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Protected: Working towards diagnosis
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Sentimental, after all?
Lego Lover and I were out and about today and our discussion eventually moved onto the subject of his old-time favorite videos, Might Machines. We first saw these videos while we lived in Canada for a year when he was a toddler. He absolutely adored them and was over the moon when we found a copy of one of the videotapes at a secondhand shop to purchase and bring back to Australia. That was watched repeatedly. A couple years later, dvds were released of the series and a second set of videos were made. As the dvds were released, we would faithfully order them from Canada and wait two months or more for them to arrive and eventually collected nine dvds. Lego Lover watched them all the time and never tired of them. We thought he’d be watching them as a teenager.
So about a year or so after we received the last one, Lego Lover decided they were history and didn’t want them any more, along with several other toys he owned. Most of the old things have moved on to new owners but we still have the dvds. We didn’t want to just give away something of such monetary and sentimental value. At one point I did attempt to sell them and even to loan them out. But for some reason, they have never left the house.
But back to our conversation today…Lego Lover remembered his favorite episodes and was reminding me of them too (because I just might have forgotten one or two details, after all!). Then he went on to tell me that there were some episodes that he didn’t like, mostly from the second set of videos, and now claims that’s why he stopped watching in the first place….hmmm…
So the result of that conversation is that tonight, Lego Lover started watching his dvds again and has returned to non-stop discussion of them. Game Fanatic is not very amused by this turn of events, even though it means we get some relief from long-winded Lego and Bionicle discussion. I don’t really think his interest will last for long. But what I find interesting is that perhaps he does has a slight sentimental streak after all.
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Hair
I started making attempts at cutting Lego Lover’s hair today. It’s been quite long for a while and he refuses to go to a proper shop so I get the lovely task of cutting it. I started this afternoon by cutting some of the length and continued this evening by cutting a bit more evenly around his head. I gave it up a while ago to avoid any battles with him, so will have to continue work tomorrow. The good news is his eyes are now visible. However, his hair is now quite oily and greasy. I’m assuming this is the beginning of puberty for him at not even ten years of age.
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New foods
Lego Lover had the pleasure of trying a green curry recently and he liked it! It was a reasonably hot one, too! He has been willing to eat chicken that’s been cooked in the curry before but it had to be rinsed off so that most of the taste was gone. This time, he ate it with the sauce and rice. And he really, really liked it…so much that he had a second helping. Too bad there wasn’t very much available on this particular occasion.
Game Fanatic also decided he liked a food he hasn’t previously enjoyed too. We had bought some takeout food from a Portuguese-Malaysian food outlet and I had gotten a Malaysian noodle dish. Game Fanatic has never cared much for noodles or pasta but he tried a bit of my very generous serving and he liked it. It was quite tasty although it was a bit on the oily side so it’s not something I would get very often.
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A step forward, a step back…
I was quite pleased when my suggestion of trying a robotics class (for homeschoolers) was receptively met by Lego Lover a few months ago. We booked into the class and the Scientist organized to go along and work with him. He was still keen before we left today and all seemed to be fine. Unfortunately, the way the class was organized didn’t suit Lego Lover and he found it too overwhelming. There are three more lessons planned but I suspect that we may not see it through to the end after the disaster that occurred this afternoon. A rather expensive lesson in the end…
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Two sizes!
It became apparent quite recently that none of Lego Lover’s warm weather clothes fit him any long so we went off to find some new clothes for him this morning. A few months ago, he had size eight shorts falling off him because of his small waist. Today, we found that he can’t wear size ten at all and even some size twelves were too tight for him. The child has filled out quite a bit lately. I suspect this may be related to his medication since that’s a very common side effect. I just hope that he’s going to stay at the current size, which is still within the normal range. I can’t believe he skipped a size in such a short time.
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It's about time!
Lego Lover finally lost the tooth that’s been loose for at least four or five months now. I think this is the one that doesn’t have a replacement permanent tooth so has probably been pushed out by the canine tooth next to it. This is his first lost tooth in over two and a half years. He is quite ecstatic over it and is looking forward to his first visit from the tooth fairy in a very long time. I think the tooth fairy was more generous this time, considering all the pain and suffering caused by this tooth.
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Smiles
For several days, Lego Lover has been incredibly cranky and difficult to be around. I must admit that I had forgotten his dose of medication on one occasion and I seem to have given the wrong amount on another. The rest was just him, I guess.
But when I woke him up this morning, he had a huge smile on his face. He was in a good mood most of the day, which was a wonderful change for all of us. On top of that, he went to bed when told and he was asleep by midnight. Nice!
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A spectrum of emotion
On Monday afternoon, there was a bit of a meltdown happening with Lego Lover about an issue that he’d been unable to resolve. It was the end of the world for him at that point and it was not only his fault but also mine and his brother’s fault. I managed to point him in the right direction to solve the problem and from that point he just was happier by the minute. He kept telling me he couldn’t thank me enough to the point I asked him not to do so any more. In the past, these meltdowns might have taken hours of my time but this really only lasted a very short while and before long, life returned to our concept of normal.
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Too close
I’ve written in the past about our trials of medications to help Lego Lover feel better about the world. He has always tended towards extreme shifts of moods, although I must admit he has far more of a middle ground now than when he was a toddler and preschooler. Still, his moods shifts can be really alarming and we’ve had incidents that motivated me to take action. Last year we started medication to help with sleep issues and that has been mostly effective aside from the fact he has become resistant to its effects. Still he is better taking it than without it.
A trial of meds to help with anxiety earlier this year didn’t go well. It didn’t go badly either, but we found there was no real improvement and moved on to a different medication near the middle of the year. The current medication has been increased twice now and we feel that there has been some improvement but question whether it’s enough to warrant continuing with it. What has been interesting is that we’ve had positive feedback from two family members and a friend who all agree that he is much better than he’s been in the past. I think the Scientist and I have been too close to him to see any dramatic effect because it’s been gradual for us. But for those who seem him infrequently, it’s been rather significant.
I’ve had to make certain adjustments on the dosing of his medication to avoid the side effect of sleeplessness (which is less common than the drowsiness experienced by most users). We also had to put the previous sleeping medication back into the mix or he would be awake until 2am or later each night. But I think we are on to a good thing right now.
I’ve been attempting to reintroduce Lego Lover into some regular social outings and I think my attempts are going far better than they have in the past. I keep the situations fairly controlled but he is becoming more open to the idea of spending time with similar-aged peers that we often come into contact with. I’m hoping to create some relationships with other children so that he can share his passions with them instead of relying on me or other immediate family members for that role.
At our last pediatrician appointment, I must say I felt totally unsure whether it was worth continuing but the doctor suggested we might stick with it a bit longer and I think this turned out to be the right choice. I can’t help feeling that when we look back in four or five months, we will realize the benefits of sticking it out.