We spent last week (Sunday through Friday) in Vermont. The boys and their cousin all did very well in their ski school. It rained on Tuesday and Wednesday which at first would seem like a bad thing, but since the kids were pretty much the only ones there they ended up with private lessons. They were bundled up in their ski stuff first then the staff put what looked like big baggies with holes in them for the kid's heads on them and out they went. The final day the kids got to ski with afterward with Chris, Dave and Pop pop and they were flying down the slope with the "caterpillar" for a lift. Dima was moved up several ability levels and was taken on the chair lift before Chris got him and took him in a gondola. He's good enough to do the blue trails and seems to really like it.
Of course the excitement of the trip was making Dima exceptionally excitable and he was especially hard to handle in the close proximity of the minivan on the long drives. The two younger boys were also excitable but they both are able to settle themselves down versus Dima needing to step away from the excitement before he can get a grip on himself. He's great when he has the focus of the lessons just as he is during skating lessons, but the atmosphere in places like that make him seem as if he's not paying attention to us and I get nervous that he'll wander off when we're preoccupied with something else if he gets interested in something that he thinks is important. I try to make sure he's always with one of us or has a hand of someone with us but he does get defiant as well, which doesn't help matters.
While we were up there I got a call from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia about making an appointment for him to be tested for ADHD . When I got the call Chris's mom and I were in the grocery store and I can only imagine the look on my face when they said HOSPITAL cause I was thinking that something had happened to one of the kids on the ski slopes and was relieved when I realized it was only to schedule his appointment. I'm really hoping they can give us answers about how to handle his bursts of being out of control. I did notice in the van that he was okay for a while then would do something to get my attention - usually pushing against me or starting out hugging and then leading up to grabbing my arm. It seemed like he would act up almost every ten minutes, whatever that means. That may be a piece of the puzzle for his doctor.
Since I'm not a skier and neither is Chris's mom we spent our kid-free time together doing things like shopping - one day at the Vermont Country Store - a few visits to the grocery store - and some of the time was just spent at the house . I had books and magazines and crossword puzzles to keep busy with and it was nice just to sit down and click around the TV channels and watch whatever I wanted and to get in a nap. We had the kid's seats in the minivan so we had to go back to Stratton Mountain each day to pick up the kids by 3:15. It was a real vacation to not have to sit there and think of all the things I should be doing around our house.
The drive is long - we left the house at 11:00am on Friday and after adding in a few stops didn't get to Dave's until 6:30. Then we had to re-load our stuff into our car since it was spread out among three vehicles during the ride. What a long, long day.
After the first day of skiing my nephew Brody was walking around the house on his tippy-toes and whimpering when he went back to his heels cause his legs hurt. He was not very thrilled about going back to the ski school but went along and we didn't make a big deal of saying good bye and then tried to stay for short periods of time when we watched them on the beginner slopes and then he was fine. Finally on the day we were leaving he was looking forward to going out to ski school! Josh saw skiers on TV today and was talking about how he's going to learn to do jumps and moguls and Dima has told us about skiing into a tree - something that he later said he dreamed... and talks about the chair lift and gondola a lot. He also mentioned getting his tongue stuck to something metal then the guys bringing something to thaw it out and get it off, but since none of the grown ups mentioned it I have no idea if it's real or imagined. I really do think this trip is something they'll remember for a long time. Plus I think the time spent bonding with the relatives was a good thing.
No comments:
Post a Comment