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I feel like Cereese and I need a place to kvetch about kid stuff. The rest of you with kids or who like kids or just like us are welcome.

 

So many of you may or may not know that we've been trying to figure out what on earth is going on with my youngest since, well, 2 days after he was born. The past year has been a pretty painful experience in going through the wringer trying to get answers. Finally, the last few weeks have felt like progress in getting my son help with medication, IEPs, etc.

 

Today we went for our sleep study follow up and found out that he does indeed have mild sleep apnea, and they believe its something obstructive. I feel so bad! This could also impact his ADHD diagnosis (however, I'm pretty sure he does have it, but this is probably making it worse). I hate the idea that we are probably signing him up for another surgery, but I just want my little guy to be able to live his best life. The other thing I'm worried about is that it may just be reflux related, which brings us back full circle to when he was 2 days old and stopping breathing every time he spit up.

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That sucks. I'm trying to get my kids' insurance changed so we can change pediatricians. I want to talk to them about Luke's sleeping and his breathing. I swear the kid can't breathe normally. And he snores. LOUDLY. But our old ped refused to even look into it, just kept telling us that Luke is autistic and Noah is fat.

 

Good news though! With Luke we decided to not push potty training or sleep training or any of that training stuff that stresses people out and just let him come around on his own, and I'm happy to report that since turning 4 two weeks ago, he's just decided to start sleeping in his own bed and using the potty by himself. He's had like 3 accidents in public where he didn't want to stop playing to use the toilet, but only 1 incident at home where he started to pee but stopped himself and went to the restroom. So woohoo!!

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I would RAGE that they are ignoring sleep apnea. Kids that age shouldn't snore at all! Ethan doesn't snore but he breathes too shallowly and doesn't get rid of his CO2.

 

I'm glad toileting is going well! Ethan just finally came around over winter break. Still wetting overnight, I think that is going to take a few more years. Like I said, when he is sleeping it is so heavy that there's no way that is going to wake him up. Brainwave activity is normal, on the bright side, so there's that.

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My wife and I don't have kids of our own, but our six year old niece is kind of a part time kid for us.

She's had a wild ride in the past few years. Right before Christmas two years ago, she was in a bad car accident with her family. Everyone else was fine, but the impact happened right where she was sitting in my bro-in-law's truck. She suffered a severe head injury and had to be airlifted to a specialist children's hospital a three hour drive away. The injuries were so severe that she technically flatlined and died twice on the way to that hospital.

 

There were at least two different times where we thought we'd lost her. When we knew she'd at least make it, there were a lot of times where we weren't so sure that she'd ever walk or talk again. She eventually had to put in a lot of work to basically relearn everything all over again, but now it's as if nothing ever happened at all. I even took her to a concert with me last summer and she had the time of her life.

Some stuff still lingers a little bit. Her vision has never been that great since, and she still has some PTSD issues and sometimes has a lot of trouble focusing. But given the alternative that almost happened, we're all totally okay with continuing to put in the work with her.

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So Lyra's been acting weird the last few days--not eating much, back hurting, glassy eyed for a bit then it going away. Yesterday she's peeing constantly, and tells us her poop has been white. She shows us when she goes next, and yeah pretty pale. Googling it results in almost nothing good, so I've purposely avoided reading too deep into it (there's very few things I dislike more than self-diagnosis via the internet). We're waiting for the doctor to call back because only they can order labs, so I have a ziploc of white **** up on a high shelf. Super fun trying to get a piece of **** out of the toilet with a fork and into a ziploc, let me tell you!

 

Eli, meanwhile, has had what we think was either scarlet fever or fifth's disease, a big spoltchy body rash that makes his body feel like a lizard and made his face drained of color and look like a cancer's patient. He's a whiny little boy when he's not feeling well, but fortunately he seems to be just about over it. His teeth, however, are all fucked up.

 

Katie, who's had some severe anxiety issues, is feeling it come back, even stronger now that we're worried about Lyra.

 

And now I have a coworker who's obsessed with corona virus and thinks every sneeze someone makes is it, is freaking out even more about a second coworker who came back from Bangladesh and has been sick and out of the office for two weeks.

