OT evaluation

Ben had his final evaluation on Friday morning - occupational therapy - you know, fine motor skills and sensory fun.

Guess what? Aced it. He blew her away with his scissor skills and his threading skills and drawing ability and writing his name, etc etc etc. She said he is doing things normal almost 5 year olds struggle with (rainbow loom - weaving - 3 dimensional building). She was absolutely unconcerned with the sensory stuff - the only thing she found was his lack of diet, but since it doesn't seem to be a texture thing, she isn't bothered with his picky eating.

I am beyond fascinated as to the agencies final report to the school. What is this kid doing in school that is so opposite to what he shows us in the home?

Case in point: Wed Ben's class had their Thanksgiving Feast to which the parents were invited. When we arrived, all the kids were adorable in their pilgrim hats - Ben was actually wearing one!!! AND, he was wearing his heavy woolly coat. What the heck? It was 80 degrees in the room and the kid was wearing his Winter coat. Daddy went up to him and said, hey bud, let's take your coat off and Ben did. WHY COULDN'T THE TEACHER DO THAT? What am I missing? I am sure they encouraged him to take it off and he said no. But at what point is someone the adult in the situation and says, Dude, take off your coat or you go to the principal or something of that nature.

That is a silly example, but as kids, if we fooled around or acted out we went to the principle who had a big fat wooden paddle he wasn't afraid to use. Do I want someone whacking my kid? No. But there needs to be a fear of "being sent to the principle" in addition to stickers for "random acts of kindness" (which I adore, by the way...).

Ben doesn't want to do what he doesn't want to do. I appreciate that and even encourage it in certain circumstances. But I also remind him that in certain situations he needs to be part of the "team" and do what the team does...

Such a fine line, this parenting thing.

On another topic, Em is the first to fall as the germ season is upon us. Strep throat it is - 10 days on amoxicillan - fun! What is crazy is the wicked rash that has decided to accompany it. I've never seen anything like it - head to toe - the girl looks like her skin is some crazy lizard skin. It's not just patches here and there - I'm talking about every bit of her is covered. And boy is it itchy! Benedryl and lots of warm baths. Poor kid. At least the antibiotic kicked in and she is feeling good minus the itching.

Next!

Ben had his speech evaluation last evening. The Speech Language Pathologist (from a private outside company - not the school) said he was there checking on two things: a) can he communicate and b) is he comprehending what he is hearing. To make a long story short he deduced Ben communicates very well and comprehends what he is hearing. We were pretty confident about those two things going into the evaluation but, if you've been checking in - we've been surprised before!

The Speech guy also opined that 5 years ago Ben would never have been singled out for an evaluation, but now because a) more is known about childhood challenges and b) so much more is expected from kids at such an early age, he sees how the lack of focus on doing something he doesn't necessarily want to do can be an interruption to the class and to the teacher who has demands on her to get through x amount of work every day / week / month...

He had his psychological evaluation this morning. It was the same therapist who evaluated him 2 years ago before he did that short 3 month stint of early intervention speech therapy. She was incredibly impressed with his brain - called him very intelligent for his age and noted his quick sense of humor. She did this evaluation in our home - one on one - with him, me and daddy. She then went to the school this afternoon to watch him in the group setting. I am fascinated to see what she finds with her time at the school as she commented that he was very focused 1-1 (yes, he had some sillies and wiggles, but what 4 year old boy doesn't?).

Which leads me to funny story for U2 Ben #7.

Ben went to preschool last year with twins, Lily and Tyler. They lived in the next school district over with their parents. Sadly, over the Summer the parents split, and one happened to move next door to us. They have joint custody of the kids, but our next door neighbor has "residential" custody - so they luckily got the twins into our coveted school district with it's spectacular preK program.

Ben has been on a play date at their home in the next town over and of course he knows they live next door, but here is where his alternate universe (parallel universe, maybe?) kicks in - he is convinced (or at least he has me convinced he is convinced) that there are TWO SETS of Lily and Tylers - one set that lives next door in the brick house and one set that lives the next town over in the white house. He even refers to them as the white house Lily and Tyler and the brick house Lily and Tyler. When I suggest to him they are one and the same, he is adamant they are two Lilys and two Tylers!

On the ride home from school today knowing he was going to be observed by the same therapist in school that came to our house this morning, I asked him, "Did you see my friend, Monica, at school today?" "No, she wasn't there, but another Monica was, a 'teacher' Monica was watching all of us in class." When I asked him if he thought she could possibly be the same lady, he was confident once again that they were two different people. I'm curious if she changed her clothes??? She was wearing  very bright orange outfit this morning at the house - surely he would have recognized it - he is "very intelligent for his age" !!!

He is our quirky kid that is for sure. Ben, please don't ever change. You make us so dang happy!!!

Randoms

1) When we were in FL last week I made the kids go to the grocery store with me. The parking lot was full so we had to park quite a ways from the entrance. The kids were lagging behind as we strode across the lot and Em called out, "Slow down, Mom! We're just kids!"

