Happy New year!!!

Happy New year to all of you.

Today is the very last day of the year. Now we cross over to a brand new set of opportunities and hopes. Where we can plan anything and dream anything. Is a new year for carlitos too and is full of promises and wishes, As he grows older his life changes a lot, this coming year he will be 10!! officially a preteen. Unbelievable!!



He had a mixed day today. Bored an looking for things to do, in the process bothering his sisters and driving them crazy!!. But it is New Years Eve and there is something different in the air. he can tell.



For dinner we made homemade pizza and later watched a couple of movies to wait for midninght to come. I was not sure if the kids were going to last all the way. And they didn't. We just toasted with Apple cider and the kids wen to bed. carlitos did good.

Tomorrow will be a new year!!!

Perfect...glasses.

Oh how nice to have peace!!. The kids did fantastic today. They got along just great. Did a bunch of projects in the garage, played together, made a club house and made cookies too. I can't believe how together they were today. I am very proud of them, specially him.

In the morning I took Carlitos to get his glasses (finally) he looks so cute in them!!. Now he can finally see better. He even said there was a big difference.

He was on track today and paying attention to everyone. I'm very proud of him. I hope tomorrow he has a good day too.

More winter break...

Another full day. No doubt Winter break is getting long.....
Carlitos has done fairly good. I noticed that he stopped being hyper like at the beginning of the new dose. I'm glad because it was making me nervous. He seems calm until the sisters get all crazy and then he can't stop!!

Something I have been working on is him stopping when someone says "No" or "Stop" he thinks is funny to make them upset (I think is attention seeking). This causes the girls not wanting to play with him. This starts bad behavior to get their attention. Is a full bad circle. I am working on the girls about that.

Today he was specially annoying. So later in the day dad took the girls to see the grandparents. He was sad and we had a chance to talk about that. I told him why the girls needed a break from him and how his choices affect his relationship with them (in basic language). He understood and came up with some solutions together. He could not wait for the girls to be back. After they came he was much better and stopped right away when he needed to. It won't last forever but got the point across.

He went to bed good.

Full day

Sundays are always busy days. We start rushing in the morning trying to get ready for Church. It is very challenging most of the time. But somehow we get it done. he did pretty well this morning, took a shower and was ready in a good time.
We got there and he went to play with one of his good friends. Sat down quiet drawing until was time to go to class. Had a very good time in class and behaved pretty well.

In the afternoon all the kids were wired and running around. He played in the computer for a while. It was an uneventful afternoon.
Close to dinner time he decided to mess around with an exercise bench we have. He wanted the girls attention and blocked the TV with it. My husband took it to the patio to avoid a situation but Carlitos got very upset and started fighting for it and pulling it. We did not let him since he was refusing to agreed to not bother his sisters with it. He stormed out of the house and sat out of the door (cold!!) I was able to talk to him for a couple of minutes and he came back and had dinner with all of us in a very good mood.

After dinner the kids played some more and then dad played a board game with all of them. He did pretty well. The time came for all the kids to go to bed. He could not transition very well. Got in the girls room and could not get out, grabbing stuff and getting stubborn about it. We had to grab him out and rip a pillow out of him. He got mad and went to his room slamming the door.

We decided to keep his dog from him tonight as a consequence. He'll miss her and it wont be so drastic. He stated in his room for a long while.

Not bad..

Today he did better. More relaxed. He went garage sailing with dad. After that he had breakfast. Not much happened today. He went to his grandparents house, he had a lot of fun. They all went to a farm to get some veggies. The farm was closed.

Later the girls got a turn hanging out with dad. In the meantime he went to the garage and worked on his projects. He really likes working on his wood projects. He stayed there for a long while. After that the girls came home he watched some TV and after that I went out. Marco told me they made some muffins and the kids did very well. Had dinner, watched a movie and then bedtime.

A usual day of winter break

14 hours later...

Yes!. He slept for 14 hours!!. I was really curious to see how he was going to do today with that kind of sleep under his belt. And sure enough, he did incredible all morning. We did projects together (like his messy room!) and played with his sisters really well. Listened to direction much better than normal.

