Liam, Like a Chicken

At first, when I saw him eating with his hands behind his back I laughed because it was as if he were practicing for a pie eating contest. But on second thought, it looked exactly like a chicken, pecking his feed off the ground. That's Liam, like a chicken.

Speaking of Liam, he was recently seen by a Pediatric Gastroenterologist for his growth issues. They basically took one glance at him, asked a few questions and told me there is nothing more to look at as far as they are concerned. "He doesn't look sick, he doesn't act sick, he's most likely not sick" was their basic assessment. That said, their expert opinion was that he needs more calories so they gave me a handout with High-Calorie, High Protein food ideas to try to beef up his growth a little. It included things like eating fried foods, rather than baked, adding cake frosting to bagels and dipping fruit in marshmallow cream. That lucky little devil! Anyway, being a bit on the health-nut-ish side myself, I have to admit he will probably wither into nothingness before I start adding cool whip to his sandwiches.

This week, the school system's early childhood specialists finished up their assessments of Liam as well. We met a few days ago so that they could give me the evaluation.

"So, we have found that Liam basically qualifies for all of our special ed services," she said. "I basically found that he is below the curve in all areas of Social skills and development."

"Hmmm, Liam is behind in social behavior? You will have to explain. I mean, he is always interacting with everyone, always makes eye contact and does things so that others will interact back with him as well," I said.

"Well, it isn't just social skills but adaptive behavior too," she explained. "For example, when I pointed to some socks on the couch and told Liam to look at the socks he looked at them and smiled; but when I told him to go get the socks and bring them to me, he laughed but didn't go get them." (Sounds about right...) "We like to see them follow commands."

Holding back a little snicker, I answered, "Hmmm, sounds a little like ALL my kids but ok, I see what you mean."

She continued, "And also, we would like him to be a little bit more organized in his play."

"Rrrright, organized. Perhaps you can work with my other kids on that skill, too," I joked.

"Oh, I hear ya. But what I mean is, he likes to take out a toy from my bag but instead of playing with it, he just puts it back and gets out another one and then puts that back and gets out another and well, we would like him to focus more on playing with just one toy at a time."

"Gotcha," I said, holding back my amusement. I mean, I don't want to bite the hand that feeds me or anything but really? Organized? Perhaps the play to Liam IS in the taking out and putting back. And as far as I can tell, that would make him super organized because after all, he is making it very easy to clean up and put away! What a good kid!

Then we got to the Physical Therapist and the motor skills section of his evaluation. Ironically, if it weren't for his delays everywhere else, the PT wouldn't even be able to come help him with his lack of walking, the very issue we had him evaluated for in the first place! Apparently, his fine motor skills are so good that it offset the fact that he isn't walking and thus, he passed the motor skills evaluation. But of course, because he isn't walking and he qualifies for services from the speech therapist and early childhood specialist, the PT can come as well. All for free. And if he lags behind just a tiny bit for the next year he will then qualify for FREE preschool and even busing to and from preschool! Woo hoo! Go Liam! (Something about cheering for that just doesn't seem quite right.) But really, free preschool! Woo hoo!

Finally, they asked me:

"As part of our write up, we need to know what your goals are," she said.

Hmmm, goals. There's the first problem I suppose, hee hee.

"Really, for some reason, I'm not very worried about all this," I said. "I mean quite honestly, if it weren't for all the other people worrying about it, I probably wouldn't have had him assessed in the first place, although, I am certainly glad we did. So, I guess we just want him to get caught up to his peer group and maybe you can give us some ideas of what we can do on our own to help him in that pursuit."

And then, they said the thing any mom of four is thrilled to hear:

"Well, we will be giving you all sorts of ideas, like pulling pillows off the couch and having him climb over them, and moving furniture around for him to walk between, so don't think we are just trying to totally destroy your tidy house but it may feel that way with all the things we will want to do...."

I stopped listening because WOO HOO! I have permission to let the house go! I can hear the conversations now:

(Kurt) "Um, Karen, why does the house look like a tornado hit?"

(Me) "Oh silly husband! It isn't that I didn't clean today but you know how those early childhood specialists are; this is what will help Liam! It's all for Liam's sake, really it is!"

Rrrright.

Up next week: Neurology! Woo hoo!

Have a Happy Halloween. Be safe and watch out for those chickens crossing the road!

Sick Chicks

Spanish Flu of 1918- This 1918-1920 flu pandemic, was an unusually severe (i.e. deadly) strain of avian influenza (sometimes called bird or chicken flu) that killed some 50-100 million people worldwide. It is thought to be one of the most deadly pandemics in human history. The unusually high number of deaths has been attributed to cytokine storm in the body (which, in short, is basically when a healthy immune system works overtime and produces TOO much of a good thing and the over-exaggerated immune response ends up damaging healthy tissues and organs, or something like that....) Nevertheless, the current strains of H5N1 bird flu (think SARS) has a similar effect. (Thanks Wikipedia for such great breakfast time reading!)

