We've all been sick which resulted in Mr N missing both days of therapy last week. Today was his first day back, he woke up cranky, which is never a good start to the day. First thing I told him was that he had school today and surprisingly that seemed to cheer him up. I reminded him several times throughout the morning that he had school today to which he responded with joy.
When we arrived at the preschool he literally ran to the front door, once we got inside he ran to his teacher and didn't look back. I thought that having missed last week that he would struggle today, but when I returned to pick him up his teacher informed me that Mr N had done amazing today. In the last few months the longest duration that he's participated in story time has been one minute. Today, Mr N was doing something when they started story time, when he saw all of the other kids sit down, he joined them, then accompanied them in all of the movements, as well. Fifteen minutes of continual participation in story time is progress of epic proportions.
I'm astonished by his progress and growth, overjoyed. Once story time ended he got in line with all of the other kiddos to wash his hands before lunch. I simply cannot believe my amazing little boy.
Monday, November 25, 2013
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Frustrations
We've been battling what seems to be a never ending cycle of colds, sinus infections and pink eye resulting in missing school for both kiddos. Not to mention being cooped up in the house for days on end.
The most frustrating part is that Mr N doesn't ever cough up his phlegm so when he goes to sleep at night he starts coughing and coughing and coughing until he pukes. Our solution was to give him Benadryl to help dry up the phlegm to avoid the puking. Initially it worked, we'd fight him to take the medicine and he'd maybe get half of his tiny little dose down, but it still seemed to do the trick. By fight him I mean one of us hold him down and the other hold his head still and squire the medicine in his mouth. Only the last 3 times we've attempted to give him medicine he starts coughing and coughing and coughing until he pukes. So we've gone from trying to help him to forcing him to puke before he goes to bed. I just want my baby to feel better.
Is there really no better means of giving little ones medicine? Meltaways are only for children over the age of 6 and 48 pounds, so tylenol, motrin, ibuprofen are not even considered for Mr N anymore, we just try to keep his fever down and let it run it's course.
I'm exhausted from the sleepless nights and coughing kiddos. I'm really hoping next winter is kinder to us.
The most frustrating part is that Mr N doesn't ever cough up his phlegm so when he goes to sleep at night he starts coughing and coughing and coughing until he pukes. Our solution was to give him Benadryl to help dry up the phlegm to avoid the puking. Initially it worked, we'd fight him to take the medicine and he'd maybe get half of his tiny little dose down, but it still seemed to do the trick. By fight him I mean one of us hold him down and the other hold his head still and squire the medicine in his mouth. Only the last 3 times we've attempted to give him medicine he starts coughing and coughing and coughing until he pukes. So we've gone from trying to help him to forcing him to puke before he goes to bed. I just want my baby to feel better.
Is there really no better means of giving little ones medicine? Meltaways are only for children over the age of 6 and 48 pounds, so tylenol, motrin, ibuprofen are not even considered for Mr N anymore, we just try to keep his fever down and let it run it's course.
I'm exhausted from the sleepless nights and coughing kiddos. I'm really hoping next winter is kinder to us.
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Success is ours!
The last few weeks meetings have been rough. We've arrived after the meeting has started but were unable to sit in the auditorium and had to sit in the back room. This does not bode well for Mr N. Today I decided we should try another technique, E and I got to meeting early so we could get seats in the auditorium, then Daddy and Mr N came after meeting started. It was a success, he stayed at the seats until the last 15 minutes. It was such a great day for him!
His behavior was so good during meeting several people commented on it afterwards. I'm not sure why I hadn't thought of taking two cars prior to today.
Last night with the time change we let the kiddos stay up a bit later than usual, but when the time came Mr N did not want to go to bed. After several attempts to get him to lay down, I let him crawl up in my lap, then rocked him to sleep. It was so sweet and wonderful to rock my baby to sleep, I rocked him, held him, and cuddled him even after he fell asleep until I was ready to go to bed. He stayed in his bed most of the night, but crawled into bed with Mommy and Daddy at some point.
I'd mentioned previously that I was planning to make platform beds for the minions, but as weeks turned into months my projects have only increased. As a result, I bought metal bed frames for their beds and will either make or pickup headboards for them at some point.
