Making Progress

I love when one of his therapist says "yes" he is making good progress. I felt so very wonderful to know that we are doing some thing right as his parents. As he grows older Kodi will be able to figure out what he needs.
Today we went to the zoo and all three boys did great, we were able to meet up with one of Kodi's friends from school and we had a great time. I love our Zoo it's big enough for us to walk around the whole zoo and be done in about an hour if we are fast. Kodi,KK and Mia all held hands while we walked and they all talked about the different animals, Lily and Kodi loved being together. I am hoping we are able to go to the baseball game with their family tonight. We will see our family is training for race down in Disney World, kodi likes to sit in the stroller and be with me while I run.

Time for OT and Speech again

We have been on a very long break from therapy, not by choice but because we left to go back to MN and we thought insurance was going cover The Therapy Place and after a long round about they won't, I still don't understand since we saw them before with the same insurance but whatever, we are finally now getting into therapy back here. Of course with summer coming along we have to wait another month before they can see us.
All three boys have been doing well, Kodi finished with Pre-k and is now offically my kindergartener. I am sad because he is growing up so very fast but he is making very good progress. We are trying to get him into another school and we will find out in August we also have orders for Indian Head and it is looking like we will be moving in January. I can't wait I am so very excited to be moving to a better place. Schools are better area is better from what I hear I just can't wait.
I am concerned that with our moving so very much how it will affect Kodi and my other two, it took us two years for Kodi to get used to us moving away from Mn and now we will have to start to talk more about moving again, at the same time that is what we signed up when my hubby joined the military. Once he makes Officer we won't be moving as much, still a long road ahead has to finish pre-med and than medical school but in the next 6 years it will happen.
Kodi is doing great a few melt downs and I can't see when he starts to get over done with things and we can plan on one day just "vegging" to get a hold of our selves again.

Summer time

We are now official parents of a kindergartner, and he is so very excited. Which now for us means summer time and huge amounts of playing outside. I love watching my kids grow up, to see them learn and become independent of me, or from me. I think we have done a great job of teaching our children to stand up for themselves and to let others know when they are not being nice.
I was also very proud to hear from other parents that Kodi was a huge friend to classmates. Kodi helped one of his now best friends talk better and be friendly. He has such an compassionate heart, he loves to make sure everyone is playing and will help out when he can.
I have given him a job for the next couple of weeks to help out his brother who is learning the ropes of using the potty. So far it's working. We will see.

It was the last day of school, and I am so very proud of how much Kodi has grown of this past year. Not only did he go and become a great friend to other children, but he looked forward to going to class everyday. I was told by his bestfriend's mom today that Kodi really helped their son and how grateful they were of him.

He is now ready for school, if we could move up our date for moving than we would and get him into his new school this fall. I am going to be homeschooling him this fall until we move, the school we are "zone" for his awful and they aren't willing to help him, we can't afford private school and we have orders for this March so I will be homeschooling him. I know he will do well with learning at home and being in his own comfort zone.
We are now having down time for it's Friday and we are always tired but the end of the week and I don't want to have a meltdown. He is doing such a wonderful job at karate, only one more week of hard work and he should be getting ready for a new belt. He has a goal of becoming an black belt and we are doing our best to get him there.
It's date night for us and we have found a wonderful babysitter, Kodi is so very excited to have her over again. I am so very blessed to have found her, she is a blessing from God for our family. We haven't been able to go out on dates since we have moved and we really need that little break and to know that we have found someone who we can trust and my boys like is wonderful.
I bought two weeks ago a job chart for our older boys and we have been making sure every night the chores are done and they get paid for it. They are saving for our trip this fall to Disney and my house is cleaner because of it. I love it!

Thursday and one more sleep night until Daddy comes!

It's been a crazy the last couple of days, with meltdowns over toys and not getting our way. Peyton the youngest brother having surgery and Daddy coming back all in one week. For me it's a lot I can only image for Kodi how hard is it to keep control of everything.

The meltdowns are getting worse but I think it because he is waiting for Daddy to come, or just don't like my rules whatever it was he didn't like it. I had to physically remove him from playing with toys and keep him away from his brother. It was General Conference this past weekend and I bought a new toys for the boys to share I got magatiles, which are magnetic blocks it is a HUGE hit with them, but Kodi loves to just keep them for him and not want to share. So instead of keeping the house quite enough for us to listen to GC I had to play keeper of the toys. But in the end it was all good.

