laser fingers and crabbies

Saturday we journeyed to Maryland for the 7th birthday celebration of my stepsisters' son Trent.  The party was at a honest to goodness roller skating rink, straight out of 1981.  Logan didn't take much to the roller skating, he was much more interested in the arcade.  His game tickets won him these beauties.... finger laser lights.  Now that's disco!

The birthday party ended near dinnertime, and since we were so close to Annapolis already, we arranged to meet a couple of my dearest friends for crabs.  We went to Mike's Crabhouse, right on the water.  Growing up in Maryland, I spent a fair amount of time in Annapolis adoring the waterfront homes, eating lots of crabs, and loitering at the mall.  It was fun to take the kids and make some new memories, and on such a beautiful night!



Logan's sleep study results

Logan's sleep study results are in.  Very interesting stuff indeed. 

First, I love this doctor we've found. Thank goodness for honest to goodness doctors who take the time to explain things, take notes for you and follow through on all of your questions.  This pediatric sleep doctor we're seeing is just fantastic and I fully trust she is thorough and completely an expert in her field.  If anyone wants her name, just let me know.

The sleep study revealed that Logan has two sleep disorders:  Mild Obstructive Sleep Apnea, and Periodic Limb Movement Disorder (PLMD). 

The apnea is mild, and we'll be pursuing a possible tonsillectomy and possible adenoidectomy with our ENT.  Our ENT appointment is Septmeber 12th.

The more moderate disorder for Logan is the PLMD.  Normal involuntary leg movement is only up to 5 times an hour, Logan had an average of 23 movements an hour.  I was not surprised to learn this.  If you would see his bed in the morning, its always a twisted mangle of sheets and blankets. And if you sleep in the same room with him, you hear him moving around quite a bit.  I asked the doctor if this carried over to daytime living and kids being unable to sit still for more than a few moments at a time.  It definitely does.

So what do they recommend for kids with PLMD?  Many kids with this condition have an iron deficiency.  So simply adding an iron supplement to increase the ferritin levels.  It has something to do with dopomine levels in the brain, which are fueled by iron and ferritin levels.  If there is a deficiency, it can cause irregular limb impulses during sleep and a proper level of REM sleep is hard to reach.   

This lack of great sleep may very well be leading to behaviorial/mood issues and is most certainly the reason he is so tired during the daytime.  There is certainly a proven relationship between lack of sleep and ADHD kids.  Our sleep doctor has treated kids with PLMD by increasing iron levels, and ADHD behaviors have vastly improved.  

The first step with all of this is to have Logan's blood drawn next week, and a full work up looking for iron levels.  She also requested a look at his thyroid levels.  Thyroid issues exist in our families, and thyroid imbalance can also cause and/or lead to sleep apnea.  I have sleep apnea.  I have a thyroid disorder.  Its not surprising that one or both of our kids could have inherited some of this stuff.  Also, Logan has always been a very picky eater with limited foods he likes to eat.  So we need to make some changes to his diet.  If giving him an iron supplement doesn't decrease his PLMD, more serious medications might help.   One step at a time.

Surprisingly, breakfast cereal is high in iron. But kids have to eat it dry.  Once you add the milk, the calcium prevents your body for absorbing the iron. Also, don't buy OJ that contains calcium if you're trying to increase you iron levels.  Interesting, right?

If the bloodwork shows low ferritin of 55 or under, he will be put on an iron supplement and she'll recheck him at the end of November.  By then, his levels should start going up.

So, maybe we have another few pieces to the Logan puzzle.  Time will tell.   I'm sure we still have a lot to learn, but I know we're on our way.

Rebounderz Trampoline Arena

This place opened a couple of weeks ago near us, the first of its kind in all of Virginia.  I bought one of those Certifikid deals online before they opened, and the boys and I decided to go check it out this morning.

Whoa, is it cool.  I mean COOL.  Its a huge indoor warehouse space, with two giant trampoline arenas (one with a giant foam pit off the side), an expansive arcade, snack bar and lots of party rooms.   The staff was really cool and nice. They played with my boys and showed them some tricks.  I liked that it was really sunny inside too, you didn't feel holed up inside a video arcade.  It was also super clean, and the cafe looked inviting with good snacks.

They're big on safety there.   They of course made me sign a liability form, and took our photos for their system so next time we won't have to go thru those steps.   Then we all got special soft shoes to wear while jumping, and the boys got helmets as well. 

We were given a 'tutorial' by one of the coaches and then we were free to jump for our hour. I was thinking going into it that an hour didn't seem like a long time but I'm here to tell you, one hour of hardcore trampoline jumping is PLENTY.  They do have giant fans blowing down on you; if those weren't there you'd just die.

