First movie ever and sleepovers

Quick post as our movers come today to start the process of going to our next home.  Liam's (age 5) 5th home and Ben's (age 4) 4th home.

Yesterday they saw their first movie in a theater.  Liam is very sensitive and Ben gets overwhelmed by sensory stimuli easily, so I was worried but they did great.

Buying tickets for Monsters University:

Ben LOVED movie popcorn and hogged the bag, and then ate almost all of it.

Liam gave the movie two thumbs up:

In other news, they have been obsessed with sleeping together.  They call it "having a sleepover."  They'll be sharing a room in our new home, so they might as well.

Potty progress continues

Here is Ben's latest potty prize:

He got it for pooping in the potty for the first time ever yesterday!

He is now dry during the day and dry most nights!!!!!  The nighttime is amazing to me as Liam has never woken dry!

Anxiety over Ben's preschool placement

This week, the preschool coordinator e-mailed me suggesting that we change Ben to be screened rather than being evaluated.

The difference is: "A screening is much shorter and looks at the potential for delay.  It helps to pinpoint areas of concern.  This does not require an IEP team meeting to complete referral paperwork.   A referral meeting is required prior to an evaluation and requires the full IEP team.  Evaluations are required for eligibility determination, which depends on which category of eligibility the team is considering."

I want him evaluated, not screened, so this threw me into full blown panic.  The coordinator suggested we decide on screening versus evaluation pending his latest speech and OT evaluation.

His OT is still working on his report, but I finally tracked down a copy of his speech evaluation.

The report states that his eye contact was inconsistent and his attention was so limited that he needed near constant re-direction.  He was impulsive and give answers before a question was finished. During connected speech, he had issues with word retrieval and would substitute a word (knife/scissors).  He displayed echolalia. His intelligibility of connected speech was 65%.

That is just over half for a 4 year old.

I am very stressed and anxious that Ben will not receive placement in a developmental preschool.  If he doesn't, I know he will quietly sit through another year of preschool, not engaging in peers or paying any attention to the teachers.  That will make his kindergarten transition a nightmare.

T-Ball

Thank goodness for an angel who came and took photos of Liam's T-Ball games.  Dave coached every game, and Ben couldn't be bothered to sit still.

Liam had a blast and seemed to take to T-Ball like a duck to water.  It was much easier for him than soccer.  I think we found "his" team sport.

Going after a ball:

Batting with Daddy coaching:

Running for home!

Getting someone out:

Game face:

ACSC Graduation Ball

Dave is in a one year military school.  Sadly, it is over.  I will miss the easy going schedule.  There is a graduation ball, so we got the opportunity to get dressed up and have some adult time.

Tomorrow he graduates.  The same day a course starts at the JAG school that he has to take for his next job.  The JAG school wanted him to come in for 1.5 hours before graduation, but he told them no as he used to teach the silly course.  In any case, he needs to go directly to the course after graduation and will be going for the next 2 weeks.  So the flexibility of a student schedule is over and he is back to a normal duty day.

Kindergarten graduation

Liam has had a wonderful year at Frazer Memorial Kindergarten.  I had a lot of angst about putting him in private school and losing his IEP, but given the school situation here in Alabama, it was the best choice for him.

Mrs. Struthers reports he is ready for 1st grade and has done wonderfully.  She said his fine motor skills and writing have developed and improved.  Despite being the youngest in the class, by quite a bit, he is academically near the top of his class.  She said in the beginning of the year, he was more of an observer but now he socially engages with all his classmates.  He does become tearful easily but is working on controlling his tears with deep breathing and counting.  She said that one day she became tearful thinking how much she'd miss her class, and all of the kids started yelling "Do the breathing Liam does; it helps him!"  So he is clearly accepted as part of his class.

I am proud of him and his hard work this school year.  I will miss Frazer and his wonderful teacher.

The battle with strep continues

On Monday and Tuesday morning, I noticed blood in Liam's nighttime diaper. This reminded me of March 2011.  I had a Wednesday afternoon doctor's appointment scheduled for him when Ben's school called on Wednesday morning that Ben had thrown up.  Due to Ben's social language delay, they found a pile of puke and had no clue who did it until they found Ben with some on his shirt and crocs.  A strep test confirmed that BOTH boys have strep.

AGAIN.

What is interesting about this is that Ben had been in underwear for 2 plus weeks and about 5 days before the positive test began peeing in his underwear and went back into diapers.

Let me remind you of the criteria of PANDAS:

Symptom onset includes Primary ONSET of OCD* and/or Tics
along with at least two other following symptoms:

.

• Tics or other abnormal movements
• Severe separation anxiety, Generalized anxiety
• Irritability, Emotional lability, Aggression, Personality Changes
• ADHD, Inability to concentrate
• Sensory sensitivities
• Deterioration in learning abilities and school performance
• Developmental and age regression (inc. Deterioration in handwriting)
• Sleep and night time difficulties
• Urinary Frequency or Daytime or night-time secondary enuresis

*OCD may present as severe anxiety

 

Ben has been waking up early, and repeating everything he says.

 

Liam's hyperactivity, aggression toward family members, and anxiety is over the top.

 

I hope we figure this out soon as I am tired.