The Boy...In All His Glory

Life is still insanely busy during the weeks but I wanted to do a quick update on what's been going on. I will do one kid at a time and since I am sitting here next to The Boy, let's start with him. I just picked him up from school and he is now eating his lunch because he is in a new phase where he is refusing to eat lunch at school. We have always had food issues, but we used to have like 5 things that he was guaranteed to eat. And for all of last year he ate the exact same thing in his lunchbox every single day: A jelly sandwich, "circle crackers" (Ritz), grapes and a water. Every day. Now he has decided he doesn't like sandwiches. He seems to think that like 10 grapes and 5 circle crackers is sufficient for lunch. I don't agree.

All this to tell you all that we are still dealing with his weight issues. He continues to go see his gastro for a weight check every three months. He continues to be on the appetite stimulating medication. And he continues to not eat. It's fantastic.

He did however just "graduate" from his neurologist. We went and saw him last Friday and even though his head is still on the small side (2nd percentile I think), it has been consistent. He is no longer showing any signs of being behind the other kids or any developmental delays. He is smart as a whip (don't ALL parents say that?) and is doing great in school so we aren't concerned about his brain. The brain looks good. So we don't have to go back to him anymore. (For those that don't remember we were sent there for his head being too small and that coupled with his gross motor issues and speech delays sent us in the hospital for a brain MRI...all which came out fine, but he has been monitored every 6 months since then).

His ear healed nicely. We got the stitches out last Friday and you can still see it, but I am hoping we won't need to do plastic surgery. His doctor said that even if we do need to have surgery it wouldn't happen for a few years. Right now the best thing we can do for it is to put major sunscreen on it everyday. So that's what we're doing.

So The Boy played soccer for the past 8 weeks. It was humorous at best. The Ex bought him a pimped out soccer outfit including cool Adidas shoes and he looked adorable. And for the first few weeks he really liked it. He looked forward to it and would tell me afterward that he had a great time. He was pretty slow; I think he obsessed on keeping the ball exactly where he wanted it so he didn't really RUN and kick. He more sort of walked and kicked. But he also would lay down on the field "for a little rest" and check out the bugs in the grass and the flowers on the side... So he isn't going to be the next David Beckham. When I asked him a couple of weeks ago if he wanted to do soccer again he said, "I really like the water breaks, but I'm not so sure about the kicking part." Nice. Needless to say we aren't signing up for another 8 weeks right now. I haven't written it off, but we will talk about it again next spring.

He IS doing karate at his school and he seems to really like that. My whole deal with extracurricular sports is that 1) if he signs up for something he has to see it through. Like for soccer, even if he had hated it, he would have had to complete the 8 weeks. And 2) he has to be doing SOMETHING physical. I don't care what it is...but there has to be some physical activity going on. The kid would be thrilled to death to sit in his room all day long and play with his bugs and snakes, but he needs to work on the large motor skills. Get that boy out and running and get his heart pumping. Plus, there is a part of me that secretly hopes it will make him hungry. Hasn't happened yet, but hey...a girl can hope!

He is back in speech therapy for a little "tune up." You can totally understand him and if he were being testing I'm sure he would come out "age appropriate." But he still struggles with pronunciation. He can't really do "L's" or "TH's" and has a bit of a lisp with his "S's." So we are going back. When I listen to the other kids in his class they all speak more clearly than he does. And since he is starting kindergarten in a year, I want to work on this now. We met with his therapist a couple of weeks ago and she agreed that he needed a little work. So I am shelling out the cash, yet again, most likely with a little help from my mom, and getting him the help he needs. We are going every Monday morning at 8:00am. Do you have any idea how hard it is to have two kids up and dressed and out of the house by 7:40am? Yeah. Good times.

He started Pre-K at his school yesterday and he loves it. It is the same school he has been going to for a while now so he is totally comfortable and loves it. His teacher told me at the "back to school" thing that he loves his science and that he is always the kid that makes the new kids feel welcome. I thought that was pretty sweet. And today when I picked him up his teacher told me, "I have to tell you...[The Boy] has totally become the popular kid. ALL the kids want to play with him during the play time. Especially all the boys." I said, "My kid?!?!" Because dear God we all know that I love that little boy more than life itself, but seriously? The popular kid? My kid with the pasty white skin and the red hair and freckles? But thank God. That is a good thing to hear.

Okay enough babbling on about the little dude. It is time to go and get him and throw him in the bath tub. His sister will be home any minute and we need to get both of them washed. He is currently playing with his Mr. Pot.ato He.ad that he got for finally filling up his sticker chart. And when I told him it was time to get in the bath he told me, "Silly Mommy. Potatoes don't take a bath!"