Parent Teacher Conf

9/24

Cole has an Audiologist apt set for Oct 20th. Still working on a date for the Neurologist.

9/23

We had our first parent teacher conference. Tanner is ahead of his class in most academic areas. Mrs. Eaton stated that he really enjoys books and puzzles. He is able to comprehend very well and knows all of his letter by name and the phonic sounds. ( He has known this since he was 3, so that was no surprise.) Tanner is well liked by his classmates and is seen as a leader; however, this is of little help for the teacher as Tanner likes to be silly and goof around, when he is goofing around, the students are easily entertained and want to join Tanner. Tanner has been getting into trouble a lot over this behavior. He has been receiving consequences here at home when we hear of him goofing around. On a positive note, I have seen tremendous improvement in Tanner since last year, so I'm hopeful that he will mature more in another year.
Big Congratulations to cousin Sara and James on the delivery of beautiful, baby Shane!

Molar woes and another Cole concern

9/20

Tanner had a terrible week at school and I was clueless as to what the cause of his behavior could be. We have been faithfully sticking to his diet and he doesn't seem to be constipated, so what is going on with him? Everyday, I'd pick him up from school with a report that he didn't do very well... not too terrible but not very good either. Dane and I even took his privileges away too, no TV and nothing special. Wed night we went as far as taking away all of his toys. Still no huge improvement. Today, I was helping him get all of his teeth clean and had good daylighting in the family room; At last, I believe I found the culprit to our dilemma! Tanner's 6 yr molars are coming in. Now, I might be grasping at straws, but I truly believe that kids act up for a reason. I work with kids and whenever they are really off, they are usually sick within that same week that they were so difficult. Tanner is a Highly Sensitive Child (according to his Pediatric), he is sensitive to the things he eats, the sights and sounds around him, to clothing tags, and his hair being brushed (this is just a few of the things that bother him). It makes a lot of sense to me that his world is currently rocked due to the discomfort of his molars coming in; however, it does not excuse him of his behavior... only helps to understand why the behavior is happening and help him through better choices with some sympathy toward him instead of anger.

9/19

Cole seemed to have a better night and was in a better mood to get out the door for school, so Dane and I went to work and the kids went to school. All seemed to be regular, but then I got a call around 9:30 from Cole's daycare. Daycare told me that Cole hit his mouth on a tricycle and his bottom tooth appeared to be loose, there was blood ,and his gums looked disturbed. Oh my dear little boy. I called his dentist and was able to swoop him up and whisk him to the dentist. The dentist offices was able to take an x-ray and found that the root of his tooth is fine and there appears to be no damage. They also confirmed that he is currently growing in his 2 yr molars. Hmm... why did I think he already grew them ?

I brought Cole back to school as he seemed fine and normal. I gave him some tylenol in case he may have pain that we might not be aware of. So I see his two teachers and thank them for calling me. As I'm about to leave, they drop a bomb shell on me. They asked if I have ever noticed if Cole has small seizures... WHAT? (I screamed in my head) His teachers stated that Cole was in a fetal position under the slide in the play-yard and when approached by a teacher he acted disoriented. Another incident was that he fell off of a chair for no reason. They also told me that the times when he seems as if he can't hear could be small seizures like he is checking out. Hmm.. I thought out loud. It would make sense.

While I drove back to work, I quickly called Cole's Pediatric and asked to speak to her. While I was waiting for her call back. I was also thinking, I'm not going to panic... there could be other explanations to this. I spoke to a co-worker about this and she reminded me that if he is having something going on with his hearing, it could be some kind of inner ear build up and that could also cause his equilibrium to be off. Phew.. this whole thing that we are going through with Cole could be a simple fix. I will keep with that hope. I got a call back from Dr Goldman and she felt that with Cole's newborn history, she would like him to see a Neurologist and she will but in a request to my insurance. This now puts us waiting for approval for an Audiologist and a Neurologist.

