Reuter Family: Ethan update

Lots to report on the little man! First off, he is finally growing. Don't have the official numbers because the doctor cut us loose from the monthly weight checks, but all I know is that is pants are getting too short and I can't see his ribs as well:) He still drinks formula 3 times/day but more importantly he has discovered a love of eating. He comes home from preschool everyday famished. I have to bring a snack in the car to tide him over for the 4 minute trip home otherwise he will scream (and I do mean scream) "I hungry" the entire way. Some days he can't seem to get enough and we are happy to keep serving up as much as he wants. He is doing great in the developmental preschool. He gets speech twice a week there and they also work on attention, social and cognitive skills there. He can count to 10 and each week I am amazed at the animals he can label (like "whale" and "hippo"). The teacher reports that he has some trouble sharing (shocker) but that he is getting better and better with attending to tasks at a table or sitting in circle time. Hard to believe that almost exactly one year ago we were told that he had microcephaly with possible mental retardation and a genetic syndrome. Not that any of those things would have been the end of the world. But we are amazed at God's faithfulness and that for all intents and purposes Ethan will grow to be a typical little boy. Our biggest challenge at home is still the impulsivity and attention problems. Growing taller also means that he can reach things on the counter tops and even climb onto the counters, window sills, bookcases, etc. You can imagine that everyday we do not make a trip to the ER is a good day. Between 3pm-6pm every day (a time that I now refer to as the "witching hour") he is completely off the carts. Throwing food and toys, dumping over drinks, pulling things off the counter. Right now I am sitting in his room typing this on the laptop and every single toy and picture frame has been pushed off the shelves. Every single toy bin is overturned. My house literally looks like a tornado hit on most days. And not a lot of gourmet vegan meals these days. In fact any evening that I don't have to order take out is a good evening. Very grateful for the Whole Foods around the corner which carries vegetarian and vegan convenience foods (Even though they are heart-attack expensive). It's hard to determine how much of his behavior is ADHD and how much is RAD (reactive attachment disorder) since the symptoms for both are very similar. Our therapist seems to believe it is the latter. I think it will become more clear as he gets older but we are using many of the same techniques that we use with NiNi, even beginning to "wear" him for a few hours each day. He still has alot of sleep problems so we often don't get a break during the day when most kids nap. (Seems like when we try to nap him, he has an even harder time going down at night.) When we moved into the new house we broke down and got a king-sized bed. We figured since he was in it every night anyway, we might as well have some space to spread out. We try to get him to at least start out in his own bed (which is an hour long endeavor) and then he makes his way into our bed the first time he wakes. I always heard that kids will sleep when they are tired enough.....until I met Ethan. He breaks the mold. Gets maybe 10 hours/night on a good night. And that is not a solid 10 hours...wakes 1-3 times during the night. And really never ever "crashes." Our most valuable parenting lesson these days is adapt, adapt, adapt! So that is what we are doing! And in spite of the challenges, Ethan is a total delight. I call him my little peacemaker. When anyone walks into a room he wants to make sure that everyone has noticed or greeted them. The other day we were at my friends house when her husband came home from work. I was chatting with my friend and her husband was looking through the mail, getting a drink, etc. Ethan walked over to him, took him by the hand, and led him over to his wife. And then said something like "Say hi" or "Give her a kiss." Such a sensitive kid this one. Bet the ladies will go crazy over that someday:)