ADHD Awareness Week

Happy ADHD Awareness Week!  We will be celebrating by . . . trying to remember what we are celebrating.  In our family we have great PLANS to celebrate things but we often get lost in the details.  Executive functions aren't a strong point.

I often have people ask me if I really believe ADHD exists or if it's just an excuse for lazy parents/out of control kids.  Anyone who spends time with someone with ADHD can attest that it does exist.  I struggle daily to keep on task, keep focused, remember what I need to do and not be distracted.  It's frustrating and sometimes heartbreaking to see how easy other people manage to do something as simple as make a meal.  For me it likely means some ingredient will be left out, or something will be burned, or the side dish will be served with the dessert because I forgot to put it on in time to eat with the main course.  It means that the dishes don't get entirely washed because when I went to the living room to pick up empty glasses I noticed the jacket that should go on the hooks, where I found a box that needed to go in the sun porch, where I found the laundry hamper that belonged in the bathroom .  . .

It means that I'm continually explaining to people that my kids aren't being mean when they get rough, or rude, or impulsive.  It means explaining to teachers that Sam CAN'T remember to bring his homework home without a reminder and this will not stop once he's "got into a routine" around Christmas.  It means explaining to teachers that Liam NEEDS to fidget in class and sometimes leave the room because the urge to fidget is almost painful.

It also means that we have a house of fun-loving, up-for-anything people with lots of energy, creativity and optimism.  I often emphasize to my children that ADHD isn't a disease, just a different way of interacting with the world that has some good points and some bad points.  We deal with them as best we can and try to laugh over the mistakes and problems we have as well as celebrate when things are going well.

If you want more information on ADHD Awareness week or ADHD in general, this website is a good starting place.

We went to the pumpkin patch

And found this!

Dill's Pumpkin Farm is where we went.  Every giant pumpkin in the world today is a descendant of one of Howard Dill's world champ pumpkins.

Aaron and I took Carson there while the big kids were in school but didn't pick out a pumpkin because we were walking and it would be too heavy to take home. We'll go back in a week or so and pick out a good one -- or 5.

Thanksgiving #2

We celebrated our second Thanksgiving of the year at Aaron's brother's.  We brought:

pumpkin cheesecake pie

AND

chocolate cake balls -- mmmmmm

 AND

a birthday card.

It was a beautiful warm day -- we were outside for most of it.

Tomorrow we have our third Thanksgiving feast -- this one will be ham though as we are turkey'd out!  

Beware of Dragons

Aaron's is attempting to quit smoking, which prompted Sam to make this sign:

He taped it to the door as a warning to all visitors . . .

Three of a kind

I love this picture

Liam

Carson

Sam

 It's my current favourite.

Still making things

like this!

Carson December 30, 2010

I think he turned out pretty good.

9

Now this

has become this

Wonderful imagination, constant talker, cuddly nine year-old.  Smart, spacy and funny.  What would I do without you?

Happy Birthday Samwise Gamgee!!

14

Who would ever believe that this:

would one day turn into this?

(you can't tell from this but he just dyed his hair black and purple)

Liam, the middle child, concieved after a loss, six years younger than one brother, five years older than the other.

At first he was a quiet child.  Too quiet.  We soon learned that with Liam, quiet is bad. (Noisy isn't that great either).

Too smart for his own good, no baby-proofing device could stop him.  He could turn on the oven and crawl in it in the time it took to answer the phone.  He could open the door and leave by the time he was two.  Thank god for the fenced in yard as he could get out of his crib (by somersaulting over the rail) when he was one.

When he was two he broke his bedroom window when put in there for a time out. He was obsessed with pots and pans and would only watch cooking shows on TV.

He came down with chicken pox on his 5th birthday.  He had to put up with a baby brother just when he was enjoying being the youngest.

During the "bad years" before his father and I broke up, Liam ended up being the responsible one to get him and his older brother off to school.  Too much responsiblity for an eight year old. (I did not learn this until after we split -- he and his brother hid much).

In grade 6, when the school decided he was too much of a handful to be in the classroom, all his teachers and principal told me that he wasn't bad -- he never hit, or bullied, or was mean to anyone, ever.  He just didn't do what he was told unless he felt like it. (I can identify with that).

Liam in the most like me and the one that drives me the craziest.  He is my best kid and my worst kid.  The one I want to spend the most time with and that I need the most breaks from.   He has the best sense of humour, is smart as a whip and an excellent listener (unless you are telling him to do something).

Where did 14 years go?

Happy Birthday, Wonderful Boy!

Brotherly Love

After a whole day of insulting his brother and finally being threatened with loss of computer priviledges, Liam turned to Sam and said "Please hand me the remote, oh kind and loving brother."

Sam handed him the remote and said "I'm not loving but I am kind."

My boys.