We love pears in this family. So while the pear season is here, we are having pear muffins or pancakes in the morning, pear slices during lunch and dinner, and an occasionaly pear crumble. In addition I have frozen away alot of pear slices to make pear/applesauce in the winter. All of this has led to LOTS of pear cores around the house. I hated to see them go to waste, so I tried dumping them in a crockpot, half full of water. Then we let it cook all day, after which we collected the juice. It has been a huge hit. It is not as sweet as the juice from the grocery store, but since we rarely buy juice at all the kids think this home made stuff is a big treat.
Anyway, just wanted to pass on this tibit.
'Chelle
Friday, September 2, 2011
Thursday, August 25, 2011
The beginning of school
We have been on a new set of exercises for about a month now, and are two weeks into a new school year. Good news first: Usually when we start a new set of exercises there is a major fuss/tantrum at some point, probably because her brain is rewiring a part that was formed at an earlier age (see previous posts to explain this). However this time we only had part of one day that was a little fussy; really nothing worse than what you would expect from a tired child. I am hoping that means that we have fixed most of the early age problems and are now working on some of the older age problems.
More good news: H's teacher says she is sitting in her desk, not popping up; and though she occassionally makes noise, it is not often. Apparently she is quite popular amoung the kids. (I am so thankful for this new school; the teacher is great and really working with us and they placed her in a class with other calm children which helps alot)
Bad news: H is not copying things from the whiteboard very well, including homework assignments. And she is very slow in doing her schoolwork, which results in more of it coming home. And getting homework done is still close to hell. We will often be working on it until after 6pm. It is not that she has alot of work; her younger brother could probably do an equivalent amount of work in 45 min, as compared to her 2-3 hrs. She still spends alot of time daydreaming. Only one thing has seemed to help so far. When she has math problems, we break the problems into 5 or 10 problem groups. We then "race" to see if she can get the problems in a group done before I finish a chore such as dishes or folding laundry, etc. It is amazing how this strategy will transform a 1 hr math set into a 10 min math set for her. It shows she can do it, if only she could concentrate better. I wish I could wave a wand and put that concentration in her.
Be praying for me:it is sometimes hard to have patience and to remember that H is really quite bright.
More good news: H's teacher says she is sitting in her desk, not popping up; and though she occassionally makes noise, it is not often. Apparently she is quite popular amoung the kids. (I am so thankful for this new school; the teacher is great and really working with us and they placed her in a class with other calm children which helps alot)
Bad news: H is not copying things from the whiteboard very well, including homework assignments. And she is very slow in doing her schoolwork, which results in more of it coming home. And getting homework done is still close to hell. We will often be working on it until after 6pm. It is not that she has alot of work; her younger brother could probably do an equivalent amount of work in 45 min, as compared to her 2-3 hrs. She still spends alot of time daydreaming. Only one thing has seemed to help so far. When she has math problems, we break the problems into 5 or 10 problem groups. We then "race" to see if she can get the problems in a group done before I finish a chore such as dishes or folding laundry, etc. It is amazing how this strategy will transform a 1 hr math set into a 10 min math set for her. It shows she can do it, if only she could concentrate better. I wish I could wave a wand and put that concentration in her.
Be praying for me:it is sometimes hard to have patience and to remember that H is really quite bright.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Another progress report
The summer is almost over. It has been a good one for H. Her behaviour has been consistantly calm and much more mature attitudes/choices than I have ever seen in her before. Throughout the summer we have tried to do the majority of the exercises every day. I think there were only a few days that we did every one, and a few days that we didn't do any at all. Overall I think we did pretty good. And we didn't stress about how much we got done from day to day.
We had another therapy evaluation last week, and the therapist was surprised at the progress H has made. She has taken away the crawling (yea!) and put in running instead. We are also learning somersaults, headstands, and juggling. And to help get ready for school we are doing a special type of math flash card. So far H has done the exercises with a good attitude. And even better, she is excited about starting a new school (wonder of wonders) and has volunteered to get in front of a crowd and say things a few times (she had developed horrible stage fright two years ago).
I'll let you all know how school goes in a few weeks. I am still concerned about her having control for 8 hrs straight and being able to do the homework afterward. If you read this, please pray for us!
We had another therapy evaluation last week, and the therapist was surprised at the progress H has made. She has taken away the crawling (yea!) and put in running instead. We are also learning somersaults, headstands, and juggling. And to help get ready for school we are doing a special type of math flash card. So far H has done the exercises with a good attitude. And even better, she is excited about starting a new school (wonder of wonders) and has volunteered to get in front of a crowd and say things a few times (she had developed horrible stage fright two years ago).
I'll let you all know how school goes in a few weeks. I am still concerned about her having control for 8 hrs straight and being able to do the homework afterward. If you read this, please pray for us!
