An Apple A Day...

A few weeks ago, I took my oldest son T to a doctor that has just recently started his practice in our area. He is a developmental pediatrician, and currently the only one in our area.

Our concerns started when T was 8.5 years old. Just last week he turned 13. Four and a half years of doctors, tests, evaluations, etc.

We do know the following:

- He had visual tracking and teaming issues which was corrected after a good amount of vision therapy (age 8 - 10 years old)

- He has dyslexia (Diagnosed at age 8. He currently attends a learning center that works specifically with dyslexic kids.)

- He has an anxiety disorder (Diagnosed at age 10, and is kept under control with medication.)

We were also told by a previous doc that he had PDD-NOS (Pervasive Developmental Disorder - Not Otherwise Specified). If you are not familiar with this, it is when a person displays some autistic traits, but not enough to earn a true autism diagnosis. T's school also tested him for this last year and found him not to be PDD-NOS.

After the new doc spent a few hours with T and went through our stack of filled out paperwork, he agreed that T doesn't have PDD-NOS, but rather he suspected a few other things. We are now in the process of having new tests and evaluations done. One of the things that the doc highly suspected was that T might have auditory processing disorder. So I made an appointment with an audiologist and this past Tuesday T underwent that test.

There is no question... he does have auditory processing disorder. When someone talks to T, he can clearly understand the person if it is relatively quiet. However, if there is conversation going on around him, or other noise distractions (buzzing, a distant vacuum cleaner, t.v., etc.) then his comprehension goes way down. It's not that he is hard of hearing... it's the way his brain processes the words coming in that is the problem.

T has a few more evaluations to go through, and then we should have a clearer picture of what we are dealing with.

This is a huge relief to us. Not because he's been released from a PDD diagnosis, but because we feel like we are getting the right help now. I don't care what the diagnosis is as long as it's the right one. If we know what we're dealing with than we can find the best ways to deal with it.

We've been on a roller coaster for the past 4.5 years. We've met some great doctors, and some not so great. We've been given some correct answers, and some wrong. Good advice, and bad. You get the picture.

Warning: Mini Vent Ahead

In meeting with each new doctor, I've always made a point of explaining T's frustration and distractability when it came to background noises and how bothersome they have been to him. Until now, not one of them ever suspected auditory processing disorder. How can this be? I am frustrated and upset at this. But because we now have a correct diagnosis, I am willing to move forward and not play the "why" game.

There are some things that we can do to help T with APD. Unfortunately, it is going to be harder to "re-train" his brain at this point because he is older now. If we would have found this out sooner, it would have been easier. But thankfully his new doc came to our area when he did. Otherwise, more time may have passed by before he was correctly diagnosed.

Yesterday's Agenda

The mysterious rash on youngest child's arm: Poison Ivy

Walmart trip lasted 1 hour and 8 minutes. We wouldn't have been out of there a lot faster if the pharmacy would have been quicker.

K's short haircut is actually pretty cute!

I won the first game of Go Fish, K won the second.

Laundry and lunch... check!

Cleaning the kitchen didn't happen in the afternoon.

Afternoon rest was heavenly!

Phone calls were made.

When the boys got home from school, I went through their papers. Homework went fast!

Dinner was pork chops and steamed vegetables. Yum!

T cleaned up kitchen for me while I read w/ middle child. What a kid. :-)

This week's spelling words are easy!

Playing Skip-Bo with the kids was so much fun!

Talked and laughed with husband. One topic of discussion was the big jackpot for the Powerball drawing.

Flossed children's teeth, sent them in to brush. T and K lost a penny for poor behavior during this time.

Got children tucked in to bed

Watched some t.v. (Wife Swap and CSI-Miami)

Didn't work on my client's scrapbook.

Went to bed.

Today's Agenda

- Take youngest kid (4 years old) to doctor @ 9:00 a.m. (mysterious rash on arm)

- Go to Walmart

List:
Pumpkin carving kit
Socks and underwear for youngest kid
Winter boots for all kids
Band-Aids
"Wipe-Off" Script writing workbook for 8 year old

- Take youngest for a haircut (this is breaking my heart... she wants it short, I want her to grow it longer. Her hair is about 4 inches below her shoulders now. But, it's her hair, right? I think I have to let her do what she wants.)

