Dominic's School Christmas Party

Dominic had his Christmas party at school and we went by for cookies and punch. Santa gave each kiddo a present. It was alot of fun for the kids. They sat and waited their turn with their little hands fidgiting around because they knew Santa had a present for them. Dominic's teacher (woman in the white) told me that he's been doing a great job and his outburst are becoming less and less. She said that he's doing an awesome job potty training too which is good because here he switched from peeing on the toilet all the time to pooping on the toilet all the time and peeing his pants. Anyways she said he's doing great. The lady in the pic below in the black is his speech therapist and I didn't get to ask her how he was doing with her. His speech has exploded all though the words still aren't coming out exactly how they should. I tried to snap a few pictures of the day though and Dominic loves pointing out the people.

Hasn't really been too much to report lately. Dominic's language is EXPLODING again this year. At this rate, I think he may be able to go to normal preschool next year off the IEP. The other night Daddy was complaining about something at the dinner table and Dom looked at him and told him to "Go back to work, Daddy!" It was the funniest thing ever because he's never said that one before. He's also speaking in bigger sentences now and trying to explain what's wrong and why he's mad or crying. He'll say something like "Alex hurr me" or "Day-un took my train." There's still alot of working with him on words, they're there now they just don't come out right. He's been really branching out into singing too which he has never done. He sings Twinkle Twinkle Little Star all the time and tries to sing Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer. Super excited about Santa or "Ho Ho" as he calls him coming soon to the house. This is the first year he's really understood Holidays and what happens with them and it's really neat to see his eyes get huge when he talks about Santa coming.

I think one of the best things that has happened lately with Dominic is that he's really becoming more open with Damien. When he was first born, he hated him and wanted nothing to do with him. As a baby he was ok but then when he started crawling and liking Dominic's toys things went downhill again. Now he's come to realize I think that Damien is not out to steal all his toys and Damien really thinks Dominic is pretty cool and just wants to be like him. They are playing together alot more and run around the house together. There are still usually one or two times though where Dom freaks out and either hurts Damien by pushing him or takes toys from him causing him to cry. I think we'll always have those though.

Shirt Tags

It's been a real pain in the ass getting Dominic ready in the morning lately. He's started to get really upset over shirt tags but I'm not going to start taking them out of his clothes. Everyday I put his shirt on and the first thing he does is pull the tag out. After a few minutes of fussing about it I'll distract him, push it back in and he stops making a big deal about it. This has been happening everyday now for the past month and just started out of the blue. I don't get it because it's never been a problem before.

Back in Gymanastics

Last night Dominic went back into Gymnastics. I talked to one of the instructors afterwards and she said he did a great job he's just got to learn to listen to them and do as he's told. I told her we took a month off because of how he acted the first month and I told her about his ADHD diagnosis and how we thought maybe this would help him out some. She said she thought the month off did him some good because he really appreciated being back. LOL We ended up missing the lesson since we went to look for a new vac but I'll make sure I'm there next week. I really wanted to get some pictures.

Everything has been going pretty well. Seems like there are days where I think to myself that Dominic is totally fine, just being a rowdy boy but then there's day I can barely handle him he's so wound up screaming and just all over the dang place. We can tell him "no, don't do that" 20 times and he'll still keep doing it like he doesn't hear us which he does. He hasn't taken a nap in so so long and still stays up till 10 atleast but we put him to bed at 8:30. It's frustrating. We've been so busy we haven't scheduled another therapy appointment either. I've been researching Homeopathic Herbs for ADHD instead of going ahead and sticking him on the Adderall. There's so much information out there and it's all quite confusing! If herbs work though, I'd rather do that then anything.

He Lives....He Breathes..........Thomas

Red Dye Dangers??

I heard there was going to be a special on the news last night about Red Dye and it's affects on children so I wanted to catch it. I had no idea what it was really about but after watching it Dave and I just looked at each other like what the??? Could that be our problem?

Here's an article on the internet about it.

So basically they are saying children have a sensitivity to dyes put in our kids food which causes behavior problems. The lady on the news said her 4 yr old would scream "I'm going to kill you!" and "I'll hit you!" Which are two things we hear alot out of Dominic. She said that after 2 weeks of getting the foods out of his system he was a totally different child. We decided to go in the kitchen and low and behold EVERYTHING has Red Dye in it. Poptarts, juice, toaster strudels, canned fruit, cereal, etc. The kid will starve to death now if we try the 2 week experiment. I'm thinking we should at least try cutting it and see what happens. I just can't believe I had never heard of this before.

