December 23rd, 2009 at 10:52 pm
(Damien, New, Talk, Uncategorized)
Well Damien has been diagnosed with a “Language Disorder”, rather than a “Language Delay”. A language delay will go away with time, however, a language disorder is there forever. On the plus side we know what we are dealing with and while language will always be difficult for Damien, he would still be able to graduate from college, some aspects will just be more difficult for him.
If you think about language as a brick wall, most people use various bricks to build the wall they need at the moment. Damien is having a hard time seeing the bricks in the wall, he just sees walls, so he tends to build prefabricated walls.
The way to help Damien is Speech Therapy, which will help give him a wider range of prefabricated walls to use, as well as special tools for Damien to begin building his own walls.
Originally our insurance was not going to cover the the Speech Therapy, because even though Damien was diagnosed with a Language Disorder, the insurance company classified it as a Language Delay, which they don’t cover.
Well Olya kept after the Insurance company, and no we have the go ahead for 40 sessions next year. Our doctor is suspicious though, so she has scheduled only three of them so far, and they take place every other week, just in case the insurance company changes their mind on covering it, at least we won’t be out too much money.
I am just happy that Damien is getting closer to getting more assistance that aid him in communicating with his peers and brothers.
5 Comments
December 22nd, 2009 at 10:41 am
(Damien, My Kids, New, Sergey, Xavier)
I decided to take notes on paper about what the kids do, because as soon as I go on my computer, they they start acting out. So with a note book, I can just jot down some things while I am watching them, and the note book in much more portable, and takes less time to set up, no spell check but those are the breaks.
Currently (as of this writing) the boys are acting great. Damien is reading a book to Sergey, while Xavier is spinning himself silly in the swing. When the story that Damien makes up is over, they sings songs, such as the ever popular “ABC’s”.
Sergey is actively encouraging Damien to read to him, he often takes several of Mom’s books off the shelf and sneaks them over to Damien for translation. Being as the books have no pictures, Sergey has no idea what the books are about, but that doesn’t stop Damien he doesn’t need pictures to make up a story, just a book.
Xavier did make a big mess by grabbing a container of crayons and dumping them on the floor, then trying to spread them around evenly. It is partly the other boys fault as well, as one of them did not put the crayons far enough out of Xavier’s way (this is something that we have been working on with them for some time, so it is expected).
![DSC_1369[1]](http://billtheannoying.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/DSC_13691-300x199.jpg "DSC_1369[1]")
Since they are so good now, I don’t feel like busting them at the moment that would send the wrong message, I just wait for them to act badly, I don’t expect it to be a long wait.
Minutes later…
Everyone was given a plastic container, and told to pick up the crayons. After a brief legal battle with Damien and Sergey, cleaning did take place, even Xavier helped pick them up.
5 Comments
December 21st, 2009 at 12:35 pm
(Damien, New)
A while back we went to the Dentist with the kids.
Damien was not on his best behavior, as he would not open his mount for the dentist to get a good look.
So we will have to take him to a dentist that focuses on children for him.
The kids all got new cleaning kits, complete with toothbrush, toothpaste, and floss.
When it came time to brush teeth, a fight broke out over who would get to use the green tooth brush.
Since Sergey was given the green toothbrush by the dentist, and Damien the blue one, we decided to stick with that. Needless to say Damien was not happy with this. That is Damien’s logical thinking reared it’s ugly head.
“Papa I can’t use the blue tooth brush“, said Damien, “It’s broke“. Damien held up the blue tooth brush which now had a 90 degree bend in the neck. “See“, he said, “I have to use the green one because this one is broke“, and he made a grab for the green toothbrush. “No it’s OK“, I said, “it just got bent, by accident, here let em straighten it out“; so I straighten the blue brush out, and used it to clean his teeth.
The next night the blue brush was broke again, on this time more permanently, he had snapped the head of the toothbrush clean off. So I brushed his teeth with the broken end of the blue brush and still wouldn’t let him have the green toothbrush.
The day after that, Damien had to go to the bathroom, but since Sergey was in the downstairs bathroom, Damien decided that he must use the bathroom upstairs. After a few minutes I checked on him, and found him closing the drawers in the bathroom, and running out as soon as he saw me. After a moments inspection the coveted green toothbrush was now also broken, having it’s head removed.
