Dima had a much better day yesterday. Instead, Emily decided to be a pain. :)
Emily reverted back to some behavior we haven't seen in a month or 6 weeks. She refused to answer questions and would only repeat whatever was said to her. She was also excessively weepy and whiny.
A couple of days ago we had noticed a scab on her chin which looked like a mosquito bite. She had been scratching at it and it broke open so I'd been putting antibiotic ointment on it. When I got home from work on Friday, I noticed that she seemed to have some sort of rash spreading up one side of her face from that bite area. When I gave the kids their baths, I took her temperature (just for curiosity) and she had a low-grade fever. I also found a few more "bug bites" on her torso which was covered by her shirt (i.e., she should not have gotten bitten there).
My first thought was chicken pox. We don't have any medical history whatsoever on the girls and I have no idea if either of them have ever had chicken pox. But it didn't look quite right for chicken pox. On a hunch, I decided to treat the "bites" and rash-thing instead of the fever, so I gave her some benadryl and sent her to bed.
She woke up in the morning completely free of the mysterious face rash and with all of her "bite" gone except for the one on her chin. I'm guessing she had an allergic reaction to something, but neither Mark not I have figured out what yet. She had a better day of answering questions and was not nearly as whiny. :)
Saturday, August 08, 2009
Friday, August 07, 2009
Dima's very bad day
It's been a while since anyone's had a bad day, so I guess we're about due. :)
Yesterday, Dima had a really bad day. Now, I need to qualify that by saying that for some parents, when their child has a really bad day it involves hitting or screaming or running away. Thankfully, we have experienced none of those behaviors with any of our children. Dima's bad day consisted of a bizarre amount of regression. He spent pretty much the whole day in his old wailing fits, more or less one after the other. What was even more bizarre is that it carried over into speech therapy yesterday afternoon.
When his speech therapist came out to get him, I didn't mention anything about his bad day. I was hoping that he would behave differently for her (as has happened in the past) and I didn't want to bias her in expectation of poor behavior.
Apparently, I should have warned her.
She kept him the whole hour, but afterwards she said she basically spent the last half-hour redirecting him. He chewed on his hands/fingers until they bled, couldn't focus, and whined enough to drive her to distraction. She said she's never seen him act so much like a baby (her words). And from what Mark described of Dima's behavior yesterday at home, what the speech therapist saw was just a continuation.
What's frustrating to me is that I can't figure out the trigger. I have three guesses--a new stuffed animal he's been playing with (that he's had for a long time but just started playing with), the concert the kids went to yesterday with Mark, or school starting in a few weeks.
OR--maybe it was just a bad day.
That's the hard part about having children with an unknown history. I'm always second-guessing, trying to make sure we're doing everything we can to help our children heal. But it's really hard to help them heal when you don't know what hurts! And how do I know that he wasn't just having an out-of-sorts day...one of those days where everything just feels wrong (heck, I have those days too)...and he just doesn't have the language to help him talk about it and process it?
Last night at dinner I asked him a few leading questions about the concert on Wednesday. I got normal responses and nothing that would indicate that that was a trigger for his behavior. I've pretty much ruled that one out. I'm leaning towards school starting as the trigger, but it's just puzzling. He says he's excited to go to first grade (and he really is--you should she his eyes light up when he talks about it!). He knows his teacher's name, he knows other kids in his class...so maybe it's just that he's anticipating the change in routine.
So...we'll keep plugging along, being consistent, and trying to get to the bottom of the problem if there seems to be one. In the meantime, I hope he has a better day today!
Yesterday, Dima had a really bad day. Now, I need to qualify that by saying that for some parents, when their child has a really bad day it involves hitting or screaming or running away. Thankfully, we have experienced none of those behaviors with any of our children. Dima's bad day consisted of a bizarre amount of regression. He spent pretty much the whole day in his old wailing fits, more or less one after the other. What was even more bizarre is that it carried over into speech therapy yesterday afternoon.
When his speech therapist came out to get him, I didn't mention anything about his bad day. I was hoping that he would behave differently for her (as has happened in the past) and I didn't want to bias her in expectation of poor behavior.
Apparently, I should have warned her.
She kept him the whole hour, but afterwards she said she basically spent the last half-hour redirecting him. He chewed on his hands/fingers until they bled, couldn't focus, and whined enough to drive her to distraction. She said she's never seen him act so much like a baby (her words). And from what Mark described of Dima's behavior yesterday at home, what the speech therapist saw was just a continuation.