Meltdowns

The meltdowns have gotten to be too much lately. I don't know what to do anymore. Any and everything upsets him, even things that you would think he'd appreciate. Daddy and I are basically begging it seems just to appease him. I'm probably not making sense here so I'll explain with a fake example. We give him a cookie, but it's not the kind of cookie he wants. He doesn't want a Chips Ahoy, he wants an Oreo. So we give him the Oreo but it's either too late the damage is done or it's not in the right bowl and he's hysterically crying. Then we give him a cup of chocolate milk to go with it but he didn't ask for chocolate milk which he absolutely loves so he'll freak out crying even more, screaming that he wants regular milk.

Most of the other meltdowns are from him not getting something he wants such as running around the stores, getting pushed back from Alex or Damien when he's bothering them, or something is wrong with a toy he's been playing with.

Sunday afternoon he was outside riding a tricycle and I told him he would have to come in because it was freezing out. Bad move. I had to carry him kicking and screaming inside. He threw the biggest fit for a good 30-40 minutes crying because he wanted out. I had to use our locks on the tops of the doors to keep him in because he was so determined to get out.

Yesterday for no reason he was bothering Alex and her friend playing Hot Potato. He kept kicking Alex in the back over and over and then trying to do a somersault between them. I asked him if he wanted to play with them and he'd scream "NO!" He continued over and over till finally he decided to jump on Alex as she was sitting on the floor and she ducked down which made him fall over her and hurt his back on some plastic toys. He cried and screamed and cried and screamed for about 30 minutes. Even when her friend's mom came to pick her daughter up he wanted nothing to do with her either. He was very angry screaming "leave me 'lone!!!!!"

This morning I was trying to get him ready for school but he insisted on not only peeing on the toilet but pooping too but he didn't really need to do it. FYI- he only poops or pees on the toilet when he wants. When he really does have to go he usually just goes in his pants. So after 20 minutes of me saying we need to get dressed or you won't be able to eat before the bus gets here he finally came out. It wasn't because of me saying that either, because for 20 minutes all he did was slam the bathroom door and scream "leave me 'lone!" and "Go 'way!!!" The way he screams at you just makes you want to pop him in the mouth. He's very hateful and loud.

I did notice him snoring the past 2 nights but I moved him and he'd quit so I'm sure he got plenty of sleep. He hasn't taken naps forever now it seems. The afternoons are mainly him playing with the trains for a few hours. He did take some interest in hotwheels cars yesterday which surprised me. He hardly ever plays with anything besides the trains. We might as well sell every other toy he has.

My Own Observations

I was going to list some of the things/issues we have going on with Dominic mainly for my record. This is off the top of my head so it may not be too complete. I'll probably have to add things later on.

• Running around all the time
• doesn't like to sit and listen to direction.
• runs all over the place when not secured in a basket
• no naps
• very loud play even after asked to be quiet
• hates changes such as sitting in a new spot in the car or if something moves
• Usually cries or holds his ears when babies cry. Gets upset when he's yelled at and says to stop.
• ALWAYS playing with Thomas the train

Videos for the Week

I noticed some slight snoring last night with Dominic. He didn't really have his mouth opened real wide or anything. I moved his blanket and he stopped. I'm not going to have his tonsils removed "just to see." That's just stupid. I'm glad his Dr agrees with me on that one.

I had told Dominic's teacher awhile back I was trying to catch Dominic during some of his wild times and recording it (when he wasn't looking) so I would have proof to show like his Dr or anyone else. These are some recent videos I took of his behavior.


Here's two with his hyperactivity. This is pretty much him from about 3:30-8:30 and why I always say he acts like he's cracked out on Meth. BUT this first video is from 7 AM this morning.

This one is two different temper tantrums. He either hits or will freak out on the floor.

Here's an old one I think right about when we realized Dominic had some issues going on. This fit was over a snack and I gave him a poptart but not the one he wanted.

Talked to Dominic's Ped's nurse today. She talked to his Dr and he doesn't feel at food allergies would be something that is his problem. I thought it was a bit far fetched myself but thought I'd ask. He said to go ahead and continue with therapy (unless I really want the meds) and see what that gets us. So I guess we'll call and find out if the woman we went to has some references for a Child Psychologist for us. Her title in general is a Social Worker. She has like 5 letters behind her name but I'm not even sure what it stands for. His Dr also said that with only seeing 1 instance of snoring in the past week he doesn't think I should have his tonsils taken out which is what I felt too.

Note to self: No Nap/Slept from 9 PM-7AM/Didn't snore at all. Breakfast Ate 2 cinnamon rolls, Milk, Lunch: 4 chicken nuggets, 1 1/2 banana, milk.