So that night during teeth brushing time, we talked about how you can’t just break things to get what you want. I also gave Sergey a new (more solid) green toothbrush, and continued to brush Damien’s teeth with the broken end of the blue toothbrush. After brushing I put all the toothbrushes away in the linen closet, because even though the new green toothbrush is more solid, so is Damien’s determination, and I think the toothbrush would lose that showdown.
I did tell Damien that if he is good, that Santa will probably give him a new toothbrush.
Comments
December 19th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
(Damien, My Kids, New, Sergey, Xavier)
So I let the kids out to play in the snow, after they got in their snow suits.
A short time later I hear an “Ow!” First from Damien then from Sergey, then alternating back and forth.
When I check to see what is going on the are both standing under the eves of the garage, and looking up.
Me: What are you guys doing?
Sergey: Icicles are falling and hitting us in the head.
Damien: Ow!
Sergey: Ow!
Then the both laugh as water drips onto their faces.
After that they wanted the colored chalk, so I got that out for them.
That is when Xavier wanted out, so I had to get him dressed, in his snow suit.
Of coarse that is when Sergey wanted to come in, so I told him to ask his brother to open the door for him.
Sergey: Damien open the door for me.
S: Damien! Opeeeen the doooor for meeeeee!
Damien: I hear you, I’ll be right there.
Damien open the door for Sergey.
S: Thank you.
D: Your welcome.
Then Damien and Xavier color with chalk outside.
Damien was doing a very good job making a picture of a tree house, I think it is form “Go Dogs Go”, do to the giant ladder that he had going to the top of his tree. He also used lots of different colors, in making the pictures, and was able to tell me a (very) brief story about the picture.
Xavier had fun adding to the picture as best he could.
Xavier didn’t last long, but it was a start. It is always good to get the kids moved to different activities and if possible a different local.
3 Comments
September 14th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
(Damien, My Kids, New, Olya, Sergey, Xavier)
Well we are all feeling better here at the house.
Last week Thursday, we had hot dogs for dinner, and the kids really loved them, even Xavier, for him I cut them into small pieces, so he wouldn’t have to chew too much.
Later that night, he threw up. Apparently he really liked his hot dogs, because he didn’t even take time to chew them, because the pieces he up chucked were mostly whole pieces. So I gave him some water, and put him to sleep on the floor next to me, while I was on the computer. A while later he threw up again, with more unchewed hot dog pieces coming up.
This went on for several hours.
Xavier was tired and would sleep between bouts of vomiting, I stayed by his side, so I could pick him up and hold him over the sink at an angle so as not to get anything in his lungs.
He last case of vomitting was around 2:30 AM, and I stayed up with him for another hour, to make sure he was really done before I put him down.
The good side is that since it was just unchewed food that he was barfing up, I could put him into daycare the next day, since it obviously not a virus (ominous music plays in the background).
Xavier’s day was fine, and everyone was feeling good, Damien didn’t eat much of his lunch, but maybe his growth spurt is over.
Saturday, we are all fine in the morning, and the kids go to Gymnastics, and there is no barfing, not that I would expect any because it’s obviously not a virus. But by mid afternoon, Sergey is not feeling too well.
Then he threw up, and he seemed really hot to the touch. so I gave him some water and he took a nap on the floor, laying on his back. Later I heard some gurgling coming from that room, and went in to investigate, there was Sergey vomiting while on his back, and looking up, with and perplexed expression on his face, so after a moment of freaking out, I turned his head to the side, then I cupped my hand, and caught as much vomit as I could (because cleaning vomit from my hands is much easier than cleaning it from the carpet) while carrying him to the bathroom to finish up in the bathroom sink.
Sergey continues to vomit for several hours, and I start to realize that I am not feeling all that well myself, neither is Olya. I went upstairs to start my barfathon, in the private bath. Damien came up to see what I was doing. On his way out he stopped and looked at me and said “Are you not feeling well papa”?
“No I am not” I told him. “Would you like me to get you a soda” he asked? (That was probably the best thing that happened all day.
Olya managed to avoid the brunt of the attack, but I was not so fortunate, and was up until 3am making several trips for barfing only.
On the plus side, it looks like it’s over, and I hope we dont ahve to do that again any time soon.
6 Comments
September 10th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
(Damien, My Kids, New, Sergey, Xavier)
The boys have been back from Russia for awhile now, and we are starting to settle into the new routine.
