Responsibility

This is the first year that we haven't used daycare for the older boys. They have been walking home after school. Each day I have them call me to check in when they get home. They are usually home about a half hour by themselves.

This morning I told Evan to give dad a call instead of me since I had an after school meeting. Tonight, I found this by the phone. He had written himself a note...without anyone asking to. This was a pretty big step in responsibility....something that we have focusing a lot on lately.

9 years!

Not quite sure how it happened...but we have a NINE year old in our house! Ben and I were talking last night how fast nine years go....It is frightening how fast it goes.

Our perfect baby boy....all 9 lbs. 14 oz of him!
Evan James

And our first family picture. We had no idea how much joy have a son (or 4) would bring us. We are so proud of you, Evan. You are such a great role model for your brothers and we couldn't ask for a better "big brother" for the little ones. You are a hard worker in everything you do and such a good helper, whether it be with the little kids, around the house or helping Dad outside. You are so AWESOME and I know we don't tell you enough.

Don't worry....

Funny conversation last night at supper....

Me: "I wonder how expensive adoption from another country is"

Isaac instantly buries head and starts to cry.

Me: "Oh Isaac, you didn't think we were going to give you away, did you?"

Isaac nods his head, big tears are falling from his eyes.

Ben and I start to laugh and tell him not to worry.

Evan: "Don't worry, we'll send you post cards"

Nothing like a big brother to ease your fears....

Another one bites the dust...

Evan and Isaac were outside playing the in the snow. Isaac came up to the door and told me Evan just puked....sure enough, I looked out the window just in time to see Evan puke and bury it with snow. He tried convincing me he wasn't sick....

Given the state of this house, I think it's safe to say it's hit him too. So.....three kids down, one to go. (and actually I think Zeke didn't feel very well yesterday. He was very crabby and clingy and did spit up a few times that seemed like more than just spit up....hopefully that was it for him)

So, on the bright side, at least it's a weekend and no one is having to miss school and maybe we will be healthy for Christmas.

Little Huskies

Evan got to finish his football season with a night game at Wartburg College. He is number 33....

He is the one on the top right of the screen (in red)

Grandma

Evan told me today I would make a good Grandma....I asked him why and he said, "Because you like chocolate. All Grandmas like chocolate!"

First Football Game

Evan had his first football game this afternoon. It was pretty cute to watch. They have a lot to learn, but they sure had fun playing like the big boys do!

Evan Update

Last Spring we headed up to Mayo with Evan to get his blinking checked out. It was at that appointment that he was diagnosed with having a tic disorder. His blinks were very frequent and progressively getting worse. After I had Zeke and was home on maternity leave, Ben and I noticed that they had almost gone away. I was picking the kids up from school one afternoon and his teacher pulled me aside to mention that she hadn't noticed them. (It was her concern that validated our concern, which is how we ended up at Mayo...we thought it was just something that we were seeing but she brought it up at conferences and so we had it checked out). All summer, they were completely gone. We were all pretty happy!

About a month ago, we noticed that they were coming back. They are here and in full force. We were very disappointed, but also know that it is something that is probably going to come and go. It may get worse, it may get better, it may stay the same. He handles it well. He knows they are back and is disappointed too but he has a good attitude and good friends so he will be just fine.

1ST AND 3RD GRADE

The boys had a great day at school. Isaac was a bit disappointed they took away play time in first grade and you have to learn the whole time!

Eli was very upset that he couldn't go with....he cried and cried when he had to go to daycare and the big boys got to go to school.

I am not sure what happened or when it happened, but they are so grown up. When we got to school, Evan decided I didn't need to stand with him. He told me he was fine by his friends, and that I could go with Isaac. When Isaac got to his line, he told me he thought he was fine by himself too. He wanted to try going in by himself. That's where I drew the line and told him I needed to go in with him. So....he walked in his line and my friend and I (who had just experienced the same things by her 3rd grade and 1st grade daughters) walked in together....much behind the big kids!

Busy Day...

It was a very eventful day in the Kalainoff House today...

Here is a quick summary:

This morning we watched our friend's one year old. Jag loved the older boys and there were only a few moments where I thought I may loose my mind! Mainly when Jag took a drink of my cold coffee, Eli pooped in his underwear, the phone was ringing and Zeke needed to eat, all at the same time. Other than that, it went just fine. We went outside for a bit....you know you have a lot of kids when you are talking to the neighbor and it takes her five minutes to realize you have an extra child with you! Halfway through our conversation she said "Hey, that's Jag. He's not yours!" It was pretty funny....

The boys each had "milestones" of their own.

Zeke - had his first "real" smile today and then many more throughout the day. He is 6 weeks old today and is starting to "communicate" by looking right at you, making little noises and smiling. It isn't very frequent, but it won't be long.

