Don't they look like they are sharing secrets or something? Love it!! :) so cute!
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Some outdoor fun
Got this keeper of a photo of the boys this afternoon when Ashton wanted to go outside to play. I thought it was cute :) Once it falls off the main page here, I'll retire it to the sidebar, because I think it's *that* cute! ;)
Have a great night everyone!
Sleep, it's such a precious thing!
Ashton's been sleeping...... ALL NIGHT LONG!
Yep, whispering and yelling at the SAME TIME! LOL
Wednesday and Thursday nights he slept from 9pmish to 6:30am. I swear he must hear my alarm clock go off, because as soon as I hear it go off, I hear him stirring and waking up.
Friday night (last night), he slept until almost 7am! Woot!!! *happy dances*
Even better ... ? I've been able to cut his Melatonin dose in half (5mg from 10mg) and his Clonidine dose in half (.1mg from .2mg) and he's STILL SLEEPING ALL NIGHT! I guess the Abilify really has been knocking him on his putt throughout the day if it's helping him sleep this well at night.
Wednesday and Thursday nights he slept from 9pmish to 6:30am. I swear he must hear my alarm clock go off, because as soon as I hear it go off, I hear him stirring and waking up.
Friday night (last night), he slept until almost 7am! Woot!!! *happy dances*
Even better ... ? I've been able to cut his Melatonin dose in half (5mg from 10mg) and his Clonidine dose in half (.1mg from .2mg) and he's STILL SLEEPING ALL NIGHT! I guess the Abilify really has been knocking him on his putt throughout the day if it's helping him sleep this well at night.
Now, he did decide to go out on our back porch patio to swing on the swing back there this morning. The bad thing? It was 7:00am. The second bad thing, we have a house alarm and because he opened the door before the alarm had been disarmed, it set it off. The scary thing... WE DIDN'T HEAR THE ALARM GO OFF!
The alarm company tried calling the house but we didn't recognize the number, so therefore didn't answer the house phone. We typically have our cell phones set to mute/vibrate at night, so we didn't hear THOSE ring either. What made me get up to investigate, was the strange number calling and that I had heard Ashton wake up. So I came downstairs and panicked when I didn't see or hear Ashton anywhere. Since we hadn't heard the alarm go off (the alarm company had disabled it) I didn't realize that the alarm was still sending a signal to the company. I yelled upstairs for hubby since I didn't see Ashton anywhere. He had the wherewithal though to look at the panel and see that the back patio door was the one that had been set off, and there Ashton was, sitting on the swing, clapping and flapping his happy little self away.
Tried calling the alarm company to let them know it was a false alarm, but police had already been dispatched. When they got here, I just explained to them that my ten year old autistic son had went outside in the backyard and had set off the alarm. I said he didn't realize that what he had done was unsafe. They took down Ashton's name and age and my name and age. fun.... :P
Since this has become a recent trend, we're taking steps to prevent this from happening again. We've put a wooden rod down in the track for the back patio door so he can't get out that way anymore. Then, hubby is currently at Lowe's getting a keyed deadbolt set for the front door (if he gets out that door and takes off running.... he'd be lost for sure....) and also something for the door from the laundry room to the garage.
SCARY morning but alls well that ends well .... and the all night sleeping IS a very welcomed thing.... Zzzzzzz
Tried calling the alarm company to let them know it was a false alarm, but police had already been dispatched. When they got here, I just explained to them that my ten year old autistic son had went outside in the backyard and had set off the alarm. I said he didn't realize that what he had done was unsafe. They took down Ashton's name and age and my name and age. fun.... :P
Since this has become a recent trend, we're taking steps to prevent this from happening again. We've put a wooden rod down in the track for the back patio door so he can't get out that way anymore. Then, hubby is currently at Lowe's getting a keyed deadbolt set for the front door (if he gets out that door and takes off running.... he'd be lost for sure....) and also something for the door from the laundry room to the garage.
SCARY morning but alls well that ends well .... and the all night sleeping IS a very welcomed thing.... Zzzzzzz
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Finally! Our specialist appt @ CHKD
I had no idea what to expect.
Things with Ashton have been calming down, and he's become a lot more pleasant to be around. There are still some lingering issues; mainly having to do with sleep (too much during the day, and the lack thereof at night) as well as some lingering OCD issues. He's also got some major attention/impulsivity issues, but who knows what is tied to the Autism or what is manifesting itself as ADHD or OCD.
