I meant to do an update here on Davey a couple of weeks ago but I forgot. We finished all his evaluations. He had one with the school district when he turned 3 that determined he has developmental and language delays and he qualified for language therapy where they have been coming to his daycare 2 or 3 times a week and working with him. He also qualified for the school district's preschool but at the time I couldn't do it because of conflicts with my school schedule. When we move I will be getting him set up with the Olive Branch school district and try to get him in their preschool. He is improving so much over the last few months I'm not really sure that he necessarily needs the therapy and extra help now, but the people at Mississippi State said any extra help could help him and the preschool is free - much better than paying for mother's day out!
We went through a long evaluation at Mississippi State starting in January and finishing about a month ago. We had to drive out there every week for 2 hour appointments. The people there were all great and I think Davey even had a little fun with the evaluation! We met 2 weeks ago to find out the results of his evaluation. They also determined he has developmental and language delays, but it's not severe, especially considering the improvements he's made over the last few months. They think he could possibly have ADHD but they don't give that diagnosis to kids this young and said I could have him reevaluated later on if it is a problem in school. He also scored a little high on the oppositional defiance disorder tests, but not enough for any diagnosis. That is mostly dealing with his noncompliance. He is very stubborn and hardheaded!
We were going to start behavioral therapy at Mississippi State but with moving back to Olive Branch I decided not to. It is a little further away from Olive Branch, and I'm just not sure if I can afford it with gas prices going up and having to pay Mom rent! They gave me papers on what we would have been doing in behavioral therapy and also tips on how to handle things like time out. I also talked to them about how I've been handling Davey's behavior and they said I'm doing fine with it. I have found a few little tricks to deal with his tantrums and we rarely have to do the tantrum timeout anymore where I put him in his room until he stops screaming. We were having to do that several times on the weekends but I haven't had to at all in quite awhile.
My trick is telling him he can't have something that he is fussing about, or something he just asked for even if he is fussing about something else. When I say "Ok, no game (or whatever)" he fusses and says "Game!" and I tell him he has to stop fussing first. If he keeps fussing I say "No game" again and he usually straightens up. It might take a couple of times but it usually works. Another trick that sometimes works is he has started saying he has pretend things in his pocket. He is all the time saying "Phone in my pocket" or "Cupcake in my pocket" so sometimes when he is asking for something we don't have or I don't want him to have, I can ask him if he has one in his pocket and he'll say "Yeah! ____ in my pocket!" and stop fussing! It doesn't always work, but it will every now and then!
I have a feeling we're going to have a somewhat rough time with moving back to Olive Branch until I get Davey in preschool. He loves daycare so much and sometimes still throws fits on the weekend because he doesn't get to go. I hope to get him in preschool pretty quickly. He's going to hate the fact that they get out during the summer though! They are on the school district's schedule so they'll get all the school holidays. That's one of the reasons I couldn't put him in preschool here. He should be pretty excited about getting to see Mom and Daniel all the time though that maybe not going to daycare won't be too bad until I can get him in preschool!
Thursday, March 15, 2012
We're moving!
I guess most of you probably know already from Facebook, but we're moving back to Olive Branch this Saturday! I honestly can't wait! It has been an experience going back to school, but just not the right thing for me... I totally screwed up this semester and didn't do as well as I should have last semester. I haven't really been happy being away from my family and only getting to see them once a month. And I haven't really made friends here. I've sorta been in a funk since about the middle of last semester and started slacking off in school then. Then this semester it's been back and forth between the funk and occasional episodes of mania where you would think I would be more productive but I never get things done that I should do when I'm manic. I'm going to see if moving back to Olive Branch settles my mood swings down a bit, if not I'll be going back to my old psychiatrist and can get my meds adjusted. My psychiatrist here is worthless.
Davey and I will be living with Mom and Daniel, somewhat temporarily. She plans to sell the house when Daniel graduates next year so we'd all be moving out then. Then I'm either going to get a place with one of my best friends, Teresa and her son Austin or I'll get an apartment in Olive Branch and when Austin graduates the next year Teresa can move in with me. Austin doesn't want to change schools his senior year, and I don't really want to move back out to Falkner! So the apartment in Olive Branch is probably going to win. It will be a bit of a struggle with the rent and bills that first year but when Teresa moves in we can split everything. I'm working on managing my money better and plan to have some money set back by the time I have to get an apartment. If I have to I can try to get a part time transcription job to help out. I'll make it work out because I have to!