- Come home, play Go Fish

- Fold laundry

- Make lunch

- Clean Kitchen

- Afternoon rest

- Make phone calls (follow up for doctor appointments)

- Greet older kids coming home from school

- Go through their papers

- Help with homework

- Make dinner

- Eat dinner

- Clean up kitchen

- Read with kids

- Practice this week's spelling words with boys

- Play Skip-Bo with children

- Talk with husband

- Floss children's teeth, send them in to brush

- Get children tucked in to bed

- Watch some t.v.

- Hopefully work on my client's scrapbook (this depends on my energy level)

- Bed

What are you doing today? :-)

Zoom Zoom

My brother and I were both pretty much grown up. He was probably about 19 years old, and I was 2 years younger. Both of our vehicles were out of commission for some reason or another, and my brother needed to go somewhere.

We lived about a half a mile from a little car dealership.

[Ha! This memory still gives me a chuckle.]

So we walked over there to "test drive" a vehicle. I drove my brother to where he needed to go and then took the car back to the dealership. Imagine the salesman's face when I showed up solo about 20 minutes later. I remembering him questioning me about my brother's whereabouts, and I vaguely recall telling him that I dropped him back home before returning the car. He didn't believe me. I've never been a good liar.

Fast forward a year and a half later. I was now married and had moved from the midwest to the east coast. My husband and I had only one vehicle... his Ford Probe with a manual transmission. I had learned how to drive it because, well, if it's your only mode of transportation, you don't have a choice.

I came back to the midwest for a visit and my brother asked if I could teach him how to drive a stick shift. I got in my driver's seat and told my brother to hop in. As we were heading toward the high school with its huge parking lot, I swung into a different little lot. One that sold used cars.

[chuckle]

"What are you doing?" my brother asked with panic in his voice.

"You don't think you're going to learn in my car do you?" I asked as I parked and opened my door.

I walked around, looking into different windows of the available cars for a good 5-speed we could use. He was following me around like a nervous little kid. He was saying things like "What if they won't let us take it out by ourselves?", "What if we get caught?", and "I don't think we should do this."

"Would you relax?" I hissed as one of the salesman approached us.

"Can I help you?" the man asked.

Acting like a serious interested buyer, I asked for information on a cute little black number. He gave us the specs, fetched the keys, and my brother and I finally left for our test drive.

"I can't believe you did that," my brother said laughing as I pulled out of the lot.

We knew we didn't have much time, so I gave him just a short lesson. He didn't grind the gears too much, but I am still glad that I didn't let him learn on my car!

Trick-Or-Treat!

I don't know how it keeps happening. It's just weird that my kids are so compliant about going along with a themed Halloween year after year. Maybe my ideas are so cool that they just can't help but going along with it.

[chuckle]

I am amazed that it's happened the last couple of years. I mean, they're getting older... it's not like they are babies anymore and I can just buy whatever I think is cute because they haven't developed a sense of what they like, nor have the language to express what's on their minds.

They are their own little people now. They have their favorite characters and superheros, and definitely have their own ideas of what they like. So why don't they protest, put up a fight and say, "No thank you mommy, I'd rather be XYZ for Halloween"?

I think they're just humoring me. That's okay, I'll take what I can get. But then I have mommy guilt. When they are grown and looking through the family albums, will I hear it then? "Geez Ma, I hated dressing up in matching costumes. Why did you make us do that?" And I'll say, "I didn't make you do it. It was a suggestion and you all agreed!" Oh, I hope that day doesn't come. I hope my children won't have years of therapy to endure because of this.

My hope is that when they look back on their Halloween memories, they'll only remember being happy. They'll just remember the candy and the fun.

FLASHBACK: At least they won't have memories about 1982. Oh my goodness... remember THAT?? Afraid to bite into an apple for fear of getting cut by a razor blade, or terrified of getting a headache because then you might die from a poisoned Tylenol!!

Anyway, some of our themed Halloweens have consisted of:

Wedding:
Priest, Bride, and Groom



Hogwart Kids:
Harry Potter, Hermione, and Ron



Happy Meal:
Burger, Fries, and a Shake



Magician and
his Sidekick Rabbit


So what's in store this year? Well... it's a secret for now. My 8 and 4 year old have picked their costumes and are anxiously awaiting Halloween. My oldest is turning 13 in a few weeks and says he's now too old for trick-or-treating, so he opted out of picking out a costume.

I can't wait to see the kids get dressed up for a night of fun, take their pictures, and hopefully help create some great memories for them. I am downright giddy about it!!

But I'm not holding my breath for a themed Halloween next year!!