Michael Update

Michael had his cyst removed.  For a while, he had this little lump that we were told could be this big long word.  It was removed about a week ago and we are on our way to his chin healing.  After the surgery was complete, the doctor said that it wasn't what he thought it was, but that it was either a cyst or a lymph node (i didn't know that you had lymph nodes in your chin).  We go for a follow up in about a week and a half and will find out the biopsy of the cyst.

In a week and a half we are also taking Michael for his developmental evaluation.  I have been really concerned about his lack of meeting certain milestones or his lack of communicating.  According to his preschool teachers, he is progressing, but not as fast as they would like to see.  He has been in a a 5 hour preschool program for a year now and is still not really able to talk to us about his day.  Luckily his teacher sends home a little check off on the things that happen during the day so that I can ask him about it.  With lots of prodding he is able to maybe at least acknowledge that he has down certain things at school.  Unlike his younger brother (by 10 1/2 months), Michael can not really communicate about his day even with simple cuing.  I have noticed though, that he is improving over that last couple of weeks.  Before, when you asked him who his teacher was, he would say teacher, now he can say her name and then just this morning, I asked him who was in his class and he actually named the kids without a lot of prodding.  He still likes to play alone and doesn't really even play along side other kids.  His imaginary play is starting, but is still pretty limited.

The one area that he actually excels in is music.  He loves music and can sing many songs.  He was able to sing songs before he could really say a whole lot.  I love listening and watching him sing.  His whole face lights up and you really now that he loves music.

One thing that I do think has helped is his diet.  He has shown to be sensitive to  gluten and dairy.  ever since we have removed these or at least lessened them greatly in his diet, he has been improving.  He is more aware and more vocal.  He sleeps better and doesn't seem to have the skin issue that he was having, especially when he was eating and drinking dairy.

I am looking forward to his developmental evaluation.  Part of me says that he doesn't need it, but another part of me says don't be stupid.  He is four years old and he should be communicating more than he is and he should be playing more with others or at least along side others rather than always wanting to play by himself.  He does well with his brother and sister, but really needs to start playing with other kids.

One other major area that he has greatly improved in is in his behavior.  His impulsivity is much improved.  Before, if you reprimanded him, he would throw something.  Usually this was regarding asking him to put soothing down.  Instead of putting it down, he would throw it and sometimes it was something very fragile.  I do think that you need to talk to him in a certain way, but he is so much better.

I can't wait to either find out that there is no real issue and we don't need to worry, or find out that there is an issue and then we work on helping him with whatever issue he has.  I really just need to know where to go with him and know if I am worrying needlessly or if my instincts were right and I need to do more!

Amy

Meal Planning And An Organized Life

Some of my twin mom friends are really great at being organized, or at least they are better at being organized than I am.  It's probbaly always going to be a struggle for me and always going to be a work in progress, but I get motivated by these moms to keep working at it.

I am in the process of working on my menu for March.  I have never done even a weekly menu plan before, but am now truly motivated after spending the day with my mom after her lymph node biopsy only to come home and not have anything ready for dinner for me to take to work or for my family to have.  Thankfully my husband is able to cook a couple of hot dogs and broccoli for the kids.  If I had a meal plan in place, I could have been better prepared.  With my mom now mostly likely having chemo and radiation, I'm sure that we will be spending more time with her to help out since I am home during the day and everyone else works.  Since I go to work at night, it will be even more important for me to have a plan in place for meals.

Right now I am trying to get a bunch of recipes together to put on my monthly plan.  I plan to have breakfast lunch and dinner mapped out, but can be a lot more flexible with these meals.  I will have a few crockpot recipes as well as some easy/quick recipes that I can easily make before I leave for work, or that my husband can make after I leave.  After I get my meals planned, I will make a shopping list and make sure that I follow it and go shopping after I have satisfied my hunger.  This weekend, I went shopping just before supper, and what a mistake that was.  I bought a whole bunch of foods that I shouldn't be eating and now it will either go to waste or I will need to eat things that I don't want/need to eat.

I am hoping that I can plan meals that are healthy and that the kids will like.  After I get my meals organized, I am going to move on to more areas that I need to get organized, like cleaning the house, laundry, etc.  That way I won't feel like I am doing it all at once and I won't get so overwhelmed that I just put it off over and over and over.  Hopefully this will mean that I have more time to do fun things with the kids like salad spinner spin art, rubber stamping using the new stamps that I got for the bargin price of $.97  and $1.97, coloring, painting, and many other fun play things.

Amy