AHHHHH the perfect sound...........

the sound of silence!

Pure peaceful quiet!

In case you couldn't guess....the boy is at my in-laws for a couple days :)

LMAO so funny I just have to share

The neighbors grandkids are up from Maryland and Orion has them over here right now playing with him for about an hour. They're in Orions room, which is right next to this room. As I'm sitting here reading blogs and trying to figure out what to write about today I hear the boys playing video games and having fun...then I hear this:

Orion: "Oh man you stupid idiot! I hate when the game does that friggin' crap!"

slight pause of total silence

Orion "OH MY GOD! DO NOT REPEAT THAT!"

one of the boys: "why not say friggin crap?"

Orion: "I just told you not to repeat that! My mom hates it and if she heard me she would put soap in my mouth!"

one of the boys: "NO WAY! She puts soap in your mouth? Like in the movie?"

this is followed by lots of laughter from the other 2 boys

perhaps now he'll stop saying such words! I do put soap in his mouth because he says Friggin' and crap in just about every sentence that comes out of his mouth....occassionally he slips and says the real swear words instead. It's worst when he's not medicated (like today) but it's really annoying to say the least! I tell him all the time how bad it makes him sound, but he can't seem to stop so I have resulted to taking drastic measures!

We have a new member in our family........

his name is MR. INTER NET and he scares the living daylights out of me!

See my son wanted internet access for Christmas, we talked, we worried and we finally decided that with limits he would be allowed access on his computer. Today he was set up, parental controls are stronger than Fort Knox and I feel deeply sorry for the fool that tries to talk to my child in any game room online! Mama Bear was probably a bit over protective...I put in so many keywords into the blocked information that my poor kid can't seem to google much of anything lol BUT he's not getting kidnapped, or worse on my watch and darn it, he is only 9 so no way in hades is he having full access to this big bad world that I browse through on a daily basis! See just the other day I tried searching for Pokemon clues for Orion and you know what I found...the first webpage on google said it was pokemon information but turned out to be naked people doing some pretty funky stuff that made me blush!!! THANK GOD the boy was not in the room!!!!!!!

What a wonderful Christmas it was..........

Orion had the hardest time falling asleep Christmas Eve, he took 2 benedryl (that he asked for) and finally fell asleep around 10:30 or so. He slept until just past 5:30 in the morning, then quietly crept out to see if Santa had managed to bring him anything. What he found made his jaw drop and his eyes go all aglow! He had a stocking so stuffed it was about to burst, and 10 new presents that weren't there before, all wrapped in brand new, definately not bought by mom, wrapping paper!

Of course this brought him running (not so quietly) back to our room to drag dad out of bed! With happy laughter and smiles he opened everything from the big guy first...what a generous guy he really is! Indeed he must have taken to heart the note that was left with his cookies that read:

"Dear Santa,

Please feed the carrots to the reindeer the cookies are for you.

p.s. I tried to be good this year.

Sincirly,

Orion"

Funny how he can spell "reindeer" but messed up on "Sincirly" I love how kids write :)

Of course after opening up the big guys presents, he headed for the ones from Mom and Dad. First one he picks up we THOUGHT was the helicopter we had bought...but alas it was the extra PS3 controller lol You should have seen his face, it was awesome! He looks at this controller and goes ballistic...."I got the PS3, you bought me the PS3!" Over and over again, he was estatic! So we let him open that one next lol

The best part of the day was how I had wrapped all the extra goodies to go with the new Nintendo DSi separately and let him open those first...so as he's opening them he's giving me a hard time because I bought the wrong car charger, the wrong size carrying case etc. He was telling me how I had better of saved the receipts so I could go back and get the stuff for DS lite instead...then I handed him the package that had the DSi inside...he was speachless! He hadn't even asked for it, but I knew he wanted it so I got it :)

The second best part was his face when we got over to my in-laws and Orion was told by his 2 uncles that they had something for him in the living room that was too big to wrap. They walked him in and had him pull the blanket off to reveal an electric dirt bike! Again, my son stood there speachless! TWICE IN ONE DAY!!! Of course he didn't get to use it because we did indeed have the white christmas I've been dreaming of for ever so long ....complete with a fresh dusting Christmas Eve ! It was truly a really good day!

Today Orion is hanging out in the living room playing with his new PS3 (can't get him to put down the controller) and he's enjoying his vacation away from school and stress. I even let him go without his meds today...which drives me a little bonkers but it's worth it when I see that happy smiling (albeit wild) child of mine!

