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).

Ultrasound results

Adam's ultrasound came back normal but the spleen is still slightly enlarged.  Our pediatrician has an order in for some blood work and has referred us to a hematology specialist at Children's.  I'm hoping to bribe Adam to get the labs drawn this afternoon so we can see as soon as possible if the cbc shows anything.  Why didn't she draw labs a year ago when this started?  Ugh!  Nerve-wracking but hopefully it will be nothing.

Taekwondo

Adam has enrolled in Taekwondo!!  There is a place 5 minutes from us that has a try a class for free to see if you like it and then a special price for 4 weeks unlimited classes.  Today started a new session so we headed over to try it out.  Adam was "shy" when we first got there so Mr. Perdue took us to the "shy spot" to watch class. He emphasized that it had to be Adam's choice to join and he could come back as many times to watch as he needed but would not be able to sign up for class unless he participated in a whole class.  Well...5 minutes into the session, Adam said, "I'm going in."  He joined the group and had the BIGGEST smile on his face as he was running from one end of the room to the other, doing push-ups, and whatever else was asked.  Mr. Perdue made it a lot of fun but still was able to make the kids listen and show respect.  Adam and the 2 other new kids received white belts to show that they were allowed to enroll.  Adam said he liked it sooo..we enrolled and he  was issued his official Taekwondo America Uniform! Exciting! 

7 year well-check

Height 53 inches (98th percentile)
Weight 61 lbs (83rd percentile)

All is well.

Next ultrasound is in 2 weeks so we'll see how that is then.

Adam's first sleepover

Adam got invited for an awesome night out and a sleepover Friday.  The D's picked Adam, and 3 of his friends up from school.  They went to Cane's for dinner, Power Hour at Dave and Buster's, the new SpongeBob Movie, and back to the D's for a sleepover.

The Mom emailed me after the movie to say all was going great and they were heading home.  She took a couple of pics and in the one, 3 of the boys were huddled together and Adam was slightly off to the side.  I was like, "Uh-oh!"  But he was smiling soo...

Adam ended up calling me on FaceTime about an hour later (he has my old phone as an ipod so he must have gotten on their wifi).  Hilarious!  He asked if I could hear something but we were in the car and I could barely hear him.  He showed me a big TV that looked like they were getting ready to play video games and then said bye! Ha ha!  It was good to see him and he seemed to be having a good time.

Got a text around 11:00 saying they were almost asleep.  Another at 8:00 am saying they were up eating donuts and having a foam dart fight. We picked up at 10:30.

Adam was all kinds of wound up when we got there!  Apparently he was the big winner at Dave & Buster's.  He said he found an easy game that gave lots of tickets.  :)  The D's said when they got back home, the boys got to play with cap guns and glow-in-the-dark silly string outside then came in for and hour of Minecraft and then to bed.  The best part??  Adam said, "We get to say curse words in this house!!"  Mr. D was like, "What?!  No!".  Ha ha!  Adam told us in the car that when they were up in H's room, the other kids started saying  sh*t and calling each other Sh*t heads!  They were also punching each other and giving Indian burns.  Dave was like, "Well, that's what you do at sleepovers!"  I was like, "Umm...we played stiff as a board, light as a feather and tried to hypnotize people.  We didn't cuss and hit each other."  Boys vs girls, I guess.

When we got home, Adam got all sad that 1) He didn't win any candy at Dave & Buster's (but he came home with plenty in a goody bag), 2) He wanted to go "back home" to the D's and he didn't like us anymore, and 3)He really wants to go back to Dave and Buster's!  Meanwhile, we're trying to get him to calm down because we needed to get to the post office to apply for our passports.  FUN!

