What a day!

First thing in the morning my second son jumped into bed with me, school books in hand and said, " I am going to get ahead on my homework." So with pride in my heart and sleep in my eyes I sat up and went over his English lessons, phonics and writing. He is very self motivated and just takes to things. I was not only proud because of his self motivation but he brought me the subjects he struggles with the most because of his dyslexia. After that we rushed around to get my husband to work.

We finished up some chores had a few more school lessons, then had lunch. I am in the kitchen all the time. I hate when I can't come up with things everyone likes. Some days you just can't though. The day before I came up with a great chicken oatmeal tender recipe (will post soon) my second son loved, but my oldest hated. Then for lunch that day it reversed. Eventually I will find things that are hits for everyone. Try, try and try again.

After lunch we raced to our doctor appointments. My oldest for his 11 year check and my 5 year olds check up. When we were in the office it was a bit chaotic. My daughter had just woke up from the car ride over and was a bit edgy. As the nurse took us back and checked the kids weight and height my daughter showed her disapproval of the situation. With a a big hug and some comforting she calmed down by the time we were in the room.

The nurse told my two boys to strip down to the undies and put a paper robe on. Of course my oldest didn't wait for the door to shut or her to leave, just started stripping down. She scurried out and said, "guess he is not modest." We were both red in the face and I laughed and said, "guess it comes with being in a big family."

When the doctor came in my second son was doing some rather odd things. Purposefully trying to get my goat. To the point where the doctor started giving looks and I had to count and tell him to start behaving. He was in quite a mood. This was so odd because he had such a good morning and this was a 180 degree turn. I try and have specaial talks with him often. About having brothers with disabilities and such. It is not difficult for me to understand his perspective. My father is so much like my older son. As I walk around the house and watch him, it takes me right back to living at home. Right from his addiction to the written word, stimming , blocking out things around him. It is one thing to be an avid reader, but another to read so rapidly you read from cover to cover regardless of the length of the book, that is my father and my son. Both run on few hours sleep. My son literally carries a book open around with him all day and falls asleep with it in his hands. I use to see my Dad asleep on the couch holding a book the same exact way. I also have a brother who was a handful, who has now been diagnosed with a mental illness. So we relate well when we talk and I can tell he feels better. Back to the doctor visit.

When the doc was checking my oldest son out he said, "changes are a happening, the big P word, PUBERTY". My reaction, Yikes, I am not ready for that. He said it is a train and it is coming down the track, watch out. I said, " well, if I know I am not ready for it my eyes will be open that much wider." We both laughed. Truthfully I knew but hearing it had a whop of a impact. I actually had to acknowledge it! YIKES!

When it came to my third sons check. The doctor noticed the extreme difference in him. He tested him for 5 year old stuff. Scattered on what he knew and didn't . He was stimming most of the time. I would bring him in with our clap to three technique I came up with. He would respond to the doctor and go back to stimming. Actually it was much louder than normal because he was wearing the paper robe that made a ton of noise as he went back and forth and hand flapped. He did really well and the doctor seemed really happy to see how much progress we have made. He knows I homeschool and work with Heartsprings. He has several doctors and specialist and they keep very good track of sending records and coordinating his care. He has neurology, psychology, OT, Speech, allergy and his regular MD. So it was a good check up and all went well. I bit chaotic, noisy but we coasted through. At the end of the check he did something he had never ever done before. I actually had to hold back the tears. At one of the points where he was near the doctor he grabbed the doctors stethoscope and pushed it to his cheek. Slightly off on the positioning but the doctor smiled. He said,
"I WANT TO BE A DOCTOR." I told the doctor he had never said anything like that, ever. He kept repeating it as he would grab the stethoscope. This was the most sponatious age appropriate thing he has ever done. Such a complexity of events. Him showing such progress in some areas and deficits in others, continuous darting back and forth while hand flapping, and then displaying one comment that just blew me away!

I think this describes most of our days, bit of a roller coaster. Always special things to remember and be thankful for.