Aaron - assessment & diagnostic appointment

At Aaron's 4 year check up Rich and I were concerned about his difficult behavior and wondered if he's on track developmentally. The pediatrician referred us to Square One with Dr. Axelrod, a pediatrician who speciallizes in developmental and psychological assessments for children. She did several rating scales with us and Aaron's teacher, a physical and neurological exam, an hour long observation and screening with Aaron and the child psychologist, and a clinical interview with us. She also referred us for an additional speech assessment.

We met with Dr. Axelrod and Dr. Causey (child psych) last week. Aaron meets criteria for ADD, in attention and emotional regulation. They said that they did debate over this as a diagnosis and said that as he matures and we have more information, the diagnosis may change somewhat. They are concerned about a mood disorder. His IQ is normal and his speech is typical for a 4 year old - both causes for celebration because we've worried about a cognitive delay and he had an expressive speech delay as a toddler. He still has low motor tone in his upper body and sensory integration concerns.

We have some direction now. They are recommending one-on-one work with a child psychologist (checking Humana for out-of-network expenses for the one we'd like to use) to work on his frustration tolerance, self-help, and social skills, plus work with Rich and I on how we parent him. We are also going to continue with the occupational therapist at Green Hill for sensory integration, so Aaron will get to continue riding horses and she also does a lot of work on fine motor skills and self-help, such as buttons, zippers, etc.

Medication is an option. Dr. Axelrod suggested re-evaluating medication after about three months of therapy to see where he is on mood and frequency of tantrums at home. Her concern is his developing self image and typical mood, that it's not healthy for him to be consistently frustrated and out-of-control.

I was surprised by ADD as the initial diagnosis - my fear was that he would be on the Autism spectrum with either Asbergers or PDD. Dr. Axelrod said that his early speech delay probably has slowed down his development socially with his peers.

Thanksgiving

For us it's a relatively travel-free Thanksgiving - a quiet Thanksgiving at our house with Momma and Pappa, happily napping and decorating for Christmas in the afternoon. Yesterday we drove north of Cincinatti to a resort, Great Wolf Lodge. The big attraction is an enormous indoor water park with lots of slides, a wave pool, and - ahhhhhh - two hot tubs big enough to swim in. Aaron has been a riot, laughing the whole way down the slide and swimming independently with a life vest for boyancy.

Happy 54th

We celebrated Rich's birthday today at Huber Farm in Indiana - pumpkin patch, a tractor-wagon ride, and lots of sweet baby goats. Unfortunately Rich has a cold so he didn't feel great, but it was a lovely, warm fall day.

Roadrunner cartoons

The video is from earlier in the week - Aaron has been on a Road Runner kick recently. Church picnic today a big hit - great music, facepainting, armpainting (thanks Jordan!), and I won a pie-baking contest. Dad picked out the recipe and Mom helped me with a complicated recipe, so it's hard to claim much credit!

Misc whiny mommy

Aaron is exhausting me at night....he's sleeping through the night most of the time (yipee!) but taking close to two hours some nights to go to sleep and creating chaos that whole time (boo!!).

Luke went to his friend Sammy's house this evening and was terrified by the new version of "Willy Wonka" - it took quite a while to get him settled down.

Love Note to Louisville

I asked this question on Facebook: Ok FB friends.....what's the best part of living in Louisville? Rich and I are trying to convince his Ma to move here from NY and she's skeptical about what this region has to offer. She's here for 10 days to try it

Love all of the great responses, so here they are!
Nina Grow - there are only 5 (or maybe 7) cities in the US that offer all of the 5 major art forms professionally--orchestra, theatre, opera, ballet, and visual arts. Louisville is one of them.

Jerry Uthoff - One of the best things, her g-kids, L and A live here. You're boys are awesome.

Julie Kredens - Great healthcare centers... affordability (more house for your money here than in NY for sure!)... reasonably mild winters, for the most part... lovely springs and autumns...