2) As Ben splits his time between here and an alternate universe, I am often amused by the things that come out of his mouth. The other day we were talking about Grandpa (vs Grandpop) and Ben jumps in with, "I talk to Grandpa all the time. He is the one who told me about portals." I have no doubt that in U2 (otherwise known as Ben's alternate universe) he and Grandpa travel thru portals to other places together. 

3) Ben will also out of the blue reference a conversation we had months (years, even!) ago. I will have no idea what he is talking about, but Emma will jump right in and clarify it for me. She totally speaks his language and I adore it!

4) While waiting for our return flight to NY on Wed evening, the kids asked if they could get a donut because they had "behaved so good". I agreed and we got in line at the kiosk Dunkin. As it was 6:30 pm the selection was pretty limited. They both chose a vanilla star donut with vanilla frosting filled with Boston creme. Emma housed it real quick, Ben took his usual nibble-fest of a time. He ate 90% of the donut leaving just the squirt of creme inside a part of donut. He handed it over to me and I chomped it down. (Free calories!) He then said, "Hey, where's my donut?" I ate it. "But you were only supposed to eat the yucky part!" (I.e. the creme!)

5) Ben rocked a serious bloody nose Wed am in FL. I'm talking crime scene drips and smears all over the guest bathroom. It took me at least 30 minutes to clean up all the splatters - mostly because instead of grabbing a tissue and blotting at his nose, he chose to blow raspberries with his lips to remove it and got it EVERYWHERE! Then on the plane about 45 min from landing he had a giant sneeze. I looked at him to bless him and what seemed to be a giant coagulated woolly bear caterpillar was hanging out of his nose. He started the raspberries again, but I stopped him in time to keep the clean up to a minimum. I rang the call button. The stewardess came over, "Csn I help - oh my GOD!" And ran away to grab me a whole box of tissues and some wet wipes. His shirt looked like he'd been shot up with an assault rifle - and came out perfectly clean in the wash the next day, thank you Oxy clean. Amazing stuff. 

6) This was the first flight I trusted Em to use the airplane bathroom on her own. I figure she is tall enough now to slide the lock herself and she came back with clean hands so all is good with the world. 

Grandpop-sitting in FL

Abuelita needed to go out of town on business for 5 days, so the kiddos and I volunteered to go to Florida and Grandpop-sit while she is away. It has been exactly 82 degrees every day - or at least that is what the car thermometer tells me when we get in the car (it may be broken... not even 81 or 83, every single time it says 82!) sunny and warm and - surprisingly - humid! I thought the FL humidity went away in Winter! We are apparently missing the first snowfall of the season back in NY - no complaints here!

They did good on the direct flight here, 2 hours and 40 minutes. Thankfully Ben did not FREAK OUT like he has been on take off. I tried to distract him with the pot holder loom...

As we can't wander too far from the house here in FL, we have been doing A LOT of the following:

Ben does the first layer, Em does the weaving, I do the edges. Teamwork, I tell ya!

Watercolor painting in those oversized books, markers, too. No crayons though. Why do my kids hate crayons?

90 minutes at the park every morning while the nurse is getting Grandpop out of bed. Fresh air time!

Em has been playing the piano every day and a lot of ballet practice.

Ben's is more of an Interpretive Dance...

They sleep sideways in a King Size bed. Once again, I have NO ROOM TO SLEEP.

Writing music! Complete with Pianissimo and Fortissimos!! LOVE it!

Oh, yeah, and LOTS of technology. No choice, really. *sigh*

PT evaluation for Boogles

Friday was the first of 4 (5?) evaluations for Ben, this one with a physical therapist. When she entered the penthouse, he ran right up to her and said hello with great eye contact and enthusiasm. We spent the first five minutes getting to know each other before starting in on the tasks she was to observe him in.

We told her we had absolutely no concerns whatsoever with his physical activity. He is wildly active and very coordinated. Or. So. We. Thought. 

Remember when the PE teacher at school reached out regarding Ben in her class five weeks into the school year? Her comment wasn't that he wasn't participating, it was that he was making his own way and not following directions.  

During the evaluation (which Daddy got to be a part of, too), Ben completed the tasks, but it took a lot of "Ben, please listen / Ben, please follow directions / Ben, no, we need to do it Miss Sue's way not the way you want to." Etc. Holy moly. I was exhausted after 45 minutes of coaxing him to stay on track. How have I never noticed this to this extent before???

She pointed out that he favors his right leg when he does things. His left calf is tight compared to the right one, so she suggested we do stretching exercises with him. She also feels he will qualify for PT services as his balance wasn't quite where she thought it should be. More than anything, she felt the one to one PT would help him gain focus in others ways, which is obviously our biggest concern. 

She is going to suggest he go to a PT place for kids for a few months where they will run him through a series of fun obstacle courses, stretching, coordination etc. Next week he has a few more evaluations, then the outside agency providing the testing makes their recommendations to the school. I'm fascinated to see how the remaining ones go... What more will we learn about our sweet little man?

