What's in a Name?

10.28.2010

mind your manners

Yesterday all three kiddos were coloring at the kitchen table.  Devin asked Alex for a brown crayon, and Alex said, "What do you say?".  I had to laugh.  I know that they mimic what they hear, but it still surprised me to hear my five-year-old demanding good manners from my seven-year-old. 

10.17.2010

the sneak

In an email exchange with Devin's teacher, she mentioned that he is having trouble following directions and staying on task during the school day.  She said that the kids are allowed to read when they complete their work, but that Devin is slow to put his books away and join what the rest of the class is doing, so he often starts lessons behind the rest of the kids.  My first thought was that we were heading down the "occupational therapist" path to determine if there are attention, fine motor or sensory issues to consider.  So I emailed her some questions.  I asked her if Devin's behavior was impacting his school work; if she thought his behavior was "typical" for a second grade boy and if she had any suggestions as to how we can help him. 

Last spring Devin's first grade teacher suggested that he be evaluated by an OT because he was always wiggly in his seat, because his handwriting was awful, because he was mouthing everything (his fingernails being the first choice...) and because he needed a lot of prompting and coaching to get started on his work.  The OT suggested some things to work on over the summer and said that we should re-evaluate his progress in the fall.  Since then his handwriting has improved and he stopped chewing his nails, so I thought he had matured and grown past some of his issues.  Plus, I know he's reading at a third grade level and will often read for forty-five minutes in a single sitting.  Clearly he can focus when he wants to.

I was volunteering in second grade last week, and Devin's teacher and I had an opportunity to chat about Devin.  She said that she thinks his behavior is impacting his work at times because he starts assignments after everyone else and is rushing to complete his work with the rest of the kids.  She also said that this behavior is typical for a kid Dev's age, but that he is doing it a lot more than most kids.  For instance, there were a number of times when the class would be reviewing and correcting their work, and Devin would sit at his desk (in the front row) and be reading from a book in his lap or playing with the items on his desk. 
Luckily his teacher and I are on the same page about leveraging extra therapies for potential attention issues (slow to get into the extra therapies), and we said that we would continue to talk to him about following directions and staying on task with the class while at school.  I completely agree that he needs to participate in these activities and follow directions, and I am thrilled that his teacher realizes that he may get past this with our encouragement and his own maturity.

Leave it to my kid to get busted for sneaking a book in school.

10.12.2010

triumphant at last


Lately my runs have been mediocre at best.  I have gone into them a little tired, a little pressed for time, even a little hungover... and I haven't been that happy or motivated.  I think it was both a physical and a mental issue.  My injury from the USMC Mud Run certainly played a part.  At my ER visit they told me that I couldn't sweat "excessively" until the Dermabond came off my forehead, which meant no running for a couple weeks.  A couple weeks doesn't seem like much, but it is long enough that I lost my groove... until yesterday.
After dropping the boys off at school I hit the trail (for the first time in ages) where I did most of my training for the VA Beach half marathon.  The weather was cool and the sun was shining.  And for the first time in  a while, it felt really good to run.  I set out for a six mile tempo run, thinking that if I wasn't moving fast enough I would cut it short.  But I was moving just fine; faster than I expected even.  At the 3 mile turn around I was surprised both at my time and at how low my heart rate still was... so I picked it up a bit and pushed myself to a nine minute/mile pace for the last three.  Overall I did 6+ miles in 55 minutes and I felt awesome!! 
I know that not every run is going to be great, but runs like yesterday are the reason we lace up those sneakers time and again.

10.04.2010

lulluby

Last night I was tired, so tired.  So I climbed into Alex's bed and under the covers while the kids were getting ready for bed.  Devin was in the shower and Alex was brushing his teeth.  Alex saw me and went to tell Devin that I was sleeping in his bed (his voice indicated that he thought this was really cool).  Then he came in, pulled the covers up over my arms and began to sing to me.

lulluby and good night
go to sleep my little mommy
la la la la, la la la
go to sleep my lovie mom

Does it get any better than that?