Niagra Falls

Enjoy a little 18 minute video Adam made of our quick trip to Niagra.  We spent some time at the Falls, on Clifton Hill (complete with ferris wheel, putt-putt, wax museums, and haunted houses), and even got free wrist bands for an indoor water park at another hotel (thanks to some ladies who had gotten some kind of voucher with extra bands). I think we all had a good time!

Orthopedic visit

Adam had a follow-up today with a new (to us) orthopedic doctor who specializes in lower limb discrepancies at Children's hospital.  Adam got some cool x-rays done of his lower body and measurements were made.  Looks like he currently has a 1.7cm difference between his right and left leg.  The doctor plugged the numbers into some program that predicts his overall discrepancy will be 2.5 cm (1 inch).  We will go to the Dublin orthopedic clinic yearly to get x-rays (they have a cool "rocket" type machine that uses a fraction of the radiation) of his legs to monitor and also a scan of his hand to determine bone age.  All these will help determine when he will get growth stunting surgery on his left leg.  He said it would probably be closer to when Adam is 14 years old.  Then he told us we will be seeing a different doctor next year because he is going back to his old job (somewhere in the caribbean or someplace nice like that).  Kind of bummed about that since we had been seeing such a dopey doctor previously.  He also wrote us a prescription to get a custom orthotic insert for Adam's right shoe to help even out some of the discrepancy and any possible future back/hip/knee problems. 

Last ultrasound!!

Nearly 8 years and 32 ultrasounds later, we are done!!!  We have hit the magical age where the risk of cancer evens out to that of the normal population.  I asked Kelly (our ultrasound tech) how his spleen measured today and she said she thought it was smaller than last time!  She said she would mention to the radiologist that we have discovered he is lactose intolerant because that may have been causing some of the enlargement. Since she did not call in the radiologist, liver and kidneys must have looked fine as well.  YAY!

I snuck a photo to document the occasion!

Last Day of School!!

Oh my gosh!!  Where did the year go??  Today was the closing ceremony/concert for grades PreK-3rd grade with the carnival afterward.  Hard to believe I have a 2nd grader on my hands now!! 

I always get teary at concerts. Here are some clips we took:

Here are a couple of pics from today and yesterday. Such great teachers and friends!!  This year will be hard to top.

A couple of dates

Adam is going to his first Taekwondo tournament on May 16th here in Dublin.  His instructor said this is a great first tournament since it is just the Taekwondo of America schools here in Ohio (4-5 schools).  It will be small, have a lot of the instructors he already knows, and lots of help along the way.  Since he is just a yellow belt, there is no sparring.  He will do his form and his one steps for the judges and then be done.  I guess it helps them learn how to deal with the pressure for when they do start sparring.  It also helps for testing (which he will definitely be ready for on June 10 or 11th!).  After testing he will then move on to become an Orange belt and get all his sparring equipment.

May 22nd is Adam's Authors' Tea.  He will read aloud a story that he has written in "Writer's Workshop".  This special piece will have been revised, edited, illustrated, and published by Adam!  I believe he said he is writing a chapter book on Five Nights at Freddy's (it's a video game every kid seems to be in to). Kids are encouraged to dress up for their tea.  We asked if there was anything he wanted to wear and he has requested a black bow tie and top hat!   ( I think that is what Freddy wears).  Thank goodness for Amazon - they are on their way!

The last day of school is May 29th!!  Where did this year go???

Spelling Meltdown

Yesterday was the first day back to school after Spring Break.  Adam quickly got back into the routine and started doing his homework when he got home.  Mondays (almost) always have a new spelling list to go over.  I asked if he had looked the words over before I started quizzing him and he quickly read them and said he was ready.  The first 6 words went well.  The last 4 are "bonus" words that usually have some kind of "hunk and chunk" they are working on.  One of the words was "whispered".  He was having some trouble with the wh and I said it's probably one of your hunk 'n chunks.  He asked if it had an -ed and I said yes.  Total tearfest!!!   I told him I thought the -wh- was the problem and he said that was an old one they learned months ago. He saw on the board today that they did -ed- while he was at speech so he missed the phonics dance/ chant to learn it all because he "has a terrible voice and has to go to speech."  (Awww!)  He did not want to listen to anything I had to say to help him out and just could not stop crying and yelling - which of course brings Dave up from work.  Dave tries to calm him down while I email his teacher to make sure she goes over it with him because he is convinced that they will not have phonics for another week and he will NOT be able to do his spelling without it.  Then Adam says (get your tissues ready because it made me cry) - "I was made with a terrible voice.  Do you know who made me? (I'm expecting some kind of parental slam here). God did!  He made me have a terrible voice that I have to go to speech for!"  :(

Dave was able to talk him down and show him how to separate the words and just add -ed at the end.  Adam also had speech at Specialized Speech with a substitute teacher that we were a little worried about (he always says he only likes Miss Allie) but Dave gave him an incentive (a toy that he had wanted but he did not want ON Easter) and he did fantastic!  He did his "R" words with about 83% accuracy! 

Adam also informed me this morning that he can cry at will.  We have a future actor on our hands...

Bloodwork normal!

Wow that was fast!  Nurse called today to say the bloodwork was normal and we'll just wait to see what the hematologist says. (It could take 7-10 days for them to get in touch with us).