In the afternoon got a little bit restless. He started tackling the girls and taking things away. I tried to keep him busy or distract him with something else. At some point he asked his older sister to play Legos with him. She does not like Legos and already spent time with him so she said. He insisted over and over and over again and started getting upset. I kept on telling him that she didn't have to do it if she didn't want to. Just like he does. He got very pushy and at the end we compromised on something both of them would like. It took a lot of work.

Later he was bugging his younger sister. He went a little far and was coming across mean and bully. So after a while trying to help him out I got in to sister room, grabbed him really hard and got him out of the room in one step!!. He got furious and wanted to fight (I was ready for it) I give him flexibility but when he is getting away with stuff then I have to put my foot down and show him clear boundaries. He ran to the family room and sat on the sofa. Quiet. After about 5 minutes got up with a good attitude and apologized to his sister. ufff...that was close.

But....not done yet!. After playing Apples to Apples with the kids I told them that the first to finish putting pajamas on would get candy. They all ran and a couple of minutes later I hear loud screaming from his room. I ran as fast as I could and I found him fighting with his shirt which was stuck with his new (xmas present) watch!!. He was so out of control that would not listen to me and kept on pulling trying to get his arm off. It took me a second to figure out what was happening. Finally he pulled hard enough and he was free. Immediately he goes in a fit of rage against the watch for making him late. And follows with hitting the watch against his furniture. I finally stopped him after he was done and realized that the watch was broken. Yes!! BROKEN. New 1 day old favorite watch. At this point I had a choice to make. Feel bad for him and make him feel better giving him candy and a new watch.... or suffer all the consequences of this action.

Yep..the second one was the winner. It was a perfect example of consequence. He was devastated over the watch, and I let him. He cries and I reminded him why we do not destroy thing in anger. Now he had no watch. Maybe next time you can hit a pillow and be sure nothing gets ruined. He got the message loud and clear. Immediately with puppy face he asked for candy (the one I offered before the race). I told him his older sister got it because she was first and that was fair. He got a little upset and continue saying...but I'll save one and when we have another race if you are first I'll give it to you. he said OK and that was the end of that.

Pajamas finally on and time for bed after a very busy day. I hope tomorrow he does better. But with all and all it was a very successful day with a lot of good opportunities.

Christmas Day

He woke up at 11:00pm, and 1:00am and 3:00am.... I guess very excited or who knows what!!. He was saying it was hot (don't think it was) and looking very sleepy but not able to sleep. At the end he slept on the sofa in front of the Christmas tree. Why not!!

A very busy day. They started opening presents around 6:30am. Chaos and business. After a while all went back to normal and everyone was focused on 1 thing they got. Grandma and grandpa came over around 7:00am . They were here most of the day.

Carlitos did ok but he was having a hard time keeping himself busy without bothering his sisters. It almost looked like he would go out of his way to annoy them. The problem is that when he gets bored in the house he targets the girls for entertainment (Not the fun one), maybe fun for him but not them.

We had late lunch and everyone was very hyper (I'm exhausted) but happy. He was the same as the girls. Later I took him to the garage to clean up his area together. When we were done he really like the way it looked and decided to work on pieces of wood. That got him occupied for a little while.

Around 6:00pm he sat on the sofa to watch PBS NOVA and suddenly fell sleep. I woke him up, gave him his medicine and put him to bed by 6:30pm. He has to be so tired after last night!

His day could have been better, however it was not bad at all.

Christmas Eve

Here we are!! everyone in full expectation!!. The kids did very well today. No major plans or run arounds. Carlitos' mood was very even most of the day. I did notice he looked sleepy all the time. I kept on asking him how he felt but he would give me his standard answer..."ok".

I don't like his sensory situation. It does seem out of whack. I know these days are crazy and stressful so I'll give him more time to regulate. After that if things don't change I really want to talk to his Dr and find out which way to go.

No outbursts or defiance. More like one track mind and tunnel vision. Not that he wants to go against you but in his mind is the only way. It is driving his sisters crazy!. The oldest one is loosing her patience all the time.

