Now A Family of *gulp* Six.

Above & below: Charlie at his daycare party, with his baby buddies. To go along with his namesake's job, Charlie was a dragon. Below: Roman is tempted by the candy we plan to hand out. The trick-or-treaters, ready to head out! Roman, of course, is Anakin Skywalker. Roman's haul... a good year!

1. Put Your iTunes, Windows Media Player, MP3 Player, or whatever on Shuffle. 2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer. 3. You must write down the name of the song no matter how silly it sounds! If someone says, "Is this okay?" You say? Slippin' Through My Fingers What do you like in a significant other? My Blue Heaven How do you feel today? Hoist the Colours! What is your life's purpose? Basket Case What is your motto? When I Come Around What do your friends think of you? Jump in the Line What do you think of your parents? For the Longest Time What do you think about very often? I Feel Lucky That's very true! What is 2 + 2? Sinister Minister What do you think of your best friend? Winner Takes It All Huh. Interesting. What do you think of your significant other? You May Be Right ha ha ha! What is your life story? Break My Stride What do you want to be when you grow up? I'm in Love Again whoops! Wonder what that means?! What...

This afternoon & evening was a rare treat. Doug was able to come home early, arriving with Charlie about 4:15pm. We also didn't have Scooter Club at church, so the whole evening was wide open! Doug and Roman carved our pumpkin, and Roman drew scary faces on the little pumpkin meant for Charlie. We all stuck our hands in the gooey innards, even Charlie! Excitement in the next few days includes Charlie having a "baby party" tomorrow in costume with Jello as a special treat. Roman is having a pizza party in his afternoon care. Friday, of course, is the big day... trick-or-treating & it's Mama's turn to take the boys out this year. Saturday we're going to an apple orchard with a few other families from church. Totally fun!

Here's the state of affairs: I am so tired from the weekend, and I've endured so much pain over the past few weeks, that I am looking forward to my root canal in T minus 29 minutes. I will plug my iPod into my ears, they will give me relaxin' gas & lots of novocaine, and I might just get a little nap in with my pain relief. Isn't that sad?

Roman's "at risk" profile came back at - surprise! - high risk for ADHD. His teacher filled out a form, and Doug and I filled out a form. My counselors scored it and then discussed the results with me. His result even got a "wow" out of them. Basically, four categories - Oppositional, Inattentive, Hyperactive, and "total risk for ADHD." Under oppositional Roman is practically nil, although his teacher saw a little of it. Inattentive, we saw more of it at home than at school, & he is rated at a "mild" problem. Hyperactive, the teacher's score matched ours, and he was a 14 on a scale of 0-21. The total "ADHD index" on a scale of 0-36 placed Roman at a 28. That's pretty high risk. Again, not surprising. What do we do with this information? For starters, change how we approach things. We got the book "From Chaos to Calm" which discusses what types of routines & approaches work best in parenting the "chall...

I have results of Roman's "at risk" testing for ADHD, news from Charlie's 9-month dr. appt., and cute pictures to post. But since my Dad has requested more videos, I bring you Charlie in the Jumperoo. And the news that's fit to blog tomorrow. Identical to the one he fell asleep in at daycare, we borrowed this from Baby Kaelyn (who I can't really call "baby" anymore - Toddler Kaelyn?). It's a hit. This is a mild video of Charlie's raucous jumping, I'll try to catch one of his full-on jumping fits soon.

The other day I was sorting clothes, getting winter stuff out that would hopefully fit Charlie (hence the hat), and so I had him in the crib. Imagine my surprise when I glanced over to see that he was fine and discovered him practically on his knees and peeking over the top of the rail! He has done this a few more times since, both in the crib and once on the couch, attempting to pull up on the arm from a sitting position and launch himself onto the side table to get at whatever goodies are in arm's reach. I was relieved to read today on my weekly email ("your child at week 4 of 6 months") that only 1 in 6 babies at this age sleep through the night regularly. Thank goodness we're not alone. Charlie is still getting up one time a night, usually between 3:30-4:30am. We've begun to cut back on formula and just give him water in a bottle to see if it's the protein he needs, or just a "full feeling." Yes, we did that once before. I know. But I'm gett...

This may sound odd, but I love it when I can still smell my kids after they've gone to bed. Like I just rubbed my nose with my sleeve and smelled Charlie's scent. I love it. And Roman has his own scent too, which I smell a lot when I go to bed (because he crawls in there in the mornings sometimes to cuddle). I do love those kids a whole lot. We received Roman's official report which didn't conclude much, but had a lot of hints & suggestions. He was observed 2 separate times, the first on a percentage scale of on/off task behavior. I think I mentioned before, he was 30% on task with teacher redirection, 70% off. Of that 70% off task, 30% of it was verbal (blurting, asking questions at wrong times, talking to friends), 22% was "passive" (rubbing the carpet, playing with items on the shelves, staring at kids/space), and then lesser percentages for physically moving around, etc. The suggestions the consultant gave which they are going to put in place is a wigg...

This picture was taken by Charlie's daycare, when they realized they hadn't heard the Jumperoo bounce recently... He was bouncing so much, he fell asleep in the Jumperoo! Cutie pie.

We've reached that blessed time of year where nothing exciting is happening. Thank goodness. School is rolling along for everyone, no major holidays, a few doctors' appointments, but that's it. And really, there's nothing much to report anywhere. I will anyway, though - an update about nothing to update. Roman: Preliminary report from the consultant showed Roman on task just 30% of the time, *with* teacher redirection. So when left to his own devices, Roman can't even do what he's supposed to 30% of the time. We're still waiting for the full report but we were told they won't formally test him (due to young age); I'm going to demand that they do anyway. We're also trying to find a place that our insurance will cover that will test him as well. A lot of places "treat" but won't actually test. Otherwise he's loving kindergarten. He has a couple friends we hear about a lot, he loves gym & library, and wants to start walking hom...

School pictures are awesome now. Lifetouch Studios did it, and you can order a CD with a color, b&w, and sepia toned version. How cool! My big boy kindergartener.