Raising Eli & Zachary + a little Princess

Eli and Jodi have this thing where they watch the television show Win It In a Minute together. It is their Wednesday night thing they do to bond and I think it is really cool. Tonight they were watching a re-run and Eli said he wanted to go on the show. When I asked him what he would do with a million dollars he said:

I would buy a lot of PokeMon cards for myself
I would buy Mommy a necklace
I would buy Daddy a Valentine Day Card

Wait, Mommy gets a Necklace and I get a card? I guess it is better than nothing!

I was hoping for a motorcycle..

Anyway, next week is family night on the show and this 10 year old kid is competing for 1 Million dollars. I hope he gets it, and then I hope Eli can get on the show and strut his stuff.

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Middle Country School district has done it again. Yet another light snow fall and they either cancel class completely or dismiss early. This time at noon for Kindergarten classes. I wonder how many Canadians are laughing right now. Wimpy New Yorkers can’t handle a few inches of snow without going into a panic. I guess people with tenure are lucky. They don’t have to explain to their bosses why they have to leave work after a few inches of snow to claim their kids three hours early.

I am lucky because I have been on short term disability since December 20th due to hip surgery. I can’t even begin to think what my bosses would say each time I had to say, sorry guys I have to go rescue my kids because of two inches of snow. I think I would have missed four or five days of work. Again, having tenure is great isn’t it! Unfortunately it does not work equally. Middle Country school district will close its schools but my wife who is a teacher in Nassau county will be open. She has to go to work, and I have to stay home or leave work early.

Oh well, I am complaining. At least I get to spend some quality time with Eli and have fun. Tomorrow I will have to figure out some cool activity for us to do.

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By now I am sure everyone has either heard or played Angry Birds. If not, and you either have an android based phone, the iphone or an ipad it is a game worth playing and paying for. Eli has been watching both Jodi and I play for a few weeks showing no interest. He would rather be playing on the computer, his DS or boom blox on the Wii. So I was a bit taken back when he asked if he could play Angry Birds on my cell phone.

Now I can’t seem to keep my cell phone with me, and he is always asking to play. I found him going potty this morning playing Angry Birds. My cell phone battery is not going to survive this. Argh!

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Ever have one of those days where you think that you want to create a bucket list? Each year as my birthday approaches I start to become depressed. I always ask myself what have I achieved in my life and compare it to where I thought I would be or where I would like to be. A few things come to mind and I admit that I am lucky and living a very good life, but still there are things I really just want to achieve.

My bucket list

Ride my motorcycle from New York to Arizona
Travel the Middle East (Israel, Jordan and Egypt)
Scuba Dive the Great Barrier Reef
Build a motorcycle from scratch
Learn to fold a sword and then make one with my own hands

Goals for my 38th year:

Be a positive force at work
Get the 1976 Honda restored
Ride my motorcycle a lot more than I did this year
Watch Eli play in his first baseball and Hockey game
Hug Eli and Zach at least 3 times a day and tell them I love them
Lower my debt
Be a good husband to Jodi
Take my family to Disneyworld
Complete a 100 mile road bike ride

Is that a lot to ask for one year?

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I received an email from a parent today regarding PDD-NOS that explained how her child was 4 years old and still not having full conversations. She wanted to know when Eli first starting having conversations.

This is an excellent question and not as easy of one to answer. Eli was diagnosed with PDD-NOS at an early age (1.5) and he has been receiving services ever since. Having verbal conversations using full sentences is a skill that is usually achieved between 18 and 24 months. But you have to define what is really meant by speaking in a full sentence. Is “Mommy…juice” a full sentence or is “Mommy can I have some juice” a full sentence? Also you have to understand the nature of the conversation and who is involved. Is this between mom and child or is this between child and friend.

I don’t recall when Eli started talking in full sentences. I do know that his speech was delayed and we were receiving (and still are) receiving speech therapy but more for appropriate speech in terms of social skills when interacting with other kids. I think Eli was speaking in sentences around 24-30 months but really began to speak and express himself a little later than that. As with PDD-NOS, each child struggles with different areas of development.

My only suggestion is to make sure that the speech therapy is maxed out through your early intervention program. If your child is having issues with speech, they should be getting as much therapy as possible. Having a great Special Education Intervention Teacher (thanks Ralph Barone) was a miracle for Eli. If you feel the problem is not getting better, maybe it is time to get more help or different help. Maybe an integrated class or a dedicated school is more appropriate. Either way asking for more help, actually let me rephrase. Demanding and fighting for more services is a right. Sometimes you have to scream and cry to get it but your child is worth it.

Good luck!

