Neuropsych and IEP updates

We had two BIG meetings in two days. Yesterday Dan and I met with Elijah's awesome neuropsychologist to discuss results from recent testing. Dr. M asked to see Elijah back before fourth grade because significant changes occur in the brain right around this time. The testing showed similar findings from the last round that took place at the end of first grade. His verbal skills exceed visual by a lot. He is still a verbal communicator and learner and struggles with visuals. The good news is that he has made gains in both areas, but there is still a large gap between the two. He still has major deficits in self-awareness, organization and executive function.

Nonverbal Learning Disability is still an accurate diagnosis that describes his challenges well. Dan and I were amazed to learn how much the testing revealed that he retains. His brain retains literally almost everything that goes in, but getting him to explain it or "prove" that he knows it is the challenging part. It takes a unique strategy administered with persistence and consistency to reveal all that he knows.

There is a test Dr. M gave him that had such cool results. He showed E an abstract picture that contained various random shapes that were all connected. He let Elijah set the picture in front of him and asked him to draw a replica of it. A typical brain would look at the collection of shapes and make a plan (I'll start with the big rectangle and I see that there's a big X going through the middle; now I'll draw the triangles on the sides, etc). Elijah's brain sees a chaotic mess, so he drew something that looked somewhat like the picture but it was disjointed and with no order. Dr. M removed the picture and 30 minutes later asked him to draw what he remembered of it just from his memory. Elijah drew a couple individual shapes that weren't connected and looked nothing like the original drawing. THEN the really cool part.. 30 minutes later Dr. M showed deconstructed parts of the same picture to Elijah one at a time along with trick parts that had NOT been a part of the picture. He asked him to identify the parts he remembered being in the picture and he got 22/24 correct. Amazing! The results of this test tell us that he retains MUCH more than he is able to express.

Coincidentally, Elijah's annual IEP meeting was this afternoon. I was so glad to have fresh words from Dr. M in my head to relay to his teachers. We reiterated everything he told us about how to create a successful learning environment for Elijah and even shared his 18-page report with them. This was one of the easiest, smoothest IEP meetings we've ever attended. His classroom teacher and case manager had "the look" of understanding after Dan and I talked for just a few minutes. Last year and the year before I remember talking until I felt like crying and looking up to see eyeballs glazed over.

We explained that he is a VERBAL learner and that he needs to understand the PROCESS, not the problem. Immediately they began formulating a plan to create verbal and written scripts for him while he's at school. YESSSSSS!!!!! This is what we've been trying to get his educators to understand since that first round of testing! Such relief.

I've been a bit on overload thinking through all of this. Processing information is exhausting! :) Buddy is healing from his little surgery and is super needy. We are all so ready to move into our new house. And we STILL haven't received results from Elijah's day of mega-testing in August. In my gut I know all is well or I'd push. We'll get results for sure at his next urology appointment in early October. That's all for now! Thanks for peeking in!

Happy Spring! Ha!

We got a heavy, wet, large snowfall overnight last night that the boys and I had so much fun with today. Dan is out of town for the week for work, so he sadly missed out on the block's coolest, tallest, most awesome snowman. This one takes the cake! (Based on its height, guess who built 99% of it!)

A few days after Elijah's tummy was back to normal last week Dan and I both caught the bug. It was horrid. I spent two days unable to do anything. We were a miserable family over the weekend! Thankfully, we are all feeling MUCH better.

Elijah's teacher called me today with a mostly good report. She has noticed some "differences" in him in the past month. There are certain things he is fighting with his school work more than ever (math and writing) and this wasn't a surprise (this is an NLD thing). He fights these things at home, as well. The good differences that she noted are also things we have seen at home in the past month. He is able to transition much better, he handles himself socially much better and he can be talked down from an almost-bad situation much more easily.

We have noticed at home that things have been much improved. Sleep is better, using the restroom is (mostly) not a big deal anymore (umm, this is HUGE), anxieties overall seem to have lessened and situations that would have set him off two months ago can sometimes be averted easily. WHY? I have no idea. Essential oils? Prayer? We've been consistent with both of the above, so maybe one or both are the answer?? The ONE thing that has been worse than usual is his attitude toward Sammy. He is usually so good with Sam and they play together so well. Lately he has been mostly positive to everyone except for Sam. Tonight I had the thought that Elijah's confidence seems to have been boosted. When he interacts with all of us, he has a much more confident spirit. For some reason, that confidence is translated into negativity when he interacts with his little bro.

In conclusion! Ha! I have no idea what is going on, but I am accepting most of these changes with open arms and hope that they only continue to blossom into better times and attitudes. Whatever is sparking this change, thank you!

That's all I've got for now. More later, as the week without Daddy unfolds! Thank you for peeking in!

A week of newness

I feel like this past week has been packed with activity and new things. On Monday Elijah started back at school for the first time since mid-December (minus one day in January). He was sooooo super excited about going back. He was beginning to miss his teacher and friends. Things seem to be going well so far. His class went on a field trip today to a nature center. I went along and we had fun. It was freezing cold, but it was nice to do something different. Elijah did struggle a bit so I was glad I came along. All of the activity was hard for him to process, and the cold weather and all of the walking didn't help. It's good for him to push himself a bit in every capacity once in a while! I'm hoping he will sleep really well tonight.

I'll say this for the millionth time..his teacher is INCREDIBLE. She understood that I would not have resources to dedicate to other children, so I was not responsible for anyone except Elijah. This was super helpful, and I'll admit I almost didn't want to go on the field trip because of the traumatic field-tripping experiences from last year! The little girls in E's class LOVE him. It is so cute! There is one little girl who asked him to sit by her on both bus rides. She even snubbed one of her friends, grabbed onto E's hand and said, "Sorry, I'm sitting with Elijah!" They snuggled so cutely and closely (and innocently) that my heart almost melted. I chatted with this little girl a bit and she is just the sweetest thing. I thanked her for being so kind to Elijah and she said, "No problem. I like Elijah! He makes me smile." :)

E's teacher and I had a good chat on the bus ride to the nature center. I told her about recent developments and for the first time (maybe because we weren't sitting at a conference table with ten other people), I felt like she really understood. She just seemed to get it. She intimated that if we asked enough times, and articulated ourselves well enough, Elijah could probably get his very own aide. So I will start this process tomorrow. It would help him immensely to have someone with him at all times while at school.