What's frustrating to me is that I can't figure out the trigger. I have three guesses--a new stuffed animal he's been playing with (that he's had for a long time but just started playing with), the concert the kids went to yesterday with Mark, or school starting in a few weeks.
OR--maybe it was just a bad day.
That's the hard part about having children with an unknown history. I'm always second-guessing, trying to make sure we're doing everything we can to help our children heal. But it's really hard to help them heal when you don't know what hurts! And how do I know that he wasn't just having an out-of-sorts day...one of those days where everything just feels wrong (heck, I have those days too)...and he just doesn't have the language to help him talk about it and process it?
Last night at dinner I asked him a few leading questions about the concert on Wednesday. I got normal responses and nothing that would indicate that that was a trigger for his behavior. I've pretty much ruled that one out. I'm leaning towards school starting as the trigger, but it's just puzzling. He says he's excited to go to first grade (and he really is--you should she his eyes light up when he talks about it!). He knows his teacher's name, he knows other kids in his class...so maybe it's just that he's anticipating the change in routine.
So...we'll keep plugging along, being consistent, and trying to get to the bottom of the problem if there seems to be one. In the meantime, I hope he has a better day today!
Thursday, August 06, 2009
My amazing husband
I haven't posted about our job situations because it's really not relevant to the blog, but Mark and I managed to arrange things so that one of us is home with the kids until they start school (at which point Emily will start preschool and the three big kids will be in school).
Since being home with 4 children ages 7 and under for the past couple of weeks, Mark has:
Finished the downstairs bathroom (way more involved than it sounds)
Made a square foot garden (4x4) for me
Completed nearly a month's worth of meals from Once-a-month Cooking
He's been staying really busy at home and I know the kids are enjoying their time with him. Zhenya's been helping him cook and Emily likes to follow him around and close everything (cupboards, drawers, the dishwasher). :)
I finally got things planted in my new garden (way late, I know!) so we'll see if anything grows. I planted one tomato plant, one red pepper, carrots, broccoli, sweet basil, and cilantro. The herbs are already doing really well so at least those will be useful. The tomatoes may not have a chance to ripen before our first frost--it will just depend on when our first frost is. So far I really like the square foot garden since I can reach everything and everything is separated out nicely.
Since being home with 4 children ages 7 and under for the past couple of weeks, Mark has:
Finished the downstairs bathroom (way more involved than it sounds)
Made a square foot garden (4x4) for me
Completed nearly a month's worth of meals from Once-a-month Cooking
He's been staying really busy at home and I know the kids are enjoying their time with him. Zhenya's been helping him cook and Emily likes to follow him around and close everything (cupboards, drawers, the dishwasher). :)
I finally got things planted in my new garden (way late, I know!) so we'll see if anything grows. I planted one tomato plant, one red pepper, carrots, broccoli, sweet basil, and cilantro. The herbs are already doing really well so at least those will be useful. The tomatoes may not have a chance to ripen before our first frost--it will just depend on when our first frost is. So far I really like the square foot garden since I can reach everything and everything is separated out nicely.
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
Less sleep=good news
It was bound to happen as soon as I posted that no one had woken up at night. ;)
Last night Emily woke up wailing/crying/screaming. I'm not sure if it was louder than usual or if it just startled me awake, but I flung myself out of bed and ran into her room. She was laying in bed, crying, and as soon as I sat down on the bed and started comforting her she said...
"Go bathroom?"
By all means, go to the bathroom! LOL
She got up and we went to the bathroom where she peed a LOT and then I took her back to bed. She was fine until she was back in bed and then she started to cry again. I comforted her and reminded her that it was the middle of the night and time to be sleeping. She calmed back down and I sat with her for a few minutes to make sure she was settled. Then I got up and left the room, but left her door open a little bit to listen and make sure she didn't start crying again.
I'm not sure if she had a bad dream and woke up, or if she needed to go to the bathroom and woke up, but I'm thrilled that she wanted to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night! We've really been working with her on potty training but I thought it would be quite a long time before she would be dry at night. If her bladder is waking her up at night, she may be dry sooner than I expected. Of course, it's still going to take a while before she can get herself up and to the bathroom by herself, but we're making progress!
