An Update... Finally!

1. Homeschool, here... we... come! We ordered the Abeka K4 curriculum for Ethan, and a few of the 3's workbooks for Gabriel. We also bought the preschool bible set (stories and pictures). It won't be shipped till June but we aren't starting until August. Jesse wants to start the bible when it gets here, so we'll probably do that :)

I'm excited and nervous! We decided to go with a traditional curriculum for the first few years to make sure the boys get a good foundation in language and math. I don't know if we'll stick with Abeka but right now it's a good fit for us :)

Even though Ethan will be 5 in July, we don't feel he's mature enough for a regular kindergarten curriculum. He's smart, but he lags behind his peer group in social skills and overall maturity. So K4 it is :) We wanted to give him something manageable this year that shouldn't challenge him much. We want him to get his feet wet in regards to the idea of school, to learn some of the structure and routine, before diving in to a challenging K5 curriculum.

2. Ethan had his retest for occupational therapy the past few weeks. It was split into two sessions, with a break for Easter in the middle. I haven't gotten the results yet but hope to have them at his appointment Monday. I've seen growth here at home with his motor skills and sensory issues, and I hope that's reflected in his test results!

3. We are still doing behavioral therapy every week. But the emphasis has shifted from doing things with Ethan to just Jesse and me meeting with the social worker. The next phase in the parent-child interaction therapy we were doing involved some things that went against our parenting beliefs. So instead we're working with specific issues and concerns when we meet.

The biggie right now is that although Ethan's overall anxiety has decreased, he is getting more and more rigid in his routines :( For example, at every meal, there is a growing "script" he says:
"Can you make this again?" (waits for my reply)
"Thank you" (waits for my reply)
"Does it have salt and pepper in it?" (waits for my reply)
"How did you make this?" (waits for my reply)
If anything interrupts his "script," he gets extremely agitated! If I'm not home, he has to have Jesse text me the first two items.
He is making more and more routines, and if things don't go EXACTLY in the "right" order, a meltdown ensues...

In the past, as his anxiety has increased, his rigidity and OCD-type behaviors have also increased. But this time, his anxiety hasn't increased. In fact, it's decreased. Which makes me even more concerned.

We discussed this with his social worker today. She is going to talk to the psychiatrist about it in the next couple weeks and let us know what she says (she only is there 1 day a week). In the meantime, the next appointment will be a home visit with the social worker. She'll teach Ethan (and us) some relaxation techniques to help Ethan cope better. She specifically mentioned deep breathing, guided imagery, and muscle tensing/relaxation.

Eventually I'll share some of the things we learned in the parts of PCIT we did, and how they worked :)

3. So... I mentioned a while back that we had made the switch to grace-based parenting. The boys are responding so well to it! Especially Ethan :) I want to do a post just on how GBD looks in our home, but that will take some time and a good bit of mental energy to put together. The ladies at www.gentlechristianmothers.com have been a Godsend in helping us through this transition! If you want to get an idea of what GBD is, you can look around there. www.aolff.org also has some great resources. I don't agree with her 100% theologically, but her parenting articles are awesome!

4. It's been a rough year... Lots of sickness and health problems, car issues, really tough financial spots, etc. But our awesome God and Savior has brought us through them! We are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, and it is no longer the headlight of an oncoming train ;) Jesse's work-from-home job has picked back up after a few months of very little work. He's also laying the groundwork for his personal business. Right now this means he's working 12-15 hour days, 7 days a week. But this is only for the short term! We're all looking forward to him having a fairly normal schedule soon :)

Hmmm... I guess that's the major stuff... I'll try to update more often, but with the way things have gone, I don't get much time to blog! Most posts are from my phone so they take forever :p Right now Jesse and Gabriel are taking a much-needed nap so I grabbed my chance to get on the computer ;)

The Boys' Allergy Testing

I blogged about it on my health blog. I know some of you don't follow it but may be interested in what happened today.

http://cmlhealth.blogspot.com/2012/03/allergy-tests-are-not-for-weak.html

I'm still trying to process the emotions. I'll probably post here about them when I'm ready...

Allergy Testing

The boys have an appointment with a pediatric allergist later this month. Their pedi set it up at my request to do food allergy testing.

I don't know what kind of testing they're going to do. I'm putting together a list of questions to call and ask about what to expect. They are sending me a packet to fill out. I don't know if there will be some info in there that answers my questions but I'm hoping!