All three have had a growth spurt over the summer, Damien can now walk into and ot of the bathtub on his own, where as before he would need help. All of Damien’s pants look like high waters on him, but he was wearing 3T pants, so it is a good sign that he will need some 4T pants. The other kids are also moving up a notch, but we have clothing for all of their clothing needs, up to 3T, so no worries.
One of the advantage of having all boys is that we have highly reusable cloths, and most of them are not worn out, with the exception of shoes.
Sergey is so big now that I didn’t recognize many of the kids in his class, because I am used to many of them being a head taller than Sergey, but now he can look them in the eye. His size never got in his way, he was always very active, and popular with his class mates, and more than one girl has had a crush on him. I have met more than one mom, who wanted to meet this “Sergey” their daughter was been cooing about at home.
Xavier, is not fully walking, but he can take a few steps, and crawls very fast, but he has to to keep up with his brothers. His new trick is to go on hands and feet, then put his head on the carpet, and crawl arougn the room, like a mini snow plow. He is also very talkative, he can say (Mama, Papa, Damien, and Sergey), but he doesn’t do it all the time. Definatly the most cereabral of the bunch, but the least physical.
Damien has started 4K, five times a week, for half a day. He is going to a different school, so that he can be in the same school, and time slot of his previous Early Childhood teacher, so that she can shadow him, for part of the time, and help him with interactions. So far he has had two green days (days are rated Green to red, where red is bad, originally Damien was trying to “earn” a red face, because he liked that color the most).
Yesterday when picking Damien up he was actually playing with other kids at a sand table, which is a good start for him. One of the points of emphasis in 4K is interacting with others, which is something he needs help with so I am looking forward to more improvements with him. We are still looking for a Speech Therapist in our plan for him, but should find one soon.
We have changed our daycare hours, since we pay by the hour, the biggest saving we can have, is to try and shorten their time at daycare, so now I drop them off just after 9am, and pick them up after 4-4:30 (when ever Damien’s bus drops him off). This saves us about 3 hours a day per child, or 35% savings, also Damien’s 4K is not charged. Next year, Damien will be 5K full time,and Sergey will be in 4K. Funny, only now do the kids seem to be growing up fast.
Sergey and Damien are both in gymnastics, in the same class but that is another post.
5 Comments
August 20th, 2009 at 11:24 pm
(My Kids, New, Uncategorized, Xavier)
Happy Birthday to Xavier
Why it seems like only a year ago when you were Zero years old.
First Feeding
You were such a happy little sucker.
Remember the good old days when you were Less than Zero
Well now you are all grown up and standing so tall (relatively speaking), and doing your Tai Chi in the park.
And standing comes in handy when stealing er… liberating your brothers toys.
Grats to you Xavier, you’re now older than zero, many happy returns.
Well maybe next year Uncle Dan will get you a cousin, but only if you’re good.
4 Comments
July 27th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
(My Kids, Sergey)
One of my children’s favorite cartoons is “Nausicaa” a.k.a. “Warriors of the Wind”.
http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/nausicaa/
Nausicaä, the princess of a small nation, lives in a world devastated by a holocaust called the “Seven Days of Fire”. She tries to stop other warring nations from destroying themselves and from destroying the only means by which their world can be saved from the spread of polluted wastelands.
From Olya:
Today Sergey asked, “Does Nausicaa’s friend have a penis?”
Followed by “Does Lord Yupa has a penis?”
He is back into making sure all the penises are accounted for.
This is just a continuation from the previous week
Sergey: “Mommy, does Luke Skywalker have a penis?”
Olya: “Yes, Sergey.”
Sergey: “Does Han Solo have a penis?”
Olya: “Yes, Sergey.”
Sergey: “Do bad guys have penises?”
Olya: “Yes, Sergey, unless they are girls, then No.”
Olya: Fortunately, he did not ask about Darth Vader, so I was spared having to answer, “Well, he did, but then there was that accident with molten lava, so at this point your guess is as good as mine.”
3 Comments
July 1st, 2009 at 10:10 pm
(New, work)
Well I had the second interview at UW Parkside. Eh, it could have gone better.
There were some questions that I answered well, and some that I don’t think I answered very well.
Just by looking at their facial expressions I could tell that they were looking for more, or something different.