Davey and I will be living with Mom and Daniel, somewhat temporarily. She plans to sell the house when Daniel graduates next year so we'd all be moving out then. Then I'm either going to get a place with one of my best friends, Teresa and her son Austin or I'll get an apartment in Olive Branch and when Austin graduates the next year Teresa can move in with me. Austin doesn't want to change schools his senior year, and I don't really want to move back out to Falkner! So the apartment in Olive Branch is probably going to win. It will be a bit of a struggle with the rent and bills that first year but when Teresa moves in we can split everything. I'm working on managing my money better and plan to have some money set back by the time I have to get an apartment. If I have to I can try to get a part time transcription job to help out. I'll make it work out because I have to!
New blog design!
I just installed a new blog design! What do you think? It was one of the free blogger layouts at The Pixelista. I have been searching around wanting a new blog design for Mommy and Me Giveaways and I love The Pixelista's designs but her prices are so high there's no way I'd get her to do one in exchange for a review and ad space which is what I'm trying to get! Another blog designer, Wacky Jacqui's Designs, said she'd do our blog makeover if I can bring her some sales, but she hasn't told me how many sales yet. But she won't do our images. So I got JHP Designs on Etsy to agree to making me a new header image and button in exchange for a review and ad space! Once that's done, if I have to I'm sure I can tweak a Wordpress theme myself, but was really hoping to get it professionally done. I did our current theme and I do like it but we've had it nearly 2 years and it's time for a change!
Monday, January 30, 2012
Busy, busy, busy!
Hi everyone, sorry it has been so long since I've posted here! It has been a little crazy this semester juggling mine and Davey's busy schedule! School started 3 weeks ago, but I missed my first few classes from being sick, first from my asthma being so bad and then a migraine one day. I'm caught up in 3 of my classes, but missing so much algebra was a huge mistake and I got so far behind there was no way I was going to catch up, and it doesn't help that it has been over 10 years since I have taken algebra - I was completely lost! I can't drop the class because I already dropped a class the first week and if I drop algebra I will be part time and I have to stay full time because of financial aid and housing. So I am just continuing to miss class and will take an F for absences. It's not really a big deal because I can retake it in the fall and cancel out that F. The class I dropped the first week was English. I had decided to take it online and when I looked at the class the first week I realized I'd rather take it with a different teacher in class. This online teacher gives the topic for all the papers, and all the topics were about the Mississippi Delta, including one based on an interview about the Delta and I know nothing at all about the Delta! I plan to take it this summer hopefully with my teacher from last semester who lets you pick your topics. I wish I hadn't dropped it though so I could drop algebra! I also officially changed my major to psychology last week. I had decided at the end of last semester that I still have that longing to be a psychologist and work with adolescents. I'm taking general psychology this semester and will be meeting with my new adviser on Tuesday after class. I'm thinking about transferring to Mississippi State or Ole Miss next year in the Fall because they offer so much more as far as psychology classes than Delta State does. It will probably be Ole Miss because after visiting Mississippi State I was a little overwhelmed by how huge the campus is!
Anyway, besides school we are keeping busy with Davey's schedule. He has been in speech and physical (occupational) therapy since October and is really improving a lot! His speech has been getting much better because his teacher and the director at daycare work with him a lot, along with him being in therapy. I can now understand most of what he says, compared to a few months ago when I couldn't understand half of what he said! Since he turns 3 this Saturday he will be switching to working with the school district for his therapy. He is going to continue physical therapy where he's at because the school district doesn't offer that unless he goes to their preschool, and his insurance is covering it. The school district will start doing language therapy twice a week at his daycare. They said he qualified for their preschool but the problem is he would get out for the summer and I have to take summer classes so that won't work out.