Oh - and he came home with 3 pairs of underwear (one his, one "G's", one we don't know), a pair of pants that belonged to "G" and a sock that wasn't his.   We still need to find his pants, belt, and socks. :)

He was asleep by 8.  :)

A funny story

Adam's class has been doing a unit on Community.  They are learning about different cultures, what other people do when they lose a tooth, how to not call unfamiliar foods "disgusting" (call them "different" instead), etc.  Adam brought home a paper last week where he wrote, "I would like to try a hot dog made out of pig snouts and hoofs."  Dave and I said, "You probably already have!"  He got SO upset!  He said it had to be something he never tried before and he didn't know!  We told him he might not have - we usually buy turkey or all beef - but he's had hot dogs other places...  He also got very upset with us when we told him he didn't live in Columbus...because his teacher told him they ALL lived in Columbus (even though he knows his address says Westerville).  His teacher was trying to do a very general lesson on how they live in the state of Ohio and in the city of Columbus (except for one kid who lives in Lancaster).  If Mrs. Klug says something, it has to be true!!  She had a good laugh about it at our conference.  She said he hangs on her every word. :)

Adam's first musical

The 1st graders are going to be performing a mini-musical "The Little Red Hen" on Tuesday, October 28th (8:15am  in the theater).  Adam's class is the Pig Chorus (there is a cat chorus, a cow chorus, fox chorus, and chick chorus).  Adam gets to be "Bob the Pig"!!  I think he gets to come out and snort or something.  Ha ha!  His first taste of the spotlight! 

Basketball

Adam has signed up to play on the junior basketball team!  I knew if there was at least one friend signed up,  he'd want to try it!  Practice and games start at the end of the month on Sunday afternoons.  Ought to be interesting.  :)

School love

When Adam got home from school today he said, "School is the best thing in my life!" :)

Ultrasound

Adam had his ultrasound last Friday.  Got the results back today:  no node was noted on the liver (say that 10 times fast).  That went away thank goodness!  Spleen - well, it's still enlarged.  It measured 9.9 cm; a tiny bit up from last time of 9.7 cm.  Doc just said repeat at the usual 3 months.

When our ultrasound tech Kelly was about to image Adam's spleen, I told her how it's been enlarged and how our doc wasn't concerned but I was annoyed because I wanted to know why.  She showed me his spleen in relation to his kidney. She said that they don't usually get worried until the spleen gets soo large it covers the kidney.  His does not even reach his kidney.  So I guess that's good!  She also told me that the internal organs tend to grow before a growth spurt. Well, he hasn't really grown any but maybe his body is gearing up for one.  Let's hope! 

Adam is still loving school! 

Minecraft YouTube-r

Adam loves these British guys called Stampylongnose and Ballistic Squid that have YouTube channels in which they commentate as they play Minecraft and other games.  I don't know what the fascination is in watching other people play (and the one guy has a really annoying laugh) but Adam will sit and watch these videos for hours.  This morning Adam got up and got on the computer. He was talking away playing Minecraft and I thought he was just imitating these guys.  A little while later he was all "Oh, Man!!  It didn't work!".  I found out that he had been recording himself trying to make a video to upload to YouTube but he used PhotoBooth which only records you - not your computer screen.   I had to do a little research and learned that QuickTime will record your screen and audio.  Sooo..Adam now has a video of himself narrating his playing of Minecraft...and a YouTube channel under his Minecraft name (stampy squid man). He wants to post more Minecraft videos (which are incredibly boring but his little voice is soo cute!).  I think that he thinks that if he gets a ton of subscribers like Stampy and Squid, he will get paid like they do.  :)

1st Day of First Grade!!

Adam had a great first day back to school!  After a bit of a rough wake-up (I apparently woke him up in the middle of a dream), he had a breakfast of pancakes and bacon and still had a little time to chill out watching his "Stampy" Minecraft  videos. As I had written on Facebook, he wanted Dave and I to be at the bus stop AND at his school when he got off the bus like last year.  We thought the bus would take forever like last year so we waited about a half hour after it left and ended up missing it. When he got home, I asked if he cared that we weren't there when his bus got to school.  Not really.  He said there were only 4 people on the bus in the morning!  No wonder it got there soo quickly!  He didn't really care when we went to his classroom either.  I felt bad for missing him.  He was just going about his business and being "Mr.Quiet" (because that's who he turns into at school).  He and his friend Jaxon get to so sit next to each other so a snapped a quick picture of them and we headed out.

