I Can't Believe It's Almost Been a Year!

I can't believe that it has almost been a year since I have posted to Riley's blog,  So much has happened this year that I don't know that I remember it all.

We celebrated Riley's seventh birthday in January with family and friends.  The Star Wars: The Clone Wars theme party was a hit as well as the LEGO models that I bought as party favors!  Toward the end of January we got the results from Riley's Autism Testing, and they found him to be ADHD with a reading disorder.  We pondered awhile and then decided in March to put Riley on medication because his reading level was not improving in school.  I felt that he may be paying so much attention to behaving that he was not concentrating on learning.  I am happy to say that medication has worked for him.  His reading level has gone from D/struggling E to instructional level K, which is practically on grade level.  Through the use of medication he is now able to sound out words or break them up in to hunks and chunks.  He has always enjoyed reading and listening to stories being read, but now finds new pleasure in reading by himself.

Riley participated in the first grade music program at school and although he was nervous; he stood in the front row and did what he was suppose to do, sing!  We also went to see Jack and the Beanstalk at the children's theater, and Riley went with his class to see Charlotte's Web at the high school.

Riley graduated as a Tiger Scout in the spring, but decided not to go back to scouting this school year.  He is in his second year of Parish School of Religion classes and is preparing for his First Communion in the spring.  Over the summer Riley passed level 1 swimming classes and looks forward to taking level 2 next summer.  This fall, Riley started wrestling kid's club and seems to enjoy it, but looks forward to taking tai kwon do in the future.

First grade was the first year for play dates.  He started going to other children's houses on his own and inviting children to come and play at our house also.  At the end of first grade Riley went to his friend's house for his first sleepover!  He asked me to chaperone his first grade field trip to the zoo and wanted me to bring his sister so that his classmates could meet her.  We went and really enjoyed ourselves.

We started our summer by going on vacation to Las Vegas.  We went to Hoover Dam and Red Rock Canyon as well as the pirate show at Caesars and swimming in the pool!  Although our trip was delayed by a day, we all ended up having a great time.  In July we went with the grandparents to Chicago.  It was a short trip, but we got the chance to see the Legoland Discovery Center, and it was worth it!  Riley was especially interested in the Titanic Exhibit at COSI and we went to see that together.  We finished up our summer attending library programs, going to swimming lessons and swimming afterward, completing the summer reading program at the public library, and hanging out with friends.

The start of fall brought second grade and the ability to help Mommy out more and take care of himself.  He was able to help me pass out postcards on windshields in a parking lot, build his own LEGO mini models, and learned how to tie his shoes!  Riley also started to earn an allowance of $3.00 a week to put away his laundry and toys as well as help out with other chores.  Most of the time, Riley uses his allowance every two weeks to buy a Star Wars graphic novel (comic book).  He enjoys his collection and likes to take them to school to read during self-selected reading.  A limit had to be put on how many Star Wars books he could take to school so that he can expose himself to other topics and genres of reading.  Second grade also brought some difficulty in making friends.  I think it has passed somewhat, but he has not found his niche with friends who are interested in the same things in which he is interested, namely, Star Wars.

In mid-September Riley completed his first 5K.  He walked the COMAPC 5K Race for a Pro-State of Mind with me as I pulled his sister along in the wagon.  We completed it in about an hour and were the last ones to finish.  We also celebrated his sister's 4th birthday this week, and Riley was able to help her put her new sheets on her bed.

For Halloween Riley was Jango Fett.  This is the third year that Riley has picked out a Star Wars related costume, and although this was by far the most I have spent on a costume, I bought it for him because he plays in them all year, which makes it worth my money!  This was the first year that Riley chose to go trick or treating with friends rather than with Mommy.

Riley started November with a cold or so I thought.  By the first Saturday in November, when he was breathing heavy, it was no ordinary cold.  After a trip to the doctor's office and to the emergency room Riley was admitted for two days, and we came home with an asthma action plan.  So far, since the episode in November, we have not had any other problems.



We stayed at home this Christmas, and our extended family came to us.  Santa was very good to Riley and brought him the spinning double-headed light saber that he wanted.  He also got the Bobo Fett helmet and gun.  His grandparents got him more games and accessories for the Wii.  Although Riley got mostly toys, he did get a pair of tennis shoes and a sweatshirt!

We look forward to Riley's eighth birthday in a few days to end our year.  My, oh my, where does the time go!

Update

Riley has done lots of things since I last posted for him.

In May he attended his first birthday party without parents. His friend's dad took him and some of his friends to a college baseball game. Riley was really excited to go and did very well.