A few weeks ago we also started going to Mississippi State to start his evaluation there. It will take several sessions but they did say at his initial appointment that they don't think he is autistic because he doesn't have any social impairment that they could see. Though from looking at the rating scales his daycare teacher and the director filled out I did see that he doesn't interact with the other kids how he should, so not sure what they will say about that. They said they would probably call it PDDNOS (I think that stands for pervasive developmental delays not otherwise specified) and possibly ADHD because he is so hyperactive. They said they don't like to actually diagnose ADHD this young though because the main treatment for it is medication and they don't think kids this young should be on medication for it, and I agree! They will be starting some type of behavioral therapy after the evaluation is done, and they said that could help with ADHD as well if he has it. I am looking forward to the behavioral therapy because it will teach me how to deal with his tantrums and stuff. His tantrums have improved a little since I last posted... he still has them quite a bit, but they are nothing like they were. I figured out I think part of the problem was his teacher at the time who I found out after she was fired that she had gotten written up for yelling at the kids twice, and she was also sitting Davey on the potty for 15 minutes at a time while he was screaming the whole time and I found out she hadn't stopped when I asked her to!
Speaking of sitting on the potty, Davey recently started asking his new teacher to put him on the potty. He occasionally asks at home too, but he still hasn't actually gone potty in the potty. It is a big improvement that he is at least asking to sit on it though! He sees the other kids sitting on the potty at daycare and wants to do it because they are. At home he usually only asks when I give him a bath or sometimes when we're getting ready for bed. I don't push it, just put him on it when he asks.
I have a few pictures for y'all this time... Davey found the boxes of his birthday presents in my room over the weekend and thought they were toys that I had taken away from him and boxed up... he started asking for those toys and I made the mistake of telling him that's not what they were, that they were his birthday presents he gets next weekend. He repeated "presents" but didn't say anything else until about 10 minutes later he was insisting on opening presents! I gave in, since what difference does a week make when he doesn't even understand he is getting them early? So I wrapped them up in Christmas paper since I didn't have any birthday paper and gave them to him early. He was pretty excited about his Toy Story comforter and rug and he also got some new Sandra Boynton books, which he added to the pile I have to tuck him in with at night every night!
Davey has also recently started asking me to take pictures of him, though he doesn't really understand he has to stand away from me to take the picture and then he can see it on the camera! This picture he wouldn't get out of my lap so I had to hold the camera out and take a picture of us together:
Anyway, besides school we are keeping busy with Davey's schedule. He has been in speech and physical (occupational) therapy since October and is really improving a lot! His speech has been getting much better because his teacher and the director at daycare work with him a lot, along with him being in therapy. I can now understand most of what he says, compared to a few months ago when I couldn't understand half of what he said! Since he turns 3 this Saturday he will be switching to working with the school district for his therapy. He is going to continue physical therapy where he's at because the school district doesn't offer that unless he goes to their preschool, and his insurance is covering it. The school district will start doing language therapy twice a week at his daycare. They said he qualified for their preschool but the problem is he would get out for the summer and I have to take summer classes so that won't work out.
A few weeks ago we also started going to Mississippi State to start his evaluation there. It will take several sessions but they did say at his initial appointment that they don't think he is autistic because he doesn't have any social impairment that they could see. Though from looking at the rating scales his daycare teacher and the director filled out I did see that he doesn't interact with the other kids how he should, so not sure what they will say about that. They said they would probably call it PDDNOS (I think that stands for pervasive developmental delays not otherwise specified) and possibly ADHD because he is so hyperactive. They said they don't like to actually diagnose ADHD this young though because the main treatment for it is medication and they don't think kids this young should be on medication for it, and I agree! They will be starting some type of behavioral therapy after the evaluation is done, and they said that could help with ADHD as well if he has it. I am looking forward to the behavioral therapy because it will teach me how to deal with his tantrums and stuff. His tantrums have improved a little since I last posted... he still has them quite a bit, but they are nothing like they were. I figured out I think part of the problem was his teacher at the time who I found out after she was fired that she had gotten written up for yelling at the kids twice, and she was also sitting Davey on the potty for 15 minutes at a time while he was screaming the whole time and I found out she hadn't stopped when I asked her to!
