October 2018 – Family Highlights

 

Halloween was pretty easy this year. The boys were undecided on costumes, which was a first. Any other year both guys pretty much know what they want to be weeks before the big day. So this year they ended up borrowing an idea from one of Mama’s students: Glow-in-the-dark stick figures. Tight, black clothes with stick-on glow-in-the-dark tape to make the stick figure outline. Perfect and easy for all. Of course, they ended up looking more like some kind of space alien duo but at least the outfits drew some attention. The boys had fun carving one simple pumpkin named “Jackie” while sipping warm cider. We did the typical outing with the “Rs”, Fischers and Carson. The night went by quickly, but the boys had fun and scored just the right amount of candy – half of which will probably go forgotten and uneaten. But that’s ok.

 

We had the boys’ well-checks with Dr. Saul this month. Everything was fine, with Calan falling just right in the 50th and 30th percentile for height and weight respectively. Evan falls in the 85th percentile for both at this point. We also talked to Dr. Saul some about Calan in a separate meeting. We’ve obviously seen Calan’s behavior and extra difficulty dealing with emotions and anxiety hindering him a little bit more than it should this year. We’re looking at seeking out some answers through various professionals. Getting the primary doctor’s input was an easy one. We decided it’s worth grabbing some blood work to rule out any underlying, physical influences. We also met with the school assigned psychologist through ROA to get an idea of what helpful options and support might be available through the school. It turns out there are a few options we can look at and avenues to go down to help Calan, and even help us to help him.

 

There were also a few book club meet-ups this month. Calan and his usual crew all had fun creating art around the stories they had read about in the current book. For example, reading “Pablo and Birdie” the kids tried to draw parrots. 

 

With the football season around the corner, we started to get together with a few of Calan’s buddies and former teammates to practice. We called it “mini-camp” and arranged to meet at a park in T.O. where Frankie and Ian could easily join us. Calan was intent on playing QB, but ran into a little difficulty when we switched up positions during practice. This was hard for him to handle at first. Most importantly, we made sure that he could see the other kids there as his friends and that having fun and getting along was most important. It was a growing opportunity for for sure, to realize that playing QB all the time isn’t absolutely necessary and good for him and the team.

 

“I don’t want one, but no one lets me not get one.” Said, in reference to wanting to get a 6×6 cube.

“I’m just an average kid trying to be a person.”

Evan has been doing a lot of nighttime reading now after we say goodnight. He’ll turn the light back on and look through and read books for half and hour or even up to an hour on some nights. Other times, he’ll grab books and read them aloud. His little, husky voice will flow through the monitor which is just too cute.

 

Evan also really liked participating in Calan’s  sign language class at ROA. The class was nice enough to let him join in. He would watch and listen, then make the signs with the other kids and even get down on the floor with them when they did little activities. He was like a regular little student.

 

Along with Calan, Evan enjoyed doing what Mama called “Cozy School” a couple times this month. They would lay out yoga mats, blankets and pillows. Then, in their comfies, they would read books (fiction and non-fiction) and just enjoy a calm learning session together in some small corner of the house.

 

He’s also been getting more comfortable with going potty. In fact, he gave it a go standing up at the urinal one day at the Y. Dada walked him through it, and he did great. He tried it again while we were out at the Soup Plantation, and was very proud of his accomplishment to “go” like a big boy.