On Monday I brought E to see Dr. M, his developmental pediatrician and one of the best doctors on the planet, in my opinion. He took tons of time with us and asked a lot of questions. He is another one of the GREATS who understands our boy through and through. He agreed with the recent thoughts of the new sleep doctor and thinks we should try anxiety meds. I always love the analogies he makes. He said that for Elijah, every little thing that happens is the straw that broke the camel's back. He heard my worries about E's sensitivities to meds, but urged us to at least consider it. As he said, if we can possibly find a good fit for him, it could muscle the weight of some of the other, many straws. So...Dr. M very carefully selected an anxiety med for E to try. Dan has been on board with trying something for a while, but I really wrestled with it. Starting yesterday we began giving him a super-duper small daily dose of fluoxetine. Now...we wait. Last night he slept better than we have EVER seen, but that could be just a fluke. Who ever knows?! Time will tell.

I brought Sammy to kindergarten registration last night! It is sooo hard to believe my sweet baby boy will be going to school next year. :( I was pleased and somewhat surprised that he entered the building willingly (by the way, he has stopped getting into the pool for swim lessons). He seemed excited about the idea of being in the same school as Elijah next year. We stopped in a few classrooms, one of them (the above pic) was the class I am really hoping he will be in next year. Elijah had Mrs. H in kindergarten and she is incredible!

I'll end with a few cute things..

A few weeks ago I decided that these boys need to earn their technology time. No more just handing it out willy nilly! Each boy needs to earn FIVE "chore points" in order to earn 15 minutes of technology (iPad is usually their pick). Chore points can be earned by feeding the fish, taking out garbage/recycling, getting completely dressed with no help or complaining, helping with meals, cleaning up toys, etc. I've never had such a clean house! Elijah is even willing to dust our entire TV stand for a chore point. Win-win! Sammy is Mr. Helper lately with meals. He wants to help prepare all meals and he fills up his and Elijah's plates with food and brings them to the table with pride.

Any time I ask Sam, "Okay, Sammy?" he will say, "NO-kay," if he does not agree. :)

There's so much more, but my brain is tired! More later!

Stuff in the works.

The past few nights of sleep have been rough. Ohh our sweet Elijah. :( My heart literally aches for him. I cannot fathom how he must be feeling, operating on such little sleep. It is virtually impossible not to become frustrated with certain behaviors, but I do recognize that he isn't himself right now. Our sweet little boy is in there and Dan and I continue to do whatever we possibly can to get him feeling better. Here was last night's sleep record..

He was awake from 1:30-4:00am. :( Every morning when I pull up the FitBit results I cringe and wince and my heart sinks to my toes.

Homebound instruction begins on Thursday and we were super excited to learn that E's case manager from last year will be the one helping him. WE LOVE MS. W! Yay! We also received a copy of Dr. M's letter requesting the homebound instruction. To be honest, it was a bit hard to read. He listed all of Elijah's diagnoses and explained that due to everything working against each other, he has "severe anxiety" that is severely disrupting his sleep and causing school to be impossible at this point. He requested four weeks at home and for further efforts to be made to keep him at baseline once he returns. As I read through the list of diagnoses, I forgot I was reading about my boy for a minute. Sometimes it seems unfair that he has so much to contend with, but I truly believe that there is a greater purpose for it all. 

We have a lot of things in the works! This week I started bringing Elijah to Fraser (love them!) for weekly skills therapy sessions. Especially because of NLD and the way his brain works, learning skills will always be a huge part of his life. We are starting with learning skills to stop name-calling, blurt-outs and physical aggression. After that, we'll move onto lesser needs like social skills and transitions.

This coming Saturday both boys start swim lessons. Sammy is so nervous about it, but I know he'll do great! We decided to put E into private lessons, as we believe that will get him swimming more quickly. We've had him do a few group lessons in the past few years with no real progress. Elijah finds such peace when he is in the water, so my mama gut tells me to get him swimming ASAP.

I scheduled another appointment with a sleep doctor for next Tuesday. We decided to see a different doctor since Elijah has totally stumped the previous one. I'm going to insist on a sleep study to start!

And the following week we have an appointment with the wonderful Dr. M (developmental ped) to discuss anxiety. I feel like he is going to suggest meds, but I would like to explore a sleep study first.

We also have a few essential oils coming our way, which I'm super excited to try! We are willing to try ANYTHING at this point. Please pray with us that all of the above will help at least tiny little bits in order to help our oldest boy!

I'll end with a Sammy funny from tonight. I told him "good-night" and he replied, "Good-night, Jellyfish Blue. Oops! I mean, Mrs. Cheese." :)

Thanks for peeking in!

Pushing through!

This week seemed like a loooong week. We have three kinds of days lately....ok, rough and really rough. Today was rough. There was a lot of name-calling and icky words/tones. At times I have had to raise my voice because otherwise nobody would hear me! Then Elijah screams, "STOP YELLING AT ME!" Then Sammy bosses Elijah around and Elijah screams, "STOP BEING BOSSY!" Repeat repeat repeat. Yelling, name-calling, screaming, etc.. :(

I was thankful that my sister-in-law offered to have both boys over to her house for a few hours this afternoon. I drove straight back home and sat on the couch and basically did nothing for two hours. I pulled Pinterest up on the iPad and vegged on the couch. It was awesome.

Homebound schooling did not start this week (hopefully next week?), so I have been doing my own tutoring at home with Elijah. It has been a struggle getting him to sit down to do 45 minutes of school work every day, but we are making progress! I came up with a sneaky plan where I place 10 small candies in a bowl in front of him. Every time E whines/complains about doing work, I eat one of the candies. He can have whatever is left at the end of the session. To foster Sammy encouraging Elijah to do well, S gets the same number of candies that E does at the end. Neither boys got any candies for the first three days. Yesterday they got three and today they each got five. Progress!

I brought Sammy to his kindergarten screening today. Awww, my sweet little guy was so apprehensive about the whole ordeal. We were only there for 30 minutes and it was a piece of cake, but being in a school was overwhelming for him. His main issue in kindergarten is going to be separation anxiety. Everything else is great! He did super on all of the "testing" today. One of the ladies who tested him was someone from the special education program who used to come to our home every week to help Elijah when he was a baby! It was so good to see her. She had last seen Sam when he was six months old and she couldn't get over how grown up and sweet he was! She said a couple times, "I wonder if Elijah remembers me? He was such a sweet baby!"

Sammy has shown signs of anxiety lately and I hope it is just a four-year-old thing. He is worried about tornadoes, losing his parents and "bad guys" stealing him from his home. If you knew me as a child, you are now chuckling! He is definitely my sweet, sensitive, worried little boy who needs to feel safe and secure. We are doing our best! We love that boy so much!

