Yes Mam!!

Elijah has been very good today! Now tics are still around. I would say they are better, but not a LOT better. He is still making lots of noises and yelling. Right now he is playing a Wii game and has not tics at all. I put together(and please note the I!) Lego racer set he got. While he and I played with it he ticced up a storm. All day today though, whenever I have asked him to do something he has said YES MAM! This is a good sign to more compliant behavior. The only time he didn't really mind was when I asked him to get off the computer and that is typical for him.

Jacob did finally wake up at 8:30 last night and had breakfast for dinner! He was in a much better mood and has been great today. He spent some of his Christmas money today on a computer game and is back in his room playing it right now. He came out for a while to play the Wii with two friends. I am just glad he is in a better mood.

Not much planned for this week. I still need to tackle Jacob's dresser and get clothes organized. I will probably do that tomorrow. The Cowboys are going to be playing in a bit, so I will be watching that! I sure hope they win!

The Day After

Well it is the day after Christmas. The boys had a good day yesterday. Elijah has several lego sets we need to put together. He also got several Wii games that he has been playing and also some nintendo DS games. We went shopping with some money he got and he was pretty frugal. He got one game and a nintendo DS case that holds the game. It is made of NERF so if he drops it, it won't break! His tics have not been too bad today and attitude has been better. Elijah has been very cute the last few days saying "A HA" when he finds something new and using such cute inflections in his voice when he is excited. Of course he also has the "I am mad" voice down too! I am hoping tics calm down before he goes back to school. OH and he made good use of his music links with his processors...plugged them into the computer and we didn't have to listen to his computer game while we visited in the den before Christmas eve dinner....and OH we got snow on Christmas eve. NOT a lot, but enough to cover the ground and make for a White Christmas. By the next day it was melting and so we didn't really get to play in it, but it was pretty.

NOW Jacob has been asleep since about 8:30 this morning. I think that kid must have stayed up for the last three days and just cat napped between different activities. It just all caught up with him today. He may just sleep through until tomorrow. He did get a laptop for Christmas and so he has enjoyed that and that is what has kept him up the last few nights. I am hoping he wakes up fully rested and ready to tackle his room! It is a mess! He got some nice new clothes that we need to put away, but first I need to go through his other clothes.

My mom went shopping with us this morning as did my sister-in-law and niece. It was fun. We looked for Christmas bargains. Mom got a Christmas Tree for $48!! I stocked up on gift bags for next year. I also spent some of my Christmas money and got new sheets for my bed, a new pillow, a wireless mouse for my laptop, a Wii fit extra(NEED to exercise) and got myself an Itunes card so I can treat myself to some music!! Mom left to go home around 11:00 this morning. I was sorry to see her go, but I have been a cleaning mad woman since she left!

We are headed over to my brother and SIL's house in a bit to chow down on leftovers. I am going to let Jacob sleep.

Reflections

As I sit here on Christmas Eve I reflect on all of the good things in my life. I have my health(although I could love a FEW pounds), my boys, my home and a good job. There are days when things are tough, but I try to remember the good things and today is one of those days.

Even though Elijah was a pain in the rear the other day with a neighbor boy, he did say something that quite surprised me. The other boy was shooting at lego trees, to get studs, wich are worth points. Elijah yells, "Don't shoot the trees, they are natural resources!" How can I be aggravated with him for yelling when he uses such big words. Today while we were out running errands, I said something funny to Jacob. I hear Elijah in the back seat say, "That is outrageous!" I had to stop for a minute and really ponder on what he had said. It was used approrpriately and with the correct tone of voice! He even giggled as he said it! Tics are better today and even his attitude is good!!!

Jacob is such the young man. I can't believe he will be 14 in July. He is so handsome. He will be beating girls off of him! He is very helpful too and always jumps in to help with his brother!

My mom is on her way and my brother and his family are coming over later. We are going to eat wings and open presents. We may even do some singing and guitar playing to guitar hero on the Wii. I just made, what I hope, is my last batch of snowball cookies! I am planning on getting back on Weight watchers after the New Year!

Merry Christmas to you all!

Day to myself

The boys' dad came and got them today at 1:30 to celebrate Christmas. I took off for the movies and grabbed some take out to bring home. I got a pasta meal from Macaroni Grill and some cheesecake. The meal was great and I just ate the cheesecake. I only ate 2/3 of it, it was SO good, but so BIG! I enjoyed my time to myself. I love my boys but Elijah's tics were beginning to grate on my nerves.

David brought them home and they had their gifts. Jacob has been on the Wii since he got home and now has two friends over playing with him. Elijah got three lego sets. Two he put together at his dad's apartment and he and I put together a plane set from Indiana Jones. Elijah ticced through the whole thing. He slapped a bowl full of legos at one point and almost sent them flying. We separate legos into bowls so we can find them more easily when making them. This is something Jacob started and Elijah has continued. I don't really mind Elijah's tics. I feel bad for him though. I was exhausted from watching and listening to him. I don't know how it doesn't drive him crazy.