Grandma and grandpa came over for dinner. The kids watched TV (Christmas Specials) and then later went to bed.

As we did inventory of the presents, making sure all of them are there and everything is ok. We realized in HORROR that we forgot HIS present from us. I don't have to explain the feeling I'm sure. So this very minute 10:50pm!!! poor Marco is running to a store. I know all the kids will have a great time tomorrow.

Merry Christmas to all of you!

Not sure yet...

Something is off and I can't put my finger on it. When he was on half pill (2.5gm) he was aggressive sometimes but most of the time is ok. Now that he is on a full pill (5mg) he seems tired, and seeking tons of sensory input, that makes him busy uncomfortable and grouchy. Today is the 3rd day giving him a full pill. I am waiting for something to change but all these days he has been about the same.

I'll wait until Christmas is over and see how he does then (a lot of stimulation). Otherwise I'll push him back to 2.5mg. I don't like the way he looks lately.

Today he did ok. No meltdowns. I had daycare kids so he had other kids to play with other than his sisters. He was busy body all afternoon. Tonight we had a Christmas party with a bunch of kids at someone else's house. He did very well considering the business on the room where the kids were. And just a little bit ago we came home, he got his pajamas on and came to say good night (mmmmm) I checked on him 2 minutes later, I tough that was kind of suspicious. But his light was out and he was in bed!!. Good for him.

Tomorrow I don't have any extra kids. The only errand we need to do is get a couple of presents. And then we are done!!!!!. I hope he feels better.

Better

Talk about running!!. I wake up with a text message ring. I check it and is the OT on her way!! I ran, got Carlitos ready in a flash and went to the other boy's house for therapy. You know how last minute changes go!. Actually he did very well considering he had to get dressed in less than 2 minutes and run to the car. He likes to go to his friend house so that had a lot to do with it.

He did very well there. Calm down and obedient, following direction. After the class he had a chance to play the Wii (loved it!) that helped him get it out of his system. We had lunch with them there and hanged out for a little bit.

After that we went to another friend's house to visit. he did ok most of the time until the very end. By that time it was already around 3pm. I think he was getting tired already. He started fighting and being bothered. So we left.

At home he was annoying his sister a little bit but not too much. They (3 of them) played in the computer for a long time and then watched a movie. Had dinner and later went to their rooms to play and read. By 9:30pm his light was out. No meltdowns or anything like that. Still a little hyper. I hope he feels better tomorrow and goes back to a balanced mood.

No...I don't think was good..

Wow!...this kid woke up on the wrong side of bed!!. grouchy, impatient, frustrated, hyperactive and impossible!. I have no idea why or what the deal is. I don't think he is getting sick and I can't believe the medicine would do such a change in a few hours.

In the morning everything was a fight. The computer, shower, getting dressed. etc. Finally we made it out of the house to church. Once we got there he laid down on my lap and looked very tired. But something interesting is that he was totally seeking sensory input (squeeze)he has not done that in a very long time. Clearly he was out of center. He did ok in his church class.

At home after church he was still very pushy and hyperactive, meaning...bouncing off the walls. I figured that maybe he was overstimulated by last night, and still tired since he fell sleep very late and got up very early, plus the new dose. I don't know..it was crazy!

Thank goodness the oldest left for a sleepover because otherwise...WWIII for sure. He has been bugging the younger one, it does look like he is looking for the touch (sensory) all he does is hug her and squeeze her somehow.

Tonight we watched Extreme Makeover Home Edition and he was jumping on the bed half of the time (??). Finally bed time came. I just left him in bed with the radio on and a good book. I have my hopes up that by tomorrow he'll be rested and back to normal. This was crazy!!. Poor kid.

Now...if this does not change..I'll be making some phone calls!!

Appointment Day 1 (5mg)

Today was my birthday. And Carlitos made breakfast for me with his sister. Very cute. He was in a good mood this morning. Worked in the garage for a little while and then he got dressed ready to go to the psychiatrist appointment. His first follow up since he started his medicine. In was very curious to know his weight since he has been eating like a horse lately.

