Another Meet

Madison and Davis relaxing in the shade

Madison had another track meet yesterday.  Again, they were required to chose two running events and one field event.  The field event options for her age group were the softball throw and the standing long jump.  She's not really good at either but settled on the standing long jump.  She chose to run the 200m, the 400m which were the two longest runs for her age group.  She ran her guts out and placed third in both the 200m and the 400m.  

It really is awesome to see her run.  She puts everything she has in it.  She is amazing.  I think Michael got some video of her, so I might post it later.

When it was all said and done she went to the awards table to collect her 3rd place ribbons and found that she had placed 4th in the standing long jump.  FOURTH!  I immediately started bragging about it.  Fourth!  In the long jump!   How cool is that?  She's tiny!  TINY!  I continued to brag all this morning when she finally said (in sort of a "you're getting on my nerves" kind of way), "Mom. Only four girls competed in the long jump."  Complete with eye roll. 

Oh.  Right.

Fluency

Last month the boy got his school's WOW (Westridge Outstanding Wildcat) award for having "great expression and fluency when he reads."  When he would tell people about it he would ask them if they knew what fluency meant.  Almost everyone would say, "Yes, but do you?"  to which he would respond, "It means I read at the appropriate speed and pause properly at the punctuation."  

Fast forward to this morning. 

While talking about the friendship bracelets she has been making to sell to the other third graders at Market Day, Madison says, "I'm glad I made 16 pair instead of 15 because [insert something incomprehensible]"

She had to repeat herself several times before I finnally understood what she was saying.  If you're curious it was because that way she can make 2 even rows or 4 even rows, which for some reason is more appealing than 3 even rows.  Don't ask me, this comes from Michael's side of the family.

Anyway, the boy looked at her and said, "Madison, when  you talk it is important to talk at the right speed--not too fast and not too slow.  If you had better fluency people would be able to understand you."  See that?  The smart ass gene? That comes from my side of the family.  

Nothing Like a Holiday . . .

. . . to get a few things done.

We aren't finished with the kitchen, but we've made some significant progress. It all very exciting.

We have been meaning to put wainscoting up in the kitchen for about a year now. Remember when my friend Jessie helped me paint the kitchen?

We were going to paint it black and then install it, but it rained all weekend. It wasn't a lot of rain, just enough to make it impossible to paint. So no paint yet, and we still have to put the molding on the top.

Here it is so far.


close up . . .


Oh and we came across a nasty looking spider. I don't know what kind it is yet, but I plan on going to What's That Bug to find out.

Test Results

I got a call with the test results for the boys today.

Davis-- everything came back normal so what we are doing seems to be working. We just need to keep giving him cornstarch at bedtime and monitor his blood sugar if he starts acting strange.

Kai-- he tested negative for celiac. She still thinks there is some sort of problem with nutrient absorption so he will need start seeing a gastroenterologist. He is also scheduled for a cystic fibrosis test on the 1st, though they are fairly certian he doesn't have cystic fibrosis. They just want to rule it out.

Everyone Loves a Cupcake

I love this picture. I took it at the elementary school's story telling festival last week.

On an unrelated note . . .

If you need a good laugh go check out this blog about my friend's son.

Scheduling Difficulties

I hate it when stupid people waste my time.

Yesterday I called UVRMC to schedule a test for the boy. First I was transferred from person to person because they couldn't figure out if I really needed an appointment or if I could just walk-in. After deciding I really did need an appointment they transferred me to the chemistry lab.

lab person (lp): "Chemistry."
me: "Hi, I need to make an appointment for my son to take a sweat test."
lp: "How old is he?"
me: "six."
lp: "oh . . . I don't think we can do that . . . um . . . well . . . just a second."

For the next several minutes I hear the lab person talking to another person

lab person (lp): "Hey, this lady wants to make an appointment for her six year old to take a sweat test."
other person(op): "so, schedule it."
lp: "I don't think we can do that test on six year olds."
op: "What does the computer say."
lp: "It just says pediatric."
op: "That's fine then."
lp: "No. I think they have to be 5 and under. It's age specific."
op: "Really? Does it say that?"
lp: "No, I just remember that from somewhere."
op: "Then I think it's fine."

Did I mention that I had to sit and listen to this insanity for several minutes?

Even though everything in front of her said that he qualified for the test, they all started debating about whether or not to schedule him for it. She isn’t sure, but she thinks she remembers reading or hearing something about the test not being given to children older than five. Apparently there’s some question about whether or not a six year old qualifies as a pediatric case. Of course, the whole reason that they want to do the test in the first place is because he has the body of a three year old. I wanted to yell, "Let's just say he's three and schedule the appointment!"

Finally she gets back on the phone and says, "Just call back tomorrow and talk to someone else."

Really? She is so concerned about his age that she won't schedule him and her solution is to call back tomorrow? We all know that when I call back tomorrow I'll talk to someone who didn't hear or read whatever it is she heard or read and will schedule the test. So why not just schedule it now? Why? WHY? Am I the only one who finds this ridiculous?

I called back this morning and talked to a different lab person.

lab person (lp): "Chemistry."
me: "Hi, I need to schedule an appointment for my son to take a sweat test."
lp: "Okay . . . how about June 1st at 10am."
me: "That works."

The new lab person got the boy's name, age, all that jazz, and told me we're all set.

me: "So it isn't a problem that he is six?"
lp: "No. It's a pediatric test."
me: "Right, but when I called yesterday they told me that you might not be able to do the test because he was over the age of five."
lp: "That doesn't make any sense. It's a pediatric test. I mean sometimes we get poor results when we test adults, but I'm pretty sure six still qualifies as pediatric."

Yeah. I kind of figured as much.

Health Update

I keep getting questions about the various things going on with the Davis and Kai right now. So . . . I guess its time for an update.

Davis and Kai finally saw the endocrinologist this week. Kai has grown about a quarter of an inch in two years and hasn't gained any weight. Apparently he has young bones. This is good because that means he has the potential for growth in his bones. All of his hormone levels came back great so by all accounts he should be growing like a weed, he just isn't. She doesn't think he is just a slow grower for various reason I won't get into. She thinks it is more likely that he has celiac. He has taken a blood test for it but we don't have the results back yet.

Basically we are back at square one with Davis. The endocrinologist said she isn't sure Davis has ketotic hypoglycemia, which is what he was diagnosed with earlier. She is redoing all the blood tests because the ones that were done last time weren't done when he was fasting and so they don't really tell her anything. She said that he may have something where his body doesn't know how to use his stored fat as energy. So she is testing for that. She also said that there may be nothing wrong with him and it was just a freak incident. Kind of like how last year when he all of the sudden had no white blood cells was just a freak incident. Anyway he also did a whole round of blood tests (fasting this time) and we are waiting for those results too.

I promise to post more when I get the results. I'm generally bad about that . . . .