Eli - has been wearing big boy underwear since Friday. He isn't doing great with it...he did very well on Saturday and Sunday, with only a few accidents. Today, he peed in his pants 6 times. I want to give up, but he doesn't want to wear a diaper. Everytime he pees in his pants, he says "I wear Spider Man underwear. I don't want to go potty in them. I tell Evan and Isaac when I have to pee." But...he is still forgetting. He does great when I take him every hour or so. He is staying dry a lot of the time. I just don't think he was as focused today. I am trying to not go back to diapers....we'll see how long I last!

Isaac - learned how to ride his bike without training wheels today. I feel bad that we haven't really worked with him. We live on a giant hill with a very steep driveway so we don't have a good place to practice. This afternoon I took the boys and the bikes to the school parking lot to ride. Isaac hopped right on, I gave him one big push and he could do it! By the end of the trip, he was starting and stopping by himself. We got home and he and Evan rode their bikes around the block. He was so proud of himself!~

Evan - hit a legitimate homerun in t-ball tonight. I say legitimate because other kids have hit balls and made it around the bases because of all the overthrown balls. Evan's ball was a line drive past the out fielders. This is a big deal for him and for me...He was in a slump and hadn't hit a pitched ball for the last two games and last two practices. He was holding the bat wrong and had his arms wrong. It was driving me nuts but since I am not coaching this year, it was hard for me to help him fix it from the stands. He just looked so awkward up to bat. On Sunday, I took him outside, showed him a few things, helped him with his stance and pitched some balls to him. He was cranking them in the yard...I was hoping he would remember what we did. Tonight he was 3/3 and didn't have to use the tee. He was so excited when practice was over.

Baseball 2010

May 27th

I am not really sure where the past 8 years went. I think I told Evan last year that he needed to stop growing up so fast...apparently he didn't listen. He was so excited to go to bed tonight, because tomorrow he is an 8 year old! We were looking at old pictures tonight and I started looking through birthday pictures. Really, not sure how these 8 years have gone so fast. I have a feeling it is going to keep flying. I wish I could just pause time and keep things how they are now...

May 27th 2002
Evan James Kalainoff
9 lbs 14 oz.
21 1/2 inches long

1st Birthday

2nd Birthday

3rd Birthday

4th Birthday

5th Birthday

6th Birthday

7th Birthday

Who's the new kid?

Before


After


Evan got a haircut today...his baseball hat fits now!

Appointment today

Evan's appointment with the pediatric neurologist went pretty well today. Our concerns were confirmed. What is happening to him is real and has a name. The specialist said that Evan has a "Chronic Tic Disorder". It is on the same spectrum as Tourettes Syndrome. Tourettes has two components, a verbal and a motor tic. At this time, Evan is only displaying a motor component. He met the criteria of having the tic for at least a year and has not had a three month period without the tic. He has the tic at least once a day, and most times, multiple times.

As I mentioned before, we had noticed this with him, but thought it was just a bad habit. Over the course of the year, we have noticed it getting worse and to the point where his teacher mentioned her concern to us at conferences. She was also concerned about his "repeating/stuttering" which we hadn't noticed, or we were just used to it. Once she mentioned it to us, we did see what she meant. It happens especially when he is engaged in a conversation with you.

Anyway, in visiting with the doctor today, much of what he explained made a lot of sense to us. And much of it is what we see in Evan. He said there is a very strong correlation between Tic Disorder and Anxiety. Many of the diagnosed patients also struggle with ADHD, which we are thankful is not an issue with Evan. We can't really say that he has a lot of issues with anxiety other than he has a lot of perfectionist tendencies, especially at school. When we thought about it, Evan repeats himself or gets stuck on a sentence or word when he is telling a story or explaining something. It is almost like he has to repeat himself until he has the information correct, and he cannot move on until he has it right. His teacher had explained this to us, and I know at school, he is very concerned about doing the right thing and being a "perfect student" which explains why she noticed it a lot more than we did.

The research on Tic Disorder says that the symptoms usually present themselves between 5-7 years old. The symptoms peak around age 10-12. In 1/3 of the patients, the symptoms go away, 1/3 stay the same and 1/3 get worse. There is no medical reason that they can link to this and the specialist said that if they were to do a CAT scan or MRI, the brain would look completely normal. Treatments often include medication, but there are many side effects for the medications that are most effective. Most times, the Tic bothers parents and teachers more than the child.

At this time, we are not going to pursue the medication route. If it becomes worse in the future or begins to interrupt with his school success, then we can follow-up with the pediatric neurologist.

