Month: March 2010

Goodness gracious what a polite child!

Melissa

I’m not sure I can take any credit for this at all.  We do say please and thank you regularly but I think his teacher is more rigorous in enforcing manners.

This morning on the drive to school Duhdee and I were talking and I heard, from the back seat…

“Excuse me, Daddy?”

Duhdee kept talking but I stopped him and said, “Your son just said ‘Excuse me, Daddy’!”

Duhdee: “What, Monkey?”
Monkey… “Home?”

Ha!  It’s so much better than the days gone by (*touch wood*) when he’d whine “GO HOME!” the entire drive.

Conclusions: Uncertain.

Melissa

Monkey had his first day of school now that he’s taking the stimulant.  Today is probably a very bad day to expect anything due to the time change.  We had to PRY his little bottom out of his bed this morning at 7:30!  He never sleeps to 7:30!

Anyway, the teacher reported at pickup that he was very distractable during the morning as he was most of last week.  She also noted that he was making increased eye contact (is this really a sign that it’s working??) and that after lunch (and his 2nd dose) he was much more focused.

So, again the results are a mixed bag.  Is it working?  I think maybe?  It hasn’t turned him into a Monkey on speed so I guess it isn’t NOT working.

To be continued…(ad nauseam, I’m sure 😉 )

Day 1, done.

Melissa

So, I put on my big girl panties yesterday and gave the Monkey man his medication.

We had a good day.  I wasn’t sure if it was having a small effect or if it was wishful thinking.  Duhdee was convinced it was working in the morning when Monkey helped him make coffee and, at one point during the process, made sustained (30 seconds) of eye contact with him.  I don’t see how increased eye contact would be a result but….whatever.  It was the first time Monkey has ever held eye contact with Duhdee for that long, so Yay!  He had a 2nd dose at lunch.

This small dose does not seem to be affecting his appetite, he was a snack monster all day.  He was really, really talkative all day long.  He was not jumping from one topic to another as quickly.  He’d make 2 comments about something rather than just 1.   I’m not sure what I expected but it seemed like there were some small improvements.  I was still conflicted.

Then the medication wore off and HOLY SHEET batman!  He was bouncing, he was running, he was JUMPING ON ME, he was chewing on everything.  It was then I realized a few things…

1.)  He’d watched videos during the morning and he’d sat still and watched them through to the end vs jumping in place and jumping from video to video.

2.) He had not needed his chewy tube ALL day.

and

3.) Once he went back on to high speed, which in his case is normal, I couldn’t believe that we have survived nearly 6 years living with the Tasmanian Devil and never noticed.

So THIS is why people always say how amazed they are that we can keep up with him.  It’s all we’ve ever known so it was always hard to respond to that comment.  Now I too am amazed that we’ve kept up with him this long.

So, I guess it’s working but I’m still not truly convinced.  Maybe he was coming down with something…I guess we’ll see.

Soooooo…tomorrow morning…

Melissa

we start Monkey on a stimulant to try to address the “attentional difficulties” he’s having.  We’ll see how he does over the weekend and if it’s not working, and we’ll know immediately if it’s not, then we will stop.  If it does help then his school nurse is on board to do the afternoon dose for him.

I don’t want this.  I don’t want to medicate my sweet boy…my baby.  I also don’t want to hold him back in any way.  I’ll do it because the Dr. thinks he needs it.  His teacher has been doing ADHD checklists for him periodically for months.  The Dr. had us try other things first which, I know, made me mad because I wanted insta-results and not to have to pay out so much out of pocket.  It’s the right decision.  It might not be the right medication but, clearly, he needs some help with his attention.

Why does this feel like I’m failing at being his Umma?

What a cwappy Monday.

Melissa

The trains were running way off schedule.  They were crowded to the point that my toes were stepped on repeatedly.  Someone was leaning really hard into my back, my purse was in the way no matter where I put it and then one of my fellow passengers began hallucinating.  Whatever it was that he was battling required a lot of shouting of some rather foul language.  All of this added up to a really tense ride.  Tension = headache in my world.  Ugh.

So, I get to the office.  I had not been happy when I left last week…I’d been in the midst of a pointless discussion that I seem to have every couple of months.  “I know what I’m telling you does not match the law.  I agree that you have interpreted the law properly.  I also know that the man behind the window does not care.  He’s been doing this for 20 or 30 years and you will never change his mind and, really, without that stamp of approval from him, you’re sunk.  Sure, of course, I’ll go call and check again.”  Such a waste of time and money but what do I know?

Anyway.  I get to the office and that red light on my phone is blink, blink, blinking away.  I glared at it.  I did everything I could think of before checking that message.  I even considered ignoring it.  The whole time I was using some of the curses I’d learned on the train ride in under my breath.  Finally, I picked up the phone and jabbed in the code only to hear…

Hewwo?   Hewwo?  Hi!  Mommy!

That little Monkey managed to get his hands on Duhdee’s phone on Saturday and he called me at work.  What a sweetie.

I’ve listened to it three times already.  For some reason, it doesn’t feel like such a cwappy Monday anymore.

I have waited so long for this!

Melissa

For most of Monkey’s life I could tell you at any given time how many signs or word approximations that he knew.  Once in a while he would surprise us by showing off a bunch of new signs all at once but, in general, the words and signs came on so slowly that we were very aware of what he was capable of.  Then, last fall, the words began to come on faster and faster.  We are still delighted every time we hear a new word from him, we still celebrate every bit of progress but I can no longer tell you how many he knows.  I tried to sit and list them all a while back, for some reason I can no longer remember, and I stopped after 200 words…and that was off the top of my head.  I also used to write down all of our exchanges that lasted long enough to be a “conversation” or whenever he’s throw enough related words together to make a coherent sentence.

You know what?  I CAN’T DO THAT ANYMORE.  I can’t do any of it.  He knows so many words that I have lost count and he uses new ones every day.  He and I have conversations, multiple conversations, every single day.  Some are cuter than others so they stick out more but many of them are so mundane that it just doesn’t occur to me to share them.  I have MUNDANE conversations with my son.  He tosses out sentences now regularly.  Again, some stand out more than others either because he uses new words or he expresses some new desire that takes us off guard but they happen every single day.

There was a long period of time where I thought he might not ever talk and now…I’m starting to take it for granted a bit.   I have to keep reminding myself that once upon a time I lived with the fear that he wouldn’t and now he does.  I have to keep reminding myself of this whenever I think of something else I’m afraid he won’t do because I know he’s certainly not done showing us what he is capable of.

Oh, hey, had I happened to mentioned that, inspired by this post by fragilemom, I discovered that my Monkey can read too?  This kid just keeps blowing my mind.

Update on the air cushion.

Melissa

We’ve been using the loaner air cushion since last Friday and we’ve definitely seen some improvement in the eating situation!  He really enjoys sitting on it, which is great, and we’ve noticed that we’re having to intervene much less often. 

He will still overstuff but it’s not every single bite, it’s every 2 or 3 bites.  And he is much better about using the fork or spoon.  Again, he’ll still grab food (and this is when he tends to overstuff, the utensils slow him down) but we don’t have to tell him to use a fork or spoon with every bite.  We’re seeing enough improvements that we’re going to order him one of his very own so he doesn’t have to cart it to school and back every day.

Yay for progress!