We got there and he got weighted. 70lbs!! exactly the same than last time, not a pound more. I guess I'm glad, I was afraid he would be gaining weight. We went over some paperwork from school (progress report) and discussed his behaviors lately. I asked the Dr if the medicine had a honeymoon stage because for the first 2 weeks after starting with it he had an incredible time. perfect focus and perfect behavior. Then after that he started going back to old behaviors but still doing very well.

She explained that based on his weight now he should be taking about 10mg and I have him on 2.5mg. What that does is to help him but creates curves because is not enough medicine to keep him steady and even. That is why he keeps on regressing sometimes to old behaviors. That makes sense!. So we decided to start him on 5mg tonight. It was a good meeting. The next one is in 6 weeks. Jan 31 to follow up.

Tonight we had a wii party at the house with a bunch of Friends and kids. he seemed ansy and getting frustrated very easy. Specially with his sisters, feeling left out or ignored. Around 10:00pm we decided to turn off the wii. He had a meltdown over it, not enough time to transition!! poor guy was devastated over it and fell sleep on the sofa. We left him there for half an hour and then took him to bed.

I'll be watching to see what reaction he gets with the new dose.

To the moon and back!

Finally Winter break!!! we were so ready for this.
He did good this morning. Had a hard time getting off the computer, I had to negotiate to be bale to do it. It took us about 10min in the process, after that he was ok.

At school he spent a good chunk of time trying to do his Benchmark writing test. After a few hours..nothing!! no success. I was at school so I tried to help him and he was having a bad attitude about it. I told him he could not go to the garage today if he didn't do it (2 sentences). He chose not to. So he did not go in the garage today.

However..we did have a very interesting situation. He decided to get some coins from my dresser. This are the ones he used to pay for a ruler he broke. He decided that the money was still his and demanded it. I explained that the $$ was not his anymore. He got frustrated and pushy...I insisted in the explanation. He refused to listen and started fighting his way into it. I picked them up and put them in my pocket. He was furious and loosing control. I was still talking to him and a normal tone and repeating myself over and over.
He started stepping on my feet to show his anger. I stopped him and told him NO. He started crying and yelling very angry. I insisted that I could not give it to him since he used it to pay for the ruler he broke (sister's ruler). The agreement was for him to say sorry and buy a new one for her. H did. But now he was totally confused.

Then I realized he could not connect paying for the ruler since the $$ was right there! not at the store. In his mind that money there was his money because he never gave it to the clerk (very logic). So I explained how $$ went out of daddy's pocket and he replace it. It took a minute but he calmed down and started listening. He leaned on me and went back to normal. 20 minuted later he was riding his bike with a friend. And I still have the money!

We went to the moon and back!!

Homework...

Wow...today was like "Homework marathon". Carlitos had to catch up on late homework (and some work he refused to do in class) I did not want him to miss all those points so we worked all day in this projects. I have to say he did very well considering the amount of writing, reading and math it required.

This morning he was done in no time under the motivation of a computer game. As long as it works hey!! good with me. I can't wait for tomorrow to be over and not have to worry about school for a couple of weeks. he needs it and me too.

The day after tomorrow I have my second appointment with his Psych. We will be discussing how he is doing on his meds. I do have questions but in general I think he is doing great on it. I'm not about to change any dosage in the middle of the Holidays. He has been getting more pushy but...the Holidays!!! he would do that anyways. Too much expectation, schedule changes and people coming and going.

Almost winter break....

The anticipation is in the air....I can tell the kids are ansy to get out and have Christmas!!.
Carlitos this morning got up super early, even before us and asked right away if he could go in the computer. I was half sleep still!!. The deal was this: You get ready, meaning dressed, breakfast, teeth, hair. And then you can get in the computer. Exactly 15 minutes later he was ready!!. Is all about focus!!

He had an ok day at school again. Not much of anything, including work. We will start over in January. Today we worked on some late homework packages he needs to turn in on Friday. He did pretty good.

Today grandpa and grandma came over and hanged out with us. He was excited. He likes having his grandparents here.

He is spending a lot of time with his tools!. Building all kinds of things. A car..which by the way he dismantled his sister bike because he needed the wheels!!. As you can imagine my answer was..You did what????. He had it back together in 15 minutes!.