Quote/Question of the day......

"OMG it's only 1:23???? WHY does Christmas Eve take so long mom???"

Getting ready for the big man in red

Yep, we get another year of the belief in Santa Clause, we'll be following him on the NORAD website tomorrow to see where he is in the world all day long!

So in anticipation of his arrival we have purchased the cookie dough to bake for Santa and carrot sticks and brocolli crowns for the reindeer. So this year Daddy gets to be Santa and I get to be reindeer and between the two of us the magic of Santa lives on :) To tell you the truth, I'm happy he still believes!

Still dreaming and hoping....signs are looking good!

Weatherman says that thanks to all this we now have a 95% chance of a White Christmas! Temps are supposed to remain in the 20's through Wednesday, then Christmas Eve raise up to 35 degrees. I don't think the 35 degrees will be enough to completely melt 20 inches of snowfall!

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Orion had lots of fun "skim boarding" in the back yard since we don't have a huge hill there.

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Don't worry, I did take him over behind the school for some real sledding but since it was snowing (still is even now at 4:30pm) I didn't take the camera over...it's not waterproof!
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Also had fun just rolling in the snow!

And showing off his snow-made mustache and beard :)

What a perfect end to fall and beginning of winter!

Now our White Christmas dreams have a real possibility of coming true!

We're Dreaming

White Christmas Video
I grew up in Vermont where having a Christmas that wasn't white was unheard of. Now I live a bit further south and according to the weather.com we have a 25% chance of a white Christmas. So I crank up this little song every Christmas as I dream about having white stuff on the ground on December 25th. We've come close before, but usually it all melts before the day arrives and we don't get it afterall. Tonight it's supposed to snow, it was supposed to start around 4pm but here we are at 5:30pm and we haven't seen a single flake. Weather.com has changed the prediction of start time to 9pm and then it's supposed to snow for close to 24 hours! Orion and I are hoping, we're dreaming....can the snow come and dump enough to last until Friday???? We really hope so!


So call out to the powers that be, whoever you believe runs the weather...if it could just stay cold enough thru Friday we could actually have snow on the ground for Christmas....if it warms up like the weatherman is predicting then all is lost and we won't have the white Christmas we are dreaming of and it will remain a song on CD that we sing along to.

An update on my last post about the ADHD battle

First off I sent the teacher a note asking her to call me so we could discuss Orion in further detail, afterall I need more than a few numbers on paper to get the full picture of how he's doing. I spoke with her on the phone for about a half an hour and by the end I felt a lot better about Orion in school.

First off, it's not that he doesn't interact well with the other children, it's more that when things don't go his way he withdraws and pouts but does not continue working with the group to finish the task at hand. This (I believe) comes from being an only child and always getting his way. He never has to compromise with another child here at home so when he wants to do something we generally are able to do it. I am sure that with time he will learn how to deal with this sort of thing and continue working with the group instead of just being upset about it not being the way he thinks it should be. He never argues with the kids or yells or abuses them in any way what-so-ever. The teacher said she sees him interacting with the same few boys everyday during snack and a totally different group when he's out at recess, but he's always hanging out with other kids, not withdrawing or sticking to himself. In general he's a happy well rounded sort of kid and she never sees aggression of any kind.

What she does see is the inability to pay attention! She will be giving the class instructions and half way through she'll notice that he's off in la-la land daydreaming or just zoning out. She is constantly redirecting him back to his work and it's interfering with the class because she has to watch him very closely which takes her attention away from other students. So it's not that he's not smart (of course I already knew that) it's just that he doesn't get full instructions so he only completes part of the task....thus the lower grades since he will hand in only partially completed work and can't get full credit on it. For tests she has to have him sit at the table right next to her desk so that she can keep on him and make sure he completes the test...and when he does complete the tests he always get A's! This shows that he does not suffer from a learning disability at all (again I already knew this).