It's getting nice enough outside for the boys to play and swing and it's great. All three love going outside. I noticed the other day that Kodi need some input so I ask all my kids to bear walk crab walk for frog jump down the hall and get ready for lunch. I even did it too! They loved it and lunch time was less crazy!

Friday is here and spring break

It was a hard day for Kodi, I am not sure why but it was a rough day. His morning started off great and than after lunch it just seemed to go down hill. We were suppose to go and see HOP, but as we were getting ready to go he was upset that grandma wasn't coming with us (she had to work and she was staying with the baby) but as we got to the car he had started whinning and complaning about the movie and wont' sit in his car. So I simply told him we wouldn't be going .Man that did not go over well. A full on fit had arrived, I haven't seen a fit like that for a while.

I think it took about an hour from start to finish, but by the end he was good and sad that he did not get to see the movie. I got him to go outside and swing for a bit and than played in the snow and water until he was soaking wet, but it seemed to get what he needed.

He also was very excited about the timer I got for him and his little brother, I am having trouble with getting them to do what needs to be done in a timely manner. He uses a timer just like this on at therapy so he knew what it does and how to work it. I also was able to brush him and he really enjoyed it. I am hoping to start the brushing program again with him tomorrow. Which means every 2 hours we are brushing for the first week and than goes down from there, but it really does seem to make a difference. I am going to try and get him to listen to his music again, I brought it with us just in case he would need it.

I am doing everything I can to help him with his sensory diet, it hard at times when he doesn't want to anything at all. But it's a day by day trial with him. Tomorrow is a new day and we will start over again.

The last day of school

Kodi was pretty happy since it was his last day of preschool here, which means in two weeks Daddy will be back with us and than we are heading back home. Now he is happy to be back with Daddy but at the same time is sad to be leaving his family here. He wants to stay and be with everyone, but doesn't want to be away from his dad.

We are making great process with his letters and learning and remembering them. I still will have him tested back in VA for ADHD but I don't think that is the underlying problem. But I could be wrong. He is so very excited to read and learn his letters and sounds. I have a lot of work ahead of me to help him but we can do it.

I took him to the doctor today, for he has a small bump on is left wrist and it turns out to be a cyst but nothing to worry about. In fact it went down from what it was last night, and he isn't complaining of the pain. So just rest and pain meds when it starts to hurt.

Monday

I am not sure why he feels the need to bother his brother and why his brother has to bother him back. Each morning it is the same, they eat breakfast together and than one starts to poke and than its all down hill from there.

It take all morning for me to get them ready for us to go tutoring and I feel like I am always telling them the same thing to get ready. But they just don't seem listen.

Kodi is working so very hard for Melissa he wants to learn he wants to do his best. I can hear Kodi jumping around to help him think better. Which in turn helps him think.

As spring comes the warmer it get and the more Kodi is able to be outside before he has tutoring and school and the more he is able to get the input he needs. After we left tutoring the boys ate lunch and than we took Kodi to school. Once I picked him up he played outside and became very crabby which I can't stand. But I just ignore him and he stops. We had FHE watched a living scripture movie and than talked about what we watched afterwards.

It was a good night and a good day!

The weekend

It was a fun filled weekend for my boys, I was very happy with how well Kodi did we spent most of the night at my sister's house on Friday I was watching her kids which meant 6 kids and one parent. I was excepting a meltdown when I was putting Kodi into the car since he had been sleeping for about an hour. He cried a little bit but was more sad, because he was cold and wanted to be in his bed. I was finally able to get into the car and drive.

The next morning we got up the older boys went to bank to with Grandma than we went to the children's museum with 9 kids and 4 adults. I was excepting for Kodi to meltdown in the middle but he didn't. I am thinking that with all the running around and jumping that he was getting some good input. We also took a break to eat and settle down, I also had him play in the water room which is always calming to him. I also noticed, he would go by himself into a quieter area just for a little bit and than come back out and play. He is getting better at regulating when he needs a break.

Sunday is always the same church and a day at home, just one little meltdown after church because I didn't get his bread the way he wanted it to be. I just left him alone, walked away and let him me. It took about 10 minutes and than he was done.

