4th Grade

So far so wonderful. I have also started a new school year and I am in a new school a ways up the road from Ayden Jane. I leave early and feel a bit disconnected from what she is doing at school, however her teacher has been awesome about filling me in on any details I need to know.

Ayden Jane is happy as can be and I am hearing lots of new names of friends. So far there has been no homework, which has been very enjoyable for all of us! I do need to get some structure in our lives with at least a bit of reading ect. I am sure it will come.

It is so strange to be so relaxed about the school year. Most years, the first few weeks I am pretty much holding my breath. Just hoping she gets the hang of procedures and schedules and expectations. It just all seems easy this year. I am sure some of that is the amazing teacher she had last year who prepared her so very well.

Getting off to school in the morning is interesting at least 1 morning a week. With Gary working nights and me having to leave by about 6:20 to get to work on time, there are mornings where Mckenna is now taking over as taxi driver. So, yes, I pack Ayden Jane's lunch and snack, and I put out her morning meds/supplements. Then I wake up Mckenna as I leave. Since pitolisant, Ayden Jane needs to be woken in the morning but she is getting the rest of it done herself. This morning was the first "on their own" morning and I got the text of relief from Mckenna. I made it and even on time. They were ready and out the door in time for Mckenna to get Ayden Jane dropped off and herself over to the high school without being tardy. Woohoo. That is not small feet.

The evenings this year are proving much different from last year as well. Last fall we were struggling to find enough hours in the day for exercise and being a kid. She was just so tired. Tonight, I got the text from Gary to hurry home with supper because Ayden Jane was nutty. After we ate he took her out to the beach on the creek side and they swam a long time. He had her swimming against the current and giggling away. She went to bed around 8:30.

So, Ayden Jane's life is pretty good about now. Hoping to build more solid friendships. Get back into some good books and enjoy being in the 4th grade.

Surfing

Just more evidence of an epic summer. The kid is a beach kid through and through. She has so much fun in the ocean. Getting up to standing and riding waves was the goal of the summer and she has loved every minute of it. 

Funny Kid

Lately, Ayden Jane has developed a great, quick wit. Admittedly it sometimes comes across with more attitude than she intends and she crosses lines, but I appreciate the fast processing speed and the intelligence that is shows.

One example was today when Gary was talking about how he needs to clean out his car after taking the dogs to the beach in it. Kayla added that she also needed to de sand her car from the summer fun. Ayden Jane chimed right in, "yeah, my car is a mess too. It's going to be tough to get it clean." She grinned and thought she was so very funny. I had to admit it was pretty quick witted of her.

Other things are listening to her 'trash talk' with Gary over who is going to win at board games the play. She used to first get upset when Gary would say things like, "do you want to lose at Sorry?" She'd start to get upset and be insulted that he said she would lose. Now she just responds with 'dream on' or 'your going down'. She will give him options of what game he's like to lose.... She will not let him forget times she has beat him. All typical kid sorts of teasing. It's fun to hear.

She lives in a house with a lot of sarcasm and joking and quoting lines from movies and other sorts of humor that is older. She is just better now at not being confused or offended. She started to follow it pretty well but I guess the difference now is that she can jump in. Not always smoothly or well, but its getting better.

Maybe I'm crazy, but it makes me happy and feels like she is gaining worthwhile social skills. (If sarcasm and quick on liners are considered social skills)

Eyes

We had our annual visit to Storm Eye Institute and WOOHOO, Ayden Jane's prescription is reduced. She is very excited to say the least. The words, "no glasses" were thrown around a bit as a possibility in future years.

So there is some thought that pitolisant activating histamine 3 receptors in her eyes could be helping with the changes. It could be that or it could be growth and development of the age. We will likely never know but the eye exam showed significant improvement in her vision.

Here is what I do know. From the history of her eyes, she had no strabismus or vision issues until the awful winter of infection when her whole body went haywire and her tone went to mush. Poof, suddenly her right eye would wander.

We started glasses at that point and she has been at the same prescription up until this visit. (+2) This summer I noticed she started taking her glasses off pretty frequently. Other times she would ask me things like, "what time is it? I can't read the clock with my glasses on."

It was pretty obvious she couldn't go back to school with the same prescription. She would not have been able to read the board without taking her glasses off and if she takes them off.... you never know when you will see them again. Full scale searches had to be activated frequently this summer.

The resident came in first and her plan was for Ayden Jane to go down to a +1 but when Dr. W came in, he made her focus really hard ... or something and it apparently made her alignment go a bit awry. In the end he dropped her from a 2.0 to a 1.5.

Ayden Jane was great with it. She had gotten really excited about the victory of 1.0 but still took the 1.5 as a win and is determined to get to 1.0 next time. 

Summer - just a little bit longer

I have not been great about blogging this summer. Well, especially lately. Honestly, we have just been having so much fun and the time is just flying by.

One highlight has been surfing. I mean the standing (or attempting to stand) version of surfing. Earlier in the summer, before camps and vacations came along, Ayden Jane took her "surf board" out a fair amount. We bought her a soft top type board, cheap from Sams. It's a bit small for her which makes it harder to ride, but it is something she can fall on, get hit in the head by ect and not really get hurt.

Noah promised to take her out on his big board and teach her, but he has been busy. Well the day finally came on Saturday. I did not go watch, but the report was good. Mostly, it was good because she listened well and did not argue with Noah. That was accomplishment one. There are plans to do a bit more this week before he leaves to go back to school. I will do my best to get a few pictures of it.

General observations of this summer, as I think back over it, include Ayden Jane being much better socially. We live in a vacation area so when we go to the beach or the the pool there are often families with kids who are visiting. Ayden Jane has always had a bold nature and attempted to make friends. In the past, however, there were times that her ability to communicate just make is challenging. She would meet someone new and that pause as she would attempt to process the person, what they said ect before she would respond seemed awkward. Her volume would be low and her articulation mumbly... If I was right there a could facilitate the first few interchanges things would smooth out a bit. Now I am no longer necessary. Conversations flow back and forth typically and she can articulate her thoughts and ideas clearly. It's a subtle difference to those watching from the outside but to me the difference is massive.

We plan to finish strong this summer. This week is filled with company. Next week I will be back to work and she has big plans of all the places she is going to convince Gary to take her. I think they plan to play tourist and hit up a few of the fun things to do right here we just haven't done much of this summer.

It has truly been a wonderful summer - one for the record books.

Vacation

 We had a great vacation to Busch Gardens Williamsburg. Ayden Jane couldn't have loved it more. We went to the park and to the water park! There were pools to swim in at the resort and activity galore!

 Ayden Jane loves speed so the speed slides were a must!

This one Noah did with Ayden Jane. It was beyond me and the big girls were happy to pass on it this time.