We are heading into the weekend tired but praying for a bit of restoration for all of us. Soon, right? Soon Elijah just has to start sleeping better. Have a great weekend and thank you for peeking in!

I'll wrap up with a screenshot of one of Elijah's recent nights of sleep, as tracked by the amazing FitBit. Blue is "asleep" and red is "awake." Ugh..

Tooth decay and answered prayers

I feel terrible for our oldest boy. He cannot control the things he does and says right now and he must feel terribly confused. As his lucky mama, I will not give up on him. I will fight for him and do everything I can to support and help him. It is difficult not to become frustrated with him when he has lost control of himself like this, but I constantly remind myself that it is not his fault. He is a sweet, kind, friendly, funny and smart person! Dan, Sammy and I love him so much!

We have had another couple of rough days. I've noticed improvements, but things are overall still so challenging. I have been keeping my shield held high! I received a phone call today that gave me hope and lifted my spirits immensely. Dr. M (developmental ped) called and we had a great conversation. He is an incredible, caring, smart, kind and compassionate doctor and we feel so fortunate to have him on our side. He asked a lot of questions and agreed that Elijah's brain needs an extended break. He faxed a letter to E's school requesting three weeks of homebound instruction. YAY!!!!!

We need to find a teacher willing to come to our home one hour/day for the next few weeks and then we'll be set! Dr. M and I made an agreement that once E is back to "baseline," we need to address his anxiety so that boiling point isn't quite so easy to reach. We have a very timely appointment with him scheduled for February 9th, so a discussion addressing this issue will occur then.

In other news, I brought both boys in for a dental check-up today. Side note: I feel I deserve a medal of honor for keeping two boys entertained for 2 hours in a dental office by myself. I pulled out all the tricks without using technology! :) I was completely exhausted afterward, but I felt accomplished. Sadly, BOTH boys have cavities. They are tiny, but obviously need to be taken care of. Consistent flossing has commenced in our home.

If you have time, please continue to pray for Elijah! Pray that he can get back to a point where he isn't feeling so depleted and out of control. Pray that he can finish second grade on a good note! I know we can get him there. I can picture it. I can't wait for him to not just scrape by in school, but to flourish! Thank you so much for checking in!

Rock bottom

Today was rough, to put it so very kindly. It was one of the most difficult days I have ever experienced with our oldest boy. School was canceled due to the cold temps, but I don't know that we would have sent him anyhow. I want to erase every moment of the day from my memory. A LOT of screaming, crying, thrashing, hitting and kicking occurred. I was a contributor to the screaming and crying portions. It was an ugly ugly day.

Elijah's brain is WAY overloaded. After a semester of school, Christmas-related commotion, croup x2 and a cough that disturbed many nights of sleep...his NLD brain is SPENT. He is in a really bad place and basically has zero control over anything he says or does. I am kind of in the same spot and it is hard to be nice or control my emotions right now, so I understand.

We cannot expect Elijah to go on like this. None of us can go on like this. Dan and I have decided to keep him out of school until he is 100% caught up, even if it takes four weeks. We are hoping to get a doctor to back us and possibly do homebound schooling in the meantime. If that isn't possible...gulp...we are going to take him out of school entirely. This would CRUSH Elijah and I really hope it doesn't have to come to that.

I am so sad that the world is so overwhelming for him. I cannot imagine how he must feel right now. I feel so terribly for him, but at the same time it is really draining to endure what he has to offer when he's on overload. PLEASE pray for him! Pray for all of us. We are at the bottom of a very deep pit and we're all feeling helpless.

Where's the tape?

Against my better judgment, we decided to send Elijah to school today. It was not in his best interest. He is still so far above boiling point. I have felt totally defeated and sad all day because I know that unless we pull him out of school for an extended period to catch up, this is going to be his norm for the remainder of second grade. He had some issues while at school and after school he was just a complete mess. His eyes were burning and itchy, the name-calling and blurt-outs were in full force and he was having a difficult time being nice to any of us. Honestly, I'm tired of worrying and thinking about it. I just want my boy to feel good.

I have more Sammy funnies!

Sammy and I spent a day alone together and it was WONDERFUL! We basically played and snuggled ALL day. This boy loves snuggling and he loves his mama. I love him so much back. He was curled up in my arms for a long time before lunch and when I suggested that we go eat, he said, "Ok, but...let's get back to snuggling after the break." :)

Sam has been obsessed with tape and cutting up pieces of paper lately. He uses his little safety scissors to cut dozens and dozens of paper squares all over our house. When I talk about throwing them away, he says, "NOOOOOOOO! They are our paper sandwiches!" He also likes to OVER-tape everything. The other day he taped our Christmas decoration box completely shut. It was an ordeal getting it all off! Then he taped Elijah's beloved Trouble game box that he got for Christmas closed and Elijah could not get it off. I often find pieces of paper such as the following hanging on various walls in our home..

He can often be heard saying, "WHERE'S THE TAPE?" He also likes to make tape art on paper or roll paper up and tape it together. The taping and scissoring is out of control!

He likes to change words around just enough so that they are noticeable and silly. He'll say:
"Mommy, have you heard of a dessert called chocolate ike cread?"
"Have you heard of the word probalbee?"
"Do you know a guy named Mide?"

My sweet little guy has been telling me a lot lately that he doesn't want to grow up. He doesn't want anything to change because he loves things just how they are (when he's not trying to run away from home). The other day he said to me, "Mommy, I don't ever want anything bad to happen to anyone I love." As a four-year-old I think that is super thoughtful, although I don't want him worrying about such things yet! He told me that he never wants to get rid of ANY of his toys. "When I'm a daddy, I want to have ALL of my toys. Don't EVER get rid of them!"

By the way, Sammy has recently told me that he wants to have four boys someday. Elijah upped that and said he wanted to have SIX boys. Yikes!

Instead of saying, "I'm four!" when asked how old he is, Sam now answers with, "I'm two plus two!" Sometimes he'll answer with three plus one or one plus three.

After spending the last few days with my youngest sweetie, I have so many of his funnies to share! I know there are more I can't remember right now. More later!

Thanks for checking in and please, if it is on your heart, PLEASE pray for Elijah and for his brain to settle down and for us to make decisions in the next few weeks that are in his best interest. Thank you!

The funniest little Sammy

The sleeplessness and verbal/physical lashings continued today. I'm debating about whether or not to keep Elijah home from school for a few days and will certainly lose (more) sleep over that decision tonight. In the meantime, I jotted down a few more Sammy-isms to share. This boy is a riot!