Also, a warning to women who've given birth.  Be sure to FULLY empty your bladder before attempting to jump.  Too much information?

You will be sweaty and thirsty immediately upon jumping, so hit the snack bar before you begin and keep your drink close.  They had benches outside of the arenas, but I didn't see any lockers.

The video games reward you with tickets and that gives the place a Chuck E Cheese feel (although on a scale of 1 - 10, Chuck E Cheese is maybe a 1, and this place is a 12!), as the boys were able to pick out prizes from the tchotchke bar at the end.    You have to buy tokens for the games and most things I saw took 2, 3 or 4 tokens per game.   They have skeeball, our family favorite!

It wasn't very crowded when we arrived, just a few other people.  But mid-morning things started to pick up and the staff was gearing up for some birthday parties later this afternoon.  I imagine they'll do really well once the cold weather arrives too. 

My boys gave it two thumbs up, we'll be back for sure!

bittersweet vacation

We just returned from a week at the family lake house in Lake Anna, Virginia.  As always, it was a week of fun, adventure, and together time.  Only this time, there was also a bittersweet tone to our week.  Unfortunately, the house is on the market to be sold.  To say we're all very sad about this is a huge understatement.   Its been on the market for a few months already, and since it hasn't yet sold, we were still able to go last week and enjoy a last vacation there.

For that, we're thankful.  But I'm very, very sad it will no longer be a family place for us to come together.  Our boys don't remember a time we didn't have this house.  Its been a wonderful gift for us all, and we're so very lucky to have had all the years we had there.

Before I get more emotional about it than I already am, I'll just let last weeks' photos tell the story. 

I know in my heart there will be many other family vacations.  But the memories from these past five years at Lake Anna will never be forgotten.

Mr. Roboto

We're back from Logan's sleep study, and in case you ever wondered what a sleep study entails, let me show you.

Lots and lots of wires, tape, goopy paste, and things hanging off you so that you get to look like a robot.

I do not know how this child slept with all of this on him, but somehow he did (at least for most of the night).  I, on the other hand, did not sleep a wink and feel very glad its a rainy day so we can just stay home today and do as little as possible.

The technician was very nice, but wasn't able to share any information with me this morning.  We have to wait a couple of weeks for the sleep doctor to analyze all of the data and then we'll meet with her to see what we can learn, if anything.

Can I just say how proud of my little buddy I am?  He wasn't scared, he never complained once, he fell asleep 15 minutes after all this stuff was hooked to him, and he was, as the technician told me this morning, "one of the best patients ever".

When we got home this morning at the crack of dawn, the first order of business was to wash all the goopy past out of Logan's hair. They adhere about 12 probes to the head and use this nasty paste-like stuff to make it stay on. Then they wrap their head so nothing falls off during the night.  It took about three rounds of shampoo but we got it all out. 

I am now badly in need of some coffee, a nap, and then maybe another nap.

getting some zzzzz's

Its been quite a long time since I've blogged about Logan's struggles with behavior.  There are so many avenues we've gone down thru these past years, searching for ways to help Logan appropriately express his anger.  He's such an incredibly smart, athletic, funny, creative and amazing boy.  He just continues to struggle with controlling behavioral impulses and emotions, particularly when things don't go his way. 

Tonight we are going to explore another possible link to answers for him.  I'm taking him for an overnight sleep study at a pediatric sleep clinic, not too far from where we live.  I've been hearing and reading a lot that kids with behavioral challenges can have sleep disorders, without the parents even realizing it. And those sleep disorders prevent the kids from getting enough REM sleep, which in turn affects brain performance.  Particulary in behavior and impulsivity and focus. 

Its all very interesting.   And, it makes sense. 

I struggle with a sleep disorder myself and it surely affects my life in many ways.  Logan never slept an entire night, alone in his bed, until he was more than 2 1/2 years old.  I blogged about this quite a bit back in 2008, here, here, and here.

Yes, that was our life for 2 1/2 years. We were insanely out of our minds exhausted.  The kind of exhausted where you think your brain it literally going to pound right out of your head, and you accidentally brush your teeth with Benadyl ointment.

We were at our wits end and scheduled a sleep study then, but were going tohave to travel to a hospital in Baltimore since he was still so small.  Exasperated and not knowing what else to try, we tried one more thing.  We moved his bed into Dylan's room at that point, and he finally began to sleep.  Maybe he just didn't want to be alone.  He would fall asleep at the beginning of the night quickly, but he would always, always wake up throughout the night and could not get back to sleep.  Once he moved to Dylan's room, I cancelled the sleep study, thinking we solved the problem (I talk about this here).