9/18

Cole kept us up through the whole night, from 12am- 7am. Dane and I felt miserable in the morning and Cole still seemed pretty upset; we made the decision that I would stay home with Cole. The day went with a lot of needy behavior, fussiness, and a low grade temperature. My co-worker threw out a couple of ideas as to what might be bothering him. 2 yr molars coming in or an ear ache. I too thought about the molars but quickly discounted them as I figured he already had them in over 6 months ago and the ear thing didn't seem right either as Cole wasn't pulling at his ears. I kept thinking that maybe he was having headaches. Cole was in a bit of a quiet mode and was able to do a little communicating to me and pointed to his mouth when I asked him what was hurting him, I looked back at the molars and sure enough, he is getting his molars in. I love being his mommy and being here for him when he isn't feeling well, I'm so thankful that I have a job that will still pay me when I need to be home and take care of my children. Cole cuddled up on me around 12 noon and I sat there very still for him to sleep; if I move a muscle, he wakes and gets upset. I was his pillow from 12 noon -3pm.

Our weekend

My little Ham!

Week of Sept 8

Sept 11
My memory of 911
I was still asleep, Dane was getting ready for work while having the tv on the news channel downstairs. I was woken by him running up the stairs and yelling, "Oh, no!" , "Oh, my God!" He told me to turn the tv on and there we both sat glued to the tv. I didn't want to go to work (at that time I worked as a Para Educator). I couldn't believe what was happening. My parents were in Alaska on a Cruz ship, I wasn't able to contact them and had to wait for a call from them.

Sept 10
I called Cole's Pediatrician, Dr. Goldman and asked for a referral for an audiologist. She mentioned that when a parent has a concern about their child's hearing, it is an automatic referral without a visit to her first. She will have to get approval from my insurance. I asked her, if he does have hearing damage, could it be a residual from when he had meningitis? She said it is possible and she also mentioned that the insurance will most likely cover this. The approval will take a week or so to come in.

Sept 9
Dane picked Cole up from daycare; Cole's teachers informed Dane that they are concerned about Cole's hearing as they often call for him and he doesn't seem to respond, a book fell to the floor with a loud boom and all of the children turned except Cole. The Cole being unresponsive to calling didn't surprise Dane, but the other mention did and caused Dane's eyebrows to raise.
Dane and I realized that this may be a background noise problem. (Sept 10 call to Dr. Goldman)

Sept 8
Tanner had Karate, he was a bit bouncy and not listening to his instructors.
Cole is getting into a wonderful routine of going to daycare.

Cole's Speech Eval

We had someone come out and check on Cole's speech, this was an informal evaluation. Nancy arrived and Cole came running to greet her and was parroting almost everything that she said to him. She mentioned it is good that he greeted her and was parroting almost every word spoken. He threw a tantrum while she was in our home, he wanted gum and we wouldn't allow it. Once he calmed down, Tanner started causing ciaos. Nancy quickly noticed that Tanner had to be the center of attention the whole 2 hrs that she was in our home. We informed her that we discovered that when he is constipated, he is out of control and also when a visitor is in our home he has bad behavior. She pointed out to us that Tanner is the reason that Cole isn't much of a talker as he has learned to stay quiet and let Tanner run the show. Cole's blood curdling screams are because he is protesting for or against something and demands his way.

We need to work on three things: Tanner needs to have better behavior via cleaned out bowels, we need to be firm on Cole and not let him have what he wants, and we need to work on teaching Cole how to answer questions.

Nancy will come and visit us again around Jan. Cole will then have 4 months of being in a daycare. We hope that being around his peers and having structure where he wont get what he wants all the time will help him communicate better and lessen the screaming tantrums.

Daycare Blues

Sept 6

The car had a broken ignition coil. Thank goodness it wasn't anything major. We got it fixed and picked it up later in the day. I ran a few errands and cleaned the house.

Sept 5

I dropped Cole off, he walked straight into the room and didn't look back, sat down for breakfast and was a happy little one. Ahh ... so nice to go to work and not see him cry as I'm driving off.
We brought the Pilot into the shop as the check engine light was on. *Crossing fingers* that it isn't anything major.

Sept 4

Cole had a very difficult drop off at daycare. Ugh.. makes it hard for me to go to work seeing him in distress as I'm driving off. The daycare lady at the front desk reassured me that it only lasts for 1-2 mins then he is over it and his day is fine. He still protests naptime. :o(