He often approaches the rest of us and says in a super-cute and soft little voice: "I'm really sorry for the bad news I have to tell you.." This is usually followed by something like, "I just spilled water on the floor," or "I accidentally stepped on your Lego guy."

This boy loves junk food. He despises meals or anything at all that is good for his body and refuses to eat most foods. But when it comes to chips or candy, his tummy can stretch forever. I am constantly telling him that he cannot eat snacks because I want him to save room for whatever meal is next. He whines and complains about this endlessly. I tell him, "Sammy, if I let you eat candy and chips whenever you wanted, that would make me a bad mommy!" His reply: "Then I want you to be a bad mommy!" :)

Today he told me, "Either I get tons of technology or tons of snacks. Nothing else. Which one is it?" Nice try, kid.

He was being super sassy the other day when I told him he could not watch tv. He did his usual whining performance, so I left the room. I heard him say, "I never want you to talk to me ever again!" Then he opened our front door and said, "I'm going to let ALL of the cold heat inside!" :) Two minutes later, he was by my side saying, "Look at my Lego guy, Mom!" I said, "Oh, whoops, I'm not supposed to talk to you ever again, remember?" He sat on the couch for ten minutes whimpering and sucking his thumb. When I went to give him a hug, he said, "You're the NICEST mommy ever." Uh huh. I didn't realize he had actually left the front door open, so when we went downstairs twenty minutes later our downstairs felt like a freezer.

As I was cleaning up in the kitchen today, Sammy kept running in and hugging me. "Mommy! You're my finish line!" he told me. Awwww. He better not ever use that line on girls. :)

As of tomorrow, our Christmas break is officially over. :( We took down the tree and decorations today and Sammy was particularly sad about that. He had a pouty lip and every once in a while came over to me and gave me a whimpery hug. We talked a lot about how there are so many other things to look forward to during other parts of the year. It is sad to say goodbye to the Christmas season. Back to the grind tomorrow!

Elijah reeeeaaalllllly wants to go to school tomorrow, so I am praying for the most restful, restorative night EVER. Thanks for checking in. Have a wonderful week!

Unrest

That roller coaster ride I mentioned? It has become herkier and jerkier. I hadn't been putting the FitBit on Elijah since Christmas break began because it was soooo depressing looking at the "results" every morning. The word "HORRIBLE" may as well pop up every time I pull up his sleep log. I had him wear the FitBit last night for the first time in a while and just about choked when I saw the results this morning. He is not sleeping. We had a very rough day yesterday with behavior and this morning started off with a bang, as well. It is impossible to get E to nap during the day without a HUGE battle, so out of desperation this morning Dan and I piled all of us into the car and drove around on the interstates. That is the only way to get him to sleep! He's always been a good car sleeper. Maybe we should hire someone to drive him around all night long??

Do you like his attire? The ear muffs and monkey mittens have been staples lately, and today he added the lei. :)

This morning at 4:00 I laid in bed wide awake, as I do just about every morning. I thought about how unique the "sleep" schedule is here in our house. This is what happens (give or take 30 minutes) EVERY SINGLE MORNING in our house...

Elijah calls for me at 2:30. I go in and rub his back and he tells me he is scared. I do my best to remain totally calm and soothe him completely because anything else results in anxiety on his end. From that moment on, none of us (except Sam) sleep solidly. Dan and I get a solid stretch of sleep from about 10:00-2:30 every night. That is pretty much guaranteed, but after that we are in light-sleep/non-sleep mode.

Usually at 4:00 we start hearing him again. "Maaahhhhhh-meeeeeeeee!" over and over until one of us goes in. One of us takes another trip in to tell him he has TWO hours left to sleep.

At 5:00 he starts asking for a stuffed animal. We don't give him stuffed animals before this point...ever...because it would become a major distraction. I know he will not fall back asleep after 5:00 and I also want him to be quiet so he doesn't wake Sammy up, so I usually give him one at this point. It keeps him occupied in the dark until 6:00, which is when we get him out of bed.

One of us brings him into the loft at 6:00 and we get him settled with books on the couch. We turn on a dim light and he reads for an hour while we go back to bed to try to get our last bits of rest before getting up for the day.

We are all exhausted...all the time. Thankfully Sammy sleeps through most of this, but every few nights he hears Elijah and he is awake at 6:00, too. For the past two weeks Dan and I have worked minimally, so we've been able to take plenty of naps. Even after all of the naps, we are still so tired.

Please pray for Elijah! Pray for his brain to settle down enough so that he can sleep peacefully and be restored. Also please pray for our sanity! It's been a tough past few days and I keep praying for a turnaround day. Maybe tomorrow?! Thank you for praying and for checking in!

Meeting in Room 103

I have said this a thousand times and I will say it again. We have been SO blessed with the doctors that have been placed in our lives to care for our precious boys. Dr. M traveled all the way to our southwestern suburb today to meet with Elijah's team at school. The meeting was AWESOME. Dr. M spoke as if he has known Elijah his whole life. The entire time, I found myself shaking my head yes...yep, that's our boy...yep, that's him....oh definitely yes, that explains Elijah..

He started by explaining that E has not just one or two strikes against him, but many strikes. The main ones being an extensive medical history, Nonverbal Learning Disorder and also being on the autism spectrum (some resulting strikes being sleep issues, anxiety and OCD). He explained the main aspects of NLD and how it is not a learning disorder but an information processing disorder. Also, how there are certain things that E's brain cannot do and will not ever be able to do, such as looking at a sheet of math problems and having the ability to prioritize the information and get through it without being totally overwhelmed. I could see things clicking with the teachers as Dr. M described how NLD kids react to school work and expectations and visual clutter.

Together, we addressed the main problem areas and even set a few plans in motion. Dr. M really stressed reinforcing SKILLS. For example, probably E's biggest "trouble spot" while in school is his inappropriate talking. Sometimes he blurts out noises and sometimes he says potty talk. Sometimes he calls people names for no reason at all. Since kids like Elijah think in steps and learn through a lot of verbal repetition, we came up with a plan to write out three concrete steps for him to follow when he starts to say an inappropriate word or noise. Dan and I are in the process of coming up with exact verbiage and then we will repeat, repeat, repeat those steps to him until he can stop the inappropriate sounds/talking before they happen. We will share our exact steps with the school so they can use the same words. Every time I talk to Dr. M, I gain some sort of new and valuable information. One of the things he said today that really helped me understand Elijah was that we (teachers/parents) need to keep repeating things to him until he understands....and that even though he might appear to understand and tells us he understands something, we will not truly know that he understands until we HEAR HIM REPEAT OUR OWN WORDS TO HIMSELF. Our scripts become his scripts. This is how he is going to get through school and life.

