A glimpse at whats been going on with us

If only this child would talk, she would blow people away.  Her teacher has been trying some new things with her this week as we continue to struggle with her socialization/communication skills in the daycare/school setting.  You might know it all sista', but you gotta speak!

^^Can you see it??

She sits & plays teacher all the time.  Here her & Hayden's lovies are practicing their letters on the leap pads.

Logan, always puts his name on his paper.  Usually on the back.  He's good!

And Hayden's going to get there yet!  His teacher has been "writing" his name with dots at the top of his papers so he can trace it each time.  This one obviously he did on his own.  You might not see much....

But I see an H, Y, A & E (and another H).  Awesome! Still trying to work with him on how to correctly hold a pencil/crayon though.

We've been getting to Sunday School.  And successfully leaving the kids there parent-less.  One weekend when Hayden was so sick with allergies (more to come on this) him & I were up past 2:30am  Saturday night & ended up sleeping sitting up on the couch.  We had NO intention of Sunday school Sunday morning.  None.  But Olivia begged & begged & begged that "I NEED to go to Sunday School & sing & dance."  Begged.  How can you as a good parent say no.  Ugh.  We got all 5 of us ready & out the door in 30 amazing minutes that morning!  They colored.  Snacked.  Listened to the story.  BUT the gal who does the music with each of the classes said to us after "you have the 3 most shy kids."  Apparently they all 3 stood in the back, holding hands.  None singing.  No dancing.  Nothing.  

The following weekend Olivia begged again to go sing & dance at Sunday School.

I hate that her shyness is holding her back so much from things she clearly wants to be a part of!

She does however know a lot of the words from the couple of songs they have sang there.

The boys do know most of the words too & Jeff has found some of the songs on youtube & they do sing & dance to them at home!

What else??

Well, we have been in our house a whole year {can you believe it!!!}.  And the Service One warranty people were calling to see if we wanted to re-sign up.  I really wasn't in the mood to fork out the $400, but on the last day of September, I did.  Thinking about how many times we used them last year for furnace/water heater issues I figured we better.  I signed up just in time, that as the last day we could renew.  Well.... that was Monday.  Friday I came home & found a puddle of water on the kitchen floor.... that came from the kids' bathroom toilet above.  Thank goodness we signed up!  They will be out here tomorrow & I'm hoping I don't have a huge hole in my kitchen ceiling for the kids' birthday party this weekend!  Well, more I guess, I'm hoping we have a working bathroom.

Yes Birthday Party.  A whole month early.  Another reason I've felt so busy!  Hoping October is a safe bet for nice weather vs the gamble that is November.  You'll understand when you see their gift why this matters!  And oh that gift has taken days of my life & hours of my sleep trying to make sure it got here prior to this party.  Honestly!

Since the kids' bathroom is off limits for the moment, they had to quickly get over their silly fear of the jets in our tub, cause that was the only place to rubba-dub-dub!  They have ended up having a blast!

 Its amazing how a little kid shampoo in the water turns into mega bubbles once the jets are on!

 This is an idea of just how crazy it is!  

Please note in this picture of Olivia, that just so happened to catch Logan's back.... the oval shaped red spot that matches the exact specifications of the width of Hayden's mouth.  This picture is 12 hours later & still bright red.  Logan cried so hard that morning, he turned blue.  I can not believe there wasn't blood.  {More to come on Hayden, this picture actually triggered a thought}

Miss Livi, being the little mother she thinks she is, had to bring her doll, Baby Sidney & make her a place setting with cereal & all to dinner.  Yes cereal for dinner, don't judge.  At least they ate.

 Then there is Hayden.  So, back in August his allergies were awful, so we tried Claritin, which didn't work.  And landed on Zyrtec which carried him through until late-September.  Then 'real' fall hit & he started puking & coughing & not sleeping because his allergy induced post-nasal drip was just that out of control.... and we added Singulair to his nightly regimen.   It took about a week before we noticed a real difference, but he was finally back to sleeping & not coughing round-the-clock.  He was rested, happy.  We were happy.  

Then the last 2-3 days happened.

This morning as we were trying to get out the door for work/school, I looked at Jeff, after Hayden refused to sit on the potty & proceeded to pee all over Jeff & said "Something is wrong.  I don't know what it is, but this is not Hayden."  He can be naughty, yes, & I've endured toddler tantrums & such, but this was SO much more.  I don't know how to explain it.  He was completely irate & irrational.  We spent at least an hour each of the last 2 nights getting him to bed.  He was so full of rage.  He could have kicked down a door.  PJs on, PJs off.  Yelling, kicking.  He wouldn't come into the bathroom to brush his teeth.  He cried for 20 minutes because we didn't brush his teeth.  He came in the bathroom & locked his jaw shut standing in front of the sink.  Two nights in a row he went to bed with a spanking & ended up screaming himself to sleep at the top of the stairs.  He would not calm down.  He would not cuddle.  Who IS this child?

Upon discussing it today with one of the pediatricians at work, {followed up with a consult with "Dr. Google"} I learned that behavior changes can be a side effect of Singulair.  She said its something she has seen more than a few times before in kids.  A quick chat with my ped office this afternoon & they agreed.  So the Singulair will go & hopefully the Zyrtec will hold us over until we get a freeze.  {Ugh it kills me to pry for a freeze!!}  The stuff I read online said it will take around a week to see results from taking the med, which it did, so its not surprising that about day 10 we saw a peak of side effects.  I can not think of anything else in our current life that would have altered his behavior in such a drastic way.  Tired, Hayden who hadn't slept in days because of his cough was a sweetheart compared to the thing he turned into this week.  We have not tried Allegra yet, so that will be my next course of action if the Zyrtec fails us & I also have some honey that should be on the way to us this weekend & we're gonna give that naturalista approach a go too.

I just hope his attitude bounces back quick!  

A review of the above bathroom pictures triggered the forgotten moments of Hayden biting Logan twice this week (that I know of).  We have never really had a biting issue, outside of teething 2 year molars.  And the second bite, pictured above, was fierce!  His anger issues were something else this week. If he had been 18, the looks he gave me would have had me scared for my life.  

In between outbursts though, this happened.

He has had ZERO interest in a bike ever.  None.  Cared not about learning to pedal.  Until some little boy not too much older buzzed down the street this week, & Hayden got on a bike & started pedaling after him.

And Livi learned how to use her brakes!

So that's it.  We have just been busy, busy, busy with life. Work, upcoming birthday party, & well, just stuff.