Anyways .... this doctor, is the director of Psychiatry at Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters (CHKD). All I knew is he has a specialty in pediatric psychopharmacology (big, fancy term for dealing with children and medications that are used to treat mental diseases and/or disorders).
I went into this knowing that this isn't a long-term care type place. They help you sort out the issues, treat them, and get your child "evened out" so to speak, so you can go back to your regular doctors and have them manage your care. We get there and they do the whole basic thing of checking Ashton's weight (87.2lbs) and height (4'7") and blood pressure. He was absolutely fine through all of this. It does bare mentioning that we had his portable DVD player (thanks Grandma & Grandad for that Christmas present!) as well as a boatload of snacks. Since Ashton is GFCF, I tend to take a lot of snacks since you never know how long you're going to be gone and what foods will be available.
Then, the doctor comes out and asks to speak to Ashton, by himself, first.
Ok, I admit it... at this point I'm wondering .... what exactly does this doctor hope to gain from talking to my autistic child, by himself? Not to mention, what was Ashton going to do without me in there? .....
Oh mommy of little faith..... he did just fine. Turns out, it's pretty routine. He wanted to get an unbiased feel for Ashton's personality. He only had him back there for a few minutes. The doctor then came and brought Ashton back to the waiting room (my wonderful mother-in-law went with me) and it was my turn.
We then spent about forty-five minutes going over Ashton's medical history, developmental history, our current problems and issues, etc. He actually listened! Now, I don't mean to say that other doctors haven't listened (you hear me Dr. Madren..... you too, LISTEN! ;)) but then after listening, he actually explained medical things in easy to understand ways. We talked about different medications, side effects, what medications work for what conditions, etc. It was just a different knowledge-set that he can better explain since pediatric psychopharmacology IS his specialty.
He then had me go back to the waiting room while he looked over all of his notes, my notes that I had taken in, and came up with what will be our initial game-plan. We then talked another thirty to forty-five minutes talking about family history, what our issues with medications have been, what we need to prioritize as our most important concern, and came up with a game-plan.
We've decided to move Ashton's morning dose of Abilify to the evenings. It seems logical that the Abilify might be what's causing the morning sleepiness and extended day-time naps at school. Since he's also not sleeping through the night on a consistent basis, (but seems to nap on a consistent basis) the hope is that the Abilify will help him sleep at night. Well, for the last two days, he hasn't fallen asleep during the day. He's a tad more irritable, but then again, his schedule was messed up yesterday with no school and then a pretty lengthy doctor's visit. But, the best news is..... HE SLEPT ALL NIGHT from 9pm-6:30am! Yes, I typed that in really little letters... I just hope this sticks and works! I am to call him back next week with an update, and we'll go back for a follow-up appointment in April.
The hope is, if the Abilify works to help him sleep at night, that we can decrease (or eliminate) some of the other medications he takes to help him sleep. Now granted, keeping him on Abilify for sleeping issues, long-term is not ideal. Abilify can have some pretty serious side-effects (weight-gain, increase in cholestoral and sugar levels, etc) We're considering doing a sleep-study to get a better idea of Ashton's sleep patterns and see if we can possibly figure out why he wakes at night. We'll discuss those at our April appointment. We need to figure out if the stress that the sleep study might cause Ashton will be worth the knowledge we might gain from it.
We have a check-up with Dr. Madren in a couple of weeks, so that'll give us a good couple of weeks to completely sort things out and hopefully get Ashton on a better sleep schedule and routine. Hopefully we have better news for Dr. Madren at this upcoming appointment rather than the news we had at our last appointment in January (when we were in the thick of things with the aggression, mood issues, defiance, etc).
Thanks for reading.... time to go watch "Burn Notice"! :)
Things with Ashton have been calming down, and he's become a lot more pleasant to be around. There are still some lingering issues; mainly having to do with sleep (too much during the day, and the lack thereof at night) as well as some lingering OCD issues. He's also got some major attention/impulsivity issues, but who knows what is tied to the Autism or what is manifesting itself as ADHD or OCD.
Anyways .... this doctor, is the director of Psychiatry at Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters (CHKD). All I knew is he has a specialty in pediatric psychopharmacology (big, fancy term for dealing with children and medications that are used to treat mental diseases and/or disorders).
I went into this knowing that this isn't a long-term care type place. They help you sort out the issues, treat them, and get your child "evened out" so to speak, so you can go back to your regular doctors and have them manage your care. We get there and they do the whole basic thing of checking Ashton's weight (87.2lbs) and height (4'7") and blood pressure. He was absolutely fine through all of this. It does bare mentioning that we had his portable DVD player (thanks Grandma & Grandad for that Christmas present!) as well as a boatload of snacks. Since Ashton is GFCF, I tend to take a lot of snacks since you never know how long you're going to be gone and what foods will be available.