One of the things I've been saying for so long is that Elijah is confusing because at first glance, he appears to process information in a completely normal manner. He makes eye contact, he is engaging, he answers questions (mostly) appropriately and he smiles, laughs, interacts and even tells jokes. A person just meeting him could have a 2-minute conversation with him and have no idea the amount of processing that is taking place in his brain. So when you ask this engaging, smart little person to complete an abstract task like draw a picture and write a story to go along with it, you become confused when he absolutely cannot follow through. It can even be seen as complete defiance or manipulation.

Dr. M once again provided such good information. We feel very thankful for him and for E's teachers and team who were so willing to attend the meeting and who seemed so receptive (as they feverishly jotted notes in their notebooks) to understand more about Elijah and NLD in general.

I'll end on that thankful note. Next installment...the sassiest Sammy you'll ever meet. :)

Inner-lasting gom-stompers

One of the many things I have learned in the past few years is that nobody wants to hear me complain about how busy we are. Our busy-ness is no different from your busy-ness. We're all running the same rat race, trying to earn money and spend time with our kids and balance a hundred spinning plates simultaneously.

Like the rest of you, we are desperately trying to keep our plates spinning. I feel guilty constantly about not spending enough time with my three boys, but I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The time I do get with them is so sweet. I sped home from work tonight and made it in time to catch the tail end of pizza-movie night. Sammy snuggles have never felt soooo good and the love bouncing around our little living room walls has never made my heart feel so full.

I have to throw in some light-hearted goodies first tonight! Sammy says things constantly that make us laugh. He has always been so funny and creative with his words. I have not been as good lately about writing everything down, but have remembered a few.

We haven't let the boys watch Willy Wonka in a while because Elijah was imitating Veruca Salt's whiny, icky talking way too much. One of the things from the movie that the boys still talk about is everlasting gobstoppers. Except, Sammy pronounces it "inner-lasting gom-stompers."

When I get home from work or when I'm putting the boys to bed, Sammy says to me, "Mommmmmmmmy! I want you to be with me forever. Never leave me. Stay with me for 101 hours!" He likes to wrap his entire torso around one of my arms and say, "I missed you sooooooooooooo much." Sometimes he adds, "And I missed your phone." :)

Tonight Sammy was trying to convince all of us that he had a second middle finger on his left hand and that it got stolen. "A policeman came to get it. My second middle finger is in jail!"

Elijah's behavior at school and at home has been up and down, slooooowly descending out of the boiling point (but still very much in the boiling range). He's had some great days and some not-so-great days. Still, his sleep continues to suffer due to his brain being overwhelmed and exhausted. Every third night or so he sleeps great, but the other nights are awful! This morning he was up FOR THE DAY at 1:00am. You did indeed read that correctly.

I just got done reading an awesome book. I want Dan to read it and then I want to implement some strategies from it. It focuses on understanding that kids like Elijah are severely delayed in certain ways and are totally incapable of handling frustration and change and responding to direction like most others. The author suggests an approach to parenting that Dan and I have never tried. I'll explain more once we start!

We continue to trudge on, hoping that his brain will eventually catch up and be at a more peaceful place. A long weekend next week will help, but throw in a little surgery and family commotion and it might not be as much of a recovery as we'd like. It feels like we will never get him back to a good spot, but I have to remember that we are doing our BEST right now. Literally, we are doing everything we possibly can, short of removing him from school until he is recovered (this would take weeks, so isn't exactly feasible). Just keep swimming....just keep swimming...

We have a few fun things planned for tomorrow that the boys are super excited about! We have to squeeze them into a compact timeframe in order to lessen stimulation for E, but it'll still be tons of fun. Thanks for checking in and have a great weekend!

IEP meeting 2014

We had possibly the most positive and promising meeting (of the seemingly 100) that we have ever had with Elijah's team at school. This was his official IEP meeting where we put plans in place for the next year while he is in school.

I requested starting the meeting with a little talk and the team allowed the overly protective mother to speak. :) Since Dr. M couldn't join us (he will be joining us on Dec. 1!), I wanted to stress the pervasiveness of NLD on Elijah. I explained how difficult it has been to get people to understand what WE know about him, so I attempted to describe it with a visual aid.

When Elijah is at his best, he is riding just below boiling point. Boiling point is the point we all get to occasionally when we stretch ourselves too thin, don't get enough rest and don't give our bodies proper nutrition, etc. When we get to that point, we begin lashing out at others, we are unable to control our emotions and we don't sleep well, among other things. It does not take much for Elijah to get into the boiling range. Once he is there, it takes him a looooong time to come back down. This process can take weeks or months, depending how thin we stretch him. A more typical progression into boiling point is a much more gradual curve. It takes time for most people to reach that stage and once we get there it is much easier to come back down to a normal range.

An important thing to point out is WHY Elijah is like this. Why does his baseline sit just below boiling? At some point during, before or after his birth, his heart condition and resulting improper bloodflow/oxygenation damaged some pathways in his brain. This caused his brain to re-route, like a detour. Imagine yourself driving down the road, intent on a destination. Maybe you have an appointment you have to get to within a certain timeframe. Suddenly you encounter a detour. You are forced to stray from your path, taking turns on uncertain roads and at times going in the complete opposite direction from your destination. Eventually, though, you return to your path and you arrive at your destination, although you are now frustrated, tired and LATE.

This is how Elijah's brain operates, which carries the label Nonverbal Learning Disorder. He can arrive at the same destination as the rest of us, but it taxes his brain to do so. Interpreting a social situation or processing a busy, noisy grocery story might be enjoyable things for him, but they require a lot of extra processing. This puts his brain into overload, which renders him incapable of doing much beside just scraping by.

Elijah's team was so awesome. They were receptive to my little speech and said so many positive things about our oldest boy. They described him as friendly, happy, smiley, affectionate and kind. His teacher told us that he is the most affectionate student she has EVER had. Just like at home, he always seeks physical closeness and hugs from adults he trusts. They seemed to understand that his negative behaviors stem from the NLD and that it was going to be a process to get him back to his baseline. In the past few school days he has been showing signs of improvement with name-calling and aggression, which we all see as a very positive sign.