Speaking of sitting on the potty, Davey recently started asking his new teacher to put him on the potty. He occasionally asks at home too, but he still hasn't actually gone potty in the potty. It is a big improvement that he is at least asking to sit on it though! He sees the other kids sitting on the potty at daycare and wants to do it because they are. At home he usually only asks when I give him a bath or sometimes when we're getting ready for bed. I don't push it, just put him on it when he asks.
I have a few pictures for y'all this time... Davey found the boxes of his birthday presents in my room over the weekend and thought they were toys that I had taken away from him and boxed up... he started asking for those toys and I made the mistake of telling him that's not what they were, that they were his birthday presents he gets next weekend. He repeated "presents" but didn't say anything else until about 10 minutes later he was insisting on opening presents! I gave in, since what difference does a week make when he doesn't even understand he is getting them early? So I wrapped them up in Christmas paper since I didn't have any birthday paper and gave them to him early. He was pretty excited about his Toy Story comforter and rug and he also got some new Sandra Boynton books, which he added to the pile I have to tuck him in with at night every night!
Davey has also recently started asking me to take pictures of him, though he doesn't really understand he has to stand away from me to take the picture and then he can see it on the camera! This picture he wouldn't get out of my lap so I had to hold the camera out and take a picture of us together:
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Get a Melissa & Doug 25% Off Coupon When You Take the North "Poll"
Melissa & Doug want you to tell them which of their educational toys you think is the best! Just click on the image below to place your vote in the North "Poll!" You'll Get a Melissa & Doug 25% Off Coupon** to use at MelissaAndDoug.com just for voting!
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Hi everyone! I realized it is about time for another update on here! School is going pretty well and for the most part I'm still enjoying my classes. Government class is still pretty interesting, and my French teacher makes class fun, although I am usually a little bored by the work because I work ahead a few lessons. My French professor actually wants me to try to work through the whole book by the end of the holidays and then skip French 102 and 201 and start with French 202 next semester. I think I can do it... the work is pretty easy because French has always come easily to me. It is just a matter of making the time to work ahead! English class is boring and feels like a waste of time... we get out early every day which is nice at least. I am going to look into CLEPing out of ENG 102 next semester so I don't have to write research papers. My computer applications class is fairly easy but very time consuming. We use blackboard for some of the work and another site called SAM for training exercises and tests. The training exercises take up a whole lot of time so this is one class I don't want to leave my work until the last minute! I actually dropped my history class a few weeks ago because I've been having problems with Davey and have been kind of stressed out and history has always been my hardest subject and this class had a lot of reading outside of class that I was having a hard time getting done and remembering what I read. But I am still full time, 12 hours, which I have to stay full time for my grant and to stay in family housing.
The problems with Davey are mostly his temper tantrums getting out of hand. It seems like everything I do (or don't do) sets him off screaming. Sometimes he starts screaming for no apparent reason and nothing calms him down. We went through about a week when he got a new daycare teacher where he screamed from the time he woke up in the morning until the time he went to sleep at night, and believe me, I am not exaggerating at all! He is also VERY set on routine and if I do anything at all differently than usual it sets off a tantrum. His doctor was concerned about his speech problem as well and I decided to see the doctor about getting him in speech therapy thinking maybe if he has more language skills he could tell me what is wrong and his tantrums won't be so bad. We also decided on getting a developmental evaluation done for him because I realized that in some ways he is developmentally delayed as well but I just didn't realize it because I am not around other kids to compare him to. His teacher at daycare said he is behind the other kids in school developmentally and the tantrums are bad at daycare too, not just at home. He also won't sit still at daycare to learn anything and she has to spend extra time with him to get him to do anything he is supposed to do. I can tell from the artwork they send home that he is not even doing most the artwork. The teacher is apparently doing it for him or holding his hand and doing it. There have been a couple of things he scribbled all over, but he is not tracing shapes or letters like the other kids are. I also can't get him to tell me anything he did at daycare because he won't answer questions, and my friend said he should be able to tell me at least one thing he did at daycare. All he does is repeat my questions and doesn't answer them. Anyway, his doctor wanted him to go to the medical university in Jackson for the evaluation but said it could take up to 6 weeks for them to even call me about the appointment and then at least another 2 months to get in for the evaluation. I didn't want to wait that long because I seriously need help figuring out how to deal with him, especially with the tantrums. I'm having a little success with timeout but we do several timeouts a day on the weekends which include me putting him in his room until he stops screaming, usually about 30 minutes. So a couple of weeks ago I called Early Intervention at the health department and his evaluation is this Thursday. I am sure they will at least put him in speech therapy if nothing else but I think he probably needs some occupational therapy as well. I am looking forward to finally getting some answers Thursday.
