Lauren has been doing pretty well! She's doing great at school, she really loves going. She's reading more and more every day. She tells me she loves school. It's been so great for me to see her doing so well. I'm not at all sure what next year will look like for her, but we're starting to get that plan hammered out.
She lost her glasses on the playground. So we called to get her an appointment because we knew it was coming up on a year...and they can't fit her in until late April! This is my fault, I waited too long and I am only off work on Wednesdays. So we went to America's Best last night and picked out a new pair (with her current/old prescription). This way we'll have a backup pair when we get her new glasses in April. I have an old pair she's wearing to school today, they're too small and it's a 2 year old prescription. She glasses she chose yesterday are ADORABLE!!!
Ryan is Influenza B and has been out of school this week. Luckily, he's not feeling too bad, just weak and has a cough. The fever was 101.8 while on Motrin so he was pretty miserable. Today is day 3 of Tamiflu and it's definitely helped a ton. He's had no fever since Monday. He's had some of his own health challenges lately, so adding this on top of everything else has made my mommy burden a little heavier, but we're muddling through.
I'll share a little bit about Ryan's journey. We're dealing with PANDAS. (Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Strep). We started treatment in January after a pretty significant behavior shift (on top of his diagnosed anxiety) and some bloodwork that was pretty compelling. We've seen significant changes in the last month and Greg and I both really feel like we have our little boy back. His anxiety, emotional dysregulation, and obsessive thoughts are about 75-90% better. He's still his quirky self, which I am so happy about. But he's so much happier. We can leave the house again. He went to a birthday party and stayed the whole time. He tried macaroni and cheese. He buys snacks from the school cafeteria. We've gone to church almost every Sunday. We went to Respite Night at church with minimal complaining. His meltdowns have majorly decreased. He still loves the Titanic, but he's not obsessively thinking about it. (He used to tell me he literally couldn't stop thinking about it and it was driving him crazy). He has a leather bracelet he really likes and would mess with it constantly (and he told me it made him "feel like himself"), he recently told me he still likes his bracelet but he doesn't "need it anymore". Our home is no longer revolving around his mood shifts. He seemed to be bearing an emotional burden that was too great for a child, he now seems a lot more carefree. I remember telling a friend as recently as a couple months ago, "This cannot be normal for an 8 year old boy", and it wasn't. He hugs me again. He plays with his sister again. He wants to spend time with us. He's not angry all the time anymore. He plays outside. He is silly, and goofy, and distracted in the adorable way I remember him to be 2 years ago. This is likely to be a journey that waxes and wanes, but for now we are so thankful to have him back and feel better armed with knowledge when the next flare comes. It makes me teary-eyed, but my baby boy has come back to me and I am so, so grateful.