So in order to combat this situation and help him get better grades in the next term we are working together to come up with a solution. First off, she told Orion that for every lesson he is to make sure he raises his hand at least 3 times...this will help him pay attention because he'll have to know the answer to the question and it will also help him learn to speak louder (he mumbles a lot, afraid to give the wrong answer) plus he'll have to pay attention to how many times he's raised his hand. At the end of each week she will report back to me how he is doing in this area. As for me, I talked to his doctor and we will be upping his dose of Adderrall XR to 30mg dosage. She does not feel that switching his meds at this time is a good idea because 1) it could have worse side effects and we don't want to have that happen at school and 2) the aggression seems to be an at home only thing when the meds are leaving his body so it is something we can combat and win against. First, we'll give him an added dose of 5 mg in the afternoon to help make the meds leave his body more smoothly...I know it sounds wierd but apparently it actually works. Second we will work on changing our parenting strategies a little bit to better accommodate his unique situation. For instance my husband is going to have to learn to be more tolerant when he gets home from work and Orion is at the worst point of the meds leaving his body...thus his highest point of aggression. He needs to be left alone at this time and of course Daddy wants to talk to him and ask how his day was...not a good combination really. Daddy is going to have to learn to wait a bit. We also need to work on ignoring some of his actions when he's not on meds so as to stop feeding his low self-esteem. Right now the poor kid feels like he can't do anything right because we are constantly on his case about his bad behavior or his wild and crazy ways. He's being stifled as a person because we can't tolerate a little wildness. Of course this doesn't mean we stop being parents and let him get away with everything, but we do need to tolerate more than we do because he is his own unique person and he needs to let loose sometime regardless of how much we want him to be the perfect little boy. He's not going to stop running in the hall, he's not going to stop having the activity level that he has when he is not on his meds and we need to learn to tolerate that a little better and work with it. I will be bringing out my mini trampoline for him to use and help him get rid of some of his energy in a safe manner, I'm also going to look around for some indoor playgrounds that I can take him to where he can let loose and have fun. I think once he starts paying better attention in school and getting better grades because of it and he's allowed to relax at home and get away with a little bit of wildness he'll be a much happier boy and I'll start seeing less aggression and sadness out of him and more smiles and laughter in its place....at least I hope so!

Not sure what to do...an ADHD vent

My poor boy has ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) He has struggled with it for years although he was not medicated until the end of 2nd grade when things got really bad for him and everyone finally saw what I saw and agreed that he was out of hand. Currently he's on 25 mg of adderral XR (extend release) and I don't want to go any higher because he doesn't gain weight well and his height has slowed down since going on the meds.....however I just received his report card and it is clear that he is struggling socially and in his study habits. He can't get started to save his life, he struggles to complete tasks on time, he doesn't participate well in class discussions, and he doesn't show much effort at all. I think this all comes from him not getting started well so then no matter how hard he tries it initially looks like he's not trying. He has mostly B's for his grades which is fine, honestly I know he's smart enough to do the work, he's just a bit lazy about doing stuff that he deems unnecessary or "stupid". His lack of effort and lack of desire to do the work hurts his grades and I am sure if he put out a greater effort initially he would get better grades overall.

I just worry a lot about his social skills. He does not participate well in class discussions, he doesn't interact well with the other kids. He struggles with basic social skills and gets easily frustrated with the other children. At home he is bitter and angry a lot and he has no clue as to why. I have read on the internet many people saying that adderral caused this kind of thing to happen to their children and I wonder if maybe I should concider changing his meds. Problem is, up until now the adderall was doing great. Suddenly it's not so great and he's struggling. I don't want to cause an issue at school if a different medication didn't work as well which could cause far worse problems. I just don't know what to do! All I can do is hope that I can figure out an answer soon!

So proud of my little man

As a parent I often find myself worrying and wondering if I am making the right choices when it comes to raising my son. Am I teaching him the right way to be? Am I making sure he grows up to be the kind of person I will be proud of? Then the holidays come around and I find myself wondering if I am teaching him the right things...like the true meaning of the holiday and the real spirit of Christmas.

I know many people say that the true meaning of Christmas has to do with Jesus and his birth...although I know in fact that it is impossible for Jesus to have born on December 25th because the weather described in the bible is not correct. It has been scientifically proven that it's not possible for Jesus (whether son of God or not) to have been born in the month of December. So in my house, that is not the meaning of the holiday. Chrismas in our house is all about giving to the ones we love, showing them that we care about them and that we know who they are as people. We share of ourselves, we give thoughtful and meaningful gifts, we show those we love that they are special to us. I try to let my son know that this attitude should be there all year long, but this time of year, Christmas time, is a time to really go all out and show our love for others. It's not about getting, it's about giving.