This weekend Dominic has been acting pretty insane. Running around, jumping on Dave when he's laying on the carpet, being extremely loud, aggravated by the slightest thing like if Alex looks at this toy catalog we got in the mail he'll freak out. We went out to eat yesterday and it actually went pretty well. It was also 4 PM since I like to go when it's totally dead so we don't get looks from people. He was pretty vocal and loud so we had to keep hushing him but I brought playdough and we made things which kept him occupied for a bit. He did venture under the table a few times but came up if we asked.

The worst this weekend has been the crying. I swear he's a bigger baby than Damien and will cry at the stupidest things. Alex sat down at the table for breakfast and he went under the table bawling. Damien takes a toy truck that he's left on the floor he starts bawling. This isn't just alittle crying too it's the meltdown cry where he just drops to the floor and you can't talk to another person because he's so loud. We try to comfort him but it usually just gets him even more pissed off and he starts sceaming "leave me 'lone!!" One thing though, he's super excited for Christmas and has been going through ads and having me write toys on his list. He shines with happiness when you mention Christmas is coming which is really cute.

Note to Self: No Nap/slept from 9-7 AM/No Snoring that I noticed

I can't think of anything off the top of my head that made yesterday extremely hard to deal with, with Dominic. For the most part it was really good. Before school he ate 2 toaster strudels! At lunch he ate 5 fish sticks and some grapes. After lunch Spongebob was on so he was glued to that for awhile since he loves Spongebob. At naptime he played with his trains as usual so that occupied him for a good hour or so. I had to get to the bank so he was excited to get out of the house. We ended up taking the truck since my van battery got drained somehow so he was especially excited about taking the big truck. He did rather well in the store and didn't stray far from the basket but on the way home he got pretty upset because instead of the food store he wanted to go to the regular store like Walmart or Target so he got whiney and upset on the way home saying "no go home." After we got home, I went to make dinner. There was some random arguing with him and Alex at the table before dinner but nothing major. He ate 1/2 a hamburger, 8 hamburger dills and a few fries. Around 8 my dad came by and then he turned all crazy. He kept trying to jump on the back of the couch, jump on my dad, and play in this sleeping bag. We had to yell at him alot during their visit to settle down but this is normally how he acts when they come over. They didn't leave till late so we just threw them in bed.

Note to self: No Nap/Went to bed at 10 PM-7 AM this morning/No Snoring last night.

First, Dominic's Thyroid test came back normal so his thyroid is not causing any of his behavior issues.

Yesterday there were a few difficult moments with Dominic. He went to school, finally got on the bus after getting upset about "the man." After school he ate really good! A whole Grilled Cheese just didn't eat the crust and some grapes with some kool-aid since we were about out of milk. Then in the afternoon I had Kelsey (4) so since she needed a nap I put him on the couch in the basement for "quiet time" since he doesn't nap. He played quietly downstairs for about 2 hours without coming up for anything. After Alex got home though he turned into a live wire. He kept getting upset about everything with his blanket not rolling out on the floor perfect because he was rolling himself up in it as a mummy. He was pissed off that the blanket wouldn't cooperate and just kept screaming and bawling about it throwing the biggest fit ever. I told him that I was going to put him in his room if he didn't behave but that really didn't work.

At dinner though he turned back to normal and ate some pizza before we all went to Alex's Brownie meeting. He loves going to Brownies but sometimes can't do the activites or Alex won't share with him and he gets upset. One of the mom's gave him some pipe cleaners to make candy canes with so he was really really good. He didn't run around like he was on crack, he didn't climb under the tables or climb on everything. He was actually pretty enjoyable to have there. Before we walked in the door, Alex slammed his head with the van door so maybe she knocked some sense into him. I felt so bad for him, that had to hurt but he was ok after a few minutes. When we came home I promised him popcorn as a BT snack so he was more than willing to get in the bath. He cooperated getting ready for bed and listened as I read to 2 books to the kids.

Note To Self: No Nap, Asleep by 9:30 PM, very light snoring when first asleep but then no other snoring heard throughout the night.

The Man

Dominic is having a hard time getting on the bus in the morning now because he wants to ride the bus with "the man." I basically had to tell him he couldn't take a train (a fiddle toy) if he didn't go. His bus driver was out for a few weeks so they had a man bus driver come for him and a different man bring him home so now he only wants to get on the bus if it's "the man." Ugh. Is this kid difficult or what? I don't get it.

For my info: Dominic did not snore at all last night. He slept from 10 PM- 7 AM with no nap.