I've also made a new friend here finally - my next door neighbor. She has 2 kids that are 1 and 3, and the 3-year-old is in Davey's class at daycare and they are really good friends. She actually took Davey to the park with her kids one day just after we met, and we have taken them to the park together too, and she comes over sometimes in the afternoons while the kids are still at daycare. We're already making plans for her husband to watch the kids while we go see Breaking Dawn next month! :)
Fall break is coming up next week and we will be going to OB to see everyone, and also making the trip out to Tiplersville one of those days to see Teresa and her kids! I can't wait and I'm sure Davey will be excited to see everyone!
I'll try to post more often so my posts aren't so extremely long :)
The problems with Davey are mostly his temper tantrums getting out of hand. It seems like everything I do (or don't do) sets him off screaming. Sometimes he starts screaming for no apparent reason and nothing calms him down. We went through about a week when he got a new daycare teacher where he screamed from the time he woke up in the morning until the time he went to sleep at night, and believe me, I am not exaggerating at all! He is also VERY set on routine and if I do anything at all differently than usual it sets off a tantrum. His doctor was concerned about his speech problem as well and I decided to see the doctor about getting him in speech therapy thinking maybe if he has more language skills he could tell me what is wrong and his tantrums won't be so bad. We also decided on getting a developmental evaluation done for him because I realized that in some ways he is developmentally delayed as well but I just didn't realize it because I am not around other kids to compare him to. His teacher at daycare said he is behind the other kids in school developmentally and the tantrums are bad at daycare too, not just at home. He also won't sit still at daycare to learn anything and she has to spend extra time with him to get him to do anything he is supposed to do. I can tell from the artwork they send home that he is not even doing most the artwork. The teacher is apparently doing it for him or holding his hand and doing it. There have been a couple of things he scribbled all over, but he is not tracing shapes or letters like the other kids are. I also can't get him to tell me anything he did at daycare because he won't answer questions, and my friend said he should be able to tell me at least one thing he did at daycare. All he does is repeat my questions and doesn't answer them. Anyway, his doctor wanted him to go to the medical university in Jackson for the evaluation but said it could take up to 6 weeks for them to even call me about the appointment and then at least another 2 months to get in for the evaluation. I didn't want to wait that long because I seriously need help figuring out how to deal with him, especially with the tantrums. I'm having a little success with timeout but we do several timeouts a day on the weekends which include me putting him in his room until he stops screaming, usually about 30 minutes. So a couple of weeks ago I called Early Intervention at the health department and his evaluation is this Thursday. I am sure they will at least put him in speech therapy if nothing else but I think he probably needs some occupational therapy as well. I am looking forward to finally getting some answers Thursday.
I've also made a new friend here finally - my next door neighbor. She has 2 kids that are 1 and 3, and the 3-year-old is in Davey's class at daycare and they are really good friends. She actually took Davey to the park with her kids one day just after we met, and we have taken them to the park together too, and she comes over sometimes in the afternoons while the kids are still at daycare. We're already making plans for her husband to watch the kids while we go see Breaking Dawn next month! :)
Fall break is coming up next week and we will be going to OB to see everyone, and also making the trip out to Tiplersville one of those days to see Teresa and her kids! I can't wait and I'm sure Davey will be excited to see everyone!
I'll try to post more often so my posts aren't so extremely long :)
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
School, daycare, and we're sick!
Wow, it has been quite some time since I've posted on this blog.... I keep pretty busy with Mommy and Me Giveaways although I haven't even really been doing my fair share over there lately. We got settled in at Delta State last month and classes started and Davey started daycare. So far I'm loving school, especially my French and American Government classes... which is good considering those are classes for my majors! Davey loves daycare so much that he usually throws a little tantrum when I pick him up because he doesn't want to go home.