Adam got home and told me all about his day.  They had a little scavenger hunt to find things in the classroom (name tags to place how you are going home, names to color and cut out, supplies that aren't in his desk cubby, etc). He actually went into detail about where each thing was  - it was pretty cute.  Then there was the big morning assembly where the Seniors get paired up with the Kindergarten buddies.  (He said Emma got a buddy and his friend's little brother got a buddy).  Uncle Stefan got an award/certificate for being a teacher for soo many years.

They had lunch. It was grilled cheese but he said you have to eat a vegetable, a fruit, and a protein before you can get something else?  He got half a blueberry bagel. Thankfully they took away "Fruit Rush" drink (aka colored sugar water) and he had chocolate milk.  (Fruit Rush is just for summer camps he said).

They had a recess or 2.  Played a new game of tag called "doctors".  They went to the library where he got 2 books on dinosaurs that he read on the bus ride home.  They had computer lab with a new teacher. 

I think that's all!

Catching up before school starts

Wow!!  Well, Adam spent most of his summer at school.  CA has some amazing camps and Adam wanted to sign up for every week.  He mostly did science-type camps but his favorite week was called Ancient Survival.  They learned about how Native Americans lived and spent a lot of time in the woods around the school.  The last day of camp they went on a field trip to Flint Ridge Park.  Adam enjoyed learning how to use a flint drill and spending all his money in the gift shop.  :)  Last week we went to COSI (and I agree, the old one was much better), mini golf, and the zoo/Jungle Jack's landing.  I think if given the chance, Adam would play Minecraft or watch Minecraft videos all day and call it a great summer break! Ugh!  At least I was able to teach him how to ride his bike.

Yesterday our neighborhood had a picnic.  The first one in the 11 years we have lived here!  We found out we have a lot of older neighbors with a sprinkling of us younger ones.  We finally got to meet the one's whose Junior rides the bus to CA with Adam.  I had contacted her earlier in the day to see if they had received the bus schedule yet. (No).  Adam ended up playing with her younger son and a couple of the other neighborhood kids we sometimes see out.  I was like - Yeah, that's what a neighborhood should look like!  A bunch of kids running around together!  Our new home association secretary (or maybe he's president) is planning a "progressive dinner" next.  Something about having appetizers at one house, salad at another, main at another, then all meet up at the last house for dessert.  Hmmm.....won't be our house. ;)

I just got an email from our fellow CA neighbor.  She emailed Westerville City Schools Dept. of Logistics/Transportation today (I did last week and didn't get a response at all).  She said they called her tonight to say the boys will be picked up at 6:48 am on Wednesday!!  10 minutes earlier than last year!  Her son was always running for the bus in the morning so I hope he makes it.  One of her other sons is starting there this year so maybe he'll help get him going. :)

2 more days left of summer.  I'm hoping the weather holds out because I would like to take Adam to the Olentangy Caverns (I've never been) and maybe back to Young's Dairy or Clifton Gorge/Glen Helen.

Lab work

Adam's doctor was not concerned about his ultrasound results but she said if we were overly concerned, she had no problem ordering the lab work.  Adam had it done on Wednesday.  He sat in the chair by himself and the tech explained everything he was going to do and everything he was doing as he did it.  He told Adam he may want to look away and that he would poke him on "3".  Since they use butterfly catheters and Adam is bigger than he was 3 years ago, he didn't even flinch.  He didn't even know he actually got poked until the tech said he was almost done and Adam watched the rest of the blood draw!  Awesome!

Doc office called today and his afp is 1.3!!  YAY! I know he is way past the age for hepatoblastoma but I just wanted to be sure.  (If a tumor was starting, afp would be in the thousands or higher).  So we still don't know why he had the enlarged liver lymph node or why his spleen has been slightly enlarged but at least we know it's not a liver tumor!  Another bws-mom said the spleen thing has happened to her son, too, so who knows?  Maybe it happens to all of us but since we don't get quarterly ultrasounds, we don't know.