Brags

[mightymaude]

Go.

[miranda]

DS, completely on his own volition, joined two afterschool clubs. One is a fantasy football league that meets Tuesdays afterschool in the computer lab. The other is a school musical production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I didn't know anything about this until DS came home and announced that he tried out for the role of Mike Teevee. He did not get the part, but instead got the role of Grandpa George. He has one line: "Grandma Georgina isn't PLAYING gin, she's making BATHTUB gin!" He is thrilled because he has so few lines to learn, and he only has to go to one of the three practices each week. I volunteered to sew costumes, so I'm happy. He is also doing Chess Club on Thursdays. I'm happy to see him so engaged and meeting other kids. I'm hearing him mention the names of kids he hasn't hung out with before.

[funchicken]

DD1 (9) is finally showing improvement in soccer--I think she's actually starting to understand the game. Last fall her team was so good that she didn't really need to do anything. This year her team is pretty bad, so they need her. When she's on the field, she looks ready, she pays attention to the action, and she defends her position. It's a huge improvement! Yes, I had to cut the toes off of all of her socks to get her to wear them but I actually feel like I'm going to survive this soccer season with my sanity intact.

[waverly]

DS has been doing his PT exercises faithfully for 2 weeks. He is in Boy Scouts and another club where they do service projects at school, and a fitness club (part of aftercare).

He has the FM system trial going on now, and he says he can hear better with it.

[macchiatto]

Leo has been doing so well with his therapies and keeping up with his therapy homework on top of regular homework. He's such a trooper! He also joined an after-school music club; I was pretty proud of him for being willing to do that.

[lemonberry]

Can I share all the things that happened over the summer?
-Flew on a plane for the first time. He loved it and even wore his seatbelt without fighting the whole time.
-Started speaking in simple whole sentences
-Got his first haircut that wasn't from me
-Went to the ER for emergency surgery and was a champ the whole time even getting the IV
-Went swimming (with floaties) and actually kicked and moved his arms to get places

[sahara78]

DD started a weekly adaptive horseback riding session a few weeks ago. She was scared to get on the first time (scared of heights & movement). I had to help/push her to sit on the pony. After that first time, she's had no fears getting on the pony! Quite proud of her. I used to ride/own horses, so I'm excited she is able to enjoy horses.

[vamoose]

My son met a kid and played with him at the playground this weekend for a good 20 minutes. They did climbing path challenges together that they took turns making up routes.

We are mid- diagnosis. Definitely ADHD and sensory issues, maybe some learning issues. He is 6 and these first six weeks of first grade have been terrible. I want mentally prepared for it to be this bad because kindergarten was mostly fine. He has been struggling and is a total introvert and plays alone at school and is turning angry and sad. We are on fall break and have been laying on the Love and play and everything else and it was so gratifying to see him engage on his own successfully with another kid and focus on that long enough to have a meaningful interaction.

[freezorburn]

Our normal bedtime routine is one story, brush teeth, two more stories, then lights out.

Tonight DS asked me why he has to practice conversation with his BT. He said he doesn’t like conversations — they are hard for him. I told him a bunch of stuff — so he could get to know his friends better, for one. And I told him about how much I enjoy having conversations with my friends. And how I have friends from kindergarten who I still talk to, even though we live far away and have different interests and very different lives. I told him how conversations with people we love is one of the best things in the world. And we talked about how much we enjoy having conversations with his grandparents, and his dad, and aunts and uncle.

So when I asked him what story he wanted to start with, he said he just wanted to have a conversation with me. So we talked about friends, and upcoming birthdays, and what does he want to do next year. And then we took a break to brush teeth. And when I asked him what story he wanted next, he said he wanted more conversation. So we brainstormed ideas for his dad’s birthday. I asked him again if he wanted a story, and he said, “no, just conversation.” I asked if I should turn out the lights... he said “do you think that was three conversations?” I told him yes, and he seemed satisfied.

Hoping this means he will start to see the value in talking with each other. It’s hard, some days, especially when he gets really demanding but doesn’t reciprocate when I try to interact with him.

[macchiatto]

Parent-teacher conferences today went so well! Both boys are doing well overall. Leo's getting all A's and under behavior he got stars for "participates daily; very organized; super hard worker; takes his time." She said he seems to be doing well socially so far and anxiety isn't flaring up too much. She's usually able to catch it early and help him calm down. (He's in counseling for that now, too, which has been helping.)

[akafred]

I spent last week (Fall Break) in Myrtle Beach with DD and my MIL. DD and I had a wonderful first half of the week and bonded a lot and had a lot of fun. It got more challenging after the first couple few days but what else is new lol. We also met some people who live relatively close to us (like they would come to our city a few times a year kind of thing) and DD played really well with the 9 year old and I really liked the mom. She confided that he is on spectrum and I think I made her feel bad because I said I had a feeling. He is very HF and apparently most people can't tell. Flattery is not in my wheelhouse so I didn't even think about that and felt bad after. I also pegged him as ADHD so when I told her later that C has ADHD and she said so does her son, I laughed internally and said nothing. DD really did great with the boy so I hope they text us sometime if they come down to the city and we can meet up.

I have decided DD is only capable of behaving in one setting. Right now it is school so that is good. When she was foinfnreally great at home, she was a beast at school. We are weaning her off fluoxetine for now so I am bracing myself for more emotional lability.