Forget the pigs; watch out for those chickens!

So, last week, we had two sick chicks roaming the house. Madeline and Lily were down for the count: low grade fevers, dry, unproductive coughs, intermittent urges to roll in mud, and the sudden cravings for pelleted feed mixed with ground corn and supplements. Seriously though, I am not fully convinced it was in fact the H1N1 (swine flu) as we never actually took them in to see a doctor (who apparently doesn't want to see and swab the kids anyway) and it almost seemed TOO short and easy to be something that has generated so much hysteria in the news and general public. But rest assured, I gave the little bug numerous compliments and fed it all sorts of warm fuzzies, making it feel as welcome and loved as possible. I mean shoot, compared to our last household epidemic, this was a walk on the farm.

Then again, I was only playing nurse mom and not sick piggy chick. And of course, after reading up on the different flu strains, I am just thankful the urge was to oink and not cluck!

The Chicken Costume

Before I get to today's point, here is a little girl talk:

On the way to school the other day Madeline and Lily struck up their backup conversation about what they want to be when they grow up. Somehow, this one never gets old.

"I want to be a princess when I grow up," Madeline told Lily, as to be expected.

"Well, when I grow up, I want to be a Canadian," Lily announced.

Hey, at least she is going for something a little more human, right?

***

So, we were in Target the other day and happened to be browsing the costume aisle when I noticed the gigantic, yet overpriced, adult chicken costume hanging there. While Madeline was telling me how beautiful I would look if I bought the matching Snow Queen costume to go with her Snow Princess costume, I was admiring the enormity of the chicken directly across the aisle.

"I think I will try that chicken costume on," I finally announced.

The girls looked at me excitedly.

"Right here in the store?" Aidan asked, looking around at the very EMPTY aisle.

"Yeah, right here," I said, pulling the costume down from the wall.

"You can't be serious," he said, as if I might just kill him first in order to spare him from such humiliation.

"Uh, yeah, I am pretty sure I am serious," I said, pulling the chicken legs over my clothes and zipping myself up to the sounds of little girl and Liam giggles. Right as I was fully chickened, someone turned down the aisle and smiled broadly as Aidan looked at me in utter dismay. (You know he secretly loved it.)

Which brings me to my point: I can't wait until they are teenagers....hee hee hee.

Chicken Turtles

Chicken Turtle-An uncommon cold-blooded freshwater reptile found in the southeast of the United States. Chicken Turtle meat used to be popular in southern markets and their name comes from the fact that they are said to "taste like Chicken." --Wikipedia

Seriously, who'd've known?!

"Mom, what eats turtles?" Madeline asked after looking in the pond on our walk.

"Um, I don't know," I answered, not wanting to go into how some humans think turtles are a tasty treat.

"Well, do hawks eat turtles?" she asked.

"Maybe," I replied. "But turtles are pretty safe in their shells I think."

"Well, I know eagles eat turtles," she said.

"Really, how do you know that?" I asked.

"At school, we read a book about turtles. There was a mommy turtle and she had lots of babies; I think she had six baby turtles; and this eagle came along and ATE ALL THE BABY TURTLES!" Madeline said. "That poor, poor mommy turtle."

Hmmm, must be Disney.

Forgetfulness

Below is an example of the forgetfulness that sometimes accompanies being a mother hen juggling a few too many things (or chicks as the case may be.....)

Q. What happens when a mom forgets about picture day at preschool?

A.

I'd like to say I was just keepin' it real but no, I simply forgot it was picture day and so they didn't get forced into their storefront best that morning (because you know, I really am the type of person who does that.....she says with fingers crossed behind her back...) That said, this really is what Lily picked out to wear that day--so very true to form. And in the end, this, my fair readers, is how good (or at least honest) memories are created!

Liam Update

Liam is almost 20 months old and because he is not yet walking we were highly encouraged by a loving friend to have him evaluated by a group here called Shield. So, a nurse came out to assess Liam about a week ago and sure enough, after an hour of evaluation she confirmed that Liam can't walk yet.

Seriously though, she took out a bunch of age-appropriate toys from her Mary Poppins style bag and observed Liam as he eagerly interacted with her and the student nurse that had come along for the ride. They were quickly taken by his smiley charm and bubbly personality. He did everything they told him to do (fed the baby doll, pulled himself up in order to fetch the doll from the sofa, stacked blocks, put the blocks in a cup and poured them out, etc.) except for stand and walk by himself. After Liam helped her clean up, the nurse told me she would fill out the paper work, send copies off to us and our pediatrician and then refer him on to the Early Childhood specialists in our school district who will also come out to assess him and then, assuming by that point he hasn't climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro already, they will send out a Physical Therapist to get him up to speed.

