Big Bite!

We had our first incident with Cate at school today. While the teacher was changing diapers, a child in Cate's class bit her several times. One bite even broke the skin and caused her to bleed. I understand that kids bite. I'm mad because the teacher didn't call us right when it happened. She told Jeremiah about it when he picked her up. I think it happened close to pick-up time, but I still feel like we should have been called. The teacher filled out a form and put it in her bag. Anyway, I know things like this happen, but I'm just mad because we weren't notified. I feel like when a child has that kind of injury, parent should be called right away. I hope it doesn't happen again, and I hope she doesn't scar. The one on her face isn't too bad, so hopefully it won't. Hope my next post is a little more uplifting.

Brief Update

Will saw his pediatrician today for his 4 year well child check. Everything was good. I was worried Will hadn't gained weight, but he did. He weighs about 39-40 pounds. His weight wasn't exact because they weighed him on the "big boy" scale today, and he didn't stand very still. He is 41 inches tall. On physical exam, she said Will looked great. He has bruises all over from "just being a little boy." He has been sick for about a week, but she said she thought it was probably a virus and that he didn't need antibiotics. He also got his flu shot today. He'll get the rest of his booster shots at his next check up. That's all the news for now. I'm going to be very busy with work over the next month, but I'll do my best to post as often as I can.

Medical Update on Will

I talked to Will's developmental pediatrician Monday morning, and he asked all about what was going on with Will. I told him about how he was more agitated and aggressive than before the medicine. I told him how the teachers at school were complaining about his behavior. They said that they had to constantly be one-on-one with him and redirect him a lot more than normal. When I told him all of this, we asked me if they knew he was on the medicine. I think he was trying to figure out if they were really seeing these effects or if it was just because they knew he was on a new medicine. I told him they didn't know, because they didn't at first. We started the Prozac on a Thursday and told them about it on the following Wednesday after they commented on his behavior.Dr. Gustavson told us to stop the Prozac. He didn't start any new medications at this time. He's going to see Will again at the end of January, and I guess we'll re-evaluate then.
Will has also seen his ophthalmologist since I last posted. We had been patching his eyes because he has strabismus (wandering eye) in both eyes. This was our second round of patching, and it wasn't successful, partially because Will wasn't that cooperative with the patches. Anyway, Dr. Groves is going to operate on Will's right eye in November. He said it will probably take more than one surgery to fully correct it. I guess he's going to wait to do the left eye and give it a little more time to correct itself. I wasn't at the appointment, so I'm not 100% sure on that.
Will has his 4 year old well child check on Monday. Hopefully nothing unexpected will come up. I won't be able to go this one either. That's the sucky thing about being in residency. They only thing I plan on is him getting a new prescription for Claritin and getting his immunizations. I am also anxious to see how much he weighs and how tall he is. He had lost weight the last time we took him in. I don't think his height has been measured in a year. He is so tall and thin, I bet he's grown a lot. I'll hopefully post again on Monday after that appointment.
Will and Cate both have some sort of virus right now making them cough, have a snotty nose, and have diarrhea. I'm also starting to feel badly. Pray for us all that we get better soon.

Mini Laps 2008

Today was Mini Laps, the big fall fund raiser at The Little Light House. The theme this year was "Once upon a time." All of the kids dressed up as story book characters and got to make a lap around the little track on the school's campus. Will was Prince Charming, and he looked so handsome! He rode around the track with a little girl in his class who was dressed as a princess. Their "carriage" was a tandem bike that was decorated and had a stick horse attached to the front. I think they had a good time, but they were both definitely on sensory overload. I took a ton of pictures and a video of Will and Hunter making their lap. Will ranked 15th in fund raising, out of 64 kids. The kids get to pick a prize in the order of their amount raised. Will picked a CD player, which is exactly what Jeremiah and I wanted to get for him. There was a carnival afterward with food and games for the kids. We all had a great time and are very proud of the kids and the $335,800 they raised this year.

Prozac Update

Well, Will has been on the Prozac for 6 days now. The doctor said that it takes 3-4 months to see the full therapeutic effect, but that bad side effects are usually seen withing the first 3-4 days. These bad sided effects include increased agitation, increased hyperactivity, and increased sleepiness, to name a few. Over the past week, I've felt like Will has more hyperactive and agitated than normal, but Jeremiah said that he was just his typical self. So, I let it go. However, today his teacher voiced a concern about Will's hyperactivity and energy level. Will has been at this school for over a year, and no one has ever mentioned Will's hyperactivity level. This is how I knew that my suspicions were true. They also said that due to Will's recent growth he's getting physically harder to control. This makes me really sad. I had high hopes that the Prozac may be the answer to Will's energy level. The main problem with his high energy level is that he isn't able to focus, even for 2 minutes, and this prevents him from learning a lot of things that I think he could learn otherwise. I called the doctor today to talk about this, but he's out of the office until Monday. So, we're going to continue the medication until we talk to him next week. Please pray that Will will calm down and be able to focus and learn at school. I'll post again when I have more news.

Developmental Update

Will had an appointment with his developmental pediatrician yesterday morning. It had been about 10 months since we had seen him last. He was happy with Will's progress in his motor and speech skills. He did seem a little disappointed that Will wasn't saying more. Anyway, the real news from the visit is this - he is starting Will on Prozac. He said that Will is so sensory overloaded, it's like he's trying to take an algebra test during a rock concert. He said that this sensory overload is the reason Will is constantly moving from thing to thing and can't focus on anything - that he's seeking more sensory input to somehow calm the overloaded feeling he gets. The doctor said that the reason Will has this sensory overload is that he has a seratonin deficiency. Prozac helps the brain keep as much of its seratonin as possible by blocking the re-uptake receptors that bring it out of the brain and into the blood. He said that it will take 3-4 months to see the full effect but that if Will was going to have any bad side effects that we should see them in 2-3 days. We start the medicine tomorrow. I'll post again after he's been on the medicine for a little bit and let you know how it goes. Please keep us in your prayers and pray that Will doesn't have any bad reactions to the medicine.

Happy Birthday Will!!!

I can't believe it, but my angel Will turned 4 on Saturday. He had a little party at school. They had pizza and I sent a cookie cake for the kids to enjoy. Will got to wear a birthday hat, and they sang to him. I'm sure it was a lot of fun. On Saturday, we had a small party for him. I don't think he knew it was his birthday, but he got to play with some friends and eat some cake. We also got people to donate to his school rather than bring birthday presents; so that was good. I think he had a good time. We had a puppy party because dogs are his favorite thing right now. He sees them and shouts "Ba!" He calls all dogs Ba because my parents have a dog named Beau, and that's how he pronounces it. Anyway, I'm posting 2 pictures from his birthday for your viewing pleasure!