Bernard

(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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There are good days and bad days being a parent of a child who has PDD-NOS. Eli is a very bright boy, totally destroying the academic charts away at school in reading, math, science and social studies. But where the bad days are consist of the battle for him to be successful in social situations. Just the other day he had a play date with a friend from his last school and according to my wife did an awesome job playing and talking with his friend. Yet last night he had a sleep over with his cousin and Eli was just flat rude.

Of course it is easy to blame it on him being tired, but socially Eli has always been behind in his development. The PDD-NOS for my child stands for NOT OVERLY SOCIAL! It was a battle of demands and one sided desire filled with arguing and crying. In short, my boy didn’t understand how to be a good host and I am sure it made for a miserable night for his cousin. We have always expressed and pushed that Eli needed to use his words to express himself (something he would never do), and now if what you are saying does not sit well with him he tells you that he is not happy with what you are saying or doing. Most of the time it is completely appropriate that he might feel that way, but sometimes you just have to suck it up and go with the flow. If his cousin wanted to play a different game, Eli was very vocal about it, to the point of being a little snot. If his cousin wanted to try something Eli was doing it was met with refusal and then crying if we pushed the subject.

For all the headway Eli has made conquering the issues stemming from the development delay he has so much work still left to do. It will be a lifelong battle and we know he will be successful in life, but sometimes I wish things would progress a bit faster for him. He is such a loving and good child and I want him to have friends and relationships as he grows older. I know he is only five and still learning, just wish that he could conquer this while he was still young.

(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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Selden was hit pretty hard from the latest storm and according to the local news, we received 19 inches of snow. Of course, Middle Country School District canceled school for the day and that was to be expected. What was not expected was the 2 hour delayed start today which really should be unnecessary. Are you telling me that a full staff of custodians and maintenance workers couldn’t clear the sidewalks and parking lot in the 24 hours since the storm ended? What does this result in for working parents?

A two hour delayed start is bad news for a lot of reasons. Working parents do not always have the option of just going to work 2-3 hours after their normal start and definately don’t have the means to stay 2-3 hours late to make up the time. Working parents also do not have a babysitter that can adjust their schedule to the needs of the parent because a school district can’t clean up some snow. The bottom line is that the teachers have to dig themselves out, the maintenance workers have to dig their schools out and the school district needs to respect the parents more by doing whatever it takes to recover faster.

If I were not home due to the hip surgery I would have to take a half of a day off, or my wife who is a school teacher would have to take a half of a day off. Amazing that her school district did the right thing and opened up on time today. This solution is just not acceptable to me or many of the parents out there.

Thumbs down to Middle Country School District. It is just snow…if you needed more help you should get the teachers involved and get them to shovel some snow. Maybe it will make them appreciate their tenure status more.

(1 votes, average: 1.00 out of 5)

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I always looked forward to the time when Eli and I could have a massive snow ball fight after a big storm, well my hip being what it is and only being post surgery for 20 days I figured there was no way to go out and play, especially since I could not help shovel snow. But today was different, after the snow was removed (thanks to Jodi and my neighbor who brought out their snow blower) I had three kids to terrorize by throwing snow balls.

So I carefully got dressed, put on a pair of sweats, my snow jacket and my good snow boots and went outside. My first goal was to lay down enough salt to make sure that there was no ice where I was standing, and then I started the war. My neighbors kids and Eli were on top of a six foot mountain of snow and I was safely on the ground. The war started with me hitting Eli and his friends with some small snow balls followed by an all out war of flying snow. It was a blast and truly a lot of fun.

So now you ask, how many kids cried (two) and how many people got hurt (nobody) but my hip is killing me now and I am exhausted. I think I might have overdone it even though I rarely moved other than to step forward to get snowballs made. I have been throwing a heavy medicine ball while standing on my bad leg and catching it so this was nothing compared to the hell of therapy. I especially want to thank my wonderful wife for grabbing a big thing of snow and mashing it into my bald head…whoa was that cold and having the snow go down the back of my jacket and into my sweat pants.

I had so much fun.

Lesson learned: We must buy a snow blower at the end of this season. Shoveling snow is not fun.

(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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I told Eli that I was not feeling well and to go watch some TV or play on the computer. We had been playing Pokemon and he threw a little tantrum. If you wont play Pokemon with me right now I will never play Pokemon again. OK Kiddo, your choice.

He does this a lot lately. Now he will never have pillow fights with me, never let me take him to chucky cheese and I am never allowed to put a movie on for him. Classic!

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Daddy, when I am 9 I am going to be this tall (Eli whacks me on the chest). Daddy…you’re shrinking so I might be as tall as you by then.

Thanks kiddo…I know I am getting old…but shrinking? Thanks

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