ENT and Thyroid Appointments

Well I'm not even sure what I should have expected from going to the ENT Dr. While we were waiting I actually thought to myself that this was probably a total waste and that he's just going to say let's take out his tonsils "just in case." Sure enough. He says that if it was his 5 year daughter in this situation and she was snoring occasionally and jerking in her sleep and having behavior problems, he'd probably go ahead and take out her tonsils so it was ruled out. He said they aren't abnormal but they are large. They can do a sleep study but it'd probably have to be done in Wichita or KC. He was sympathetic though in seeing what kind of a difficult position we're in on this whole deal which was nice since you could tell he was obviously not feeling well. In the waiting room I overheard the receptionists calling his patients for the day canceling and saying he was sick. I'm supposed to get back to them on if we want to do the surgery or not. I'm going to feel awful if we were to put him through a unnecessary surgery so I'm thinking on this one for awhile. I told him I think for the time being I'll keep a log on how many times a week I catch him snoring and how loud. Last night he did not snore at all that I noticed. I didn't hear anything coming from his room.

Before the appointment we went to the Lab to have blood drawn to check his thyroid. I wasn't worried at all since the kids just had lead tests back a few months ago and they did fine with Dave. Boy was I wrong. As soon as she inserted the needle he started screaming and crying "owweee!" and took his other hand and tried ripping the needle out of his arm. It took a second to pry him from it, scared all 3 of us to death. They got the blood though and we'll hear back on that soon.

Dominic's ENT Appointment and Thyroid Blood Draw- November 8th.

Dom's had stomach flu on and off since Thursday, November 2nd. He's pretty much been off milk and drinking 7up and applejuice. Would it be weird to say that he's acting better? Could the therapist be right and maybe he IS allergic to milk which causes his erratic behavior?? It sounded pretty far fetched to me but he has been so much different. I wouldn't say it would be milk though unless he was 100% well. If his appointment on the 8th show him as OK then I guess we go the allergist route next and rule out any allergies.

First Therapist Appointment

Well the woman we went to talk to about Dominic wanted us to go by ourselves the first time then the next visit she'd have Dominic come so she could give us her perspective. By the end of it though, she wants us to rule out any "physical" problems first so I'm going to be calling and making him an appointment with an ear, nose, throat specialist on his snoring and a blood test to check his thyroid. Sounds stupid but it is the right thing to do. Kids can actually have behavior problems from allergies to foods also so they may want to rule that out as well.
Dominic has a snoring problem but I really didn't think anything of it till the other day when one of my daycare mom's said something about it. I guess if a child has snoring and sleep apnea, it can actually cause them to be more active during the day instead of an adult who just wants to sleep. On the thyroid issue, I think it's alittle far fetched but my Mom, Grandpa, and Uncle all have Graves Disease so we do have thyroid issues in the family but to have it skip over me and go to Dominic just seems strange to me. On the food allergies, I'd heard about that in the past but I don't think he has one.
Basically last nights appointment was about us as a family. She wanted to know how long we'd been married, jobs, etc. Then she wanted to know our concerns on Dominic. I told her after a year old he just got so much more active and then by 2 was when I really started having issues. I told her about some of the problems at school and home with his anger and over activeness. So after she heard all that she decided we should look into his physical health, and if that looks OK then it sounds like she may refer us to an actual child psychologist. Ugh. This is going to be one hell of a process. Thank God D's insurance gives us 3 free visits before insurance kicks in.

Dominic got his new pirate Jack Sparrow wig to go with his costume yesterday in the mail. He loves it and wore it all night. He makes such a cute pirate.

In other news, the Dr's office called me about him again yesterday. I knew that his Dr was making a trip to the school but I wasn't sure if he was going to be able to talk to his teacher or not. It sounds like it was kind of a luncheon to talk to a few teachers about some of their students that are his patients. Basically she called back to tell me that now he would prescribe a medication for him (Adderall) and we'd see if that made a difference. I told her we have an appointment with a therapist and we'll see how that goes before we do anything else for now. A few days ago though, all I cared was getting him on meds. Really I don't want him on meds, but I feel for everyone's safety and for his own wellbeing it'd be better but we'll see what therapy does first.

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

Scary woman Pumpkin Storyteller

Well we got intouch with a place intown to start Dominic on some mental evaluations. We visit with her on November 1st. After that he'll be going to her. In all he's been acting pretty good except for a few times a day we'll have some moments.

Tuesday he had a field trip to a Pumpkin Patch so I went along taking Damien and Kayla. Damien and Dominic didn't want to sit still for storytime at all so that was fun. They were both fighting me. I met Dominic's buddy Justin and his mom. Atleast I know who Justin is now! They went through the pumpkins, played in the hay bale maze, had a snack, and storytime. I think they all had a great time.

Dominic and Justin going through Pumpkins

Dominic as a pumpkin

Teachers and kids lost in the Hay Bale Maze

And The Results Are In.........