After months of procrastination I finally finished up the curtains for the master bedroom, as well as painted it and all of the trim. We are just waiting for the curtain rods to arrive so I can hang the curtains. This prompted me to also purchase a bed frame for our bed, which also motivated me to make a headboard. We picked up materials for the headboard yesterday and started it. I hope to finish most of it today, but again we won't be able to put it together until the bed frame arrives later this week. Among other projects, I picked up a couple of retro end tables to redo and use as nightstands. Our current nightstand will move into office to provide a more stable location for the printer while giving us more organization and storage space.
His behavior was so good during meeting several people commented on it afterwards. I'm not sure why I hadn't thought of taking two cars prior to today.
Last night with the time change we let the kiddos stay up a bit later than usual, but when the time came Mr N did not want to go to bed. After several attempts to get him to lay down, I let him crawl up in my lap, then rocked him to sleep. It was so sweet and wonderful to rock my baby to sleep, I rocked him, held him, and cuddled him even after he fell asleep until I was ready to go to bed. He stayed in his bed most of the night, but crawled into bed with Mommy and Daddy at some point.
I'd mentioned previously that I was planning to make platform beds for the minions, but as weeks turned into months my projects have only increased. As a result, I bought metal bed frames for their beds and will either make or pickup headboards for them at some point.
After months of procrastination I finally finished up the curtains for the master bedroom, as well as painted it and all of the trim. We are just waiting for the curtain rods to arrive so I can hang the curtains. This prompted me to also purchase a bed frame for our bed, which also motivated me to make a headboard. We picked up materials for the headboard yesterday and started it. I hope to finish most of it today, but again we won't be able to put it together until the bed frame arrives later this week. Among other projects, I picked up a couple of retro end tables to redo and use as nightstands. Our current nightstand will move into office to provide a more stable location for the printer while giving us more organization and storage space.
Friday, November 1, 2013
Heartache and pain
It's been a while since I've had such an emotionally taxing day, but today pretty much fills my quota for the quarter. I woke up with a stress headache that has only gotten worse as the day has progressed.
The kids well child checks were today, Daddy had an important work meeting so my SIL offered to go with me to help out with the kiddos. We made a plan ahead of time that she would hang in the car or outside with the kiddos until appointment time. When we arrived at the doctor's office I went inside to fill out the necessary paperwork and get the kiddos checked in for their appointments. The staff was very accommodating with my wishes for Mr N. When they were ready for him, I went into the room to discuss all of the history with the nurse then when the doctor was ready to examine Mr N, I went out and got him from my SIL then took him straight to the exam room.
I'd been on pins and needles all day stressing over how he would do, would it be like all of his other appointments in the last few years or would his new found progress carry over to doctors appointments and be smooth? We walked through the front door, Mr N said "hi" to the receptionist, then the nurse greeted us and told us to head on into the exam room I thanked as did Mr N with the sweetest "thank you" that surprised the staff after my very insistent warnings on how poorly the visit would turn out.
We calmly walked into the exam room where I had a few of Mr. N's cars, a teddy bear and his iPad waiting for him. He picked up his toys then looked around and saw the all too familiar exam table which was a dead giveaway that bad things were about to happen. I raced him to the door to shut it while we momentarily waited for the doctor to arrive. Moments later my fear, dread, and anxieties were all realized as the screaming and fighting began. He wouldn't let me hold him, he didn't want to sit down, he just wanted to leave, he wanted to leave fast and NOW. A nurse brought him a sucker but was met with hostility.
The doctor arrived shortly to begin the exam, she inquired as to the best way to proceed, then began her exam as I held a very angry little man down. Holding his arms, leg and head still so she could examine his ears was heart wrenching as he looked at me with so much sadness. Next came the tummy exam which about killed me as he screamed and held both sides of his head in his hands just wanting it all to end. We skipped the weighing and measuring as the chances of it being successful were less than 1%. The doctor mentioned he was obviously a healthy height and weight. With tears streaming down both of our faces we headed outside to switch kids. Leaving Mr N with my SIL while taking E in for her appointment was extremely difficult, I just wanted to cuddle and console my hurting baby. After giving him a few last cuddles I handed him off then headed inside with E.
E's appointment went great, she showed off her hopping, skipping and balancing skills for the nurse. She is finally in the 9th percentile for weight, weighing in at a whopping 35 pounds (only 5 pounds behind her little brother). She happily picked out stickers for herself and her brother, then let the doctor do the exam. E was anxious to head back outside to join her cousins, standing at the door holding the handle for the last 10 minutes while mommy talked with the doctor.