So every year I have Orion save some of his allowance to buy gifts for his grandparents, uncles, his dad and his teacher (if the school allows it). I don't really care if he gets me anything, it's ok if he really can't afford it, but I want him to know that him showing good will toward others is my Christmas gift because it shows me that I am doing it right. In years past he has bought jewelry for his grandmother...just little stuff that only a grandmother would love and then sweaters or something like that for his grandfather and his uncles. Then he usually gets his father a gift card to McDonalds because Daddy goes up north every weekend to snowboard and needs to eat on the way. This year was different!

This year he bought a really nice tea lite tray and a snowglobe for his grandmother because he knows she likes those kinds of things. For his grandfather he bought him a new tennis racket and tennis balls because Grampy loves to play tennis with his buddies every weekend in the summer. For his 2 uncles he got them each charging stations for their cell phones and i-pods because they need a place to put them where they won't lose them. And for daddy...he bought him a nice heated neck massager because his neck always hurts and my arthritis often makes it hard for me to massage him and he got him a season DVD of X-men because that's his favorite cartoon/comic book. He says he has plans for me but he's going to need daddy's help because he's a little short on cash and he doesn't want to buy it with me. All in all he saved up over $100 for his shopping and he was very thoughtful in picking each and every gift!

So a hearty pat on the back to me because I clearly am doing it right and my boy is a great thoughtful kid....even if I do say so myself!

Thoughtful Thursday

In light of the season.....


I have recently been visited by the ghost of Christmas Past and he showed me a few of my happy memories along with a few of the not so happy ones.

First he showed me a little girl running with her big brother and big sisters out to pile into the car the day after Thanksgiving. They all fought and argued over who would get the front seat and who would be stuck in the back seat. After piling into the blue Chevy sedan the mother waddles up to the car with an axe in hand and she climbs into the front seat, they drive away laughing and joking that the axe would be used on anyone who suggested a "Charlie Brown Christmas Tree".

They drove along a country road until they found a small area to pull the car along side some woods and they all jump out and run off into the trees all searching for that perfect tree. There is no greater honor in the family than finding that perfect tree before the others because then it's YOUR tree! I could see the children laughing and running through the forest, yelling out to one another to be sure no one got lost. The little one finally yells out "It's here, hurry everyone come and see! I found the perfect tree!!" Everyone runs to her side and there before her is the most beautiful, full and tall tree you've ever seen! It is indeed the PERFECT tree! Big brother grabs the axe out of mothers hand and begins to chop! The girls all stand back and yell "TIMBER" as the tree falls to the ground, then they all grab a branch and together they drag that perfect tree out of the woods and put it on top of the car! The little one gets the front seat because it was she who found the perfect tree!

Second the ghost showed me that same little girl a couple of years later. She was watching her mother hard at work. Her mother had a square board in front of her that she had painted black and now she was taping off that board to make squares. She painted those squares red, it was obviously a checker board and the little girl hoped that her mother was maybe making it for her. We then flash-forwarded to Christmas morning where the little girl observed the beautiful checkerboard sitting under the tree, red bow attached and a small bag that contained little red and black pieces of wood. The little girl cautiously peeks at the tag, hoping to see her name there....she is saddened by what she reads for two reasons....one, it doesn't have her name on it, two it says "From: Santa" That day she discovered that Santa was not a real elf who came down the chimney and left presents for good boys and girls :(

Finally the ghost showed me a day that I shall never forget...that little girl was more grown up now, she was beginning to understand that Santa was a spirit and that he could live inside people hearts. She was 11 years old, fresh in the foster care system, living in her 4th home in as many months. Apparently it's hard to place 4 children aged 11, 14, 15, and 17 all in the same home and keep them together so they had been moving from temporary foster home to temporary foster home in the hopes of finding a more permanant home for them to stay in. It was Christmas morning when a knock came on the door and Santa Clause stood on the threshold. His sleigh was parked out front and he was holding a huge green bag. The girls foster mother let him in and he walked right up to her, opened his giant sack and proceeded to hand her gifts. One after another he handed her boxes and wrapped packages, some with her name, some with her brothers and sisters names. There were sweaters, toys, stuffed animals and books that she had desired to read. There were notepads with purple pens just like she really wanted but never dreamed she would receive....and there was a checkerboard painted black and red with a red bow and a bag of little black and red pieces of wood! Santa gave her a hug and appologized for not making it to her house previous years and went on his way. It was a magical moment that she would not soon forget, the moment she realized that her foster mother must really care since she had recently told her the story of the checkerboard and how it had broken her heart to realize Santa was not real. Much like the Grinch, she realized that Christmas was so much more and she cried!

