Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Just an update on the kids....

Deidra is still struggling with math and reading at school. Going to email her teacher and see if they want her to attend flex days to see if that would help her with some more one-on-one. I know she's getting bored with school, but I just want her to work on things and we'll work on stuff over the summer too. A troubled girl pushed her into a wall last week at school and left a goose egg on her head. The girl hasn't been back at school and now Deidra is worried about her. Deidra is a lot like me with her empathy, but I told her that she needs to be careful with it too as people take advantage of that and hurt you over and over again when you care more about other people than you worry about yourself. It does make me proud of her though to see her have that trait.

Emily is still developing her reading and writing skills so she is going to attend flex days. I'm curious to see how she did on her testing. The teacher said she had her reading up to par to pass kindergarten. I know that she's doing better, but I still have my doubts as when we go over her sight words, sometimes she just has the words memorized and she'll look at the beginning sound and she guesses and it's wrong. It's one of her words, but not that specific word that she is looking at. We have a lot of work to do over the summer. I still am quandering about whether it would be better to homeschool her, but Andy has his doubts and so I am praying about it. Otherwise, she is doing really well. She helped me make dinner last night and she really enjoyed being able to help. She likes being a big helper. She's turning into quite the little sweatheart. :-)

Josiah has been having a hard time. He does not like being told what to do or that he can't do something or being redirected. Time ins with him are difficult as he fights me a lot, yesterday he kicked me in the stomach when I tried to sit him back down on his bed. He spent 2 hours in his room yesterday morning, because he wouldn't quit acting ugly, screaming at me, kicking the walls, throwing things, coming out of his room and trying to come downstairs...every time he acted up, he got 5 minutes added. Finally after 2 hours, he was able to come down and eat his breakfast and then I put him to work cleaning. He got out of school and acted up majorly at the eye doctor and threw a huge fit in the car over not being able to go to a restaurant to eat and so I came home and put him back in his room. He came down to eat his dinner and then we put him to bed. His favorite words lately are "NO!" "I'm not very happy." "I'm mad at you!" "I hate being in time out!" He still struggles with the concept that it's his actions that are getting him in trouble. He wants to point the finger at me and blame me. He wants what he wants and he wants it now. Lots of power struggles going on with him. He is very smart and is learning well at school. He is spelling words, trying to sound words out, and writing his letters and numbers.

Tracie is still whining a lot. She'd rather cry when she asks for things, than use her big girl words. And she's trying to pull some of the things that Josiah does when she doesn't get her way. She throws herself on the floor when she doesn't get what she wants or when she is told to go to time out. And she'll say "I forgot how to get up or where the time out corner is." So, then I'll go take her by the hand and make her get up and redirect her to where she needs to go and she throws an utter screaming fit the whole time. I need to make her an appt with the pediatrician. I was talking with her occupational therapist to ask their opinion if she has a learning disorder. She is still having trouble remembering things she's been taught, shapes and colors are there some days and others she gets them mixed up. You give her dinner and she says she wants more and you ask her what she wants more of and she says "I don't know" and will start crying because she doesn't know what it is. She has a very quirky memory and I worry now that she's going to start school and I want what's best for her. She shuts down when things get hard for her and I just don't want her to run into troubles with school. She's a litlte sweetheart and likes to nurture.

Melina is learning so much. She cruises along the furniture and stand on her own. She just got her 5th tooth. She loves to talk on her little phone and she'll put it over her shoulder and say "hi." She's learning how to open cabinets and she's been getting into the books and Daddy's computer. It amazes me to watch her play and how busy she stays just learning how everything works. She is such a joy. We all just love her to pieces. She is getting a little temper since Tracie spends the day taking toys from her and she screams to let her know she is mad and wants it back. Or Tracie will walk behind her and pick her up and that will make her mad too. I keep trying to tell her that Melina isn't a doll and that she can do things for herself. Melina is a little sweetheart and boy does she love her sisters and her brother. She hugs them and follows them all over and giggles and giggles at the things that they do. She's so funny. She brings a lot of joy to this house...even our OT said "I think the baby did a lot of good...the kids are behaving better with her here too..." I told her that we still have a ways to go, but the baby has been a huge blessing and I'm glad that the kids love her so much too and she certainly loves all of them.

We've been doing a lot of holding time for a little over a month now. The girls do ok with it...Emma's had a couple of times where she's hated it. But, she also had a huge breakthrough with it one night. She refused to drink her milk one day when she needed to take her pill. Taking her pill isn't an option as she gets in a lot of trouble without it in school and at home. She finally wound up telling me that she wanted it in a bottle. I wasn't going to fight her on it...a lot of attachment therapy is taking them back to their babyhood and letting them experience things that they missed out on. I put what was in her cup in a baby bottle, sat on the couch with her and fed her. She sat for 30-40 minutes in my lap with me just cradling her and she drank the milk out of the bottle. She loved that she got to be a baby for a little while and she told my Mom about it the next day. My Mom asked her if she liked that and she said yes. MOm didn't know what was going on and I had a conversation with her about it a little later and Mom thought that was awesome and it was so good for Emmy. She told me that we are so good at this stuff and I told her a lot of prayer has gone into all of this. It's all with God's graces. Josiah still is fighting me a lot when it's time for his holding time. He hates it when he's in trouble and will pinch me, pull my hair, hit me, try to bump me in the head with his head, kicks at me, whatever he can think of. He doesn't have a problem to come sit on my lap when it's all good, but when he's being made to do it because of bad behavior he majorly fights me. Tracie does ok with it, but she likes to scream and cry and fidget and she hears Josiah say that I'm hurting him while he does his, so she's been trying to pull that route lately to see if it gets her out of it. I don't let them out until they've calmed down so we just sit as long as they need me to sit there. Sometimes things that I need to get done get put on the backburner, but the kids are more worth it than anything else so it's all good.

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