Then, the doctor comes out and asks to speak to Ashton, by himself, first.
Ok, I admit it... at this point I'm wondering .... what exactly does this doctor hope to gain from talking to my autistic child, by himself? Not to mention, what was Ashton going to do without me in there? .....
Oh mommy of little faith..... he did just fine. Turns out, it's pretty routine. He wanted to get an unbiased feel for Ashton's personality. He only had him back there for a few minutes. The doctor then came and brought Ashton back to the waiting room (my wonderful mother-in-law went with me) and it was my turn.
We then spent about forty-five minutes going over Ashton's medical history, developmental history, our current problems and issues, etc. He actually listened! Now, I don't mean to say that other doctors haven't listened (you hear me Dr. Madren..... you too, LISTEN! ;)) but then after listening, he actually explained medical things in easy to understand ways. We talked about different medications, side effects, what medications work for what conditions, etc. It was just a different knowledge-set that he can better explain since pediatric psychopharmacology IS his specialty.
He then had me go back to the waiting room while he looked over all of his notes, my notes that I had taken in, and came up with what will be our initial game-plan. We then talked another thirty to forty-five minutes talking about family history, what our issues with medications have been, what we need to prioritize as our most important concern, and came up with a game-plan.
We've decided to move Ashton's morning dose of Abilify to the evenings. It seems logical that the Abilify might be what's causing the morning sleepiness and extended day-time naps at school. Since he's also not sleeping through the night on a consistent basis, (but seems to nap on a consistent basis) the hope is that the Abilify will help him sleep at night. Well, for the last two days, he hasn't fallen asleep during the day. He's a tad more irritable, but then again, his schedule was messed up yesterday with no school and then a pretty lengthy doctor's visit. But, the best news is..... HE SLEPT ALL NIGHT from 9pm-6:30am! Yes, I typed that in really little letters... I just hope this sticks and works! I am to call him back next week with an update, and we'll go back for a follow-up appointment in April.
The hope is, if the Abilify works to help him sleep at night, that we can decrease (or eliminate) some of the other medications he takes to help him sleep. Now granted, keeping him on Abilify for sleeping issues, long-term is not ideal. Abilify can have some pretty serious side-effects (weight-gain, increase in cholestoral and sugar levels, etc) We're considering doing a sleep-study to get a better idea of Ashton's sleep patterns and see if we can possibly figure out why he wakes at night. We'll discuss those at our April appointment. We need to figure out if the stress that the sleep study might cause Ashton will be worth the knowledge we might gain from it.
We have a check-up with Dr. Madren in a couple of weeks, so that'll give us a good couple of weeks to completely sort things out and hopefully get Ashton on a better sleep schedule and routine. Hopefully we have better news for Dr. Madren at this upcoming appointment rather than the news we had at our last appointment in January (when we were in the thick of things with the aggression, mood issues, defiance, etc).
Thanks for reading.... time to go watch "Burn Notice"! :)
Monday, February 22, 2010
KID - isms.... Out of the mouths of babes
You know, those funny things your kids say that you just HAVE to write down for posterity. Well, I was sitting here listening to Ashton ramble on about some movie, and a couple of kid-isms came to mind that my boys have said. I'll quote them here as I remember them .... some are just a line or quote, some are actual stories..... Enjoy!
Now some of these are especially funny when you keep in mind that Ashton is autistic and also that some of these things were said a few years ago when the boys were younger.
Ashton (age 10) - "Hey Ladies! What's crackin'?" - don't ask .... I do NOT know where he picked this up! LOL
Holden (age 5) - "Mom, what was life like before cars?" - I couldn't help myself, I BUST OUT laughing at that one! At the time, I was thirty years old, so therefore, am not aware of what life was like before cars. HAHA :P stinker! We told him that even his great-grandparents (Granny and Papa) don't know what life was like before cars.
Ashton (age 10) - "I'm getting married today!" - this is a line from a movie, not quite sure which one but he was walking around and saying this at Thanksgiving - TOO funny!
Holden (age 3?) - "I'm going to take you out like batteries!" - said one night while horsing-around with his Daddy. He said it with the fiercest little look on his face. To this day (nearly five years later) we're not sure where he picked up that saying from. We've googled it and searched for it on IMDb as I thought for sure it'd be a quote from a movie, but alas.... nothing.