 

Super ****ing fun.

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We got her to the doctor yesterday. She was x-rayed, and it was clear: she has so much gas stored up inside her that she didn't have any bile left, which is what turned her poop pale (it wasn't bone/milk white, which is apparently when you have to worry about hepatitis and other liver issues). So basically, she needs to fart it all out, and the poop will return to normal color once she's had some time to regenerate some bile. The back/stomach pain, constipation, etc, were all a result of so much gas being stuck inside.

 

The best part was her farting directly in the pediatricians face.

 

I swear, man. Kids can really make you terrified it's something serious, and it turns out not that bad at all. Especially this kid. Being a preemie we worry about nearly everything with her, while with Eli, eh, he'll be fine.

 

Oh and don't worry I threw away the ziploc poop. I just hope when the garbage truck picks up today that the bag doesn't flop out into the street.

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Whew! I'm glad it was just the toots.

 

Now I have to deal with a health concern about my daughter. Apparently she's only put on 1 lb over the last year and her weight percentile has dropped by 20 points. Doctor wants to test thyroid, adrenal, etc. Also suggested that maybe competitive soccer is too much for her body. I mean, she spends maybe 4 hours a week max playing soccer, AAP recommends no more than 8 hours/week for her age. (Side note: soccer parents are 40% jerks, 40% clueless, and 20% tolerable. I am praying we keep the only family I can stand if we continue.)

 

Saw the special ADHD clinic at our local children's hospital. Super judgemental about using medication because they are psychologists and therapy solves everything. Apparently, we will be spending August-November in weekly super intensive therapy to teach us how to not suck as parents. Never mind that we have jobs and more than 1 kid, the sessions are downtown from 1-3pm (during school), or 4-6pm (older kid's daycare closes at 6 and we wouldn't be able to get there until 7 fighting traffic).

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  • 2 weeks later...

We were forced to pull the trigger on actually using our new pediatrician today. Luke was sent home from school with suspicion of pink eye. So we finally took him to the new place where we asked if they could do his 4 year check up as well. This doctor was WAY better. Luke wasn't. He doesn't have pink eye, only really bad allergies, but he was still grumpy and uncooperative as all hell. BUT this doctor actually listened to us and believed us when we told her that his current behavior wasn't representative of his typical behavior. She asked a few probing questions about him and then was just like, "yeah, sounds like he doesn't show any of the classic signs of ASD". That was huge for us and a first. We did talk also about his snoring and mouth-breathing, so she's referring us to an ENT and for a sleep study. We also talked about transitioning to private speech therapy because today was also his annual IEP meeting at school (which was moved up from May since he met all of his goals early.)

IEP meeting went very well. His teacher and speech therapist had nothing but good things to say about him. Well, they said he's like the classroom's "mini-teacher" or "cruise director" but I'm taking that to mean that he has excellent leadership skills and appreciates a good scheduled routine. All-in-all, he's doing well. His official evaluation doesn't actually expire or whatever until another year or so, so he's still eligible to stay in his early childhood program through the end of the year and he qualifies for full-day pre-k next year as well. The school intended to put him in a gen. ed. classroom next year with "extra supports available during core learning", but then they all agreed that he probably wouldn't need the extra support. His speech is improving. His behavior has improved tremendously lately (yay 4 year-old!!) and his new IEP goals pretty much sound like they just made stuff up so they'd have something to write. They're going to work with him on taking turns during cooperative games, like a typical 4 year-old, and increasing his narrative/sequencing speech (basically retelling stories and events in order).

 

We did decide not to send him back to public school next year though. He'll still be eligible for speech through the school if we choose that over the private speech therapy. We already enrolled him in the same homeschool co-op-like program that Noah's been doing for the past 3 years. We originally were going to wait on that because we're not fans of early academics necessarily, but the program is basically just memory work songs, fine arts projects, and simple science demonstrations. It's 2 hours one day a week. And Luke LOVES being there even though he's only there for a few hours in the afternoon and he's in the nursery. He's dying to be in "Noah's school" with his "big friends". Noah will be moving up to a full day program that includes logic, Latin, cartography/geography, science research, and persuasive rhetoric, and I'll likely be tutoring the afternoon grammar/writing class again even though I won't actually have a kid in that class.