Thursday

Another day and so far it's been a great day, Kodi is such a sweet boy and when we are having a good day that shows so very much. We have been working on use nice words when we are anger and how we need to make he "right" choice.

I am surprised that when he is not getting the input his body needs he is able to let me know and we are able to find what he needs. We are getting better at ready his body language better. We got some good news about the public school he is suppose to go to next year. It's not a very good school and I don't want him in that school at all. Anyway since we never enrolled him he will be able to go somewhere else. Now if we can find a public school that is good and we don't have to give proof that he is in Daycare in that district than we are good to go.

If I could we would just stay here in MN but that is not possible at all. We need to be a family and if Daddy is not deployed why be away from each other. The boys miss him so very much and can't wait to be back with him. Kodi is not able to go to bed at night unless he gets a story from Aaron which usually ends up with Kodi sleeping and Aaron reading a story, but he is reading and Kodi loves it.

Reading is becoming a huge hit with Kodi he loves me to read and he loves to pick out letter. I can' t wait for more of the reading to come into play.

Wednesday

We woke up to a fresh blanket of snow and of course all three of my boys have an awful cough, one with double ear infection. So when Kodi was coughing like he was dying I thought ok it's time to take him in. But thankfully he is able to clear out what is in his chest when he coughs and isn't running any fevers so no meds for my boy :)

He is actually having a good day and was very excited for school and to brush his teeth. We have been working hard on teach him how to keep his body clean and healthy. I love when he is getting the input he needs and I can hear him laughing and is so very happy.

He and I were both very happy to find that more and more food companies are putting less dyes in foods and using natural ways to color the products. He loves Goldfish crackers but the colored ones had the dyes in them so I never bought them, but today we were looking and it said "Now colors from Natural ingredients" so I looked and sure enough no dyes. Of course we had to get them. We also were looking at popsilces and found the same thing, so we got them as well. Now if we can figure out how to make orange soda without the red and yellow dyes than life would be grand.

We will see what the rest of our day is when he gets home. But so far it's a great day in the life of Kodi.

Tuesday

I am trying to be better at bloging and make sure that I keep a record for Kodi and the rest of my family. I was amazed that this morning my two older boys let me sleep in and I did not wake up to hearing them fit. Kodi also is once again sleeping in his bed, which I love since we are visiting family and are not in our own house. I was for a while have all three boys in bed in with and I was the one who did not sleep.

I have noticed that Kodi is getting sick like the rest of my family and is able to process this a little better. He went to his appt with this tutor and she listened to what I had to say about his SPD and when wasn't able to focus to have him jump,bear walk, push the wall, move the table basically do some heavy input and it would make a difference. I was trying to get some heavy input before we went to see her but it was raining outside and last night was the first night I got some good sleep.

But he did do very well for her and listened, I could hear him jumping and answering her question. Which made me very happy. I also made some floor blocks for his feet so he was grounded while he did some table work.

We than headed back home for lunch before school and of course his younger brother decided it would be fun torture him with a pickel. Yes a pickel Kodi hates the smell and everything about pickels.Once that was over we left for school and the rest of his day was great. He loves school and his teachers we will be sad when we return to VA

Many Months of fun

Not quite sure when the last time I was able to sit down and write a blog, but with the snow melting and only one little boy in the house I am taking a few moments to write. Kodi did a wonderful job with the visit back home, and we are only seeing a couple meltdowns. He is able to be in preschool school 3 times aweek, the hard part is that since we are only back in MN for 2 1/2 months we were not able to get into any therapy, for two reasons, the first one is that our insurance will of course only be accepted at a clinic that we have never been seen at and second they didn't have any treatment time or any slots open to test him. I had it all worked out with The Therapy Place for treatment and he was very excited to go back and see everyone. I must have spent a week working on why the insurance wasn't allowing him to go back. Now we could have paid out of pocket, but we just don't have that kind of money.

We also found a friend who tutors kids with Dyslexia, who is helping Kodi so very much. We are finding that he does in fact have most of the red flags for Dyslexia and what she is doing will help him greatly. My Aunt is also helping Kodi with writing and he loves that she come over to do school.

As for keeping him balanced I am still working on that, it's a hard battle for me each and every day. But we keep going and keep doing our best.