new funnies

Elliot, to Oma, on the stairs up to Hailey's tap class at the YMCA "that's where the tap happens!"

Daddy let Elliot try his grapefruit juice, Elliot makes a face and says "that is yucky to me.  is that yummy to you?"

Hailey "everybody has feet, even Michael!"

Ollie the Octopus - by grammie for Elliot :)

big Fred

I have a stuffed bear that I was given when I was a baby.  I brought "loose bear" to college with me (so named because after 18+ yrs he was very floppy) and then eventually he was put in a box that lives in the garage.  He was originally called "big Fred" and I had another bear of a similar orange-brown color called "little Fred".  Recently we were telling the kids about how daddy lost his Curious George when he was a kid, and how mommy lost her "little Fred" teddybear, and how upset we were.  I mentioned that I still had big Fred, and the kids were intrigued, since they are all VERY attached to their respective stuffed animal best friends.

When I brought out big Fred (who had on a LHS band trip t-shirt from 1990), the kids loved him and introduced him to all their stuffed friends.  he gets lots of hugs (which is especially fun because he's about as "tall" as Elliot :)  I do have to remind them to be gentle with him, since 35 is quite old for a stuffed animal.

Yesterday, Hailey wanted to bring him in the car on the way to preschool.  while she was at school, I propped him in her carseat, and when she got back in the car she thought that was very funny.  Then later I was at the computer, and she comes up giggling, showing me Big Fred, who she dressed in Riley's clothes (I guess because he's a boy bear).  He had on shorts that came below his feet and a striped polo shirt - very cute and really made mommy laugh.  Then when Riley came home from school he says "mommy, did you see Big Fred?"  and I turn around - evidently Hailey didn't just put clothes on him, she even put a pair of Riley's underwear on him!  LOL

(right: Big Fred, just chilling in the outfit Hailey so adorably chose for him :)

little stories that never made it out of my cellphone

some little things that happen, especially when we're out-and-about just get texted to a few people.  since my phone is complaining about being full (again) - I'll copy a few here while I'm thinking of it :)

today
Hailey hands me 2 stubby clover flowers "here, these are for being the goodest mom!" aww, guess I'll keep her a little longer :)

last week
Elliot "when I'm big like daddy, I'm going to watch the gay movie!"  guessed every word I could think of, but was always met with "no mommy, not the (GAY) movie, the GAY movie!"  daddy figured out eventually that he meant the SCARY movie (drop the s and barely say the r, and it turns out 'ca'y movie does sound like that LOL :)

Elliot to Hailey "I nee(d) you (to) te(ll) me where b(l)ue toad is, or you're fi(r)ed!"

previous week
Elliot took off his diaper, put on a pair of Riley's underwear, then changed when he peed them (1st I knew of it was when I realized he was wearing different clothes)  right idea, wrong order :)  could this be my child who potty trains before age 4?

Riley, in the middle of changing into his swim clothes "I can do a weewee stand!" mommy "uh, what's a weewee stand?" Riley "you have to keep your weewee straight" and demonstrates something that vaguely resembles a "3-point stand"

month ago
evidently, neither of us changed Elliot's diaper this morning.  he threw his diaper in the trash and went commando when he put on his pants LOL.  discovered it when I asked how his pants got wet, and he cheerfully explained it was pee :)

in a fit of temper over being locked in his bedroom for nap, (3 year old) Elliot not only dumped the box of legos, he ripped a door off his bureau!  "I couldn't get it back on" he says mopily.  (it was so hard not to laugh)

my work is done...

Elliot wants juice to drink with dinner.  Riley observes with a sigh that Elliot always wants juice and not milk.
Riley "Elliot, you have to learn to like just milk.  Do you want to go on big rides?" Elliot "yeah"
Riley "if you want to go on big rides you have to grow big, and you need to drink milk to grow big"
Riley repeats this argument a few times
Riley "do you want to go on big rides, Elliot?"  Elliot, surly "I want juice!"'

a moment later, Riley "when Elliot is a grownup and married, he's going to give his kids only juice and never milk"

LOL :)

I'm gonna be a grandma (someday)

Riley, matter-of-fact-ly "I wonder how many kids I'm going to have.  maybe 12." Mommy, looking up "how many kids?" Riley "...that I'm going to have when I grow up.  maybe 30." Mommy "30! that is a lot of kids!" Riley "we'd have to have a 3 story house.  and 32 bedrms" LOL

Hailey cracked up Grammie and Grampie (and us) while they were visiting by summing herself up as "silly. and beautiful." which she repeated again earlier today.

Elliot is also saying funny things all the time now, I'll try to write them down so I remember to immortalize them here :)

attention issues etc

I've been running behind on blog entries, and there's so much more fun stuff to talk about, but right now I'm so frustrated!!!

I grew up with siblings with ADD/ADHD and a mom who was a special Ed teacher, and a lot of awareness and sympathy in general for all kinds of special needs.  I knew attention deficit disorders are inherited, so there was a good chance one of the kids would have some degree of it.  Yet I feel totally blindsided by Riley's transition the last few months, and very frustrated that even wading into the system I am already facing lots of hurdles.

Riley started his kindergarten year as the kid who was so focused and attentive that they put other kids next to him hoping they would be calmed by his influence.  He was friendly to everyone and so lots of different kids liked him and vice versa, and all the material seemed to be coming pretty easy to him.  After the middle of the school year, he started having more and more trouble staying focused and kept getting into trouble for not staying put, not staying quiet, not staying focused, and not listening when a grownup asked him to settle down.  He got some criticism for his handwriting and homework being too messy but otherwise was doing great, and got increasingly resentful about having to do homework, and complaining about going to school in the morning.  He's also been relying on clowning around to get kids to like him, and when they look at him funny or tell a teacher he's misbehaving, it's very hurtful to him.

Maybe a month ago I started talking with Jeff and other moms about it, and looked up the symptoms of ADHD, and was startled how well they matched.  I mentioned this to one of Riley's teachers, who kind of shrugged it off, saying she always managed hers well by eating less sugar and more protein.  Since she didn't respond in a way that was confirming his classrm behavior matched, I let it go, but continued to be frustrated by Riley wanting to be good, and trying really hard, but still not be able to do what all these grownups wanted of him.

Then last week, his other teacher asked if I was the one who wanted an SST done (a Student Success Team meeting to assess his needs) and I said that was probably a good idea.  Then today (after talking and reading more about ADHD in the last week) I brought it up again, and the teacher said to start with the pediatrician.  The pediatrician said "no, first you need to have a Connors assessment done by the school psychiatrist".  The school special education coordinator said "oh no, you can't have one of those done until you've done an SST, and that takes 60 school days, so it probably won't be done until September."  GRRRRR!

Riley wants so much to be good, and tries so hard to get it wrong over and over again!  I want to fix it, to help him, but now I feel like I'm totally on my own again.  It's so hurtful to him and to me as a parent who can't figure out how to make it better!

Off to get the kids to swim class - last one where they're all in the pool at the same time.  And we'll probably be late, and I'll be aggravated because I can't even yell at them to get them to move faster because of the lingering laryngitis.

bah.