Last night Emily woke up wailing/crying/screaming. I'm not sure if it was louder than usual or if it just startled me awake, but I flung myself out of bed and ran into her room. She was laying in bed, crying, and as soon as I sat down on the bed and started comforting her she said...
"Go bathroom?"
By all means, go to the bathroom! LOL
She got up and we went to the bathroom where she peed a LOT and then I took her back to bed. She was fine until she was back in bed and then she started to cry again. I comforted her and reminded her that it was the middle of the night and time to be sleeping. She calmed back down and I sat with her for a few minutes to make sure she was settled. Then I got up and left the room, but left her door open a little bit to listen and make sure she didn't start crying again.
I'm not sure if she had a bad dream and woke up, or if she needed to go to the bathroom and woke up, but I'm thrilled that she wanted to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night! We've really been working with her on potty training but I thought it would be quite a long time before she would be dry at night. If her bladder is waking her up at night, she may be dry sooner than I expected. Of course, it's still going to take a while before she can get herself up and to the bathroom by herself, but we're making progress!
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
No puking
Hooray! Our pediatrician was able to find a one-dose treatment for the giardia and the girls had no side effects from it. They took mebendazole, which is normally used to treat pinworms. I could not find good info online that it can also be used to treat giardia in one-dose, but I know our pediatrician did a lot of research as well and I trust her research options better than mine. No puking this time around and I am so glad I spoke up and asked for a different medicine!
No one has been waking up at night since we took out the nightlights (or at least not waking up upset!). The girls are sleeping soundly enough that I can go in their room at night. When all of the kids first came home, they did not sleep soundly at all. Dima and Danielle would both startle awake at the slightest noise or touch. Now everyone sleeps soundly, telling me they are comfortable and feel secure in their beds and that we are there with and for them (that, and they're exhausted from playing all day! :)).
It has been so much fun to watch Dima's progress this summer. He is really started to gain some maturity. He is not "over" all of the survival behaviors that he learned in the orphanage, but he is making tremendous progress. I think it has helped him to have the girls at home, as he gets to be the big brother now. He always was before, but since he and Zhenya are so close in age I think they always felt more like twins than big brother-little brother.
The boys have decided that they want to be called Alex and Tim for school this year. We have been spending time with all of their names this summer, and they have requested to be called Alex and Tim (or sometimes Timmy). I'm trying to get in the habit of using their first names by calling them Alex Dima and Timmy Zhenya, but it's hard! LOL Every time I remember and say "Alex Dima" he always turns around and says "Thank you Mama for calling me Alex Dima" so I think it's something I need to work on more diligently. Please forgive me if I mix up names in the blog--this is going to be a harder transition for me than the boys! :)
No one has been waking up at night since we took out the nightlights (or at least not waking up upset!). The girls are sleeping soundly enough that I can go in their room at night. When all of the kids first came home, they did not sleep soundly at all. Dima and Danielle would both startle awake at the slightest noise or touch. Now everyone sleeps soundly, telling me they are comfortable and feel secure in their beds and that we are there with and for them (that, and they're exhausted from playing all day! :)).
It has been so much fun to watch Dima's progress this summer. He is really started to gain some maturity. He is not "over" all of the survival behaviors that he learned in the orphanage, but he is making tremendous progress. I think it has helped him to have the girls at home, as he gets to be the big brother now. He always was before, but since he and Zhenya are so close in age I think they always felt more like twins than big brother-little brother.
The boys have decided that they want to be called Alex and Tim for school this year. We have been spending time with all of their names this summer, and they have requested to be called Alex and Tim (or sometimes Timmy). I'm trying to get in the habit of using their first names by calling them Alex Dima and Timmy Zhenya, but it's hard! LOL Every time I remember and say "Alex Dima" he always turns around and says "Thank you Mama for calling me Alex Dima" so I think it's something I need to work on more diligently. Please forgive me if I mix up names in the blog--this is going to be a harder transition for me than the boys! :)
Sunday, August 02, 2009
Girls' day out
Yesterday Mark had another base ball game a couple of hours away. Since his brother was in town, I requested to stay at home with the girls so we could go shopping for school supplies and all of the boys could go play base ball. Mark was hesitant, but he finally agreed (he wasn't sure how well he could watch the boys while playing base ball, which is a valid concern).
The girls and I hit OfficeMax, Office Depot, Target, and Walgreens, with a McDonalds run for lunch. We had a great time and got a bunch of stuff on the kids' school supply lists. With three of them in school I need to hit all of the deals I can!