He's Borderline ADHD. More of an oppositional thing he thinks. Oh.my.freakin. Dear.God. You've got to be kidding me. His pediatrician is recommending no medication at this time, just therapy. Do the parents and teacher get therapy because we are going to need it for ourselves for the next few years. This was sorta expected. I mean it's a freakin TEST that he adds up numbers and does an equation to figure if he has it. You'd think the day we visited the Dr's office where he was climbing the walls right infront of him was enough for him to say the kid needs some help. Nope. No help for any of us that deal with the fits, the screaming, the runnng off, the late nights without a daily nap, the constant jumping off furniture, or the shitty and pissed on diapers at almost 4 yrs old. You know what this makes me feel like? Like 2004 when I had all those kidney stone and no one believed my pain and all the Dr's made excuses for it. I really feel helpless right now.

They are now trying to get me in touch with a Child Psychologist which is who his Early Intervention school wanted me to contact in the first place. Fuck me fuck me fuck me 1,000 times. This sucks and now I've got a headache.

I finally turned in the Connor Evaluation Tests on Tuesday so now we'll wait and see I guess what the next step is. I've been thinking about calling our insurance and asking if Child Psychologists are included with our plan. I know some insurances don't cover mental health but I believe ours does. D's company must believe is some mental help for their employees because they have this hotline for their employees to call for counseling.

I had Dominic's PT Conference yesterday. So far he's doing great except for the outbursts and fits at school. He hasn't been too physical this school year with the teachers. He is learning so that's awesome. He knows 1-10, all basic shapes and colors. He can say a million things now but just doesn't pronounce them well. He's been working on the ABC song too. Anyways it was nice and encouraging atleast to hear that he is getting something out of school, not just another place to act like a monkey and climb the walls.

No School- Time to Drive Momma Insane!!

I don't know why the school thinks they should have days off. LOL Today Dominic is out of school. We'll see how THIS goes. So basically he has a 3 Day weekend. Next week he's out on Thursday AND Friday because of PT Conferences. Fun. I'm sure it will go well though. We'll hope!

Dominic did great getting his pictures taken the other day. We probably told him a good 100 times to put his hands down though. He'd keep his hands down for about 20 seconds then put them up by his chest or his face. Damien got in a few of the pictures and was really good at smiling it was just Dominic and his dang hands all over the place which was always the problem. Afterwards I had told him we'd look at trains. I was hoping he'd pick one out for $6.88 at Walmart but instead he found a train for $9.88 plus some boxcars for 7.88! I tried everything to get him to put them back but unless we were going to be there all day or I was going to pick him up kicking and screaming I wasn't getting out of the toy department without a fight so I just said screw it. Since he got these new toys on Wednesday, he's played with them every second of the day. TV as usual is pretty much nonexistant to him because he's zoned on the trains.

A new issue that's popped up the last few weeks is spitting. Whenever he disagrees with what we say, he's sticking out his tongue and spitting then running around like an idiot. It's the most annoying thing. I wish I knew where he gets half the stuff he does. TV? School? It's like he was just born with these abilities, kinda like how kittens know how to use a litterbox when they are babies. You'd think some days I just let him sit around eating candy all day with how he acts. LOL

All Aboard!!

I'm taking Dominic to get his pictures taken today at Walmart with that Thomas backround. Why that ugly backround?? Well I have NO good pictures of Dominic. He always turns away, fights and screams when I take him in to have them done BUT I think having the Thomas backround behind him may help. So this is what he's wearing. Old Union Pacific coveralls and his Union Pacific hat. His Grandpa (D's Dad) worked for Sante Fe and the K & O Railroad for year and years so he's been pretty happy that Dominic loves trains so much. They bought this outfit for him way back when. It's not one I put on him often as you can imagine. He wore this to school today, even the hat since his picture appointment is at noon.

Dave completed his ADHD test finally today for Dominic. Now I have to find time to take them down there to be graded. I'm not even going to say anything but he only rated Dominic a 3 (very often) on 1 item. Most of everything else he put 2. I would say he's stupid and is lying but I think the best thing to say would be that he's not here enough to see what the hell I or even his teachers deal with. He deals with Dominic on the weekends and from 5-8 PM during the week. He knows how bad he is from me telling him all the time though. I don't know.