Ashton (age 6?) - "But it's not on my schedule!" - Keeping in mind that children on the spectrum are pretty schedule-dependent and need consistency, Ashton said this one evening while out at his grandparents house. We were attempting to get him to use the bathroom as well as get ready to leave and this lovely gem of a quote is what he came up with. He was SO RIGHT, it was indeed, not on his schedule! LOL
Holden (age 5?) - "I'm going to build a tunnel from my house to your house Grandma and everytime my mommy yells at me, I'm going to come over." Then when he was asked what would he do if mommy came through the tunnel after him, he quipped "Well, I'll just make it small enough so she can't fit through!" HAHA! He's such a little charmer. This was prior to his ADHD diagnosis and we'd been going through a rough patch with discipline and behavior. Thought this was pretty funny :)
----- More to come as I remember them -----
*edited 2/24/10*
Told ya I'd be back when I thought of some more!
Ashton: Some acquaintances have "interesting" names! ;)
Corbin was "Baby Cornball"
Ella was "Baby Elephant"
Camille (former teacher's aide) was "Ms Chameleon"
Holden is "Baby Swinub" (a pokemon character) - NO IDEA why he calls his brother that! LOL
Dr. Madren is "Dr Magic" .... Dr. Madren has gotten quite a kick out of this comment :)
Dr. Dozier is "Dr. Bulldozer" ... hahaha, sorry! I think it's funny! ;)
Ashton: Fictional Characters
Abominable Hulk "Obama Hulk" - HAHA!!! ;)
he came up with a list of names for family members once:
Daddy was a "Vampire"
Mommy was a "Mummy"
Ashton was a "Skeleton"
Holden was a "Ghost"
Grandma was a "Witch" (later corrected by Grandma as a "nice witch" LOL!)
Grandad was a "Werewolf"
Papa was a "Zombie:
Granny was "Herky Jerky"
Uncle Kevin was a "Prince"
*edited 2/25/10*
Ashton said this wonderful gem last night
"My, this is a tasty, tasty meal" .... huh?! LOL! I promise you, this was not anything special..... all he was eating was some ham and some pretzels. Apparently, according to him, it was quite tasty! LOL
Again..... more to come later :)
Now some of these are especially funny when you keep in mind that Ashton is autistic and also that some of these things were said a few years ago when the boys were younger.
Ashton (age 10) - "Hey Ladies! What's crackin'?" - don't ask .... I do NOT know where he picked this up! LOL
Holden (age 5) - "Mom, what was life like before cars?" - I couldn't help myself, I BUST OUT laughing at that one! At the time, I was thirty years old, so therefore, am not aware of what life was like before cars. HAHA :P stinker! We told him that even his great-grandparents (Granny and Papa) don't know what life was like before cars.
Ashton (age 10) - "I'm getting married today!" - this is a line from a movie, not quite sure which one but he was walking around and saying this at Thanksgiving - TOO funny!
Holden (age 3?) - "I'm going to take you out like batteries!" - said one night while horsing-around with his Daddy. He said it with the fiercest little look on his face. To this day (nearly five years later) we're not sure where he picked up that saying from. We've googled it and searched for it on IMDb as I thought for sure it'd be a quote from a movie, but alas.... nothing.
Ashton (age 6?) - "But it's not on my schedule!" - Keeping in mind that children on the spectrum are pretty schedule-dependent and need consistency, Ashton said this one evening while out at his grandparents house. We were attempting to get him to use the bathroom as well as get ready to leave and this lovely gem of a quote is what he came up with. He was SO RIGHT, it was indeed, not on his schedule! LOL
Holden (age 5?) - "I'm going to build a tunnel from my house to your house Grandma and everytime my mommy yells at me, I'm going to come over." Then when he was asked what would he do if mommy came through the tunnel after him, he quipped "Well, I'll just make it small enough so she can't fit through!" HAHA! He's such a little charmer. This was prior to his ADHD diagnosis and we'd been going through a rough patch with discipline and behavior. Thought this was pretty funny :)
----- More to come as I remember them -----
*edited 2/24/10*
Told ya I'd be back when I thought of some more!
