Last night before bed, Elliott made me this paper fish and said that he made it for me so that I could feel better.  He told me,  remember Daddy, fish is really good for you. How could I not smile and feel better.  The truth is that at the moment he gave this to me, I was sitting  at the dining room table, in the dark and alone.  I was trying to keep it together but not doing a good job. Elliott's gift of fish, was just what I needed to feel better.  Thank you so much Elliott.  You're so sweet and I love you so much.  You definitely helped me to feel better.  :)

We have temporary arrangements made for Gavin's removal.  Gavin is going to stay with Lizze's parents.  They will take him to school and my Mom will pick him up and hang out with him until Lizze's Mom picks him up after work. This isn't the perfect solution but it should work for the time being. I want to thank our parents for their help and thank all of you for your unwavering support. 

Today is a day that I wish I could forget but I know I never will.  How many times can you lose the same person? That's the question I have been asking myself over and over today. It's weird,  I don't know if I was expecting to hear the answer or maybe I thought, on some subconscious level that it would make me feel better. You all know how things have been going with Gavin.  Not good.  However, today at OT,  Gavin was talking to his therapist and began bragging about how he enjoys torturing one of his classmates.  That was his word, not mine.  The way he said it was cold and caused the dad sitting across from me to gasp. The therapist asked Gavin what he meant.  Gavin…

I can't go into much detail at the moment but things got very, very bad this afternoon with Gavin. He had a tantrum in the car today today.  It got ugly and it continued long after we arrived home. We are looking at emergency placement. We see Dr.  Patti tonight and Dr.  Reynolds in the morning.  Gavin can no longer stay in our home.  He has to go.  We have a tentative plan and I'll explain more later.  If you could please keep my family and especially Elliott and Emmett who were traumatized by today's events, in your thoughts and prayers.... I would be in your debt.  In the picture below, you can see what happens when you beat yourself in the head with your own shoe.  :-(

Elliott has been on his #ADHD medications for exactly 4 days now.  Even at the low dose, he's benefiting from it. Obviously, he's not really any less anxious but he's more relaxed, at least physically. He's not bouncing off the walls until after the meds ware off, in the late afternoon.  He does seem to be happier and that feels good, not only for him but for me as his father. The next step is to discuss possibly adding a maintenance dose.  So instead of taking one dose, we split it up, morning and afternoon.  We still have to attack the anxiety but progress is progress and I'm so incredibly thankful that this is helping him.  As I mentioned before, I try to avoid the names of the medications simply…

Let's focus today on something that I find myself extremely frustrated with. It's almost become an evil word I my house.  That word is of course, insurance. Having read my earlier post you may already know that Emmett was denied OT for the second time this year because even though he's making great progress, he's not progressed to normal and so they have essentially written him off. To say that I'm angry and hurt is an understatement. I'm furious. I know that so many of you experience the exact same or even similar issues in your life. I was thinking that we should talk about it and perhaps share so tips and tricks we've learned to beat the system at its own game. Feel free to vent, bitch, complain about…

Elliott is easily our most sensitive child of the mix.  He hasn't felt completely safe in quite some time. However, he feels much better when Maggie or Bella cram themselves onto his twin bed. I'm glad this helps him, even if it's only at night.  I would think that night time would tend to among the scariest times of day for him.  If only she didn't hog the blanket.  :-)