So, we didn't get a lot "done" today, but did get a lot of answers. It was pretty much what we had expected and we are thankful that in his neurological examination, nothing more was detected.

Tomorrow

I should be heading to bed, but I have a lot going through my mind right now. I haven't blogged about this yet, but decided this would be a good time. Tomorrow we are taking Evan up to Mayo Clinic for an appointment with a pediatric neurologist. He has a pretty significant "blinking" habit. It is very noticeable when he is talking to you, especially when he is telling a story. I began noticing it last school year. I noticed that he blinked a lot. We just figured it was a nervous habit that he had developed. I talked to his first grade teacher, but she did not think it was a problem or that it should be of great concern. This school year, it has gotten very noticeable and progressively worse. Ben and I noticed it getting more noticeable, but weren't quite sure what to do. His teacher brought it up at parent-teacher conferences.  She was concerned as well, but wasn't quite sure what to do about it. It was then that I realized I wasn't "overreacting" as a mother and maybe we should look into it.

Between his teacher and us, we have not been able to determine when and why this happens. We have not been able to trace it to anything. It really doesn't happen more if he is tired, or nervous. He does do it more when he is talking, but also does it other times, such as when he is eating and playing. I had his eyes checked and he has 20/20 vision. I thought maybe his eyes were dry and scratchy. It doesn't seem to be the case. It is so painful for me to watch him. A lot of times, after school when we are driving home from daycare, he is talking about his day. I  can see him in the rearview mirror and he gets blinking so bad, I literally have to look away because it makes me so sad and so concerned.

Just lately, we have noticed that his cheek and lip twitch with the blinking/winking as well. When the lip started twitching, too, Ben and I got very concerned.  A couple of weeks ago when I had Eli into the doctor, I talked to her about it and asked for advice. It is hard to talk about it when Evan is around because I don't what him to feel bad about it or be self-conscious about it. He knows he does it, but says he can't help it. Our doctor suggested bringing him in and then she could refer us to a specialist. Last week we had an appointment with out family doctor and she was able to see what we were talking about.

The doctor was first going to try to get us in with a doctor at University of Iowa hospitals, but in doing that, we would have to go to a psychiatrist first and then be referred. They then tried to get us in to Mayo. On Friday, I received a call from our clinic that they (Mayo) could get us in either in June or on Monday. We took the Monday appointment. So, here we are.......

I am figuring we won't know anything tomorrow, but I think it will feel better to get the ball rolling. It is so scary to think of having something like this going on with your son mainly because we don't know why it is happening and why it is getting worse. I am hoping that we can get some things answered so we can eliminate some of the fear that we have. We are hoping it is something minor that can be corrected so Evan's self confidence and self esteem does not suffer. I asked him if he can feel it happening and he said he can.  I asked if anyone ever says anything and he said that his friends ask about it, and he just tells him "this is just the way I am, I can't help it." He is so mature about everything!

Weekend

I was fortunate enough to get away for the weekend. I had a fabulous time in Minneapolis with some girlfriends. Lost of laughing, shopping and the company of great friends.....can't beat it! 

I returned to reality last night.....

Evan has the flu. He has been throwing up since yesterday morning and still is not feeling well. He spent Friday night with a friend, but got sick on Saturday morning so he had to come home early Saturday morning. 

My 32 hours of freedom was wonderful and refreshing but by the time I got home last night, Ben was ready for a break and I was quickly reminded of my most important life role as "Mom." 

Today consists of laundry and more laundry! 

Wrestling....and the Cheerleaders

I took the boys to Ben's wrestling tournament today. We didn't go until this afternoon and they did very well in the bleachers. We only dropped about 25 things through the bleachers which meant the big boys took turns going under the bleachers that many times. It was the high light of the day for them!

Eli enjoyed listening to Evan's MP3 player with him. He thought he was pretty big stuff!

When the Huskies wrestled, Evan was so cute. I looked over at him numerous times and he would have his fingers crossed, watching very intently. He was pretty into it.

The boys always look forward to the end of the meet. There is nothing that they love more than going down on the mats and wrestling.

Eli was desperate to find someone to wrestle with. He kept going up to the high school wrestlers with his hands in position to wrestle. Then he decided to follow around the head coach's 3 year old daughter....asking her to "estle" with him. She was more interested in jumping like the cheerleaders. I had a hard time catching him chasing her.....

After the meet, Ben rode home with us. We decided to go out to eat in Charles City and grab some groceries. When we were eating, we were talking about the meet. Ben asked Evan who he liked to watch wrestle this year (Last year, it was Collin). He named a few of the better wrestlers that he liked to watch. Isaac leaned over to tell me a secret. He told me that "I don't watch the wrestlers, only the cheerleaders." Oh, Isaac.