The doctor was great, she offered some more options for more services for Mr N that I intend to look into and take advantage of, as he deserves all of the help he can get.
We took the kids to the park to run off some energy before heading back to my SILs house. The kids played for a while, then as we were heading out to leave I looked down and E was missing a tooth. I asked her where it was and she said "I spit it out", which she did, just like she has been saying she would do since it became loose. Funniest kid ever. I picked her tooth up off the floor, put it in a Baggie then we headed home.
My heart is still filled with sadness for my little boy, seeing the fear and pain in his eyes while I held him down makes me hurt. Being a parent is so hard, doing things that you know need to be done even though they cause pain. As I sit here thinking about my boy with a headache and much heartache, I can't even imagine how much more painful today was for him. If only I could take that pain for him, I would gladly do so in a heartbeat.
The kids well child checks were today, Daddy had an important work meeting so my SIL offered to go with me to help out with the kiddos. We made a plan ahead of time that she would hang in the car or outside with the kiddos until appointment time. When we arrived at the doctor's office I went inside to fill out the necessary paperwork and get the kiddos checked in for their appointments. The staff was very accommodating with my wishes for Mr N. When they were ready for him, I went into the room to discuss all of the history with the nurse then when the doctor was ready to examine Mr N, I went out and got him from my SIL then took him straight to the exam room.
I'd been on pins and needles all day stressing over how he would do, would it be like all of his other appointments in the last few years or would his new found progress carry over to doctors appointments and be smooth? We walked through the front door, Mr N said "hi" to the receptionist, then the nurse greeted us and told us to head on into the exam room I thanked as did Mr N with the sweetest "thank you" that surprised the staff after my very insistent warnings on how poorly the visit would turn out.
We calmly walked into the exam room where I had a few of Mr. N's cars, a teddy bear and his iPad waiting for him. He picked up his toys then looked around and saw the all too familiar exam table which was a dead giveaway that bad things were about to happen. I raced him to the door to shut it while we momentarily waited for the doctor to arrive. Moments later my fear, dread, and anxieties were all realized as the screaming and fighting began. He wouldn't let me hold him, he didn't want to sit down, he just wanted to leave, he wanted to leave fast and NOW. A nurse brought him a sucker but was met with hostility.
The doctor arrived shortly to begin the exam, she inquired as to the best way to proceed, then began her exam as I held a very angry little man down. Holding his arms, leg and head still so she could examine his ears was heart wrenching as he looked at me with so much sadness. Next came the tummy exam which about killed me as he screamed and held both sides of his head in his hands just wanting it all to end. We skipped the weighing and measuring as the chances of it being successful were less than 1%. The doctor mentioned he was obviously a healthy height and weight. With tears streaming down both of our faces we headed outside to switch kids. Leaving Mr N with my SIL while taking E in for her appointment was extremely difficult, I just wanted to cuddle and console my hurting baby. After giving him a few last cuddles I handed him off then headed inside with E.
E's appointment went great, she showed off her hopping, skipping and balancing skills for the nurse. She is finally in the 9th percentile for weight, weighing in at a whopping 35 pounds (only 5 pounds behind her little brother). She happily picked out stickers for herself and her brother, then let the doctor do the exam. E was anxious to head back outside to join her cousins, standing at the door holding the handle for the last 10 minutes while mommy talked with the doctor.
The doctor was great, she offered some more options for more services for Mr N that I intend to look into and take advantage of, as he deserves all of the help he can get.
We took the kids to the park to run off some energy before heading back to my SILs house. The kids played for a while, then as we were heading out to leave I looked down and E was missing a tooth. I asked her where it was and she said "I spit it out", which she did, just like she has been saying she would do since it became loose. Funniest kid ever. I picked her tooth up off the floor, put it in a Baggie then we headed home.
My heart is still filled with sadness for my little boy, seeing the fear and pain in his eyes while I held him down makes me hurt. Being a parent is so hard, doing things that you know need to be done even though they cause pain. As I sit here thinking about my boy with a headache and much heartache, I can't even imagine how much more painful today was for him. If only I could take that pain for him, I would gladly do so in a heartbeat.
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