Lucky!!

Katey is turning out to be quite the lucky little girl.

#1 - She participated in the Science Fair at school and got a ribbon! It was a participation ribbon, but a ribbon none-the-less, and she was thrilled!
Katey's project was the Potato Clock and she worked very hard on the experiment and putting the whole presentation board together. We were very proud of her hard work!


#2 - I remember as a child hunting and hunting to find the ever-elusive 4 leaf clover and getting lucky once a year or so. Katey has been scouring our yard this year and has found more 4 leaf clovers than we can keep track of! If they are, indeed, lucky charms then this household is set for life!! :-)

Just a few of the clovers found

#3 - Katey completed her fourth 5K this morning. The best part? The medal...always the medal!!

Just as the race started Katey had to stop to tie her shoe!

Katey with her coaches and team for this season

#4 - Okay, she hasn't been deemed "lucky" on this one yet, but Katey submitted an entry to our PTA on why her teacher is the best. After it was completed I was looking it over and found this on the back:

This is a drawing of a ribbon with the label below, "ribbon (if awarded, hole in case I win, which I may or may not)"

I love it!!

How the Golden Arches reminded me of my sin

This week is Spring Break and I decided to treat the kids to lunch at their favorite restaurant, McDonald's! Actually, I wanted to eat anywhere BUT McDonald's, but after many, many "please" and "Can we, please, please, please, please, please"'s, I gave in.

As we were sitting, eating lunch, I was watching my kids thoroughly enjoy their Happy Meal boxes and toys and was reminded of an article I read recently. Apparently there is a parent suing Mickey D's to have toys removed from Happy Meals. Her claim is that McDonald's is marketing directly to the kids and getting into their heads without parental permission. Said parent is upset that she now has to tell her kids 'no' much more often.

As I was mulling this idea over in my head it occurred to me that I, too, long and search for ways to push my own accountability onto others. It is so much easier to blame a food chain for enticing my family to eat junk then it is to blame myself for giving into the pleas of my children, even when I know better. It is easier to be outraged at McDonald's than it is to be outraged at myself for taking the easy way in parenting.

So, as I was watching Seth put a Happy Meal box on his head and finish his apple dippers I was thinking about how many times a day (okay, minute) I fail as a parent. How many times I put my own desires ahead of what I know is right. How many times I choose to satisfy my sin nature instead of obey my Father. How many times I long and plead for things that aren't good for me.

Today I am thankful for McDonald's. Thankful that God uses even the Golden Arches to show me my sin and draw me closer to Him. Thankful for a Savior who died for me and has saved me from myself and my sin. And, thankful for the smiles and time spent with my kids...even if it was at McDonald's!

Unbelievable Confirmation

Picture it:
Our little girl goes off to preschool and, for the first time in our parenting lives, we are sitting in a parent-teacher conference. Expectations are high that the report will be full of rave reviews on the intelligence and kindness of our daughter. What we get instead is a frustrating account of all the things Katey is falling short in. At first I wanted to cry (all my hopes dashed) but later had to laugh. Did it really matter if our 4 year old refused to hold a pencil correctly or just could not get the hang of how to use a pair of scissors or insisted on being the caboose in line?

Since then, teacher conferences have been much the same. We are told over and over that Katey is a very smart and kind child who: refuses to sit and write; doesn't add enough detail to drawings; won't participate in book club discussions...just to name a few. The teachers seem to love her and be frustrated with her all at the same time. We've gone through this no less than a dozen times since Katey began school.

Two weeks ago I answered a phone call. Katey's teacher wanted to talk with me for a few minutes and I was gearing up for the bad news. What I got, instead, was a wonderful report! Since going on medication, Katey is sitting and doing her work, her handwriting has improved, she is participating in class discussions and she is listening to instruction! I almost cried with joy and relief. Unbelievable confirmation that we are on the right track!!

Busy but Fun!

The last several weeks have been jam-packed! And with the end of the school year approaching, I don't see things slowing down at all. Good thing we like to be on the go!

A couple of weeks ago Mike and Katey got to have a date night at the school for the Father/Daughter Luau. It was a fun time of crafts, dancing, pizza, Hawaiian Ice and games. Seth spent the night with Grammy so that I could go and assist with the festivities. We all had a great night (in spite of the wild and crazy hail/tornado watch/thunder storm!)!!


Next came Katey's 4th grade field trip to the Gold Mine. I was able to go and oversee a group of 7 great kids.

The weather was beautiful and we all had a great time and learned a lot. The most favorite part of the day for the kids, by far, was when they were panning for gold! Some actually found a gold speck in their pans, but only a lucky few. Still, what child wouldn't be ecstatic over playing in rocks and muddy water?

A few days after the field trip I got to spend the day in Seth's class. No pictures of that day, but we did lots of fun things like Social Studies Spring Symbol Bingo and a Math Egg Hunt as well as Math Jeopardy and a Snack Nature Walk through the cool Learning Garden at the school. Any time I spend the day in a classroom I gain a whole new appreciation for our very hard working teachers!!!

And today the kids have begun Spring Break. Ahhh...

ADHD

It has been several months now since Katey was diagnosed with ADHD. Our pediatrician made the very (un)helpful, "I think I am comfortable saying that she most likely has ADHD, Inattentive type" diagnosis (??). And, pretty much, that was where his helpfulness ended. So, after several months of working with the school and doing internet research, we headed to a Behavioral Pediatrician who, thankfully, has been much more helpful!

Mike and I have been wrestling with our thoughts on ADHD and medication. I have strong feelings regarding the seemingly over-diagnoses and haste to throw kids on Ritalin in the 1990's. So, to have a child be diagnosed with the same disorder and be faced with medication choices was rather difficult.

What we have come to find is that there is little effective help apart from prescriptions. We did read a very interesting book or two on the Executive Functions of the brain. There was even a quiz to discover which areas of executive thinking/executive skills one is weak in and which he is strong in. So, we took the quiz - once for Katey, once for Mike and once for me. The results?

Strengths:

Katey - Goal-Directed Persistence (have a goal and follow-thru); Planning Prioritizing; Response Inhibition (think before act)
Mike - Metacognition (take a birds-eye view of self to problem solve); Time Management; Response Inhibition
Jen - Working Memory (hold info in memory and complete complex tasks); Time Management; Flexibility

Weaknesses:

Katey - Task Initiation (begin a task without procrastination); Organization; Working Memory
Mike - Task Initiation (begin a task without procrastination); Organization; Working Memory
Jen - Task Initiation (begin a task without procrastination); Goal-directed Persistence; Metacognition

I think they are pretty telling. Yup, Katey is definitely her father's daughter.

The books did give some tips on how to help develop these skills, though it is pretty much with a lot of repetition and time and lists and charts. That takes a lot of task initiation...and as you can see from above, our family seems to be lacking in that. :-)

So, after working with teachers and school staff, setting timers to help Katey stay on task, making lists to help her remember what needs done and when, and reading lots of helpful information, Mike and I decided to try medication. And, after spending about an hour talking this over with the doctor, he really did help to dispel some of our concerns.

We are now officially on week 1 of Focalin XR. We are thankful that our doctor wants to start on super low doses and work up as needed. There is already a noticeable difference in Katey's focus and concentration skills. She is looking us in the eye when we talk, has had good behavior reports from school for 3 days in a row, and one of our good friends pointed out that the flow of her speech has also improved. Mike and I are very hopeful that this has been a good decision and we look forward to seeing Katey come out of her focal fog!