbub made Dima excited so I had him sit with me between balls and doing that tended to give him a chance to come down a bit. At one point while I was helping Josh I came back to the seat and I found Dima at the next lane goofing around with the buttons on the score - thing!! Josh of course making friends with the teenage girls around us and high-fiving everyone whether they rolled a good ball or not. A kid was driving one of the arcade cars when we were getting ready to leave so we stopped to watch and Josh now knows what a Nissan is cause that kid picked one for his car on the game.

This afternoon Josh and I are going to my Mom and Dad's for Easter weekend. I'm taking along his basket - not much candy but I did get him peeps so he'll know what they are and I got some Cadbury cream eggs for my sister and me cause we always seem to have them around this time of year. I also got him a calendar so we can hang it up and when it's time to count down to his birthday we can just show him. Since he was asking again and again how soon Easter was we made up a chain of construction paper and they took a link off each day so he'd have a visual of how long he had to wait. The calendar has Tony Stewart and the Home Depot car on it so he's gonna love it just for that. One afternoon while he was supposed to be napping he was trying to count down the months - I think to his birthday - and he was saying "March, April, MARY, ..." So well probably end up with the NASCAR calendar hung someplace down at his level in our kitchen so he can look at it every time he has a question about when something is going to happen. I'll also have to mark down things like the beginning of swim lessons cause a few times that it's been nice outside they've asked about getting out the pool or "swip and swide".

Dima has skating tomorrow morning so he's staying here and he and Chris will join us in for Sunday dinner. Dima's now in Saturday morning Learn to Play Hockey and he's involved in a team that practices on Monday nights and he gets free ice time while Josh is out for his lesson on Thursdays. We'll see how this goes cause he doesn't really seem interested in doing the hockey drills and stuff like that when he has the free ice time and some of those kids are quite a bit better than him since they're older and have been doing this longer than he has. He is a good skater and after the Thursday lessons are over one of the little kids just follows him around and he's pretty good at making the kid chase him.

As of Monday they'll be back in school and it's actually going to be nice to be back in a routine and for me to have kid-free time to do things like get the groceries and basic stuff like that.

I'm the Wine Weader of the World!!....

...so Josh would have been saying today during school. I had the chance to stay at school with him cause he was the snack provider / line leader (he still has issues with "l") and he was just absolutely in heaven. With the special placement in class and having me there he had a grand ol' time. He kept looking at me and saying "I bery ("v" issues there) wuv you, Mama" he usually comes out with stuff like that or hugs spontaneously during the day and is just a very thoughtful little boy. "I bery wuv that shirt" is another one I can think of that he came out with on his own within the last week. I've gotten into the habit of going to his room on the mornings that we're not rushing out of here to snuggle with him in his bed and talk but it's hard to keep him quiet when he gets talking about stuff that he's excited about so then the rest of the house usually gets up whether they like it or not - so that has to be close to wake up time anyway.

Josh has also been practicing with our dance group to get ready for performances during the coming year and to perform at our Spring Fest. Originally I was not planning to take him but he looks so cute he would literally be the darling of the show and he has such a great time with the other kids so we'll probably take him and either have him stay over with us and our DC friends after the fest, or one of my friends from the neighborhood has offered to bring him back here at the end of the night - it might be a lot to ask so I don't know if we'll take her up on it - she does have three kids of her own so I'm sure she can handle it but he can be sassy if he's tired at the end of a late event like that.