At the beginning of June Riley finished Kindergaten. He is reading at grade level and did well in all subjects except writing. We are trying to continue to work together on his writing and his reading over the summer. We joined the Summer Reading Program at the library so that we can get a backpack for Riley to use next school year. He is doing very well and we are about a third of the way done, but he enjoys me reading to him rather than reading to me!

We also finally got a time slot for physical therapy. We only have it through the end of August, but some time is better than none. We got lucky with the physical therapy because he has never been evaluated for PT, but was somehow put on the waiting list. He did end up qualifying for PT because his age appropriate skills are good, but when he has to slow down and do more complicated steps, he cannot do them.

For a summer activity Riley has attended three weeks of gymnastics day camp. He enjoyed the first and the last week because there were a lot of kids that attended those weeks. The middle week, he did not enjoy because there were only four kids including him. His gymnastics skills have greatly improved this year. He is able to do some moves on the trampoline like the seat drop. He was hanging on the bar over the pit and was able to hold on with one hand and switch directions on the bar and put his toes up before dropping into the pit. He is able to do forward and backward rolls and jump over the mat with his hands in cartwheel position.

The clothing issue for this summer is Riley would like to wear pants everyday. He likes his uniform of white t-shirt and blue jersey knit pants. He tolerates wearing shorts on most days, but usually puts up some fuss.

Riley has a new friend in the neighborhood. He is a boy that is 3 years younger than Riley, but they have a lot in common and play very well together. They both have a crush on the same girl, but have kind of moved away from playing with her to playing together much to my happiness.

First Phone Conversation

Riley had his first friend want to talk to him on the phone today. We met J at the indoor carnival at Riley's school earlier. I just got a message left over from last night that they had invited Riley to the movies yesterday. I thought that it was for today, but we made plans to go to another movie tonight. Riley says that J is one of his best friends and after J's dad and I made plans for the boys tonight, J's dad had to call back to say that his son wanted to talk to Riley on the phone.

They had a really short phone conversation where Riley was just talking his normal crazy talk. We look forward to tonight when Riley finally gets to go out with a friend. He was just complaining yesterday that no one wanted to play with him. I know that he needs to have friends and wants them to come over, but I have not really had the chance to go and volunteer or get to know any of the parents. We should have fun tonight...

Public Restroom Follow Up

Back in April I had trouble letting Riley go into the men's restroom by himself. My neighbor says that there is a difference between school age children and non school age children, and she felt that once children hit school age, they are able to do certain things by themselves like be left outside for short periods of time.

Well, yesterday, Riley and I were at the library. Riley suddenly asked to go to the restroom and I had books that still needed to be checked out and the restroom is outside of the library. I went ahead and told Riley to go by himself, and I would watch him from the door. He went out of the library and into the lobby to the restroom. He can back out and came straight back into the library. I guess there is something to my neighbor's thinking. I guess my feeling was that if he can go to the restroom at school by himself, then he was capable of going into the restroom by himself at the library. I did ask him if he went into the men's room and he said that he did.

Last Gymnastics Camp

Riley went to gymnastics camp for two weeks earlier in the summer, and one day came home and said that he was the only one who could not do a cartwheel. I was thinking that he was talking about a real cartwheel with feet in the air and all. I found out during the show on Friday that it was just the placing on his hands on the mat and swinging his legs over the mat. I was really proud of him when we went to his last gymnastics camp, and he attempted to do the cartwheel.

I believe that his favorite part of camp was the cheese pit. He liked to swing on the bar above the pit and drop into it as well as run in the cheese.

Amusement Park

Riley enjoyed the water rides more than the land rides. He liked the water playground and the wave pool the most. He also rode on a raft slide with his aunt.

We went on the Scooby Doo ride and I thought that Riley might be afraid because even though he likes Scooby Doo, he was not sure about the ride. It was a good ride in that he got so involved in shooting at things that he did not think about the ghosts and being scared.

Here are some pictures of Riley driving at the park.

Although he went on most of the land rides, it was so hot the day that we went that Riley was not very interested in the land rides, he just wanted to go back to the water park.

Gymnastics Camp

Riley went to gymnastics camp for two weeks. He had a great time even though he was the only boy and he is not very talented in gymnastics. He remembers the teachers from last year when he went to camp there and from when he took gymnastic lessons. They think that he is very comical because he talks a great deal.

The camp has a show every Friday when the children show what they have learned during the week. Riley is usually able to do about half the things that he is taught properly. This past week he would not try to go on the balance beam, I think because they were using the taller one this time.

His favorite things are the bars and the cheese pit.

Preschool Graduation

Riley graduated from preschool on Wednesday night. He was very cute and did a great job. Even though he did not sing any of the songs, he did do the hand motions. He looked so grown up and will be going to kindergarten next year, half day in the afternoon. I think that he is excited about this prospect.