2 more days and we can breathe and not have to worry about homework and reports. can't wait!

New belt..

He had a good day with a rough morning!!. He had a hard time getting moving this morning and started coming across very defiant and rude. Specially with dad. I did what I could but had to go to work. He made it ok, lately morning are getting harder.

At school he did not do much work but his behavior was ok. I spoke with teacher and discussed all the things he is behind on and needs to finish. I sat him down and created a "homework project" to be able to catch up. Not sure how to accomplish this task but I have to start somewhere!!.

He had karate testing today and he is going from white to yellow belt. he is very excited about it. I will use it as currency and motivation. The kids do very well in karate. He did bother his sister a lot today.

OT therapy at home today. He did sooo good. Even made a necklace to give me for my birthday. very cute!. The OT therapist will be working on his writing to see if she can make it easier for him. He struggles a lot with it.

Plans, plans, plans....I hope that after all the work and efforts we get to see fruit from it. I am faithful and stay positive.

Writing

He had a hard time getting up this morning. Mainly because was very cold and he wanted to stay cozy in bed (me too), but it got difficult to deal with. Finally he was on his way to school ready to practice basketball.

His report from school indicated he did not want to write anything. Did math ok but no writing. The OT at school is looking into some system or device (keyboard) to help him write in school. He has such a hard time with it I don't know how he is going to pass grade like this.

His mood was ok. We went to the store and he did very good following directions and staying with me. We had fun. He picked dinner. Later took a shower all by himself and put his pajamas on. Read his book (Dracula does not drink lemonade) and went to bed.

This Saturday we have his Dr appointment. I have some questions about the curve of the medicine. And I want to see if he has gained any weight.

Finally....

Busy, busy, busy....December is just crazy and busy. We have been going to Christmas parties and such. Carlitos has been doing very well with that. Again...I forgot to write yesterday, I got distracted.

yesterday was a busy day bur it was fun. Him and dad build a shop in the garage so he can do his "carpentry" and projects. Dad also took him shopping for his sisters and hanged out in stores together (daddy and me time). He was so, so with his sisters. Annoying and bothering any chance he saw available, but....isn't that a 9 year old little brother anyways?...I am not going to take that away from him. That is all normal!

Last night we went to see Christmas lights in neighborhoods close by. Kids love it and is becoming a tradition. Half way into it Carlitos fell sleep (no idea why!) woke up a little bit later and got right into looking around.

Today we had the Christmas church service and the kids went up on stage to sing. very cute. He did great, didn't get nervous and had a great time. The Christmas service is a big one and gets very busy. He did good self regulating himself!

Tonight Marco and I went to another party and had a baby sitter come stay with the kids. The report I got back was good, except a fight he had with his older sister over dinner. I talked to him and he apologized to her. Then went straight to bed!!

So far he is still edgy and moody at times, but I'm not ready to increase the dose or anything like that. The Holidays are always challenging because the energy and routine changes and are very high. A lot of stimulation and busyness. I'll wait until next year to consider anything like that.

Ok

At school he is doing ok as behavior goes but with work he is getting really behind (7 weeks) and honestly I'm not sure how he will get caught up on that one. We'll do what we can with what we have.

The highlight of the day was him working on his project and having an argument with his older sister. He wanted her to play soccer with him but she was in the middle of a science experiment. he could not handle a negative so he took the ruler she was using to measure and ran with it. Locked himself in the bathroom and broke it in pieces. I went in and had a strong talk with him about what he did, he was still off and mad. I waited a little bit and got him again, told him he had to apologize AND buy a new ruler for her with his own money (I'll make sure he gets that done tomorrow!!). He did feel the consequences of her and me being upset with him over it. He has a hard time feeling rejected by anyone, but I told him that is what happens when he does something mean like that to somebody.

It is the end of the week and everyone is tired!!!. Marco and I went out to a friends house and a babysitter stayed with the kids. He played Monopoly and did very well until bed time.

Tools

Great morning, slow waking up but doing everything he needed to get done. He even finished early before school.