The nurse wanted to also make me aware that while Liam is working hard learning to walk, we might notice that he stops talking so much.

Uh, right....I'm not sure if she noticed but he really doesn't talk much to begin with. I mean, we would be hard pressed to notice if he stopped doing something he didn't do yet but hey, I'm not the nurse.

Be assured though, Liam has made great, um, strides this last week in the gross motor department. For example, he will now take a few steps by himself in order to be rewarded with tiny marshmallows. Although this might sound like I am taking a more primitive or perhaps dog-training approach, it's actually beginning to seem quite appropriate. Just the other day, when I put Liam down on the ground at one of Aidan's soccer games, a little girl came up and asked: "Can I pet him?" Amused, I said sure and then assured her he doesn't bite...usually.

So, because he is so small and because he is lagging behind in both verbal skills (as compared to chatty Maddie at this age) and gross motor skills, everyone and their mother tries to help him along. The best example of this happened on the way to church last week. Kurt's mother was in the back seat with the kids trying to get Liam to repeat the words she said. The conversation went like this:

"Say 'car' Liam," she said. "Liam, say 'caaaar.'"

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee," Liam said, almost as if he were on a roller coaster.

"Say 'car' Liam, 'car,'" she repeated.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh," he said, cheerfully pointing out the window. (I am sure he was pointing at cars...)

"Liam, say 'Mama,'" she said. "'Mamamamama."

"Ahhhhma," he said, looking at me.

Then my mother-in-law said, "Good, now say..........oh my gosh I can't believe the trees are changing colors already!"

I laughed till the tears rolled down my face and about flooded the car. But perhaps you had to be there....And although Liam might not be able to talk yet, if he could, I'm guessing he would have replied with something like this:

"What'chu talkin' bout Willis?!"

Soccer Chickens

One thing I love about the internet is that there is always someone out there who has way too much time on their hands and can provide me with just what I need for my blog entry. Take this video for perfect example: Chickens Playing Soccer. This is exactly what it is like watching an under 8 soccer team, only, the chickens have far more moves!

So, after taking some time away from sports, Aidan decided he wanted to try soccer again this year. Having played soccer at the collegiate level myself I was thrilled he wanted to take another shot at it. That thrill was mixed with complete dread about the hyper-competitiveness and intensity of other parents and coaches. But, Kurt volunteered to be the assistant coach and off we went, into soccer season on an under-8 team.

The season is underway and yesterday we took Kurt's parents to watch Aidan's soccer game. Each team has to provide one parent volunteer to be a line judge and since I was standing there, looking completely uninterested, I was given the task.

It was actually quite fun being a line judge, swearing the ball was hit off the other team when it wasn't (just kidding of course) and helping the kids get their throw-ins and corner kicks off. At first, I would try to give our boys some help as to where to throw the ball: "Look, Will is open. Throw it to him." But after a while, I realized I needed to say only two things: "Keep your feet behind the line, no, not on the line, behind the line..." and "Keep your feet on the ground when you throw."

This was accentuated by a throw-in that took place by the opposing team. The ball had gone out right past mid-field on our end and the coach was telling the kid to throw it to Zack: "Look, Zack is down the field and open....throw it to Zack. Do you see Zack? Throw it to Zack. Are you listening? Throw it in already, TO ZACK!" At which point I am fairly certain the coach was jumping up and down on his head with his arms frantically waving in the air. So, the kid, looking like a deer stunned by headlights, contorts his entire body around, twisting it in some acrobatic-like way in order to throw the ball the totally opposite direction down towards their end of the field, (but hey, he had his feet behind the line and kept them on the ground!) One of our players took off with the ball and their coach, completely beside himself, made the mistake of asking: "Why did you throw it that way? What were you thinking?" To which his player replied: "Parker was open so I threw it to Parker."

Parker was their goalie. And over half a field away. And his throw went all of about 5 feet, maybe....

I about burst out laughing but seeing as how the coach looked like he may need therapy later, or at least some strong mixed drinks, I kept it together. And I will admit, he didn't appreciate it several such episodes later when I made the comment: "Maybe you ought to tell them the opposite of what you actually want to get them to do what you really want." He had words, in his heavily-European-accented voice, that didn't sound very amused....

At any rate, we can't talk much because by the end of the game, Aidan, who has shown much more promise this year of at least being interested in playing soccer, asked Kurt to please take him off the field because his leg hurt. He limped over, holding his leg as if he had been severely injured. As soon as he was off the field, he sprinted the fifty yards to Liam who was practicing his walking on another soccer field. I am not certain which part of his leg was hurt but it certainly did not appear to be the running part!

Alas, such is the way with chickens, what can I say....