Friday, December 17, 2010

all about the James again..

You know, for the longest time I felt so guilty because post after post seemed to be about Natalie. I kept thinking, "I know that she's our second-born, has a heart condition, but there's James."
As a parent of two or more you are constantly trying to find ways to avoid leaving out the other child. You want to be fair. You want to highlight your kids as even as possible, no matter how impossible it actually is. There are simply just months where not much is going on with either kid. Right now, things are calm and usual for Natalie. Nothing out of the ordinary is going on and that's fantastic news. She's doing her usual 3 year old stuff and doing it well.. doing it diva-ishly well.
James is now 5 and there's lots to celebrate about, too.
He's 5 but today the doctor remarked that he's the size of and has the brain of a 6 year old.
Kind of added some glitter to my day here.
Look, we know that James is smart. C'mon he's my kid I'm supposed to say that. But more and more people are commenting how well-behaved, smart, handsome, and sweet he is.
On his birthday I took him to visit the nursing home where I work. The residents fell in love with him and are still talking about him each day I see him. One resident in particular, one of my favorites actually, remarks everyday how she used to work with children for many years. She used to work in the school system with ADD and ADHD kids and can't get over how sweet and well-behaved James is. She tells me every day now that she can't believe that he's only 5.
One of the residents also calls Natalie "Shirley Temple" which oh my god, how true how true!

Melts my heart I tell you.

James has such a big heart and it shows more and more now. He is thoughtful.. considering what others want and how they feel. He loves talking to his classmates and adults. I am starting to see more and more of myself in him now, as well as Rick seeing himself more and more in James.
But I can see how his face lights up when someone speaks to him. I do that, too. Always have and trust me, my mom reminds me of that almost daily.
Today James had his well visit at the doctors and I knew that the doctor would probably want to talk to him more than me now and I was right.
I enjoyed watching him answer questions.. listening to the doctor and nurse and watching him concentrate on some of his answers.
Today he did fantastic. Here are some of his stats at the age of 5:

height: 45 1/2" tall (oh my god)
weight: 48 lbs (again, oh my god)
both stats are in the 90%tile
blood pressure, vision, pulse, and hearing are all NORMAL. yay!

For the first time ever James took a urine test. I kind of couldn't stop giggling when I had to put the cup there because he really had to go and it's a messy job. But we did it and the results were all normal. 
I thought for sure that he would need 2 or 3 shots but my amnesia kicked in because apparently he received all of those last year. I've never seen a 5 year old so giddy before. 
Before the appointment I reminded James that we had to go and naturally, all that a 5 year old can do is feel anxious about shots. We comforted him as much as a we could but he still cried. Guilty feelings set in. But he put on his shoes and coat and left with anyway. Even while thinking that he had to get shots he played in the waiting room with another family and had a good time. 
I spoke to the doctor about his oral fixation: how he still puts things like legos and sillybandz in his mouth (only 2 examples out of many) and if you can believe it, it's actually normal. Shocked the hell out of me, too. 
Apparently, around the age of 4 and 5 children can act like an 18 month old with putting everything in their mouths. She spoke to James about germs and the possibility of choking or getting something unpleasant stuck in his tummy and he seemed to really listen. Since school has started we haven't really gotten sick to much.. aside from a random small cold.. but nothing major at all (we've dodged strep throat, stomach flus, and nasty colds from their class) so the biggest thing is to make sure James doesn't choke. 
The only thing that is new now is that he does qualify for speech therapy. This is not a surprise at all. We talked about this possibility with his teacher earlier in the fall and there wasn't any rush because he's not yet in full time elementary school. Also because he communicates so well and the speech issues he has don't interfere with his learning. But our insurance covers the therapy so why not?
He will get help learning how to pronounce "R"s, "L"s, the "TH" sound and a few others. But mostly, those first 3. Rick actually needed speech therapy around this same age and you would never know that he had early difficulty. Completely seeing this therapy as a godsend. 

James is such a sweet boy. He is driving me crazy less and less each day. He's a real individual now. His own person. Oh my gosh... my boy is growing up. 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Dawn,
My name is Kristin and I just read your comment on The Bloggess' page. I came to your own blog because I didn't know if you had gotten a match yet and figured it was easier to just contact you here.
I don't have much to share but I do have some. Is it still needed? My email address is kdwsunshine@yahoo.com. I'll be leaving the house in a few minutes and won't be able to get email until this evening but please feel free to get in touch.

Nanette of HeartBabyHome said...

My 5 yr old won't stop chewing on his shirt collar! It drives me nuts and he doesn't seem to notice he's doing it. I never thought to ask the doctor about it.
Glad things are going well for you and yours. Hope you have a great year :)