After I picked him up from school he ran to do house eager to work on his "project" in the garage. I was able to make a deal with him and wrote a list on a piece of paper with the afternoon schedule. We divided his time in 30 min slots. First snack, then garage work, after that homework, playing with the daycare boys and homework again. Amazingly enough he stuck to it perfectly. We set up the timer every time and when the time was up he switched without a problem.

This way I was able to work on a lot of pending homework he had. At school he did a little better. He desperately needs his glasses!!.

He is soooo excited about his wood shop in the garage. Has tools and woods to work with and he does very good figuring out how to do what he wants to accomplish with the stuff. It is very impressive how he can concentrate and do very detail work. Maybe as he grows older he can learn a trade and be able to do that later as an adult. You never know!!

His bedtime was great. Read as usual and was ready to sleep.

Argument yesterday

Well, well....very busy day with this kid yesterday. At school he did ok, and in the morning he managed to do what he needed to do without major issues.

in the afternoon however...
Came back from school and went straight to the garage to work on his "project". He is building some kind of weapon with wood and rubber bands. It is taking a lot of cutting wood with a saw and hammering pieces together with nails. He is really good at this and I don't worry much about it.
Yesterday he was sawing a piece off and was not working out. He got frustrated and started getting clumsy with it as he was getting mad. In the meantime I am trying to give him ideas to calm down, breathe, take a break, etc. He is tunnel vision and he wants that piece OFF!! 5 seconds later he is slamming the saw against the wood and finally threw it far away. Immediately I picked it up with the hammers and went in the house. He followed me furious because I took them, yelling for them back. I told him I would as soon as he would calm down because it was dangerous for him to have tools like this and be angry like that.
He started hitting and loosing it, I stopped him with my hand and he screamed and ran to the door, opened and he was gone!!, running away from the house to a neighbor friend he has.

Right at that moment his Behavioral Coach came and was able to be part of all this. 5 minutes later he runs back to the house, get his bike and leaves again. Still furious. I went inside for a while knowing he was at his friend and needing to calm down over there.

I went out to check on him with BC and he came back and asked permission to go around the block in his bike. Permission?? then I knew he was back to normal. He did and then came back inside.

I sat him down and had a talk about what happened. We talked about safety, about the fight and how to self regulate better. he also apologized for fighting.

Finally drama was over and he was doing ok. I still think the medicine helped him get back in control sooner. Otherwise forget it!! he would still be up the mountain not coping!

Carpenter

Much better today. As usual all of us, meaning the kids and I, had a hard time waking up....it is cold, and dark..mmmm. Imagine how hard is for him to shake it off. But he did. had breakfast and get ready on time.

His report from school said that he got some work done and his attitude was better than the last days. However he was in a weird kind of mood. Quiet, distracted with his own things, doing projects alone. Normally he is begging for kids to play with him. I asked him if he was ok and he said yes. I didn't push it. Later this afternoon his OT (Occupational Therapist) came by and helped him with one of is projects. He was in the garage building a wood catapult. I could hear him hammering and making all kind of noises.

After she was done we talked about hi and told me how impress she was at his problem solving skills. He could visualize the problem and come up with a solution right away. We have always known he can build and puts all kinds of things together. He has the skills to fix problems but at this point he chooses when and with what he does it. Clearly writing and math is not one of them. At least for now. She mentioned the possibility of him becoming a carpenter or a trade like that. Something to think about.

We had Karate today and he did very well. After that we went to church and he had a bunch of cookies (not the greatest idea!!). Came home late. The kids went straight to bed. In general he had an ok day

Defiant...

Little by little and more with time. He's defiance is getting higher and more evident as time goes by. The very first 2 weeks he was really nice and mellow, super obedient and very peaceful. Now, a month after seems like the coping skills have changed. Not as bad as before but not great like at the beginning of giving him the medicine.

We have an appointment with the Dr on the 20th. I will be asking a few questions about the curve. Maybe the cycle with medicine changes after certain time in the system. This is a guess since I have no experience with this kind of medicine before.

At school he is not doing his work again. Went from 0 assignments before meds to 7 after meds to 1 or 2 a month later. This probably means something but I'll have to research that one a little more.