Ashton: Some acquaintances have "interesting" names! ;)
Corbin was "Baby Cornball"
Ella was "Baby Elephant"
Camille (former teacher's aide) was "Ms Chameleon"
Holden is "Baby Swinub" (a pokemon character) - NO IDEA why he calls his brother that! LOL
Dr. Madren is "Dr Magic" .... Dr. Madren has gotten quite a kick out of this comment :)
Dr. Dozier is "Dr. Bulldozer" ... hahaha, sorry! I think it's funny! ;)
Ashton: Fictional Characters
Abominable Hulk "Obama Hulk" - HAHA!!! ;)
he came up with a list of names for family members once:
Daddy was a "Vampire"
Mommy was a "Mummy"
Ashton was a "Skeleton"
Holden was a "Ghost"
Grandma was a "Witch" (later corrected by Grandma as a "nice witch" LOL!)
Grandad was a "Werewolf"
Papa was a "Zombie:
Granny was "Herky Jerky"
Uncle Kevin was a "Prince"
*edited 2/25/10*
Ashton said this wonderful gem last night
"My, this is a tasty, tasty meal" .... huh?! LOL! I promise you, this was not anything special..... all he was eating was some ham and some pretzels. Apparently, according to him, it was quite tasty! LOL
Again..... more to come later :)
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Amy's Kitchen's *new* non-dairy rice macaroni & Cheese
Yes, we have found the holy grail of pre-packaged, frozen gluten & dairy free macaroni and cheese. It is the one pictured above. Amy's Kitchen rice macaroni with non-dairy cheese. The "cheese" is actually from a company, called Daiya Foods, They have the single-most, best-tasting non-dairy cheese that we've ever tried! We haven't actually tried the cheese itself yet, but mainly because I haven't bitten the bullet and ordered any. As of yet, it's (Daiya) not available locally in any stores, although I keep hoping and am keeping my fingers crossed. If this product is any indication, I can tell that we will LOVE the plain Daiya cheese. It comes in two flavors.... cheddar and mozzarella. I'm excited to get the mozzarella as I'm sure it will be quite delicious on pizzas or even shredded up on some spaghetti for Ashton!
So, which one do you think is the Amy's Kitchen and which one is the Kraft? Other than the noodles of one of them being a bit fatter, they basically look the same, don't ya think? They both looked, smelled and somewhat tasted the same. I have NEVER EVER found a GFCF macaroni and cheese that looked, smelled and tasted so close to the real thing. No wonder Ashton loves this stuff!
If you're wondering.....
the bowl on the left is the Kraft mac and cheese and the
one on the right is the Amy's Kitchen mac and cheese.
As you can see from the picture, Ashton was thoroughly enjoying his dinner. A bit perturbed that mommy was interrupting him to take pictures (how dare I!) and yes, that is a can of Pepsi throwback he's drinking. (hey, at least there's not HFCS - high fructose corn syrup - in it!)
So there you have it ....... delicious macaroni and cheese ... AND it's safe for him to eat!! Now I'm on a mission to get a more local store to carry it. Right now, I've only found it at Navan Foods, which is a local (Virginia Beach) allergy-friendly food store. He's already eaten the four boxes of this that I've bought, so I need to get back out there and get some more. I do believe it's his new, favorite food.
Thanks for looking!
Friday, February 19, 2010
What I thought was an ear infection was really STREP!
nice........ not! :(
Ashton has been complaining of an earache/headache off and on for the better part of the last two weeks. I figured that today would be a good day to get him into the pediatrician to make sure he didn't have anything serious brewing before he has his pediatric psychiatrist appointment next week at CHKD. I'm telling you, nothing has really seemed that off from the normal .... just the fact that he's been complaining of the earache/headache. His appetite has remained the same, he's sleeping just as well (or as bad..... depending on how you look at it) as normal and he hasn't complained of anything else hurting.
Well, his ears looked FINE! The nurse then proceeds to look in his throat and asks me if he's complained of a sore throat. "Nope!" I said, wondering why she's asking. She said his throat was really RED! Ack! But we figured well, he HAS had a runny nose, so maybe it's just drainage. She asked me if he's been around anybody with strep. Again, my answer was "No, not that I'm aware of." I did then point out the fact that there are some parents of children in Ashton's class who do send their sick children to school, when they really should probably be at home. I realize, some parents might not really have a choice, but I digress. We decide to go ahead and run the rapid strep test just to be on the safe side and imagine my surprise when it came up positive! *bangs head* I HAD NO IDEA! If I had realized that THIS was what was brewing over the last week or so, I would have taken him in much sooner. Now he's exposed all of his classmates, teachers, therapists (private and school) to strep, since I'm not sure how long he's actually had it. He has not complained ONE SINGLE TIME of his throat being sore and he's been eating and drinking normally and has not ran a fever at all through out all of this.
