IQ results

Monday we were home together for MLK day and we decided to take Andrew to a place to play since he's been begging to be with friends or go someplace and it just hasn't been working out. He seemed fine. We took him to Pump It Up which is two rooms of inflatable bounce play. He seemed overwhelmed right off the bat but went ahead and joined in the fun of climbing and sliding.  A little later he got out of a bounce house and said, "I had to get out of there because there were too many kids!"  And a few times he came and sat in my lap on the floor and said he needed to rest. The third time of that made me start wondering - it was very out of character for him to want to rest so much. He said he was having fun, but he really didn't look like he was enjoying it.  We were only there an hour and a half and decided to go get lunch - maybe he just needed refueling.  He fell asleep in the car and we waited in a parking lot of an Indian buffet.  He wanted to be carried in and was completely limp. He drank a little lemonade and took a couple of bites of a piece of bread and then wanted to lie down and rest. We felt horrible that we didn't just go straight home from the play place.  He said his legs hurt (I guessed from all the extra jumping and climbing he wasn't used to) and he had a headache for a little while. His temp was 100.2 when we got home so we kept loading him up on fluids and let him rest on the couch. He watched Kipper for a while and then fell asleep.  He never did eat anything after breakfast except for the little bit of bread.  We gave him some homeopathics, an epsom salt and oil bath, and did red light therapy and applied essential oils to his tummy before bed.

When it was time to brush teeth and head to bed, he was starting to cry about having teeth brushed. Daddy said, "Look sweetie, it's either brush teeth, go potty, and say goodnight to everyone, or it's go potty and hit the sack right away. It's one or the other." 
Andrew whimpered, "The other!"

By Saturday, mommy and daddy were fighting colds. Andrew actually let us sleep in until almost 8!  I had heard Andrew rustling around in the pantry earlier and felt bad that I knew he was getting a clif bar and wouldn't have the strength to open it and I was too lazy to get out of bed and help. Turns out, he located scissors and cut the top off the wrapper and opened it that way!  And ate a yogurt.

Thursday January 30th we had CO meeting. Andrew was wonderful. He had let me read the book study lesson to/with him earlier in the week but we never prepared answers. He had trouble getting called on, but paid attention and finally got one in and then went back to drawing.  One of the songs we sang had a repeated lyric "keep your eyes on the prize" and after the first one he muttered "what is the prize?"  I told him it was everlasting life. Then he whispered, "it's Paradise!"   Other songs he was belting out phrases that he could read well enough. After the meeting he asked if he could help clean the men's bathroom but I told him he had to ask daddy because I dont go in there. He raced off to find daddy. He came back to me looking like he was fighting back tears and said, "I can't because no one is in there."  But then he said, "But when we get home I can have cake and ice cream because I was fantastic!"
  On the way home he serenaded us with a song about monkeys swinging in trees taunting an alligator and the alligator snatching them out of the tree. He was hilarious singing it and changing the pitch of his voice for the characters and getting louder and quieter at different times.

Friday I met with the elementary school to get the assessment results. His IQ ranked in the 97 and 99 percentile on two different IQ tests, he exceeded the requirements to qualify for special education and is considered 'gifted'. They do feel he qualifies intellectually, emotionally, and socially to start Kindergarten this year but would like him to attend Kindergarten 'on trial basis' a few times after Spring Break so we can make the best educated decision about it and get Andrew's input as well. Plus he'll have an hour each week with the special education instructor (though right now that doesn't fit into my schedule but isn't really needed or urgent right now anyway) He has to attend Kindergarten and once that is done they can see where things stand as to whether or not he'll be able to just continue on as normal or skip a grade or incorporate sections of different classes according to his needs. 


Saturday February 1st we were supposed to go roller skating with the Buffingtons after service. We had lunch at Moe's with them instead once she learned that that rink was filthy dirty and to be avoided.  We invited the girls to come home with us and play and have the parents join us for dinner. They had a blast! They played outside, swinging, decorating the playset with pine branches, climbing the pine trees and riding the limbs, collecting pine cones. Inside they loved pushing each other up and down the hallway in the tonka trucks, and building things with the various blocks and legos.  A few moments of disagreements and hurt feelings, but overall a success.