Gymnastics tonight went pretty well. He was still acting up abit but I didn't see the teachers have to chase him once. He did keep moving around on the floor from where he was supposed to be and on the trampoline he was supposed to be sitting but instead he started bouncing on his knees and would make the girl who was supposed to be jumping fall down. Afterwards he became a very bad boy. He started screaming at me "No Momma!" on everything I asked him to do so I eventually let him crawl on the floor and run around while Alex finished her class. I felt bad for not controlling him better but I was so worn down from the day I just had no energy to do anything about it. This baby is really killing my energy level right now. He refused to leave either after Alex's class was over and I had to chase him around the spring board and mats.

He did though take his bath willingly and go straight to bed (fell asleep before 9) since he didn't take a nap once again.

Last night Dominic had his 2nd Gymnastics class. I'm so afraid they are going to say "hey listen, hate to say it but your kid is a shit. We're going to have to ask him to leave." They chased him everywhere. He wouldn't do exactly as told, he'd start then do it his own way. He refused to sit on his target like the other kids and kept running around screaming and laughing while the teachers chased him. They would take him aside and try talking to him but he just kept looking at the other kids and wouldn't listen to the teachers so they would take his face and face his eyes towards them and then he'd nod yes probably that he'd behave. It was hard to watch. I wanted to cry, I wanted to go in there and beat his ass. By the time we got out of there I was having side cramps from all the fighting to get him to the car. He ended up going to sleep at 9- totally crashed out. Atleast the class wears him out.

We received back the Connor Rating Scale Test that we gave to Dominic's teacher to fill out. You score him from 0-3 (3 being very often on the question and 0 as none or not often) There are 28 questions. She scored 9 as Very often. I thought I'd list the Very Oftens.

Inattentive, easily distracted
Defiant
Actively defies or refuses to compy with adults' requests
Acts as if driven by a motor
Cannot sit still
Argues with adults
temper outbursts, explosive, unpredictable behavior
Has difficulty laying or engaging in leisure activities quietly
Excitable, impulsive.

Then she scored 7 #2's and that means they are pretty much true, often, happen quite a bit.
These are....

Restless in a squirmy sense
fidets with hands or feet or squirms in seat
short attention spn
only pays attention to things he is really interested in
Distractibility or attention span a problem
Runs around or climbs excessively in situations where it's inappropriate
Always up and on the go

Good thing is he doesn't forget things, disturb other children, or leave his seat, waits his turn, interupts others or fails to finish what he starts. I guess only scoring a 1 or just alittle true is good for those right?? Ugh. God this sucks. Now Dave and I have our tests to fill out and we're both dreading it, that's why it hasn't been done yet.

This was a good day. LOL Perhaps because we didn't go anywhere and he played with trains all day?? We had his grandparents here almost all day so they kept him occupied while Dave and I did some cleaning on the dog pen. He did not take a nap so he went to bed at around 8:45 which was awesome! I think the funniest part of the day with him was the fact he kept calling Dave's mom "Grandma Vickie" and that's my mom. His mom likes to be called "nana." Well Dominic really likes Grandma Vickie and so that's all he kept saying was "where's Grandma Vickie?" or "Vickie?? Where are you?" LOL

We did have a few times of him jumping on Alex and pushing Damien away from his trains but nothing that we couldn't handle.

Today there was a Chili Cookoff downtown. We usually go every year since they have stuff for the kids to do like the moonwalk and junk. The kids all handled walking around while we got Chili samples at the booths quite well. When we walked by the Downtown Thomas the Train store though, all hell broke lose. He was not budging and stood right next to the door. We tried everything to get him to come willingly but since it didn't work, Dave ended up carrying him over his shoulder while he kicked and screamed. He also threw a fit in the grass because we wouldn't let him go for a 2nd time in the Moonwalk. It was funny because the shirt he's wearing is the one that says "I don't act like this at home." He was pretty upset but after we let him play a game and he got a lollipop he was much better. He also got some free icecream from a merchant so that made him happy too.

Dominic came home today from school all happy because I let him take his new train on the bus. It was either that or have him not go because he was throwing a major fit from me saying no. I attempted to make him take a nap since I was watching Kelsey (4) and usually have her try as well. He didn't but was quiet in his room for a good hour which was nice. He watched a Thomas DVD and played with his train.

That evening we had Alex's Cheerleading performance at the highschool. I was going to video tape so I had Dave watch the boys down on the ground (we had a stroller) while I went up in the bleachers with another mom. She knows Dom's craziness so I turned around to check on where they were and saw Dominic just running all over the place in circles around Dave and other people. I finally told him to come up the ramp to me and so he did. He then started climbing up the side wall of the ramp going up the bleachers. Lori and I had to keep telling him to get down before he fell over the edge and 6 feet down to the pavement. Finally Dave's parents arrived and his dad held him. He was ok after that.