So, she writes us a prescription for the Z-pak. We decide to go for the tablets since he takes pills okay (he chews them, which I know is typically a no no, but he does pretty well with it....). BIG! MISTAKE! He takes the first pill (the first days dosage is two pills) ok..... gags and almost throws up but manages to keep it down. But when I gave him that second pill... nope... it came right back up along with whatever else he'd just eaten/taken. L.O.V.E.L.Y. This now means he's thrown up the first days dosage of a five day course of medication. I call the pediatrician back and they call in a prescription for the liquid form and he took that one like a champ .... well, okay... that's pushing it but he did take it without upchucking it. Thank goodness!
So, tomorrow afternoon I'll be washing his sheets/blankets in hot water and tossing his old toothbrush and replacing it with the new one so he doesn't reinfect himself. I'm contemplating washing all of the blankets downstairs on the couches too just because well, he's always wrapped up in them too.
Good news is ...... despite having been on Paxil AND Abilify at the same time (both of which can increase weight) he hasn't really gained any weight at all! He weighed eighty-nine pounds today and that was with his shoes and coat on. At his appointment at the beginning of January, he weighed eighty-seven pounds with no shoes/coat on. So he's maintaining pretty well, YAY!
Well, waiting for Holden to get home from a friend's house .... (well, as I typed that, the doorbell rang... he's home LOL!) and it's almost time to get the boys ready for bed!
I love bedtime..... both the boys' and my own.... *laughs*
Enjoy your evening!
Ashton has been complaining of an earache/headache off and on for the better part of the last two weeks. I figured that today would be a good day to get him into the pediatrician to make sure he didn't have anything serious brewing before he has his pediatric psychiatrist appointment next week at CHKD. I'm telling you, nothing has really seemed that off from the normal .... just the fact that he's been complaining of the earache/headache. His appetite has remained the same, he's sleeping just as well (or as bad..... depending on how you look at it) as normal and he hasn't complained of anything else hurting.
Well, his ears looked FINE! The nurse then proceeds to look in his throat and asks me if he's complained of a sore throat. "Nope!" I said, wondering why she's asking. She said his throat was really RED! Ack! But we figured well, he HAS had a runny nose, so maybe it's just drainage. She asked me if he's been around anybody with strep. Again, my answer was "No, not that I'm aware of." I did then point out the fact that there are some parents of children in Ashton's class who do send their sick children to school, when they really should probably be at home. I realize, some parents might not really have a choice, but I digress. We decide to go ahead and run the rapid strep test just to be on the safe side and imagine my surprise when it came up positive! *bangs head* I HAD NO IDEA! If I had realized that THIS was what was brewing over the last week or so, I would have taken him in much sooner. Now he's exposed all of his classmates, teachers, therapists (private and school) to strep, since I'm not sure how long he's actually had it. He has not complained ONE SINGLE TIME of his throat being sore and he's been eating and drinking normally and has not ran a fever at all through out all of this.
So, she writes us a prescription for the Z-pak. We decide to go for the tablets since he takes pills okay (he chews them, which I know is typically a no no, but he does pretty well with it....). BIG! MISTAKE! He takes the first pill (the first days dosage is two pills) ok..... gags and almost throws up but manages to keep it down. But when I gave him that second pill... nope... it came right back up along with whatever else he'd just eaten/taken. L.O.V.E.L.Y. This now means he's thrown up the first days dosage of a five day course of medication. I call the pediatrician back and they call in a prescription for the liquid form and he took that one like a champ .... well, okay... that's pushing it but he did take it without upchucking it. Thank goodness!
So, tomorrow afternoon I'll be washing his sheets/blankets in hot water and tossing his old toothbrush and replacing it with the new one so he doesn't reinfect himself. I'm contemplating washing all of the blankets downstairs on the couches too just because well, he's always wrapped up in them too.
Good news is ...... despite having been on Paxil AND Abilify at the same time (both of which can increase weight) he hasn't really gained any weight at all! He weighed eighty-nine pounds today and that was with his shoes and coat on. At his appointment at the beginning of January, he weighed eighty-seven pounds with no shoes/coat on. So he's maintaining pretty well, YAY!
Well, waiting for Holden to get home from a friend's house .... (well, as I typed that, the doorbell rang... he's home LOL!) and it's almost time to get the boys ready for bed!
I love bedtime..... both the boys' and my own.... *laughs*
Enjoy your evening!
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
He may be small, but he IS mighty........
