Backtracking to April, my brother got married in a sweet, beautiful ceremony. He is happy and that makes me feel glad. My little men turned 6. We didn’t have a party with work, wedding, and school obligations. We had many small celebrations with family, classmates, etc. Also, in April, there was a crazy tornado in a nearby town we shop, eat, and visit often. L has been anxious about bad weather especially since then.
May brought the final days of kindergarten, evaluations for L’s issues, good report cards, and the start of summer vacation. A had a great year of school. L did fine academically but behavior/social issues were ever abundant. We were able to get L evaluated at an area autism center. I was interviewed and filled out lots of paper work. L was also tested on another day. It was a month before we had results.
June came with my birthday, a music festival, library time, VBS, room update for the boys, and results of the evaluation. My birthday was on a Sunday. I was blessed with cash, two gift cards, and a bag of dirt. Yes, I was glad for the dirt even if I’ve had too much rain, too much shade in the wrong places, seeds that wouldn’t grow, bugs, etc. B and I took the boys to their first concert. It was a tornado relief fundraiser. Paul Thorn was the headliner but he wouldn’t be on until later. The boys enjoyed themselves but fell asleep by the time Paul came on. That was fine since they had had a long day with VBS and bike riding at the park. What wasn’t great was when A woke up confused and crawled up onto B’s lap…then he peed on B. I had L sleeping on me. Shortly after the pee from A, L let lose on my lap. It looked like I wet myself. I was only glad it was dark outside but I still got some strange looks on the way back to the car at the end of the show. A few days later, B and I went to the inaugural Moon River Music Festival in Memphis at the historic Levitt Shell. We had our seats right up at the front, middle of the stage. It was an all day music fest with an amazing line up! Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors, Will Hoge, Holly Williams, and the Dirty Guv’nahs were among my favorites but there was not a bad act. It was crazy hot, sticky with random rain showers. It was one of the best fests I have attended. I won’t forget the memories made here anytime soon. B and I finally got to update the boys room. They had outgrown their toddler daybeds. We painted it a lovely blue gray color after the sunny yellow it has been the last six years. I loved that yellow. I vow that some other room must be that sunny, happy yellow. We put together bunk beds, put in new dressers, and reused some other storage. The boys love it. They are proud of their room and their beds. L sleeps on top and A on the bottom. A likes to go visit L’s bunk. The other big thing of the month was the evaluation results for L. B and I were told L has combined presentation ADHD and was high-functioning in autism spectrum disorder. We had a lot of information thrown at us. I didn’t look at the report again until the following week just because it was so much to figure out where to begin. The results weren’t surprising it was a matter of figuring out the steps to help L.
July is where we are now. It is what it is. We had a lovely fourth of July with my parents after we attended the community parade. Someone we attend church with invited the boys and I to ride along in their trailer. I was touched to be included for the boys sake. A was eager to accept the invitation. L refused until I offered to go with him. Basically, he wanted to ride but felt insecure in the setting. He sat in my lap refusing to speak to anyone else, wave, or throw candy despite my gentle encouragement. One little thing stand out in my mind weeks out from that parade. One of the other adults I also go to church with called back to everyone in the trailer when we saw B (who was taking pictures for the newspaper), she said, “Hey y’all! We have an “in” to get in the paper, wave at B!” I felt a bit used. It doesn’t mean I won’t be my nice self. I just got reminded that people have motives and are in it for themselves. It isn’t easy to make friends more than acquaintances when you are the wife of a newpaper editor in a small town. Anymoo, the boys had their 6 year wellness visits this past week. A weighed 52 lb and was 49 1/2 in tall. L weighed 62 lb and was 49 in tall. L has never weighed more than A their entire lives. L began eating and sleeping better after getting over his tonsil and adenoid surgery. L still in unable to stay dry through the night or wake up enough to know to go to the bathroom. We opted to wait another year before trying a med for that. L was given a sample of Intuniv to try to see if that is helpful for his ADHD. Problem is I can’t convince him to even try to swallow a pill. I don’t know what we will do at the moment. We haven’t been able to get in touch with the special education coordinator for the school district the past two weeks. She is supposed to be back Monday. We need to get L an IEP. The kid is incredibly smart but his working memory is terrible. Like I said, it is what it is.
Hooting Right Along 