THE SHADDOX BOYS

Jacob and Elijah Shaddox are brothers. Jacob is 21 years old and just moved into an apartment with his girlfriend. He graduated from a technical college with an Associate's degree in Computer Maintenance. He works for a school district as a computer technician. Elijah is almost 18 years old. He is hearing impaired, has Tourette Syndrome, OCD and ADHD. He is a junior in high school. Elijah lives with his mom Mary and her wife, his stepmom. Mary has a bachelor's in deaf education and a masters in special education, and is an educational diagnostician. Life is always changing and this blog has chronicled many of these changes and will continue to do so!






Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Buying School Clothes

I took both boys to buy their school clothes this morning. School starts in less than two weeks on Aug. 22nd. I go back to work next week. Jacob is going into the 10th grade and Elijah will be in the 5th grade. This is the first year for Elijah to have standardized dress. We went to Acadamy Sports and found each boy a pair of slacks that fit, then chose another pair for each. Jacob is wearing a size 20 and Elijah is in a size 14!! We then found a shirt that fit each boy and proceeded to choose a few more. Jacob ended up with two pairs of pants, four shirts and two belts. He wears his ROTC uniform once a week, so this will due for him. Elijah got three pairs of pants, five shirts and two belts! I spent $140 for all of that. I know many people may not like standardized dress, but I love it! We were done in about 30 minuntes and headed home.

We also went this week, because I figure everyone will be out next week buying school clothes and I wanted to be sure to find the sizes we needed for the boys. Acadamy has the BEST prices and a large selection of sizes. Jacob has even told me he prefers standardized dress. It will make it a lot easier for Elijah this year too!

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Where are the tortillas?

Jacob finally got a taste of his own medicine! A local grocery chain has started making their own tortillas fresh in the store. The boys REALLY like them so I buy several packages a week. They both like to put cheese between two tortillas and cooking them in the quesadilla maker we have. Elijah has even learned to make these himself!

Yesterday, each boy had tortillas and cheese for lunch. Later, I got ready to run errands and Jacob headed for the refrigerator. He finds an empty package of tortillas and yells, "ELIJAH did YOU eat the last of the tortillas?" Elijah, who was in the other room, yells back, "YEA" and giggles! Oh Jacob was not happy. In the meantime, I am laughing to myself and I say to Jacob, "Now you know how it feels to go get something to eat and have it ALL gone already." Of course, he didn't find the humor in any of this!

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Wrapping up the summer!

Well we have had a long hot summer. Right now we are surviving temperatures over one hundred degrees and everyone is ready for a break. We took a short vacation to Fredricksburg, TX and stopped to see my sister on the way home. We ate way too much and enjoyed some shops!

I think both boys are ready to get back into the routine of school. Jacob will be in 10th grade and is participating in ROTC again. He tried on his uniform today and it is too small. I emailed his instructor about him taking this uniform back and getting a larger one! I guess he is growing. We also tackled his room today. All I can say is, "OH CRAP!". You don't even want to know what all we found under there, but he was left to clean it up. He also wants to referee again this Fall, and I am trying to get a hold of someone at the soccer association to be sure he can referee!

Elijah will be going into the 5th grade and attending a new school. We visited a few weeks ago and just walked around. I am hoping we can go up the week of inservice and let him meet his teachers. He is ready to go back to school, but anxious too. We have been working on a simple rule all week, "listen to adults." This meaning basically, do what you are asked to do by an adult. Of course, then you have to clarify that with no one should touch you where you don't want to be touched and no one should ask you to get into a car. I have found the simpler I keep things with Elijah the better. His tics have been a little high this week. He is licking his hands and wiping his face a great deal. Whenever tics are high, his behavior is a little worse, but STILL so much better than in the past.

He has a bad habit of making faces when I speak to him and am disciplining him. I look past that for now and realize he is listening and not screaming back at me. We can work on his face later. I am hoping I can explain this teachers in a way that they understand I am not making excuses. However, with Elijah you cannot work on too many things at once or it is just too hard. You don't accomplish anything. It is better to take it in little steps.

Of course, with school starting back, I go back to work! We are all hoping this heat breaks by then. I go back on the 16th and the boys go back on the 22nd. I'll let you know how the beginning of the year goes. I know there will be bumps along the way, but hopefully we can work through those!