Holden is still quite the little guy. He's almost eight years old and is lucky if he's forty-six pounds. That's in the 5th percentile for his age, for those that keep track of those things! But this kid is super tough! As most know, Holden started wrestling in March of 2009, so almost a year ago. He's done very well in that time and has amassed quite a collection of medals! He's gotten four, 2nd place medals (silver), and one, 3rd place medal (bronze). He also got the coach's "Most Improved Wrestler" medal last spring as well as the gold medal and ribbon the coach gave out to all the kids who wrestled during the season.
While he didn't place in his most recent tournament (January 16th), he did very well. We didn't really like the way they had the brackets set up, but it seems that Holden overcame his anxiety he seems to get when there's a tournament. He even PINNED the first kid he had to wrestle. YAY Holden!!! :) He lost his next two matches, but he kept himself together pretty well and enjoyed spending his time with his teammates and cheering them on.
Among other news... Holden FINALLY has a REAL big boy bed! He's been begging for one for quite a long time now, and we jumped at the chance when hubby's aunt and uncle offered us up their son's bed frame and boxspring. We figured if nothing else, it gives Holden a place to sleep and he can get out of the toddler bed (which was really, a crib with the front taken off). He absolutely LOVES his new bed and loves the new sheets I picked out for him.
Toodles everyone!
While he didn't place in his most recent tournament (January 16th), he did very well. We didn't really like the way they had the brackets set up, but it seems that Holden overcame his anxiety he seems to get when there's a tournament. He even PINNED the first kid he had to wrestle. YAY Holden!!! :) He lost his next two matches, but he kept himself together pretty well and enjoyed spending his time with his teammates and cheering them on.
Among other news... Holden FINALLY has a REAL big boy bed! He's been begging for one for quite a long time now, and we jumped at the chance when hubby's aunt and uncle offered us up their son's bed frame and boxspring. We figured if nothing else, it gives Holden a place to sleep and he can get out of the toddler bed (which was really, a crib with the front taken off). He absolutely LOVES his new bed and loves the new sheets I picked out for him.
In other, more educational/school news.... Holden's report card, was ALSO fantastic! All Ss (Satisfactory) except two Ps (making progress) and ONE O (outstanding!). Now the funny thing about the subject/area he got the O in.... it was in...... currency and money value! Anyone who knows Holden, KNOWS he knows his money facts and can count money like nobody's business. You can give him two numbers and he can't add them, but if you add a dollar sign to the front of the number, you can bet he can add it then! LOL He's such a smart boy, and we're very proud. He was happy to have earned $35 for his report card. We also did some educational/psychological testing to see if he had any other issues other than the ADHD diagnosis we got from the pediatrician back in December of 2008. The psychologist did confirm the ADHD diagnosis and tacked on a diagnosis of Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Now, the anxiety is not something that needs to be treated with medication (at least, not yet....) but it is something that we need to be aware of when we're being overly critical of him, his behavior, etc. The testing also showed an above average IQ (we already KNEW he was smart). His reading scores were quite high, while most of his other scores were above grade level, but not substantially so. His writing scores however, are right at his grade level (2nd grade), which is not altogether bad, but it does show a discrepency considering his IQ and other scores. It's something we're working on and hoping it improves with time.
Well, it's time to figure out what is for dinner ...... I'm thinking leftover chili, but we'll see what the hubby says. If not, maybe some hamburger helper or something.
Toodles everyone!
Three steps forward, two steps back..... ??
Well, that's what it felt like at the time ..... let me explain....
Ashton's behavior started spiraling out of control in November and culminated with us having to put him back on an anti-psychotic medication to somewhat control his mood swings, odd behaviors and aggressiveness. Unfortunately, what caused the initial downward spiral was ANOTHER medication that we had started in November to help with some OCD tendencies.
There were some massive all-out tantrums (from a kid who is nearly as big as I am, that's not so fun) in some very public places. He was also basically attacking me at every turn for the smallest things. Aside from the chunks of hair he pulled out of my head, and the bruises he and I both incurred from his "fighting with mommy", things seem to be evening out, behaviorally for him.
What culminated all of this into us weaning him from the problematic medication that I thought was causing the initial issue, was Ashton decided it was a great idea to try and jump out of the car while I was driving down the road. He had been trying to escape the house at that point and one day, I was going to my husband's grandparents house to finish up some laundry and Ashton climbed into the front seat (while I was driving) and then on a side street in a neighborhood, climbed over top of me and tried to climb out the window. At this point, I stopped the car and scrambled to figure out what I should do. In any case, the situation got resolved, we made it back home safely and all was well. This lead me to calling our DAN doctor and he made an "emergency" appointment for us with a psychiatrist at our local children's hospital. That appointment isn't for another week, and it was made back at the beginning of January!
