Took Timmy in for his med check appt today.
He's back up 3 1/2 pounds so that made me feel better.

We've noticed that the afternoon dose has been doing very little if anything many days. So the Dr gave us a Rx for 60 of the 2.5's so that we can try doubling up but if we don't like what that does we don't have to go back and get another script we can just go back to one pill. I really can't express enough how much I love our Dr he has really made this as easy as he can. I know some people go through a lot to find something that works and part of it was just luck for us. But I love that the Dr really 1, trusts me and my input and 2, has Timmy's best interest in mind! He seems so genuinely thrilled to see how Timmy has grown!

Holding Steady

It's been awhile since I posted here so I thought I'd just give a quick update.

So far it's been a pretty good summer.  Mornings are a little rough sometimes a Timmy wakes up and is going at 90 mph when everyone else is barely moving.  But over all he's doing well.  I'm surprised he hasn't been willing to do much reading but when he does, he is doing really well.  For the most part he's out and going when he can.  He played TBall this summer (where they actually pitched most of the time) and did really well.  A complete 180 from the kid playing in the dirt all last year.  He did great on the field but I also noticed at their end of the year picnic/pool party he really is doing well making friends and getting to know other kids.  THAT makes me happier than anything!

He will be starting Cub Scouts which I think he'll really like.  Hopefully if all goes well he'll be going on his first overnight camp out with his dad and brother middle of August.  Hopefully that will be a chance to make some more good friends too.

Then school will start before we know it.  He will be in First Grade.  I will just keep my fingers crossed that they will be able to keep him challenged and not bored and that he has another amazing school year.

Afternoon dose

We have finally added an afternoon dose of Focalin. We're doing 2.5MG and it seems to be working for now. The difference in behavior seems to be becoming more pronounced so this really is a big help. It leaves us with about an hour of chaos at the end of the day. Of course the mornings are still very hard. At this point I'm thinking if I had something to take in the morning it might help. He just wakes up and is going on all 8 cylinders straight out of the gate. The rest of us simply don't function like that so it causes tension.
But like I said the behavior seems to be getting even worse when the meds have warn off so we really need to figure out where we can be getting some extra help there soon too. I really feel like we're pretty darn consistent and the issue isn't really anything horrible, its just a constant not listening and having fits when he doesn't get his way. He so obviously has a truly amazing heart but it is just very frustrating to feel like a 6 year old really wants to control our household and sometimes really can!

Spelling Check Up

Apparently they don't call spelling tests, spelling tests anymore but instead call them spelling checkups. Maybe they're less intimidating that way, I don't know. But Timmy had his first one this week. He did really well, I think. He got three wrong but 2 were words that weren't on their list for the week. Not sure if they were from weks prior that he hasn't been in this class for or if they were just bonus, can you figure it out thing. Ang then one he got wrong because despite him being able to tell you how it's spelled, he wrote a letter ('p') backwards so it was a ('q') so it was wrong.
He's still really struggling with a few letters in that way. So now I need to do some searching and see if this is still to be expected or if we should be looking into it further.

Not an academic death sentence

Ok so Timmy's only in Kindergarten, but still I am beyond thrilled with how well he's doing in school.  And I just want it to be encouragement to others that the DX of ADHD does not have to mean an academic death sentence.  I know that ADHD doesn't have anything to do with intelligence and I don't think most would argue with that but I DO think many assume that ADHD will equal poor school performance.  Again, I know we have many many years ahead of us and that the demands will get greater each year.  But today Timmy took his very first test during his time in the first grade class.  It was 34 questions where they had to listen to instructions and then fill in a bubble.  He got 7 wrong which did not sound overly impressive to me when he told me, despite how pleased he was with himself saying he did do well.  But I just got an email from the teacher and she said she does think he did "pretty amazing under the circumstances." And that only 6 other FIRST graders got less than 10 wrong with many getting as many as 20 wrong.

To me this sounds like the worst possible situation for a child with ADHD,  but he did great!

Parent Teacher Conference

I had my Timmy's parent/teachers conference last night and it couldn't have been better. His Kindergarten teacher basically said he's a joy and is doing so well, she's got nothing more she can teach him. He has been going to 1st grade for 2 hours a day since Christmas break and I got to meet that teacher. She too says he's doing great. He listens really well, and works independently. He is meeting or exceeding all the 1st grade "benchmarks" and is falling around the middle of her current class for everything. She said she isn't making any guesses at this point but will see how the rest of the year shakes out but she 'may' recommend that he be promoted up to 2nd for next year. But we may have a battle on our hands if that is her recommendations because no one even knows how they'd do it and the administration seems very leery of it. But she said if he doesn't skip to 2nd she will make sure he's in her 1st grade class so that we can be confident knowing he will be challenged at the level he needs. I have to say, for as much as I hate our district for so many reasons, I LOVE these two teachers and the ways they've really gone above and beyond to meet the needs of my child.

Makes a momma proud!!!