There are a few strategies in place which involve OT, social and behavioral coaching/intervention. Starting immediately, he will receive two 30-minute sessions away from class with his sp-ed case manager every day, as well as 15 minutes each at the beginning and end of each day where he can gradually integrate into and out of class. In addition, he will receive 15 minutes twice/week with his DAPE teacher (adaptive PE). We will continue doing partial days and re-evaluate at the end of December. I made sure to let the team know that Elijah is likely (99.99%) to not be ready to return to full days any time this year unless we want him to soar back up into the scary realms of boiling. Mr. F assured us that nothing would be written in stone regarding length of school days, so we can play that by ear. I asked about getting Elijah an aide, and Mr. F explained that the resources aren't available at this point to give him an adult dedicated solely to him. However, he is hoping to shift aides around a bit to accommodate E a bit more while he is in the classroom.

I am looking forward to our meeting with Dr. M on December 1st. I know he will have insight to share with E's team. We plan to bring him down to the classroom to ask for suggestions about reducing E's visual processing. We are so thankful that his team is willing to attend yet another meeting to better understand our oldest cutie and we are thankful that we have a(nother) incredible doctor who is willing to go to great lengths to make his life more successful.

That's all for now! Dan and I have not spent time together since last Wednesday, so I must go snuggle with him. This coming weekend will be a much-coveted time together as a family. ALL of us will be together! I can't wait! Have a great week and thanks for peeking in.

Pumpkins, Halloween and meetings at school.

Do I say this every week? Working away from home full time makes the time absolutely fly by! This is my fifth week working in Cannon Falls for the fall and I miss my boys so much. The Sammy and Elijah hugs I get upon returning home every evening are the sweetest things about my entire day.

Halloween was fun! We did our annual family pumpkin-carving evening one day last week. The boys were more involved than they have ever been before. 

Here is Dan, intent in his carving. Notice Elijah's tired gaze? This is something we see a lot lately.

Sammy and I carved our pumpkin in no time. Ghosts in the graveyard.

Sammy hiding from a photo, as usual!

The gooey stuff around Frankenstein's carvings is glow-in-the-dark paint.

The one typical NLD characteristic that Elijah definitely does NOT have is limited facial expressions. :)

My silly, adorable Sammy.

The boys scored with candy on Halloween. We took them to a nearby mall for trick-or-treating and then brought them back home to go to a few houses in our neighborhood. They love handing out candy to kids who stop by our house, so we always make sure to leave room for that. When the doorbell rang, they would RUN to the door and hand out candy while shaking (Elijah) out of excitement.

This year Sammy did what I used to do as a kid. He laid his candy in rows and counted it all. He memorized exactly what he had. I know this because I may have stolen candy from his pumpkin after he was asleep and he totally busted me the next day. He blamed it on Elijah..."ELIJAH STOLE MY COLORFUL LICORICE!" I haven't touched his pumpkin since. The kid knows. Don't mess with Sammy's candy.

I got costumes for the boys last summer super cheap, but Sammy insisted on wearing his robot costume for the THIRD year in a row. :) He might still be wearing this when he's 12. He did willingly wear his cute new Toy Story alien costume a few weeks ago at another Halloween party. Could two boys possibly be any cuter?!

Cute blue super-crayon (Elijah added the "scary mask") and robot, trick-or-treating at the mall!

And this is what I walked in on this morning before leaving for work. Genuine early morning brotherly love. These two love each other so much!

Dan and I had another meeting with Elijah's team at school this week. It was a tough one for us. We were informed that Elijah's behavior has been getting progressively worse while at school, which has included frequent physical aggression and name calling. Dan and I were both startled by some of the things we read in the eval report. Since, we have been in closer communication with his teacher so we can appropriately discipline on days when he becomes physical and calls names.

Next week is our official IEP meeting. In this week's meeting, his teacher pushed for getting an aide in the class who would be solely dedicated to Elijah. She told the team that she pretty much has most of her focus on one child throughout the majority of every day....Elijah. :( That obviously stretches her and detracts from her relationships with the other children. Dan and I are on board with this, so we will see what the team thinks next Wednesday.

Still, we do not feel understood. It seems like the majority is placing focus on ASD instead of NLD, which makes sense considering his new special-education label at school is ASD. I kept mentioning Elijah's tank being totally empty and him being above boiling point, but I received a lot of empty stares back.

I called Dr. M, E's neuropsych, today and asked if he would be willing to come to school to chat with the team. He said he absolutely would! Music to my ears. I feel like he could word things differently and not be the "protective mother" that people hear in these meetings. I'll attempt to set up a meeting for early December so that can happen.

More later. I'm tired. Dan will be away for the weekend hunting, so the little boys and I have some fun planned (cleaning! baking! sleeping!). Thanks for peeking in. Have a great weekend!

Keep doing what you're doing.

October is done! We accomplished so much last month, work and fun alike. November will be busy, too, but not quite as crazy. Elijah had a really rough day at school on Friday. We've been keeping a detailed journal of every aspect of his days (nutrition, activity, screen time, sleep, etc), so I have been able to look back and see patterns with certain things. He has slept horribly for the past three nights and the only real difference is that he didn't fall asleep until 7:00 or after on those nights. His bedtime routine is lengthy and sometimes we have potty issues that keep him from falling asleep right away. Instinctively I have always known when he needs to be sleeping and when that doesn't happen, I get stressed out! Last night I knew he needed to be asleep by 6:30 and when that didn't happen I knew the night would be bad. His fitbit showed that he was awake for a lot of the night and up for a solid stretch from 1:15 to almost 3:00. That is the third time that has happened in the past week.

Some behaviors have popped up with Elijah recently that are unique. Suddenly when left alone, he acts like a two-year-old and becomes destructive. I've found cupfuls of water poured onto the floor, soap emptied onto the floor/sink, kleenex boxes thrown into the toilet and peed on, hand towels put in the toilet, toilet paper unrolled and strewn around the bathroom, toys have been thrown across the room, and the list goes on. I literally can not leave him in a room alone anymore. I'm hoping these new behaviors are an effect of feeling overwhelmed and out of control and that once his tank is filled up a bit they will lessen.

He has also been super obsessive about certain things lately, especially times. He has to know exactly how many minutes every given event is going to take. If we watch a show or movie, he needs to know the EXACT number of minutes it will take and he keeps a tally along the way. He knows exactly how many minutes every kids' movie in our home takes to watch. There is a CD we listen to in the car that the boys love and he keeps very close track of what number each song is and how long each is, etc. It gets out of control at times, and I never know if I should feed into his need to constantly know such minute details about everything or if I should try to make it seem like it's not a big deal. I know it is control for him, in a world that makes him mostly feel out of control, so there is definitely a fine line.

