From the beginning...

This is an intro, just a little overview of the last 8 years so you can better get to know where I am coming from...

I am a young Mom of a wonderful, very bright but very challenging 8 year old little boy-we will call, A!  A was born in 2003, I was 23 years old, single and scared...will I be a good Mom, will I make the right choices for my child, what will I do if he get sick, where will he go to school?  All these things filled my mind along with many other things.  A was a very good baby, he hardly ever cried and was always smiling and so pleasant to be around.  As he grew into a toddler he was so smart, he spoke very well, asked a lot of questions (as most kids do), but he was always thinking...you could "see" the wheels turning in his mind as you answered his many questions!

I married my husband in 2003 (an old friend from way back when) and we starting raising A together as Mom and Step Dad, which as most of you know living in this type of household can be quite challenging to put it lightly!  A's biological father is not very active in his life and is very inconsistent.  (we will just leave it at that as this will not be a bashing or venting blog about our Ex's!!)

A started preschool when he was 4 and that is when the challenges began.  He has some social issues, which I was expecting since he didn't really have any playmates...yea, we did play group at Little Rascals Gym but the parents of the other children were older than me and often came in "clicks" to the play groups, so that was not a place for me to make friends to have play dates with! Since I was a young mother none of my friends had kids yet so all of A's friends were adults.

When A started Kindergarten he lost his Popi (my step dad) who was a very strong male role model in A's life.  This was a very sudden loss which no one ever saw coming so soon and so young in life (i.e. the Dr).  Kindergarden is a hard enough adjustment for children throw in a great and tragic loss in the mix...and you get where I'm going with that!  We started therapy to help A cope with the loss of his Popi and to help us as parents to begin to deal with A's growingly difficult behavior.  So, he made it through Kindergarden on grade level...now on to First grade.    A had a very strict but loving First grade teacher, however A was off task 90% of his day and was struggling a great deal in school and at home.  At this point A's therapist suggested to have him tested by a Psychologist for ADHD...we did and in 20 minutes they diagnosed him with ADHD and suggested meds...surprise, surprise!!  I didn't want to put him on meds but I didn't know what else to do so we gave it a try and after 2 weeks I was not happy with the side affects (Ritalin) so I took him off.  Then they played Guinea Pig and tried a non stimulant medication and that made him sick with side affects after 2 days so I said, "No more"!  I then consulted with A's pediatrician about all of this and after about a month we decided to give the Ritalin another try, first in smaller doses and then bumping it up until we reached a "safe" and workable level.  He would take it at breakfast time and at lunch time and around 330 it would wear off.  It helped him to focus and to be less impulsive, it "slowed him down", he would act like a kid when he was around other kids (i.e. energy, activity level), and when he was around adults he was very quite and some times seemed as if he were, "zoning out".

Second grade was decent, he had his struggles mostly with writing and if he wasn't constantly redirected (even on the meds) he easily was off task.  He had an amazing teacher-we will call her Mrs. S, she was not  easily frustrated, as a matter of fact I don't think I've ever seen her get frustrated.  She was able to give A a lot of one-on-one time during writing which really helped him and when he was off task in any other subject she quickly redirected him and he was back on task.  He ended Second grade on grade level and on a good note!