Halloween goodness

Abuelita does such an amazing job of clothing our children each Halloween. The kids LOVE her spoiling and I have no problem whatsoever letting them wear the costumes day in and out so they can enjoy her giftings. (I made a new word!)

Last Sunday (before Halloween) our village hosted their annual Harvest Festival. The kids get costumed up to trick or treat at the stores along main street, then there are various points of interest through out the village to enjoy. We stumbled upon our village's Maritime Explorium during this year's Harvest Fest and I have to tell you, I am already a HUGE FAN. So much so, I requested the front desk gal apply our entrance fee to a year membership and we WILL be spending every cold winter weekend afternoon here getting maritimed (another new word!) up! In the pic below, the kiddos are learning about the qualities of magnets - north and south poles, etc and they each built a "magnetic go cart" that rode an opposite pole track down a cool hill. (That is how science COOL this place is!)

Merida and Red Bird in the early stages of go cart building.

Wherever he goes, whatever he does... it involves constructing! Look at what our little engineer did with weighted blocks at the explorium...

I swear, ma, I will take care of you AND Aunt Miki in your retirement with all my engineering designs...

Merida decided to shed her costume for the SLIME making table. Good idea, Scottish Princess!

Look closely at my top two teeth - they are BOTH ready to come out and leave me singing for Christmas...

Did I mention that Emsadoodle last week tripped on our friend's front stoop and went teeth first into their storm door knocking very loose her two top teeth? Shall I also interject how grateful I am that these are BABY teeth and ready to come out vs adult teeth requiring titanium implants? (I speak from experience...) The timing oddly couldn't have been better - her top gums were/are BULGING with permanent teeth just waiting for the parking space. When these teeth come out (I'm guessing in the next week...) I need to be sure to get pics immediately as the gaps will be filled quick just like her bottom ones were!

Halloween was a GOOD day. The weather started out sunny, then got cloudy and spitty rainy but ended up perfect trick or treating weather. (I remember knocking on doors wearing my heavy Winter coat as a kid - this  day was perfect - 60s and no need for a jacket!)  Daddy and I dropped Ben at 12:40 for preK, and went straight to Em's for her 1st grade party. We got to meet / socialize with a bunch of parents we had not met before which is always a good thing in my "it takes a village" opinion. The Elementary school parade began at 1:30 - the entire student body paraded around the school for the parents to enjoy. We got these great pics of our kiddos:

Ben (holding Aayan's hand - you can't see it from the pic - tooooo cute!) and showing off his Rainbow Loom Action Figure in this other hand!

Emma, in perfect form - I'm a princess - hand raised - waving at my subjects!

Holy guacamole - that reminds me of THIS awesomeness... Sunday while trick or treaing at the stores during the Harvest Festival, complete strangers kept awesomely complimenting our children on their costumes. At one point, after ANOTHER compliment, Ben yells, "Mom! They LOVE me!" which absolutely brought tons of smiles and giggles to the street of onlookers!

We chose to hang with some of our best pals and hit up one of the exclusive subdivisions in our village, Jefferson Landing, for trick or treating. It is a giant circle of beautiful homes housing some very generous and friendly people. Our kids - and the 7 pals we treated with - got a giant bounty each of the good stuff: you know, real chocolate goodies versus the high sugar oriented lolly pops / smarties etc. They were in heaven - as were daddy and I: you know, you only have kids so you can "police" their stash and get first choice of the goodies.... (Wait a minute! Was that just my dad's rule that I am now generationally (another new word!) enforcing. I like it!)

Needless to say, Daddy and I enjoyed a lot of stolen kit kats and reese's...giggle! (Ssshhhhh, don't tell the children...)

The new Montley Crew. Seriously, our best pals are truly the best!

We are now in gratitude mode: should be this way year round but somehow November reinforces the remembering of why we do what we do... Before I describe the pic below I need to mention tonights shower conversation with Ben. He was toweling off when he randomly said (and he randomly says AWESOME things all day every day - I just wish I was as diligent as I once was about recording them... sigh...), "How did Cassidy do that?" (talking about our dog who passed away 18 months ago...) Me, "Do what, buddy?" Ben, "Get to a different Earth." Me, "How do you think?" Ben, "When she died, her energy went up, up, up and now she is on a different Earth." Me, "That's right, buddy!" Ben, "I don't want to die." (with a giant big cheesy grin by the way!) Me, "I don't want you to die either. I want you, me, daddy and Emma to live a long happy life together!" To which he answered by jumping into my lap and giving me the biggest squeeziest hug ever! I love me my kids...

We decided to pinterest it up and make a gratitude tree for the month. Every day we will add one new leaf with the things we are grateful for that day. Day one gratefulness: my healthy kids, my family, Deeit (Em's security blanket), Aayan and candy corn (Ben's pal and food he will NOT eat - don't ask me, ask the alternate universe Ben.) Day 2 - My awesome neighbors, my beautiful wife, friends, and angry birds. (You decide who was grateful for what!)

At the end of the month this tree is sure to look GREAT and grateful.