Danielle is super excited about school and when she got up today and put her dress on for church she asked if she was going to school. Then tonight when she was going to bed she asked me how many days until school. Unfortunately for her, she doesn't know the number "16" so she still doesn't know how long until school starts. LOL
It was especially good for me to get to spend some time with Danielle shopping on Saturday. I feel like I am not bonding as well to her as she kind of gets lost in the chaos. Emily has needed so much more attention simply because she is younger, so I'm really trying hard to develop my relationship with Danielle. It took several months for me to really feel bonded to the boys, and I've seen that bonding (on my end and theirs) continue to grow and deepen the longer they've been home. I see the same thing happening with Danielle, but it's hard to be patient and give our relationship time. This is nothing Danielle is doing or not doing; it is simply a matter of trying to develop a relationship with a person you've only known for a couple of months and that you have a hard time communicating with. :) It takes time and effort and a willingness to make connections and build the relationship.
The girls and I hit OfficeMax, Office Depot, Target, and Walgreens, with a McDonalds run for lunch. We had a great time and got a bunch of stuff on the kids' school supply lists. With three of them in school I need to hit all of the deals I can!
Danielle is super excited about school and when she got up today and put her dress on for church she asked if she was going to school. Then tonight when she was going to bed she asked me how many days until school. Unfortunately for her, she doesn't know the number "16" so she still doesn't know how long until school starts. LOL
It was especially good for me to get to spend some time with Danielle shopping on Saturday. I feel like I am not bonding as well to her as she kind of gets lost in the chaos. Emily has needed so much more attention simply because she is younger, so I'm really trying hard to develop my relationship with Danielle. It took several months for me to really feel bonded to the boys, and I've seen that bonding (on my end and theirs) continue to grow and deepen the longer they've been home. I see the same thing happening with Danielle, but it's hard to be patient and give our relationship time. This is nothing Danielle is doing or not doing; it is simply a matter of trying to develop a relationship with a person you've only known for a couple of months and that you have a hard time communicating with. :) It takes time and effort and a willingness to make connections and build the relationship.
Saturday, August 01, 2009
The end of the nightlight saga
Thursday night, I woke up at 4 in the morning to very loud crying. Assuming it was Emily, I had the girls' door halfway open before I realized that the crying wasn't coming from their room. I hurried down to the boys room to find Zhenya standing in the middle of his room, crying. Once I got him calmed down enough that I could understand what he was saying, I figured out that apparently he had woken up and thought that the shadows in the wrinkles in his sheets were something in his bed. Once I showed him it was just his sheets, he was fine and went back to bed. As I left the room, I pulled out their nightlight.
The next morning, I pulled out the girls' nightlight too. We needed to return them anyway since they wouldn't turn off (they were supposed to automatically turn on and off) and I've decided if the kids are comfortable sleeping in the dark then we'll just go with that. The nightlights were for Mark and I, not them, anyway, so that we could see when we went in their rooms at night.
I found your comment interesting, BT. But I'm gauging their response more on how they go to sleep at night than what happens when the wake up in the middle of the night (since then they're usually disoriented and possibly scared). When the kids first came home, all of them had a hard time going to sleep at night. It was completely understandable, as they were in a new place with new people and everything was different. Now all of our kids go to sleep easily at night, without fuss, and fall asleep quickly, telling me that they feel safe and secure in their beds and knowing that we are here. (It's also still light here when they go to bed, so we'll see if anything changes when it's winter! :))
The next morning, I pulled out the girls' nightlight too. We needed to return them anyway since they wouldn't turn off (they were supposed to automatically turn on and off) and I've decided if the kids are comfortable sleeping in the dark then we'll just go with that. The nightlights were for Mark and I, not them, anyway, so that we could see when we went in their rooms at night.
I found your comment interesting, BT. But I'm gauging their response more on how they go to sleep at night than what happens when the wake up in the middle of the night (since then they're usually disoriented and possibly scared). When the kids first came home, all of them had a hard time going to sleep at night. It was completely understandable, as they were in a new place with new people and everything was different. Now all of our kids go to sleep easily at night, without fuss, and fall asleep quickly, telling me that they feel safe and secure in their beds and knowing that we are here. (It's also still light here when they go to bed, so we'll see if anything changes when it's winter! :))
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