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I'm so glad the new pediatrician is getting you into the ENT! Fair warning, I'm told that no matter how cooperative he is, they will likely have to do general anesthesia to scope him. But, if you're willing, they can likely remove adenoids/tonsils right then and there if they are the culprit. So one and done.

 

Still haven't found Ethan another ENT. The local Children's hospital has a severe mold problem that several kids have died from and aren't scheduling non-urgent surgery/procedures. Not sure I want my kid to be the first, anyway. I have a love-hate relationship with that hospital. They're good for initial diagnosis but after that I try to find specialists outside of them.

 

Medication is actually working really well for Ethan but he's now not sleeping well. I asked the doctor for advice and he said melatonin. Already doing that. I think we may actually cut a pill in half this weekend and try that.

 

And Quinn was fine. We started CBT for her this week and I think it's going to be really good for her. Still struggling with soccer. I think the real issue is her coach is not really coaching in a way the girls can understand, and he has zero patience for wiggly little girls. Like I get it that this is competitive soccer but they are 7-9 years old.

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I was once asked when I was interviewing for history teaching positions if I could coach a sport. I am WAAAAAAAAAAAY to competitive so coach anything. I would be the coach yelling at refs and throwing my clipboard down. Which is not a good look when you are trying to teach kids the value of team work.

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I actually really love coaching but I'm not in a place in life where I have the energy to plan a multiple times per week practice. My husband is way too competitive but can plan practices pretty easily. I know drills to run with older girls at the competitive level but not so much little girls at the recreational level. If there is one thing I've learned from leading Girl Scouts, its that I need to make it fun for this age group and make it more of a game. The few times I got to coach because my husband was sick or out of town was really fun and I think the girls liked me better haha.

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Lyras got a virus of some kind. Got her checked for strep and its not that. Her fever got up to 104.7 yesterday, but she was still walking around and coherent and wanting to play.

 

Im really sick of all three members of my family being constantly sick. Its been two straight months of it. I havent gotten sick once. Really wish their immune systems would catch up.

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Oh yeah, let's talk about the corona virus. ENDLESSLY. I've been answering concerned parent calls about that this week. We are not far from where they are quarantining cruise ship evacuees here at Lackland AFB. And strep is going around so everythings hectic. I clean daily with clorox wipes and we now have a hand wash station in my classroom.

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We've been doing Girl Scout cookie sales and using my phone for credit card transactions. I wipe it down with a bleach wipe as soon as we are done and sanitize.

 

Costco is apparently nuts right now, local grocery stores were usual business, fortunately. But right now they had to tell people to stop bringing their kids to the ER and demanding coronavirus tests. Stay your butt home if you really think you have it.

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Lyras got a virus of some kind. Got her checked for strep and its not that. Her fever got up to 104.7 yesterday, but she was still walking around and coherent and wanting to play.

 

Im really sick of all three members of my family being constantly sick. Its been two straight months of it. I havent gotten sick once. Really wish their immune systems would catch up.

Katie and Eli now have this same fever and cough too. Im gonna move the fuck out.

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Any tips to dealing with biting between 2 and 3 year-old boys? The antecedent is generally fighting over a toy and it usually gets worked out well before then, but when it happens....holy shit.

 

On another note, Paw Patrol is the WORST tv show of all time. PJ Masks is ****ing Hamlet compared to PP. I am so close to banning PP it's not even funny.

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Oh yeah, let's talk about the corona virus. ENDLESSLY. I've been answering concerned parent calls about that this week. We are not far from where they are quarantining cruise ship evacuees here at Lackland AFB. And strep is going around so everythings hectic. I clean daily with clorox wipes and we now have a hand wash station in my classroom.

Everytime anyone coughs all the students are saying Coronavirus. A teacher coughed, all the kids started yelling Coronavirus, she sarcastically said "yup....got me", and students refused to go to class. I told them to go back to class. They all called home and I had a dozen parent phone calls saying they wouldn't allow their kids back in that class. Sometimes I hate my ****ing job.