Thursday, June 23, 2011
A month of summer
It has been about a month since my last report. The summer has been incredibly busy, mostly for me and not so much for the kids. We have been doing the new exercises, though it is not unusual for us to miss a couple of them on any given day. Overall I do not feel like we have made any progress. It is like we have reached a plateau. It is all very frustrating. If anything, I think we have lost some of the progress we had made. I think most of that is due to the change of schedule that is "summer break". ADHD kids do best in a uniform, consistant environment. For instance, I gave H a sheet of math to do the other day. It took her over an hour to do 8 simple multiplication problems, and then she got at least half of them wrong. When we went over the ones she missed, she almost went into a "crying, I can't" fit. We have done some math each day since, and she has done better, though still not as well as I would like or as well as 4th grade is going to expect. But I will give her this: she managed to control her emotions enough not to go into a fit, and she has been reading alot of books this summer (Ramona books). It is a huge deal that she is voluntarily reading books when she is bored. And she is still creating lots of projects/things all during summer. When she was on medication, her creative side completely disappeared. So let me brag about what she has made all on her own, without any suggestions or help from anyone: an adorable giraffe finger puppet, a small stuffed pillow in the shape of a pokemon (don't ask me which one), tons of drawings of both known pokemon and ones she has made up, and cards for father's day.
I need to keep focusing on the positive, and praying that God will see her/us through another year (and that we get a good teacher this time)!
I need to keep focusing on the positive, and praying that God will see her/us through another year (and that we get a good teacher this time)!
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Still going well
It's been several days since H's last meltdown, and everything has been normal since. Thank God! Her moods have been good, she has been as focused as she normally is, and she has been sleeping well. And this even after I let her have one cookie Sunday night. She has even gotten interested in the Ramona books by Beverly Cleary. I think these are a step up from the Rainbow magic books. She has been reading about a chapter a day. This is pretty good!
As soon as summer starts I am going to try to do more of the therapy; some in the morning and some at night. I'll let you know how that goes.
-Chelle
As soon as summer starts I am going to try to do more of the therapy; some in the morning and some at night. I'll let you know how that goes.
-Chelle
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Life after another (therapy) change
About 2 weeks ago we had another therapy evaluation, and another change of exercises. The new therapy is going pretty well, though I keep misplacing either the Blink game or the Bop it game. H's least favorite is still the crawling. But she has kept a good attitude about it all.
However, today was as close to a disaster as we have seen for a while. She woke up emotional, and stayed that way. Anything that went wrong got a response way beyond what it deserved. It all cumulated at Sunday School, where she was not allowed to eat a cookie right away but had to take it home to save for a non-school night (which is my standard procedure). She was unhappy, but okay with it (I thought). Then when my back was turned, she took a bite. For that I told her she had permanently lost the cookie. We then had a 30 minute cry fest, at which point she cried herself to sleep for a two hour nap. After she woke up she was better, but still unable to sit still and still liable to over-react.
I realized later tonight that she does tend to have one melt down at some point after every therapy change. I hope that is the reason for all this. And I hope that means we won't have another one anytime soon.
So is there a silver lining in this cloud? I suppose it could be that the crying fest was only 30 minutes, instead of hours. And that it only happened once today. And that she seems normal tonight. It certainly has been worse in the past. But that is a pretty thin lining. It is the only one I can find tonight though.
-Chelle
However, today was as close to a disaster as we have seen for a while. She woke up emotional, and stayed that way. Anything that went wrong got a response way beyond what it deserved. It all cumulated at Sunday School, where she was not allowed to eat a cookie right away but had to take it home to save for a non-school night (which is my standard procedure). She was unhappy, but okay with it (I thought). Then when my back was turned, she took a bite. For that I told her she had permanently lost the cookie. We then had a 30 minute cry fest, at which point she cried herself to sleep for a two hour nap. After she woke up she was better, but still unable to sit still and still liable to over-react.
I realized later tonight that she does tend to have one melt down at some point after every therapy change. I hope that is the reason for all this. And I hope that means we won't have another one anytime soon.
So is there a silver lining in this cloud? I suppose it could be that the crying fest was only 30 minutes, instead of hours. And that it only happened once today. And that she seems normal tonight. It certainly has been worse in the past. But that is a pretty thin lining. It is the only one I can find tonight though.
-Chelle
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Still here:update after 5 months
Wow, it is hard to believe it has only been 5 months. We went for another evaluation by the therapist. Though I hadn't thought H had made as much progress this time, she thought H had done more. I think that is because she is picking up on things I think of as small, such as H's balance being much better and her crawling being as it should. So we got alot of new things to do. We are now doing a type of gentle "shaking", a rhythmic rocking motion, and tongue twisters amoung others. I have been so impressed at H's good attitude regarding all of this. She has become a much calmer child. Now I need to calm down some more:I got more frustrated than I should when I realized she had not turned in an assignment due today that I reminded her about when she got out of the car at school. I hope her organizational skills improve at some point. But really, having a happy, loving, energetic, and obedient child is more important than having one who is organized. Overall I am thrilled we have chosen this route rather than covering up the symptoms with medication.
-Chelle
-Chelle
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