After 1 week in daycare Davey came home with a runny nose. It got better last week, then started up again Friday along with diarrhea all weekend. Monday and Tuesday his stomach seemed better but this morning he woke up with diarrhea again. He didn't have a fever so I sent him on to daycare and just told them he can't have any milk. When I picked him up they said he had diarrhea all day and he threw up once. So I came home and looked up a doctor for him and will call first thing in the morning and see if they can fit him in.
I am catching whatever he has with the congestion and sinus drainage. Thankfully I haven't caught whatever is wrong with his stomach! Also last Saturday I had to go to the minor med while I was in Olive Branch because of a toothache. I have a wisdom tooth that is chipped at the gums and got infected. They put me on antibiotics and gave me pain killers and thankfully by Tuesday it wasn't hurting anymore. I had an appointment with a dentist today, so I knew I would miss History class. I went to French and then headed to my appointment. I had hoped I would be back in time for English, but I wound up being there for 5 hours just for them to tell me they couldn't pull it and they wanted me to go to an oral surgeon. So they gave me the name and number of someone to go to that I have to call tomorrow.
Tomorrow, on top of taking Davey to the doctor, I have an appointment in the afternoon to get my inhaler refilled because I can't get Primatene Mist over-the-counter inhalers here. They don't work that well anyway and always stop spraying right before they run out so last night I had to do a breathing treatment which I haven't had to do in a long time just so I could go to sleep. I made my doctor appointment for after class, but with having to take Davey to the doctor I think I will be missing government class which really stinks because we're supposed to find out what groups we'll be in for our group project we're doing soon.
Then Friday after class I have to rush to the mental health center to see my new psychiatrist so I can get refills on my bipolar meds. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate doctors? And now I'm spending half my time at doctor's offices this week! I am exhausted from this cold or whatever I've got and last night I actually went to bed at 7pm and slept until 6:30. I woke up feeling a little better but after sitting in a dentist's office all day long and then dealing with Davey being cranky when I picked him up, I am pretty tired again and I think I will be going to bed early again tonight.
I'll try to post more often here, and hopefully posts with happier news! :)
After 1 week in daycare Davey came home with a runny nose. It got better last week, then started up again Friday along with diarrhea all weekend. Monday and Tuesday his stomach seemed better but this morning he woke up with diarrhea again. He didn't have a fever so I sent him on to daycare and just told them he can't have any milk. When I picked him up they said he had diarrhea all day and he threw up once. So I came home and looked up a doctor for him and will call first thing in the morning and see if they can fit him in.
I am catching whatever he has with the congestion and sinus drainage. Thankfully I haven't caught whatever is wrong with his stomach! Also last Saturday I had to go to the minor med while I was in Olive Branch because of a toothache. I have a wisdom tooth that is chipped at the gums and got infected. They put me on antibiotics and gave me pain killers and thankfully by Tuesday it wasn't hurting anymore. I had an appointment with a dentist today, so I knew I would miss History class. I went to French and then headed to my appointment. I had hoped I would be back in time for English, but I wound up being there for 5 hours just for them to tell me they couldn't pull it and they wanted me to go to an oral surgeon. So they gave me the name and number of someone to go to that I have to call tomorrow.
Tomorrow, on top of taking Davey to the doctor, I have an appointment in the afternoon to get my inhaler refilled because I can't get Primatene Mist over-the-counter inhalers here. They don't work that well anyway and always stop spraying right before they run out so last night I had to do a breathing treatment which I haven't had to do in a long time just so I could go to sleep. I made my doctor appointment for after class, but with having to take Davey to the doctor I think I will be missing government class which really stinks because we're supposed to find out what groups we'll be in for our group project we're doing soon.
Then Friday after class I have to rush to the mental health center to see my new psychiatrist so I can get refills on my bipolar meds. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate doctors? And now I'm spending half my time at doctor's offices this week! I am exhausted from this cold or whatever I've got and last night I actually went to bed at 7pm and slept until 6:30. I woke up feeling a little better but after sitting in a dentist's office all day long and then dealing with Davey being cranky when I picked him up, I am pretty tired again and I think I will be going to bed early again tonight.
I'll try to post more often here, and hopefully posts with happier news! :)
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