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Any tips to dealing with biting between 2 and 3 year-old boys? The antecedent is generally fighting over a toy and it usually gets worked out well before then, but when it happens....holy ****.

Supposedly it has to do with poor communication skills, and is age appropriate (but not desirable, obviously) because they lack those communication skills. Fortunately my kids were never biters but they also had advanced communication skills (but never stop talking, so there's that). I used to get really pissed when they would get bit at daycare. My best advice is to encourage them to use their words (have them practice it in a calmed down situation) and be fast to intervene.

 

On another note, Paw Patrol is the WORST tv show of all time. PJ Masks is ****ing Hamlet compared to PP. I am so close to banning PP it's not even funny.

Just wait until your kid gets into Minecraft.
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Had to stop selling Girl Scout cookies at grocery stores because of coronavirus. Most troops didn't stop, though. Now a parent at my son's elementary school has it, and their kid likely does, too (fortunately the kid wasn't at school all last week). So the school is closed for 2 days for cleaning. My daughter's school is closed tomorrow for them to have an emergency training day for virtual learning. Meanwhile I'm working from home until probably after spring break, so having 2 kids at home tomorrow while 2 adults both try to squeeze in 8 hour days is going to be super fun.

 

If they shut my daughter's school down and expect virtual learning, I'm going to lose it. They are already insane when you are out sick for a day and expect you to make up every stupid worksheet they do in class. I do not have time for this nonsense. I would much rather the kids make up the days at the end of the year like it's a snow day. But the teachers want to be on summer break as soon as they can.

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Oh yeah, let's talk about the corona virus. ENDLESSLY. I've been answering concerned parent calls about that this week. We are not far from where they are quarantining cruise ship evacuees here at Lackland AFB. And strep is going around so everythings hectic. I clean daily with clorox wipes and we now have a hand wash station in my classroom.

Everytime anyone coughs all the students are saying Coronavirus. A teacher coughed, all the kids started yelling Coronavirus, she sarcastically said "yup....got me", and students refused to go to class. I told them to go back to class. They all called home and I had a dozen parent phone calls saying they wouldn't allow their kids back in that class. Sometimes I hate my ****ing job.

 

Yeah, I can't joke about it. But it is pretty funny when the kids do it. I have to kind of turn my back and pretend I am writing stuff on the whiteboard so I can laugh quietly. The other day one of my students sneezed and he had a hail of clorox wipes rain down on him. Thank gawduh, that back in December I did a Costco run with a friend as I won't pay for membership to buy a bulk supply of tissues, clorox wipes and sanitizer. So I have those.

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For my nephews birthday we went in on tickets to see Paw Patrol live at the Tobin Theater. Thank god I didn't go. I'm hoping that this stuff with the virus really causes school to close but mostly for selfish reasons as I want to go back out to AZ to be with my Mom. The biggest thing is the virus is big on people in home type environments. Most of the Wuhan victims got it from small family units that they were living in. And I hate cruise ships because they're huge polluters.

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Any tips to dealing with biting between 2 and 3 year-old boys? The antecedent is generally fighting over a toy and it usually gets worked out well before then, but when it happens....holy ****.

Supposedly it has to do with poor communication skills, and is age appropriate (but not desirable, obviously) because they lack those communication skills. Fortunately my kids were never biters but they also had advanced communication skills (but never stop talking, so there's that). I used to get really pissed when they would get bit at daycare. My best advice is to encourage them to use their words (have them practice it in a calmed down situation) and be fast to intervene.

On another note, Paw Patrol is the WORST tv show of all time. PJ Masks is ****ing Hamlet compared to PP. I am so close to banning PP it's not even funny.

Just wait until your kid gets into Minecraft.

 

Oh, there is plenty of communication and negotiating and usually it is successful...the issue is generally when the other still wants the toy. They are only 15 months apart and are of similar size but the 3-year old is still more coordinated and biting is the great equalizer. I am with you, I know it is age appropriate, but it still sucks.

 

I disagree about Minecraft. I know it can actually be a pretty powerful tool. I have seen people in universe calculators. But to your point, I guess it is all how it is used.

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