Elijah did not start his partial days at 100%, so it is going to take a while for progress to show. I hope his team at school understands this and doesn't expect to see an immediate change. Dan and I are committed to doing EVERYTHING in our power to help him get back to baseline. There are a handful of things we can control, such as nutrition and bedtimes. Today I decided to start our bedtime routine at a ridiculously early time so we can be sure to fit everything in and factor in time for potty issues. Dinner: 4:30. Bath: 5:00. Potty time: 5:30. Jammies/brush teeth/books: 5:45. In bed: 6:00. Asleep (hopefully): 6:30.

There was an awesome moment in church this morning at the end of worship when total peace swept through the room. Everyone was silent and we could all feel HIM right next to us. During that time, I felt like I wasn't even breathing. My body and mind were both so still and quiet and totally receptive. I had some distinct thoughts/messages come to me: the main one was GRACE. We need to have major grace with Elijah during this time because his behaviors are out of his control. Next, I heard the words, "Keep doing what you are doing." Then I thought of music and swimming. Once Elijah is closer to baseline, I think both will be very calming and helpful tools for him. I sense that music is going to be a source of peace for him and we all know how calm the water makes him feel.

I owe Halloween pics! Halloween was fun. It totally wiped E out and keeping him up till almost 8:00 had us paying for it the rest of the weekend, but both boys had a blast and looked as cute as ever. My next post will be Halloween photos, I promise! Thanks for checking in.

Shortened school days

I received a phone call yesterday from Elijah's school to set up a meeting to discuss his shortened days. Wait...what?! The only time everyone could meet was....today! We didn't know who had initiated the meeting or what to expect.

Once we were in the meeting we found out that E's neuropsych and the school's special ed supervisor had finally connected on the phone. He did not suggest shortened days as a first tactic (this did not line up with the most recent conversation he and I had, so Dan and I are kind of confused about this), but he did offer to help Elijah process things at school with less effort even if that means coming to school himself and making specific suggestions. He suggested the team get a specific book to read that is geared toward helping NLD kids in the school setting...and that book was sitting on the table in the meeting today. Dan and I were very grateful they had gone to the lengths of purchasing the book. We could tell right away that his team is working with us and that they truly want not only what is best for Elijah while he's at school, but also what is best for him while he is at home.

The special education supervisor started talking about possibly exploring other options that did not involve shortening E's school days. To be honest, I didn't hear much of the following three minutes because I spent that time fighting back tears. My chin began quivering uncontrollably so I spent all of my energy trying to get that under control. Once I did, a good conversation followed. The team is finally understanding how Elijah's brain works and that he cannot be expected to do much of anything after he has reached his limit. They really seemed to understand that even though an activity might be fun for him (gym, lunch, recess, visuals in the classroom, music, etc), that doesn't mean it is easy for him. Things are starting to click.

We were told that without a doctor backing us, it wouldn't be as easy to make shortened days happen...but that it could still happen. I know the other Dr. M will back us as long as he can chat with the sp-ed supervisor, so to make things less of a hassle I gave her his info (as he told me I could do) and hopefully they'll be able to connect. It was pretty obvious that Dan and I wanted the shortened days and nothing less than that. The team agreed to back us.

Starting next Monday, Elijah will leave school at 1:00 every day until the end of the semester. We will keep a daily journal at home to note how specific things are going (anxiety, sleep, etc) and re-evaluate at the end of our trial period. If things haven't improved by the end of December they won't be able to justify keeping him on shortened days, so we'll return to full days. This doesn't quite make sense to me, but we are GRATEFUL for their willingness to do this trial period for us. Perseverance pays off!

I have had a few people ask why I haven't been meaner. Why I haven't demanded shortened days sooner. I want to say this here...we have no hard feelings and I've never been inclined to be mean or demand anything. It is not in my nature to be mean or demanding and it is in Elijah's best interest that we maintain good relationships with his educators. We happen to truly like his educators! His teacher and special education case manager are both INCREDIBLE teachers and people, as are the rest of his team. We have nothing but positive things to say about them. Our priority is obviously protecting our boys...always...but we feel good about the way we have approached this situation.

We have two more meetings with E's team coming up in the next couple weeks. It feels good to have some things in place going into those. Phew, huge weight off our shoulders tonight! Thanks for peeking in!

Nurses are the ticket!

We have been waiting waiting waiting for doctors and educators to connect, all the while watching Elijah's exhaustion and resulting behaviors spiral out of control. His tics are back with a vengeance, along with major blurting out, defiance and lack of emotional control. Things are unraveling again. We sent him back to school for the past few days and he did better overall while he was there (thanks to his amazing teachers, who are seriously AWESOME and doing so much to help him), but once he gets home he has NOTHING left.

The doctor we have been waiting on is the one who gave Elijah his NLD (and ASD) diagnosis. This doctor is REALLY smart and really knowledgable specifically in the area of NLD, but I don't necessarily get a super warm/compassionate/empathetic vibe from him. As the week went on I was becoming impatient with his lack of response (and I've bugged him PLENTY), so I knew I had to seek out other options. As I've said many times in the past few weeks, we just cannot go on like this.

On my drive to work this morning, I had a major A-HA moment! I was thinking about how his awesome, caring, wonderful teacher is a woman...and a mother...so why does it seem like she is having a hard time understanding the gravity of this situation? Then I thought of E's neuropsych (the doc we've been waiting on) and how smart he is and how much he knows about Elijah's specific disability...so why does it seem like he is having a hard time understanding the gravity of the situation? OH! Teacher is a mother but NOT a medical professional. Doctor is a medical professional but NOT a mother. THAT'S IT! So then I had the idea that I need to connect with NURSES (who are possibly also mothers). More specifically, nurses who work with Elijah's doctors!

I called E's developmental ped (another Dr. M) and spoke with his nurse and gave her our story. She promised to talk to Dr. M ASAP and get back to me. Then I desperately called Dr. G's (E's cardiologist) nurse, even though we believe his exhaustion is not directly related to his heart. After one minute of talking, she GOT IT. "Oh Megan, this is terrible, and I can totally understand your frustration with school and doctors, too!" She promised to talk to Dr. G and "prep" him, as E has an appointment with him on Monday. I don't know that it's entirely appropriate for Dr. G to write a doctor's note shortening E's school days, but I want to know that he could be a back-up if necessary.

Less than an hour later I received a call back from Dr. M#2's nurse. She relayed what Dr. M had said...we need to eventually address some anxiety issues, but obviously Elijah needs to be able to get through a school day without his brain shutting down. THANK YOU! I answered a few questions that Dr. M had for me, and the nurse ended with: "I'll be in touch soon! If Dr. M writes a letter to shorten E's school days, can I send that to your home address?" YES, PLEASE! I took that as a very positive sign and literally, physically shook for the next hour out of nervous excitement. Could we actually get a doctor's note? That would be incredible and it would carry so much weight. We stand by our thoughts that Elijah's days NEED to be shortened or he will no longer be able to go to that school.