Ruth LeMaster - Umm... isn't enough that your family is here?? It's a small city so easier to get around compared to NY traffic, lots of arts and culture, beautiful topography, milder weather, less pollution, less taxes, within a day's drive of Nashville, St. Louis, Cincinnati and Chicago, and people are friendlier.

Ed Staats - Go buy a dozen bagels from Dooley's -- the only decent ones in Louisville -- and she will think she is back in Nyoo Yawk.

Gloria Beswick - The best part is that you and Rich and Aaron and Luke are here of course! Plus there is all sorts of beautiful and varied scenery within a couple hours drives - lakes, mountains, waterfalls, moonbows, etc. Several active senior citizen organizations, the Kentucky Center, Broadway series, Actors, Derby Dinner, Orchestra, Opera. What's she want?

Heather Levinson - She's concerned about moving away from friends and if there will be opportunities to meet people she would really enjoy - avid reader, liberal politics, painting, & movie buff. I think being with us is important, and so is the financial flexibility & increased options that would afford her. The bagels couldn't hurt.

Nina Grow - Plenty of older liberals around here who get together all the time. Plus she'll be just in time for the fall elections. I'd love to hear what she thinks of Rand Paul. Tell her that Jefferson County went for Obama.

Julie Kredens - Ed... I agree with you on the bagels! Also... I think Whole Foods sometimes carries bialy's... so that should be alluring, too! And I do think she could become as politically involved as she desired. A friend of mine was very much involved in the local "Move On" group... but I'm sure there are other avenues to pursue, too. And Gloria, you're right... several active seniors activities/groups... including continuing education programs like Bellarmine's Veritas Society.

Lee VanZandt Goss ‎- 1.. Pewee Valley is a great place to live
2. Pewee Valley Presby. is a great little church with lots of great people!
3. She could join the Pewee Valley Women's Club, a really nice group of Ladies that do some good things in the community.....and have lots of fun, eating out, the theatre, garden tours, shopping! You could join too, Heather! Lots of the ladies are widows and live in the patio homes in Forest Springs! Nice ladies!
4. Rich and you and the boys are here! :)

Pamela Van Hoose Galage - My hubby is from NY (Newburgh) and he loves Louisville. He says the weather is so much better and the cost of living is great! Plus there are lots of fun "city" things to do here.

Ruth LeMaster If she misses her friends, she can always fly back for visits, and they can come here and visit her.

Kristin Olsen Bikram Yoga at the Hot Spot!!!! ha ha ha ha...just hydrate her!!!!

Gloria Beswick - Did we sell her on the idea yet, or should we keep going?

Becky Levinson - Grand kids who love her and lower cost of living

Heather Levinson - She looked at condos today and said that they were tempting, and we're making several social contacts over the next several days so she gets a better feel for the community - you have offered an amazing range of ideas and suggestions - I really appreciate it and she's enjoyed reading over my shoulder! And keep it on coming, Gloria!

Melinda Walters - great bourban, fried chicken and gravey, cheap cigarettes-also home of the a"World's Largest Rotating Fez" (gift to Louisville parades from the Shriners)-what else could anyone possibly want?

Slacker

I've been awful about writing this month! My boss said that she noticed that I spent July boycotting work and I suppose the same is true for blogging. All for a good cause.... I realized that I was exhausted and burned out, and I feel wonderful after spending the month hanging out with the kids & Rich, sleeping, reading trashy mysteries, and exercising. I'm FINALLY motivated to start prepping for the year and reading work materials sounds like fun now.

Today Rich is in Cincinnati with 3 little boys at King's Island, an amusement park and water park. They had a wonderful time and the boys were great. One funny thing he told me is that he realized that one little boy behavior is not unique to Luke: They either don't have to go at all, or they are desperate and doing the potty cha-cha. That was a challenge in a giant parking lot, so he taught someone else's child to pee between cars. Both of my boys have known that trick for years.

Not sure that I've written this before - sometimes when Aaron is talking I'll respond to him and he'll tell me, "No Mommy! I talking with myself!!"