Connor has been home 6 years(!!!!) (he is 6 1/2 y now) this month, which is just unbelievable. He is doing great, in the 1st grade and rather mellow but extremely sociable and likable. He knows every child and teacher in his school, and who is friends with whom, their siblings, etc. He is a natural politician:) just charming but sincere!
Isaac has been home 3 1/2 years (4 1/2y now) and is still a lovable handful. He was recently diagnosed with ADHD and after trying lots of things, we opted for meds and it has been a 300% improvement. Except, his attachment "stuff" which was going pretty well overall, was triggered by having a substitute teacher one day in pre-k. He does not have any attachment dx, but is considered to have an "insecure attachment", an overall well adjusted relationship with us but a healthy dose of mistrust with others. He does still try to push my buttons more than dh, so I worry that there may be more dx down the road, but that's where we are at right now. He is acting out, primarily at school with some violence. Mainly yelling and arguing here. The ADHD meds help with the impulsiveness of it all, and have allowed him to focus enough to begin to verbalize his feelings and such, so we are making baby step progress. Fortunately, his principal is also the SpEd. Director, and I have known her a long time and she is fantastic. They have a behavior plan and lots of mods in place (ex-no subs in his class-if teacher is out, another pre-k teacher that he knows comes to his class and hers gets the sub; they will select his k class this spring, let us do a meet/greet with pictures and help us pre teach; offered to hire an additional aid for fieldtrips or class if we need to, rather than having us keep come getting him as the teachers were doing). We are attempting to qualify him for sped, so we can get OT as now that the hyper behaviors are better, it seems he also has some underlying sensory issues. But he is also a ridiculously sweet, loving, and finally often happy little boy you could ever hope to meet. He is also, finally, STTN most nights, which makes for a happier mama! My bio son Jimmy, is 13, smart and really growing into himself well. I can see shades of the man he will grow into, and it makes me smile. He is busy with scouts, dance, school, and is developing a real talent for art/drawing. I graduated in May (cue choirs of angels singing) and was hired at my # 1 preference 2 weeks later at an outpatient rehab facility. They have been super accommodating about me with monthly school mtgs and counselor and dr appts with Isaac. (as well as a couple-he's in meltdown mode I have to get him now days--eek!) So, a huge blessing there. Ricks contract got extended a few months (thought the gov't hiring freeze would squash it but thankfully did not), so hopefully he will be picked up to teach starting next fall. He gets fully cert'd in January.
So that's us at the moment!