He still had some night wakings here and there since that time, though that has also dissapated now that he's five.  But who's to say the sleep he gets is quality?  There must have been a reason he didn't sleep for those first 2 1/2 years, and all of the reasons you'd attribute (i.e. ear infections, G.I. issues, etc.) were not the case for him.

I first took Logan to our ENT so he could visually take a look in Logan's airway and see if anything looked enlarged.  At a glance, his tonsils appear normal size.  They aren't able to see adenoids without an x-ray, so that might come later.  The doctor did say Logan's soft palate in his throat is enlongated.  This could be a sign of possible apnea.  We've heard Logan snore at night, another possible sign of apnea.  And not only is there apnea, there are a whole other list of sleep disorders that can come into play and affect health and brain function as well.  These things all led us to scheduling the sleep study.  We've had to wait all summer, but tonight they'll record him for bout 9 hours and see if his sleep is getting interrupted throughout the night.  We'll have results by August 18th, and will know if any next steps need to take place.

It may not lead us anywhere. And the answer to what makes Logan, well, Logan, may simply be that he is who he is.  Physiologically, there may be no anwers.  But what if there is something to this, and we can help him?  What if.

We'll just have to see what we learn.  This is a very non-invasive type of study tonight, and he thinks we're just having a 'sleepover' at the doctors offcie.  He will probably never even remember we were there.  I get to sleep in the same room with him, and we'll be home by 7 in the morning.  Easy peesy.  He loves going to any kind of doctors appointment, so I know it won't be a big deal to him at all.

We may or may not learn anything, but we had to at least try.  I'll have an update once we have results later this month.

poo happens

We're lucky to live in a neighborhood with three lovely swimming pools to choose from.  We rotate around all summer, they each have their pros and cons.  Sometimes during the summer, we just want to try out a different pool.

One of the parks and rec pools the next town over has a Volcano/Tiki themed pool.  Its actually a couple of different pools, with several slides, a playground in the pool and some other cool features.  Its also next to a mini-golf course.  We go there once or twice a summer, just to shake things up around here.  Today was our first journey there this season, and will probably be our last.

Everytime you go to these big public pools, the parking lots are full of camp buses.  Kids in all-day summer camps come from all over to go to these pools.  I have nothing against camps.  Kids with full time working parents need something constructive to do during the summer and there are some really awesome camps out there.

However, the problem with a  lot of the camps - the kids are so not supervised.  AT all. There are teenage counselors responsible for 10 or 12 kids a piece, and no one is watching any of them. Today we watched two small kids (two separate incidents) be pulled out of the deep end.  Clearly they couldn't swim at all, yet no one had been watching them or keeping them out of the pool, or at least keeping them in the shallow part.

I have so many problems with this whole scenario.  First of all, why would a parent ever let their child who can't swim go on a camp field trip to a POOL?  Ugh.  If its a pool day field trip, make other arrangements, take the day off to go with them so you know they are watched and safe, or ask the camp if the kids who don't know how to swim will be watched especially carefully.

Next, all of those bodies in the pool, no one is taking or enforcing bathroom breaks.  A loose turd is inevitable.   It happens every time. And today was no exception.  Thankfully we had been there a couple of hours before the poo incident and were highly ready to leave anyway.   We hightailed it out of there at the first mention of poop.

A few summers ago, my Mom and I took the boys to one of these waterparks.  It was packed out the wazoo, but we made the most of it, wrestling our turns for lazy river innertubes.  12 hours later we were all puking and diarrhea.  You put hundreds of kids in a pool and the likelihood of encountering some sort of plague is so much higher than at a more low key, less populated neighborhood pool. That whole rule about "don't enter the pool if you've been sick within the past few days" all goes out the window with the campers.

Also, these kids are not supervised and many of them are literally running wild. Which is of course, against the rules.  So the lifeguards, who are supposed to be watching the kids IN the pool water, are busy blowing their whistle every 5 seconds at the kids running across the pool deck.  Or blowing their whistle at the kids hanging on the ropes in the pool because they DON'T KNOW HOW TO SWIM.

We've been home for a few hours now but I can still hear the whistle blowing in my mind.  I wonder what the summer to summer lifeguard return rate is at these big public pools.  I'm guessing not very high.

The pool we went to today has a mini-golf course next to it.  We played after our picnic lunch.  It was sunny and really hot, so no one else was there.  That was the best part of the day.  That, and the ice cream we got at Friendly's after the poo in the pool incident.

But the pool itself.  Not fun.  Not even a little bit. Tomorrow we head to my Moms pool, which is always delightful and practically deserted.  Ahhhhhh!

The big bucket fills and dumps every few minutes.  My boys love this part.

Logan LOVES some mini-golf action.  If we turned our backyard into a half lazy river, half putt putt golf course, we'd never have to go anywhere again.