Since Dave's parents from AZ have been here, they have been pretty negative with the whole testing and diagnosis of possible ADHD. Honestly I think D would agree with me when I say they can kiss our asses because they see the kids a total of maybe 3-4 weeks a year while everyone else at school, both sets of my parents, my sisters, our friends, etc see him on a regular day to day basis and they know he's given us (his parents) and his teachers one heck of a time. They have no clue what happens here. All I've heard is "well Dave was so much worse as a kid" Sure.

Not much to report this day. Dominic's Grandma and Grandpa are in town for the next week. They took him out and bought him a new train and track and he was totally in to that for the day. If he wouldn't do what I wanted though, I'd threaten to take the train and he'd actually mind! LOL Pretty funny. He went to Brownie Girl Scouts with me tonight and wasn't too bad. He did keep getting the girls all running around and acting crazy but for the most part he'd stop running or messing with them when I said "no."


I bought this shirt last year on clearance for him to wear this Halloween season. It says "mummy knows best!"

The Dr's Appointment

Today Dominic had his Dr's Appointment to see if we could figure out what's going on. I was pretty happy with it. This was the Pediatrician I had mentioned was against meds or even the diagnosis of ADHD. I told him bascially all the problems.

• we have a hard time taking him anywhere because of how out of control he gets
• his teachers have tried all their "techniques" and they are no longer working
• he never naps and is up from 7-9PM and there's no down time
• he is fixated on Thomas the train 24/7. He plays with nothing else.
• he constantly beats up on his brother, jumps on his sister.
• taking away Thomas for bad behavior makes him go nuts and he'll throw things, kick walls, and beat his head in the wall.
• We constantly tell him no on things yet he does them over and over minutes later.
• He gets very upset over stupid things.

We talked for awhile about it he said he will give meds to the kids under 5 that are really harming themselves and others so that was good to hear. BUT I think he now knows that something is not right. Dominic was ALL OVER the little room we were in. Imagine a chimp in a zoo exhibit. He played with the blood pressure cuffs, the doors, he shut the lights off on us 3 times, he playfully kicked and clapped his hands for awhile, digged through my purse, he'd lay down then get up, he'd crawl under the chairs, he'd jump in place and then crawl on his knees and this was all in a 20 minute span. I was really hoping he'd show his true colors there and our Dr agrees he is "one active fella." So now we are taking these tests called Connor ADHD tests I believe is what they are called. After Dave and I and the two teachers fill them out, he will grade them and see what Dominic qualifies as. If it's just he's got some behavior issues then we may have to see someone else because he says he does nothing with Behavior Disorders. So that is where we are.

Dominic came home from school alittle tired and beat after screaming for 25 minutes on the bus. I guess we had another one of those days where he refuses to get on the bus. Usually the teachers have to force him into a seat and then buckle him up. Since he was kicking and screaming they told him he couldn't have his trains which probably made him 100 times worse. For the ride there and back he takes a Thomas Train so he is entertained and kept busy. As soon as we got in the house he said, "I cried." I said "On the Bus?" He responded, "yes" then went to play with his trains.

He wasn't much trouble all afternoon because he was alone after the babies went to bed and he just played with his trains. We went to a few peoples houses to see if anyone wanted anything from the fundraisers Alex is doing and at 1 house he was pretty out of control playing with the dog, jumping on furniture and acting like a dog. By 9 he was getting tired because he hadn't taken a nap so it was quite easy to get him to go to sleep after his bath.

Same old issues today with the trains and fighting over them. He just refuses to share at all and now that Damien is interested in them too instead of just the trucks and cars, it's getting worse. This is why I think it would be too dangerous to put the boys in the same room because since he's so mean in the front room, who knows what he'd do to him in the middle of the night. We tried getting out the race track for Damien and then Dominic wanted to play with it too but finally went back to his wood trains and trainset. Damien immediately stopped playing with the trains when we got the race track out because he loves shaking the cars and watching them go!

We tried going to the store tonight and Dominic refused to sit in the seat or back of the basket. He wanted to ride on the front which he did for awhile but then jumped off and started running everywhere. People were dodging around him with their baskets as I apologized over and over to all of them. Most of them thought his antics were cute. Some gave me the "do something about your kid" look. I hate it when he's not sitting in the basket at Dillons mainly because he has to touch everything. In the meat department he touched probably about 15 different types of plastic wrapped meats. He wants to press on the plastic and dent it is what it is. Then in the produce he started grabbing Gala Apples and I told him again we don't touch. When I started putting some in the sack he screamed at me "no touch mommy!!!! Put back!!!" He threw a fit because I was buying apples. When he saw some toys over by the chips he freaked out and said "I go get toy." We both told him no toys and he freaked so Dave thought he'd take him to go get a movie and I told him I'd hurry and check out. I started putting stuff on the conveyor when I heard the biggest girlie scream ever and looked to the video department to see Dave hauling Dominic over his shoulder. Dominic wanted to rent a Thomas movie but we have every freakin one they have there so he got them a Halloween Chipmunk DVD and he was NOT happy. I bought him a Nerds Rope hoping that would shut him up and Dave could take him to the car but he settled down eating that and wanted to wait for me to get everything rung up.