I have a feeling I'll be putting lego sets together for the next week or so. Santa is bringing him some and several family members may be getting him sets. I hope I can survive it. Jacob has a few surprises coming too.

Today has been a good day. Yes, Elijah has ticced a lot, but behavior has been so much better! Jacob has been happy since he woke up and he got a break and got to go out. He is such a home body sometimes.

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

Life with Tourettes

Well teh tics continue. Yesterday was another day of lots of noises and kicking/slapping at things. We had some friends over to decorate cookies and one of them wanted to play the Wii with Elijah when we got done. He is much younger than Elijah and Elijah was very bossy and just mean/rude. I finally put him in time out in his room. Jacob went over and played with the boy and with him being so much older the boy really liked having him to play with.

After the neighbors left I let Elijah come out. I decided that I didn't want to cook and would rather go out to eat. I needed a margarita! Elijah was very loud at dinner, which didn't bother me, but I hate it for him. He was slapping at the table too. It wasn't crowded so no one seemed to notice. I rubbed his back and let him know it was OK. The tics really don't bother me, it is the behavior. He didn't tic while the neighbors were over so I wonder if he was trying NOT to tic and this leads to him acting badly. he is focussing so hard on not ticcing that he can't focus on behaving. Who knows? I told him I would rather he tic then misbehave.

As I sit back in my bedroom and type this he is just a screaming and hollering with tics in the other room. He is very excited about Christmas so I wonder if it is that making the tics more extreme right now. Maybe they will calm down once Christmas gets here.

Jacob takes it all in stride. he helped me fix the heppa filter/fan that Elijah dumped legos down into. he was very patient and acted so mature helping me. I was proud that he and I were able to take it apart and put it back together again AND it worked.

I feel like he has made so much progress and then he has a day like yesterday and I feel like he has made no progress. All I can do is be patient and keep trying. That is all he can do too.

Tics, Tics and more tics

Well Elijah has been having some very "strong" tics and they have increased in severity. He is slapping at himself and slapping at tables. I mean just slapping in general and whatever is around him. He is very loud too and doing a lot of snorting with his nose. I have noticed that when tics are worse behavior seems to be worse. It is not so bad at home, but I notice it when we are out.

Today we went to my friend's house to do some baking. There was an Xbox for him to play, but he was still being arguementative. He was yelling and just being snotty. I finally just put him in time out. I didn't want to do it, but I could not let him get away with it anymore. My friend is fine with him, she is a deaf ed. teacher too and knows about all of Elijah's issues. This didn't phase her, which was nice!

After being in time out, and telling him he would lose computer and Wii privledges if he didn't straighten up he was fine. Tics continued, but he was GOOD! My friend has been around for some "small" tics, but this was her first experience with him having "big" tics and she was so surprised. It didn't bother her, but she had just never experienced it.

I am not sure what has brought this increase in tics on. It has been going on since Saturday. You would think being home and not having school would be more relaxing. They don't seem to bother him and I am used to them, but these new ones are just so extreme, especially the hitting himself(on the leg, or on the table). I just don't want him to hurt himself.

We talk about tics when they happen and so he knows it is OK for him to have them. I am thankful everyday that his cochlear implants have given him access to language and that all of the hard work since he was 18 months old have paid off.

Christmas Break is HERE!

Well, Christmas break finally started today. I went into work and got some things done in the office. It was a nice morning and I got to visit with several coworkers. I was able to go to Elijah's Holiday Party at school. He didn't get to go to a party last year due to him being in the behavior classroom and not having good behavior. This year things are going well and he was allowed to go.

We went down the 3rd grade hall and I followed him along. He went into one of the classrooms and several kids were excited to see him and asked him to come sit with them. They helped him follow along and play a game. The made an ornament and he got to have snacks with them. Well, then the aide from the behavior class found us and told me we were in the wrong room, so off we went to another classroom where kids were excited to see him there. It is nice to see that he has friends and such. He communicated well with them and asked permission before doing something. He got a little silly when they were making snowmen, using toilet paper to wrap someone up and clothes to adorn the snowman! It was nice to see him interacting with other kids and doing well. They were very accepting of him!

We went back to his main class and got his stuff. He gave hugs to everyone and off we went grocery shoppping! ha!

I am so glad the break is here. I came home with the groceries that Jacob helped me put away. I then laid down and took a nap. I actually crashed out for about 45 min. They boys were good and let me sleep, and didn't kill each other!

David came over to see the boys. He played some Wii games with Elijah and got to help Jacob with a computer game.

I am excited about Christmas. I think the boys will be surprised on Christmas morning!