Normal...

"oops excuse me, I tooted..."

I suppose it's a better statement then the usual...

Today is the Kiddo's birthday. He proudly told everybody who would listen yesterday that he was five but that today he'd be SIX. We aren't doing much for it, mac and cheese for dinner and sherbet for dessert. One gift tonight. Well, make two gifts tonight... one from us and one from Lady D (who is flying in to visit and help out for a week, her gift is her being here and the Kiddo is excited beyond words). Tomorrow is his birthday party so hopefully Sunday I'll have some fun pictures for you. We're going to be doing pizza, home made ice cream with goodies to sprinkle on top, and a chocolate cake which will be (God willing) shaped like a police car. Wish me luck on the cake!!

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The updates:

This week has been a rather long one. First day back to school for the Kiddo was Tuesday. When I dropped him off I offered to stay and help but Mrs. S told me that I did not need to, that she'd already spoken to the kids several times about the rules regarding the Kiddo and she felt prepared. Her only real concern was the bathroom and I told her that he would not have to go in school so it shouldn't be a problem. The relief on her face was almost comical, and she said "oh good, I'd hoped you weren't one of those moms."

He's done fairly well with the whole thing. Each day he does not want to go, but only a little so there are no breakdowns or lengthy arguments. We've been on time (barely) and gotten him situated easily. The other kids all love to see him and excitedly run up to give him a high five hello.

Mrs S says he is doing fine with the school work. There have been several in class break downs, where he does something not quite the way he meant to do it and freaks out. Not a normal reaction for him and Mrs S understands,... in fact on the first day as I picked him up she was explaining one of his breakdowns (almost as if she was worried I'd be disapproving of how she handled it) and I told her that she has the perfect temperament for his situation. She raised her eyebrows and said "what, hard nosed?" and I laughed and said yes, exactly, he needs to know you understand, but he also needs to know that breaking down over it isn't acceptable. I really do like her.

I mentioned in my One Week + post that we went to the Kiddo's well child visit last Wednesday. His pediatritian has been one of my favorite people ever since we first saw her several years ago. She listens, and she's willing to have a conversation even when I've gone into rambling nervous wreck mode. We had a long talk last week about the AD/HD concern and she sent us home with a couple Conner's questionnaires to fill out. One of them was for us to do, and one for his teacher. Basically we rated him on a scale of 0-3 on several different types of behavior/situation/etc, 0 being "not true at all" and 3 being "very much true". For example one of the questions was "Inattentive, easily distracted"... we put him down as a 3. Mrs S put him down as a 2.

Yesterday, Thursday, we took the Kiddo back to the pediatrician and she scored the forms and charted them. She said that we'd put him down much higher then Mrs S has... our form had him at medium high level of risk, Mrs S had him at a medium level. Then she did some more questions for us, and she talked to the Kiddo and observed him during the 30 minutes we were there. I expected the ugly acronym, and I expected to be making an appointment with a specialist.

But that's not what we got. Our amazing Ped told us he is normal, he is most definitely a very bright boy, but slightly socially/emotionally immature. She suggested we keep him back a year, that because of the level of involvement at home a second year in kindergarten wont hurt him at all. She said she understands it's hard to do something like that in this state, she'll write a letter if it's needed and she's sure between herself, his endo doctor, his eye doctor, his ortho doctor (for his leg) she's sure we can get enough heavy weight behind the request to make it work.

Deep breath, almost giddy feeling.... We were right!... I was so worried that I was looking at him with blinders on. That I saw what I wanted to see. To have an impartial person look at it and see the same thing is a very big relief.

Today when I drop him off for class I will try to be early so I can explain what the pediatrician said. That way we can get the ball rolling. Am I glad he's going to repeat? No. But in my mind it's the lesser of two evils and I think it will set him up for success more then any other course could (barring private school of course... man how I wish!...)

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And a funny:

Sitting in the doctors exam room we went through the usual brief physical. Of course the assistant took his height and weight from me (we used his January Endo visit stats), she checked his ears, heartbeat, and blood pressure. Then she told us the doc would be right in.

The Kiddo started looking around. He saw a sign on the wall and read it to us, "please no food or drink in the waiting room or exam rooms". Then he turned to us and with his best woe is me face he said "hey mom, can I have a drink of water??"

Me: What? No. Jeez you just read that sign, what did it say?

Him: It said food or drink in the waiting room and exam rooms

Me: No it didn't, it said NO food or drink

Him: no, it's says food or drink, there isn't a no

Me: there is too, re-read it

Him: (reading) Please food or drink in the waiting room or exam rooms. See the NO is silent, you don't say it... it's a quiet no.

Me: it's a.... oh man.....

Yeah, he's creative our kiddo... he definitely tried to work the system. Needless to say the conversation/argument over the fact that the word NO cannot be silent went on for several minutes before he gave up. We got him water on the way out.