Today he ignored me in the middle of a conversation about homework and just walked away, I called him a few times and purposely decided to ignore me. SO what I did was to do the same with me (without the aggression) to see how he reacted to the same feeling. He hated it!!! tried to get my attention all kinds of ways and felt very out of place for him.

Tonight we had a family project to do. Christmas shoe boxes for an orphanage in Mexico. The kids would look in their things and give toys and goodies for other kids. The girls did the box for another girl. We only planned on doing one. At this point I am still not paying attention to him. He looked for a box all excited and wanted to make one for a boy. At that point I sat him down and we talked about how it feels to be ignored. He got a very clear feeling of "not good" with this experience. And explained also that not because I am "mom" means he can say whatever to me and I just take it. We had a good took, and after that we did the box together and he was in a great mood. He even did his homework on his own!!!

A lot of work ahead of all of us, but so worth it!.

Math!!

As usual he had a good morning. Got ready, had breakfast and played in the computer. The time came to be leaving for church. He decided to bring a couple of toys to keep him busy while sitting at church (30m). He found his friend and they sat together. They started to get noisy and finally I gave them paper and pen and they started drawing. He did very well with that! quiet and busy.
Did great at his class and in the way home. After lunch we needed to sit down to finish a math test he had pending. Since I got him off school early on Friday for the eye Dr thing he could not do a math test, so the teacher gave it to me to do home. So we started doing this test...
At first he was doing ok but by the end he had 2 question that required some thinking, like "little Susie spent $3.19 on something then she got $1.50 on this other thing and he had $2.00 left..." he immediately guessed an answer, totally wrong. I asked him to show his work on it and his answer always was.."I did it on my head" it was very clear he made it up and did not wanted to say it. We tried some other problems and he would just make up and answer and shut down!!.

This is not good!!!! he is struggling with addition and tomorrow his class starts with multiplication!. I didn't realize how hard this was for him until now. What makes it worse is that he won't even try. Shuts down and that is the end of it. I need to figure something out!!

Later he went with the girls to a friends house and had a great time. Came back home, had dinner and eventually went to bed. Long day...

Dave and Buster

It was soooo much fun today. But let's start from the beginning...
By the time I got up all kids were doing something. Actually I found them all in the computer doing a game together. very nicely and fun. Later we had breakfast (pancakes) and watched a movie (Arthur and the Invisibles). Everyone still in pajamas and hair standing up. Carlitos in a very good mood and not an argument at all.

Today is Marco's (DH) job Christmas party at Dave and Busters. This place is very nice for families. It is like a Peter Piper Pizza but much nicer and better games. We all got dressed and ready to go. When we got there the front door people gave us a card with tokens to use. The kids took off running to whatever they saw first. carlitos followed direction immediately, was very responsible with his stuff (tokens, card, cups) and did so amazingly well. I am very impressed because this place was a loud jungle!!, got full of people right away and the noise was so loud you had to yell all the time for people to hear you. So imagine sound, plus people, plus over excitement of video games and such.

After an hour or so he signal me and asked me to go to a quiet place for a while. We went to the 2nd floor which had an outside patio (balcony) and was nice and quiet. The kids had a soda (treat) and after 15min he was ready to go down and keep on going. I told him I was very proud of him for handling his needs so well. Today he was very even in his behavior.

After all that we were exhausted!!! so my oldest made dinner and after that a;; of them got back in pajamas. He spent some time reading in bed and went to sleep.

In my book...perfect day for him!!

Glasses

This morning everything went as usual...got up, had breakfast, and left for school. He is doing very good getting dressed by himself. for the longest time we had to do it for him. However he still needs verbal reminders all the time so he does not get sidetracked.



I picked him up early from school to take him to the Eye Dr appointment. We went in and he immediately got hooked with the equipment. Fascinated with the buttons and such. Loved it!.

Just like I suspected...he cannot see!!! the Dr said his vision changed 5 points since the last time (15 months ago) and now he needs to use them all the time. He picked his favorite glasses and is very excited about it. They are going to check if DDD (Department of Disabilities) can cover the cost of Carbon lenses. They should be ready in about a week.