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May you all be visited by your own ghost of Christmas Past and may he show you the happier memories and why even the sad ones are important!

Poor boy can't catch a break

Took him in for his annual well check today, of course when I picked him up from school he was lethargic and tired. He fell asleep on my shoulder in the waiting room at 3 in the afternoon, , then laid down on the table as soon as we got into the room and fell back to sleep! Poor kid has severe bronchitis now, he hasn't even finished the antibiotics for his strep throat!!! They told me to have him finish that antibiotic and gave us azithromax for the bronchitis. He also has to use flovent inhaler 2X a day and albutural inhaler every 4 hours until he gets better. If he doesn't improve within 3 to 4 days I have to take him back for chest x-rays to check for pneumonia!


My poor kid needs a break! I'm sick and tired of him being sick and tired!

Another 2000 word post :)

This is the thanks that I get...........

After standing in the pouring FREEZING rain for hours on end waiting to save hubby and me a small fortune I get a kid with the flu and strep throat AND my own dose of the same!


Yep that's where I've been all week long....sick in bed with my sick boy! Friday, shortly after posting, my mother in law called to see if I was on my way yet? Of course I wasn't, afterall I wasn't supposed to get to her place until somewhere between 3 and 4 in the afternoon so I had plenty of time. Well she wasn't trying to be a nag or anything....nope my son was white as a ghost, wrapped up in a hoodie and numerous blankets shivering on her couch begging to go home! She gives her usual line of "I think he feels a little warm, but he's really not himself and maybe you could come pick him up early" so being the good mom that I am I skip lunch and rush right over.


When I arrive, I find him sleeping on her couch...it's 2:30 in the afternoon so I know he has to be sick...and when I kiss his forehead to wake him up I can feel the heat before I even touch his skin!!!! He was burning up! He could barely walk to the car and as soon as I got him settled into a seatbelt he curled up and went back to sleep. It was a quiet drive home. I got him home and he had a fever of nearly 104 so I tucked him in on the couch with remote controls and an x-box controller, got him some motrin and a cool wash cloth for his forehead. He slept practically all afternoon and into the night, I woke him up only to get him to sip some ginger ale and take some motrin or tylenol to get that fever down....and no matter how hard I tried it tried back and I couldn't get it below 102!

Saturday morning I call the peds office to get him seen.....they tell me he has the flu and not to bring him in. I explain that there have only been 2 other times in this childs life that he spiked a fever like this and both times he had strep throat and I wanted a culture done. They made me an appointment with the lab and told me not to come to the doctors office because they were sure this was the flu. They did a rapid flu and a rapid strep test...I told them to make sure they let that strep test grow overnight because I knew it was not going to come out positive until the morning. Rapid tests never come out positive for me and they have never come out positive for him. I was right of course...his rapid flu test came back positive but the strep was negative. The next morning they were calling me first thing to tell me what I already knew...he had Strep throat along with the flu and needed antibiotics. So this is now 3 times in my 9 year olds life that he has had strep...not a bad record!


In the meantime I could tell I too was coming down with it...body aches, sore throat, cough, fever etc. First thing Monday I have to call my doctor and get an appointment to get seen so I can get a strep test too. I go in there with a sick kid (hubby had to work so no choices there) and gee...big surprise the rapid strep test came back negative. The doctor of course is smart....she looks at my history and says it would be useless to grow this overnight and why should I wait another 24 hours to get on antibiotics and she gives me my very own antibiotic prescription right there. No time wasted...I go home with my bottle of pills and 103 fever and sick kiddo. We have fought the good fight, he is FINALLY back in school and I am somewhat feeling almost normal. My body aches quite a bit still, my fever is down though and I feel human enough to go out and do my food shopping!


Sadly the sickness made it so that we could not get our Christmas tree the Friday after Thanksgiving as is my tradition (I'm blaming hubby knowing he HATES the tree going up so early AND he's the only one in the house who didn't get sick....perhaps he planted the germs on purpose???) so this afternoon Orion and I are going out and getting our tree. We do not do fake trees in this house, I will not allow it! To have a fake tree would be a sin in my eyes and so today we will go out and pick out our tree, we will set it up and we will decorate and make this a festive home!