On a positive note, Dominic went to the bathroom and peed twice today without much of a fuss. Actually I didn't even say "go potty" he just went there. Once was after I changed a poopy pull up and the other was just because I said, "you probably should go potty soon." We still went through about 3 pull ups though with accidents.

Today wasn't too bad with Dominic. For the most part he played with his Thomas trains all day in the front room. He got pretty upset when Damien wanted to play with them of course so there was one time that he was escorted to his room to throw a fit on his bed. After awhile I asked him if he wanted to play nice with his trains and he came back out but still refused to share.

Alex had cheerleading practice so when I went to pick her up I took Dominic with me to get him out of the house. We went inside and I sat with 3 other moms I know and chatted. Dominic sat on Kristi's lap because he likes her quite a bit. He was really good! When it was over Lori another mom I know came up and we started talking and then he started getting a bit antsy. He started running around in the gym laughing, trying to get the 3 other kids (2 of Lori's and Alex) to chase him. We ventured outside and he was laughing and just all over the place. I had to keep yelling at him because he kept running into the parking lot where people were leaving. When he started taking off to the football field we sorta decided it was time to go.

Later in the evening I needed to go to Walmart for a few things so we headed over. We got him to sit in the basket which is near impossible most of the time. We got over to the halloween stuff and Dave took him to go look for a costume since it was so busy. We didn't find one but after getting out of the basket, he didn't want back in so Dave had to fight him to get him to sit. By the time we got to the groccery aisles things started to get a bit hectic. Everything I stuck in the basket he'd scream and say to put it back. I found Halloween cookies by Pillsbury that I had a coupon for and he freaked out screaming "no cookies! no cookies!!!" Anything you'd think a kid would want and I was putting in the basket he'd go beserk and tell me to put it back screaming and kicking so since we had 2 baskets I'd have to sneek it into the other when he wasn't looking. I asked him to tell me what he wanted me to get and he'd just scream at me so we decided to get out of there. Before we left we stopped in produce looking at pumpkins. We thought that would make him happy but instead he freaked out again. He didn't want the pumpkins INSIDE the store, he wanted the ones OUTSIDE. We left without getting any. As soon as we got home he went back to playing with his trains. I didn't even bother with baths for the evening and just got the kids to bed. I put him to bed at 10 and he went down fairly quickly since he hadn't had a nap.

Dominic had a pretty decent day. I received a note from his preschool saying they were going to be writing "social stories" for him this week. Basically they will be stories on how he should act in situations such as if someone takes a toy what should he do instead of hitting, etc. After getting off the bus I found the cutest little fat fuzzy catapillar in our driveway. I said to him, "Look! It's a cute Catapillar. See him?" He stood there watching him with me for a few seconds giggling at it. He had just been studying and reading about them. Suddenly he squashed it and in a mean low voice said "I KILLED it" and walked off. He squashed the thing so hard that I had guts on my toes. I made him come back and told him "Look what you did! He's dead now Dominic. That was so mean. You don't kill animals." He could care less. It really pissed me off. Dave says that he knows daddy kills bugs for a living. I think he knows bad bugs from good ones though. He saw how happy I was to see it crawling around.

At dinner we had some issues with him not sitting still. He was laying on his back on the bench and kicking his feet in the air and going under the table not wanting to eat. He wouldn't sit still but finally after we had finished Dave sat him on his lap and fed his enchilada to him and he ate about 6-7 bites of it. This is actually quite common here at the table so we're used to it.

Let's Continue Shall We??

So like everyone has read on my other blog, things with Dominic have just gotten progressively worse with his behavior. Some days I want to just tie him up and stick him in the closet and others I'm like "We had a good day today! He's not such a bad kid after all." I've suspected his behavior abit crazy and out of control for awhile and others have seen it too. Perhaps my sister's Cop man has the best nickname for him as "Turbo."

I decided though, to put this blog back in session. I stopped mainly because 2 was too hard to keep up with but now it's mainly going to be a journal of life with little D. Highs and Lows for the day. Then I'll be armed with information I can give the Dr or child psychologist we'll be contacting to see if we can figure out what's going on in his little brain causing all this. Our first Ped consultation for looking at ADHD will be September 27th.