If anyone knows of a question I should ask, please leave it in the comments!

Sad Goodbye...

Today we said goodbye to Ethan's occupational therapist :( She lost her job due to budget cuts and today was her last day. We knew it was coming but we didn't find out till Tuesday when it would be.

I knew Ethan was going to be really upset about her leaving. The last couple weeks I've been hinting around about it. He asked me Tuesday night and I told him. He took it better than I expected. When I broke the news to him, I suggested he could make her a book and we could bring it to her and tell her bye.

So yesterday I gave him 10 sheets of typing paper and his bucket of crayons. I didn't give him any directions other than "make the book for Ms. J." He drew. He wrote. He was done in 10 minutes LOL Last night he chose sheets of construction paper for the front and back cover. I punched holes and tied it all together with string. We went page by page and I added captions to his pages as he told me what they were.

This morning I wrote her a letter thanking her for all she had done for Ethan. I had been trying since Tuesday but I couldn't put the words together. I composed it on my phone and then wrote it out with purple ink and sealed it in an envelope.

I had emailed to find out what time she was free today. She was in her office when we got there. Ethan knocked. She opened the door and was so excited to see him! Ethan gave her the book he had made. She looked at every page and commented enthusiastically. I gave her the envelope, telling her to read it later. There were hugs and heartfelt goodbyes.

I didn't know how Ethan would handle telling her bye. He was fine.

I was the one holding back tears as we walked to the car...

Really Neat Memory

I just had a memory pop up out of nowhere...

I was very close to my paternal grandparents growing up. My grandmother went Home less than a year before I met Jesse. My grandfather joined her the fall of Katrina. But he got to meet and spend some time with Jesse. I'm so thankful for that :) I miss them both terribly still. Just writing this is bringing tears to my eyes... I dream about them sometimes, that I'm at their house, feel their love surrounding me, just like it did during some rough times in my life...

Anyway. My grandparents watched my brother and I after school/Mother's Day Out for a couple years. One afternoon I was working on social studies homework. I was probably in 6th grade. It was a map that had to be colored in with colored pencils. I don't remember the details, but there was a set color for each section. I really wanted to finish it but my colored pencils had very little points left. They were worn down to the wood. I asked my grandparents if they had a pencil sharpener. Grand-daddy said they didn't but that he had something in his tools he could use. So he took my whole pack of colored pencils out to the garage.

Time passed. He was still out there. I went to see what was taking so long.

He was standing out there with his pocket knife, shaving the wood from each pencil by hand, until it had a good point on it. I got upset and told him it could wait till I got home and I could use my pencil sharpener. But he insisted. He stayed out there and worked on them until almost the whole pack was nice and sharp. He wasn't young. His hands must have been tired. They were probably hurting, if not cramping. But for some reason it was important to him that he did that for me :')

I wish that I could give him a big hug again and tell him thank you. It was in the little things he and my grandmother did that I felt their love, and God's love. They are a huge part of why I'm a Christian today.

I wish they could see me and my life now... I hope they would be proud of me... <3

Big Dietary Changes

For those of you who don't follow my health blog...

A few weeks ago we did a 9-day fast from obvious wheat. When I reintroduced it, both boys and I had reactions :( So we are now wheat-free. I'm not being real particular about avoiding gluten in any form right now. The boys will be getting bloodwork done to test for celiac disease. I'm waiting to hear back from their pedi's office about when they'll do it (their pedi is out of town right now). After we get the results back, we will hopefully have enough info to make some big decisions. Until then... We pray.

Special Moment!

Sometimes the joys of parenting are about the little things... The things you don't expect to make you feel warm and fuzzy.

We live in south Louisiana. It's Mardi Gras season and we live very close to where the parades pass. Today we were in very slow stop and go traffic along the parade route. Gabriel pointed and said Truck! I looked over and we were next to a parking lot full of RV's. People come from out of town in RV's in the time leading up to Mardi Gras and park in small "communities" in parking lots.

I found unexpected joy in explaining to the boys what RV's were, their similarities and differences to hotel rooms, etc. Instead of being frustrated that it was taking a long time to get where we were going, I took advantage of a teachable moment.

My reward was Ethan's fascination, and the knowledge that little moments like these deepen our connection to each other...