Desperate to help Ashton, we started weaning him off of it and I found out about three weeks into the weaning process that Ashton had been hiding the pills under our napkin holder. Since then (it's been about one and a half weeks now) his behavior has gotten a LOT better and his mood is much improved. I'm glad he seems to be getting back to his normal, happy self.
He's happier, he's more social, he's completely his school work in a much better fashion and as evidenced by all of this, his report card was AWESOME! He had all Ss (satisfactory) in behavior areas and his academic grades stayed at Cs (pretty normal for an ASD kiddo with an IEP and modified curriculum) except one, which he *raised* to a B! Even better ......... he is FINALLY, after being in the educational system since he was two and a half years old, reading **ON GRADE LEVEL**! YAY!!
Anyways, here's a recent pic of the booger. He has a really big adversion to brightness (outside mostly) so he's squinting. Still a cute picture though ...... :)
Ashton's behavior started spiraling out of control in November and culminated with us having to put him back on an anti-psychotic medication to somewhat control his mood swings, odd behaviors and aggressiveness. Unfortunately, what caused the initial downward spiral was ANOTHER medication that we had started in November to help with some OCD tendencies.
There were some massive all-out tantrums (from a kid who is nearly as big as I am, that's not so fun) in some very public places. He was also basically attacking me at every turn for the smallest things. Aside from the chunks of hair he pulled out of my head, and the bruises he and I both incurred from his "fighting with mommy", things seem to be evening out, behaviorally for him.
What culminated all of this into us weaning him from the problematic medication that I thought was causing the initial issue, was Ashton decided it was a great idea to try and jump out of the car while I was driving down the road. He had been trying to escape the house at that point and one day, I was going to my husband's grandparents house to finish up some laundry and Ashton climbed into the front seat (while I was driving) and then on a side street in a neighborhood, climbed over top of me and tried to climb out the window. At this point, I stopped the car and scrambled to figure out what I should do. In any case, the situation got resolved, we made it back home safely and all was well. This lead me to calling our DAN doctor and he made an "emergency" appointment for us with a psychiatrist at our local children's hospital. That appointment isn't for another week, and it was made back at the beginning of January!
Desperate to help Ashton, we started weaning him off of it and I found out about three weeks into the weaning process that Ashton had been hiding the pills under our napkin holder. Since then (it's been about one and a half weeks now) his behavior has gotten a LOT better and his mood is much improved. I'm glad he seems to be getting back to his normal, happy self.
He's happier, he's more social, he's completely his school work in a much better fashion and as evidenced by all of this, his report card was AWESOME! He had all Ss (satisfactory) in behavior areas and his academic grades stayed at Cs (pretty normal for an ASD kiddo with an IEP and modified curriculum) except one, which he *raised* to a B! Even better ......... he is FINALLY, after being in the educational system since he was two and a half years old, reading **ON GRADE LEVEL**! YAY!!
Anyways, here's a recent pic of the booger. He has a really big adversion to brightness (outside mostly) so he's squinting. Still a cute picture though ...... :)
The only other "bad" thing that has been happening is his sleeping is really out of whack and he's got some really erratic sleep patterns. He'll sleep completely through the night from 8pmish to around 6amish for a few nights in a row. Then, he'll mix it up with waking up at 2, 3, or 4am and staying awake the rest of the night, yikes! *sighs* The biggest worry with this a few weeks ago was that he was trying to escape from the house in the middle of the night, but now it's more of the fact that he just doesn't want to go back to sleep.
The GOOD thing that's happening is .... he's realizing that if he ASKS to go outside and tells me why he wants to go outside, that I'm more likely to let him go. Last night, he asked to go outside to "play in the backyard" and I told him to get his shoes, coat, hat & gloves on (it is.. afterall maxing out in the 30s this week). He did and he and his brother played outside for forty-five minutes, came inside to eat dinner and then they went back outside for another thirty minutes until it was too dark outside to play anymore. I wanted to take pictures but I felt like I would spoil their moment and fun so I'll try to get pictures the next time.
Well, I guess I should do another post on Holden (who is doing really well) so that he gets his own glory :) Keep Ashton in your thoughts as we hope that we're past the regressive phase that he was in and that things can continue to improve and his behavior gets more under control.
Enjoy the day!
Enjoy the day!
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