The kids enjoyed the movie and went to bed right after.

Finally the weekend is here...



We came back and he played again with the new daycare kid I have. They get along very well. I'm glad. After that he did his regular computer time. Then dinner and shower. On Fridays we have movie night. This time we watched Fly me to the Moon" some cartoon with flies going into space. Very cute!!



At school he did not get any work done....we are still trying to figure that one out. There was a psychologist that came to observe him in class. I will hear about that later I'm sure.

Different

Yesterday he was a little hard in the morning...slower, hard to convince to wake up and get going. When he finally does it then he is good to go, but until then it is kind of a battle.



When I got his report from school it said that he did not do any work. Only one assignment for the day. That is not very good considering he was accomplishing at least 7 assignments a day. Not sure why the change but we are still trying.



In the afternoon I noticed he was very irritable with the other kids. Impatient and short. He was able to do some homework at first but later when I asked him to work on the second part he got very defiant and he did not have really a reason to act that way. He ignored me and walked away. So at that moment I told him I was not going to argue with him and put the paper back in his backpack. If he did not want to finish ok BUT he could not use the computer at all the rest of the night. With that said I got busy with stuff. Within 5 minutes he got his paper out and started working on it.
He did good after that. Had a good time for diner and for bed time.

Forgot

I did it again!! I got distracted and did not post last night. Well....yesterday was a very so so kind of day. I checked on him at school and he wasn't doing any work at all just messing at his desk. I talked to him on the phone and went over some questions about why he was doing that and encouraged him to move on. Based on the daily report he did not do much. The case worker went to his class and reminded him about the reward system and to pick his next prize, this way we could refocus in a positive way.

So far he is still refusing to do all the work...but we are able to negotiate, before that was impossible. Doing better.

In the afternoon we stayed home and he played all afternoon with a new Daycare kid. He was so excited about this kid saying he was his friend. They like the same things..Legos, Star Wars, sword fights..sticks...boy stuff!!. They had a good time and got him distracted from the computer, which was good!.

Good day overall.

Old habits!!

This morning he had a hard time getting up, rolling around and not following direction very well. Finally he got started and did good after that.

School however seem to be a different story at this point. Got very frustrated. Refused to do a reading test because required some writing. He walked away very defiant and went to the office. they could not convince him to go back to class so he stayed there until pick up time (about an hour). Having the kind of aggressiveness he use to have. Still not as bad as before but escalating a little bit as time goes by.
I had a talk with him about it, put some ground rules and was grounded from computer for the day. did his homework well and also did good at OT at home.

Tonight we had a church event at someones house and there were a bunch of boys. He did good considering the busyness of the place.

Now...something very obvious now is how hungry he is. I don't worry about it much at this minute because he is very skinny and has plenty of room to grow..however it could become an issue later. I am already switching his options to more healthy stuff but he does eat a lot more. We'll see if he balances himself out at some point.

I am a little sad that he is doing some of his old behaviors but still very grateful he is more balanced.. He may be getting sick or something like that. We'll see.

School

Seems like school is getting a little bit challenging. Gong back to some old ways. Today there was a note about him ignoring his teacher completely. But let's start from the beginning....

Got up happy but sleepy. Got ready for his basketball practice 7:20am (yuk) and did great. When I picked him up he said has a good day at school (true in the sense of attitude) he is doing less work but not melting and things like that. In the afternoon he insisted in playing at the computer, he is getting very demanding with it. I may set up a schedule, I didn't have to before but looks like we may need it now.

Played with his younger sister a lot but has a hard time keeping his distance, he wants to be wrestling or hugging her all the time. We are working on that one. At the end he was very willing to take a shower and get ready. Played with some construction sets he has and by bed time he was good to go. No incidents with anybody.

Back to the note from school. His teacher mentioned he is ignoring her and not paying attention at all, so I asked him and tried to figured out if he realized he was doing this (my guess yes!!) but I won't jump into conclusions on this one. He did look surprised, and we agreed that he would try to stay connected in class with the lesson. We'll see what happens.

Doing great with the medicine so far.