Elijah will be in school for one day next week (one day cardio appt and three days MEA), so we will be able to get him at least mostly back to baseline. Hopefully by the following week we will have a doctor's note in our hands! To be continued!

Goodness, this blog has been WAY too serious lately. We need to throw in some fun! I have pics and so many Sammy funnies to share. As always, thank you for taking the time to check in here!

Croup: Season 7, Episode 1 (Elijah)

At 10:30 last night, Elijah began screaming. Then we heard the stridor. There had been NO signs of croup yesterday (usually I have a pretty good idea that it might happen), so both Dan and I were shocked to hear it. Elijah was more scared than usual, maybe because it had been so long since his last episode. It broke my heart to see him so afraid. We attempted a steamy bathroom, but I knew the croup was severe so I got meds ready downstairs knowing that would need to happen.

As we have always done in the past, we turned on a cartoon as an attempt at distraction while the neb ran. I could hear that the medication was working (thank goodness), but before it began to take effect he repeated, "PLEASE HELP ME!" between gasps. It was heartbreaking! This has not left my mind today. I thought of it a thousand times and my heart lurched every time. After the neb we gave him a dose of oral steroids and in standard fashion I wanted him next to me in bed. The ONLY time we let our boys into our bed at night is when they are sick, so it was a rare and special event! I could tell that Elijah was still rattled by what had just happened because he would NOT let go of me. Both arms were wrapped tightly around me and this is not something he does very often. I wrapped myself around him right back and said a prayer out loud: "Dear Jesus, please let Elijah know that he is SAFE, PROTECTED and LOVED." A few seconds later... "Mommy? You are loved, too, you know." It came from a very genuine place, which doesn't happen all the time with him. I am so grateful to be both his and Sammy's protector and to be one of the two people responsible for making them feel safe and loved! I love my boys so much!

His stridor came back a bit as the night went on (this is typical), but it never got bad enough to warrant too much worry. He had a runny nose today and sneezed a bit, but we didn't hear any more stridor. I gave him a preventative half dose of steroids before bed tonight. Dan is gone working all night tonight, so I'm PRAYING it'll be a quiet one!

We kept Elijah home from school again today, which was the third consecutive school day. We discovered that more than three days in a row warrants a doctor's note, so we'll reluctantly send him back tomorrow. Although it seems like five days away should be PLENTY of time to recuperate.....it's not. Not for him. He reaches boiling point much more quickly than the rest of us and it takes him MUCH more time to get below boiling point. I've been doing everything possible to get his days at school shortened. I talked to the sp-ed supervisor for our school district today and explained our intentions behind keeping him home and reiterated that he just absolutely needs shortened school days. She seemed willing to explore options for him, but....shortening his days are a last resort, as I suspected. As unique as Elijah's situation is, they are still going to do everything possible to keep him in school full-time. I haven't fully processed this yet, and I'm not sure what is going to happen. I know that we cannot expect him to carry on as is. If the doctor/school won't allow us to shorten his days, we are going to have to find another answer. A few options in my head at the moment: short-term homeschooling (while we find a school more suitable) or simply showing up at school at 1:00 every day to take him out. Apparently E's neuropsych and teachers have been unable to connect, but I'm PRAYING (soooo very hard) that the doctor will be behind our thoughts 100%. If he is, this should definitely carry some weight. 

The people from Elijah's school keep assuring us that they "realllllly want him in school," which is great! But....do they want what is best for him....and what is best for our family?

Please pray for a peaceful night for us! I'm a tiny bit on edge having Dan gone and being on semi-croup alert. Thanks for checking in! I have really fun photos to share from a family outing we took this past weekend. Maybe tomorrow I'll get them posted!

Doing what is best.

My frustration regarding our situation with Elijah and his being waaaaaay overwhelmed as a result of full days at school has turned into a bit of anger. Not with anyone, but with the situation. I am beginning to feel MAD that it is SO DIFFICULT to help our struggling child get what we know he needs.

Despite his teachers truly trying to help, we feel grossly misunderstood and underestimated. Elijah hit two different classmates today, and to be honest I wasn't surprised when I got the call. I knew something like this was coming and I told his teacher two weeks ago that if we didn't address the root issue things were only going to escalate. Because Elijah showed his teachers that he knew what he had done today was wrong, they believe that his actions are "behavior-related." We don't disagree! We agree that he is manipulating his teachers and displaying purposeful negative behaviors, but he wouldn't be doing any of these things if he wasn't well beyond his boiling point!

This is so hard and sad. :( Especially after last year, we REALLY want to have a trusting, good relationship with Elijah's teachers. At this point we do not feel supported in our decision to keep Elijah out of school, but ultimately....Elijah is our priority! Elijah's situation/history is complicated, but we know our boy VERY well. I've been saying this for weeks, but I'll say it again. If we want him to succeed/thrive/feel good/treat people kindly, he needs to return to baseline and then his days at school need to be shortened. So we have made the decision to pull him out of school indefinitely (however long it takes to get him back below his boiling point). In the meantime, we will do what we can to get him approved for shortened school days.

That's all I've got for now.

Opposite of "not new" is...

I began work in Cannon Falls (for the Fall) on Friday. Since then I have worked down there three days and shot a wedding, so I know I must look tired. That was confirmed when I got home tonight. Sammy looked me square in the eyes and said, "By the way, Mom, you do NOT look new." Ouch! At least he is honest!

I don't have much to report regarding Elijah and school. We continue to send him to school, sending him deeper into tiredness and knowing it's not necessarily what is best for him right now. His teachers have been quiet, so I assume that means things are going better for the most part. Or they are sick of my emails.

We are waiting patiently for Dr. M (doctor) and Dr. F (sp ed case mgr) to speak, but I haven't heard a peep about that. Dan was able to accompany Elijah's class on a field trip today and for the ten minutes that he observed E in class he said it was obvious that he required a lot of extra attention. I know for a fact that he wouldn't require as much attention if we could cut back his days for a season and give his brain a break.

The field trip went great, Dan said! Elijah's classmates interacted with him and seemed to like him, although Elijah was rarely the one initiating interaction. I was glad Dan was able to go along. We try to always make that happen.

That's about all for now! Please say a prayer that we will be UNDERSTOOD soon. Very soon. And very understood.