We got his final progress report yesterday in the mail and it seems that Riley has improved in many areas with regards to communicating and listening to others as well as making his needs and wants known to his peers.

From preschool graduation class of 2008 to high school graduation class of 2021!

Public Restroom

At what age is it okay to send your opposite sex child into a public restroom by themselves?

Riley had asked me a few months ago why he had to go into the women's restroom, and I told him that he was not old enough to go to the boys' room by himself and if he was with Mommy, then he would have to use the women's room. He then asked me why Mommy could not go to the men's room. I told him that Mommy were not allowed in the men's room, but little boys were allowed in the women's room.

Well, last week we were in Target. Riley had to go to the restroom. They were cleaning the women's room, and the family restroom was occupied. He had to go really bad so there was no choice but to send him into the men's room by himself. I have to admit that I waited at the door with it a little open. Thank god that it was the middle of the day and most of the shoppers at Target were women. There was no one that I know of in the men's restroom, and I could hear Riley use the restroom, flush the toilet, and go to the sink and wash his hands. I was pretty proud of him! He did a great job!

But, I will probably wait at least one more year before I let him go to the men's room himself on a regular basis.

Vocabulary Learned From TV

A few weeks back Riley started using one word command again, such as "Drink" when he wanted a drink or "Noggin" for when he wanted to watch TV. I was worried that he was regressing until I heard Max on Max & Ruby and when he spoke, it was only one word.

Then, Riley started calling his dad "Pops" instead of "Daddy". It was possible that he got that from his own dad since Riley's grandpa is referred to as Pops, but I do not think he hears that that often. When I asked Riley where he got Pops from, he told me SpongeBob SquarePants.

The use of "whatever", he says comes from Wow Wow Wubbsy and the newest is "bor-ring", which is from Arthur.

Out of the mouth of babes...

I Can Help Myself

Yesterday was a snow day. Riley did not have to go to school. He is always complaining about not having a job so I told him that his new job is to shovel snow which is something he loves doing anyway. Earlier in the season I had to buy Riley his own shovel so that I would be able to use the adult shovel. It is blue and he loves it. We have to take it with us when it is snowing so that he can shovel wherever he is at, the flower shop, the restaurant, PaPa and YaiYai's, at home, etc.

We were running errands and stopped at home to shovel the snow on the driveway because I knew that we would be home late. Riley went down the street to play with the neighbor boy, and I followed him down there after awhile to talk with the boy's mother. Riley went back toward the house because our other neighbor came out to shovel, and he wanted to visit with him. Then, Riley disappears into the house. When he did not come out, I followed him in and found out that he did not make it to the rest room in time since he had on snow pants. By himself, he stripped down, found dry clothes, changed, and was getting ready to go back outside. I was very proud of him for doing all of this by himself!

Then, I thought about the wet clothes and asked him where they were. He could not tell me! I looked everywhere, and I finally found them in his underwear drawer! I was not too happy about that, but he promised not to do it again (put dirty clothes in his drawers)!

Meltdowns

Been having some meltdowns lately and not sure of the cause. Saturday's meltdown was over not being able to get out of the car to go and pay a bill with Mommy. Riley was in the car with his sister and grandma waiting because we were just going to drive around the mall to another entrance after I paid the bill at Macy's. I think he did not like being left behind even for a few minutes. He has been somewhat attached to Mommy lately, maybe due to change in routine.

On Sunday Riley had a meltdown as we were leaving to go to get ice cream. He threw a fit because I would not allow him to take his gun to the ice cream store. Maybe Riley feels he does not have control and is therefore acting out.

Yesterday, Riley had a meltdown with grandma. Grandma ordered food, and I did not send along anything for him. Grandma had to send someone back to get him what he wanted from the restaurant.

Hopefully, being with me tonight at my book club will help him to behave. Riley always want to go to book club with me, and this is the perfect way for him to see the book club, as I am hosting it.

Pirate Party

I convinced Riley to have a pirate birthday party. I found really cool game ideas online and he agreed. It was a nice little party with a few friends from school and a few family friends his age in attendance. The kids walked the plank and went on a treasure hunt. He really enjoyed being the center of attention and could not believe that all the presents were for him. Riley kept seeing Reese's name on his gifts because they were from Reese, but was really excited when they were for him!

Patience Is Paying Off

This is a big week for Riley. Santa Claus is coming tomorrow with presents, and Saturday is his pirate birthday party! He is so excited for these events and has been waiting a long time for them.

The one thing I think he is not eagerly awaiting is I have told him that when he turns five, he needs to give up sucking his thumb. It is about that time and I actually don't think that he sucks it at school, but he does at home when he is watching tv or when he is tired. We need to give it up permanently, and we'll see how it goes!