There was one question that had multiple parts, and while answering the second or third part I caught myself rambling, my first clue was that I wasn’t sure if I was in the second or third part. So I decided to wrap up the question quickly, then I realized I had lost focus as to what the main topic of overall question was. So I am sure that didn’t go so well.
There was the question “Tell me about a time you lost you temper at another coworker, at work, and how you handled it?” Well I took some time to try and recall a time where I had lost my temper at another coworker, but couldn’t think of anything, I have lost my my cool with hardware, or software, and in those cases I really tell the the offending pice of junk just how I feel right before I put it to death by unplugging the unit. Since I thought that the real question was how I would handle a bad communication moment, I old him that I don’t usually have those but I have had a time where I told a joke, that was interpreted badly and how I worked through that. Again not the best way I could have answered that question, but that is what I did.
Probably the biggest mistake was that I was so focused on trying to get the the questions nailed down, and I didn’t go over the actual job description, and there were at two questions that referred back to it, so I had to “wing it” on those.
This was an interview of the final five candidates, out of probably 200 people who applied for the position. There where three interviewers again, but all different from the first time and each had 12 questions this time.
At least this time I set my alarm to go off 2 hours before the interview, good thing two because I lost my tie right before I was going to get in the car, and spent 15 minutes looking for my “luck tie” before just grabbing the most red tie that I had.
I might still get the offer, but it is a bad sign the the facilities manager, was trying hard not to fall asleep while I was answering other peoples questions. i am just saying…
I’ll keep looking for more jobs, and applying to the ones that make sense, even if it is a stretch.
One thing I learned for me, is to write down my achievement answers so that I have something to rehearse from, and to help limit my answer to only a few minutes, and keep the answer focused.
9 Comments
June 29th, 2009 at 10:00 pm
(New, work)
Well the first interview at UW park side went well.
There were three people I would interview with, and I was told that each would ask five questions, but that some questions would have multiple parts, so it might seem like more than just five questions.
At first I was worried because all three of the people would be in the room at the same time, but it went well and helped in that if my answer covered more than one persons question, they would check it off, and they wouldn’t have to ask that question later.
Many of the answer that I give are short vignettes (as short as I can make them) from longer stories that I have of my significant accomplishments. When I tell the vignette, I layout the situation in general, so they know what I am talking about. This is also helpful when I tell a different vignette from the same story line, in that I do not have to do as much setup, and it also shows how big the scope of some of these projects are. I also have more than one in case they want a “different” example, just to make sure I am not a one trick pony.
The hard part for me is in keeping it short, because I just talk to much, and just keep throwing information at you, and eventually end up sidetracked on a completely irrelevant topic. The interview is only 45 to 60 minuets long, so if I am not careful I could end up wasting five minuets on why I prefer custard to frozen yogurt, which while entertaining at the time, is not likely to get me a job.
There were a lot of people skills questions which I did not anticipate, as the job has no direct reports, but I think I did OK with them.
Example: “Talk about a time where two key people dislike a product or program but for different reasons, and how you reconciled that?”
Example 2: “Talk about a time when you had to put forth a policy change that was unpopular?”
Example 3: “Talk about a time where someone was unhappy with you, and how you resolved it?”
Lucky for me I have been in these situations, many times before, and I could pick from ones that went well, but this time I am preparing answers, so I can deliver them more effectively.
By far my favorite question was: “If we asked your previous supervisor about you, what would they say?” The reason it was my favorite is because I could answer is like this, “He would say that am awesome, and that he was sorry to see me leave.” Then I asked if they wanted a letter of recommendation.
When we were done, they asked if I had any questions, and I told them that I had the same question for each of them, “With what you know about me, what trait or ability do you see me using here.” This is a good questions because it lets me know where they see me fitting into there organization, also it helps them mentally place me in the job, and finally if there is a second interview, I know what strengths to play up.
One of them liked my sense of humor, an other could not decide where to start because I had too many useful skills, and the third didn’t answer my question, but rather took the time to sell me on the job. Then they all started talking up the job.
In most interviews, they always try to leave you smiling, even if they are not going to give you the job, most say “you did really well, it was nice talking to you”. But I have learned the hard way that that is just smoke and mirrors. The interviewer will usually not take the time or effort to sell the job to you, unless they actually want you. So I took that as a good sign.
And they did ask me back for a second interview.
I have go back Wednesday, so I will try to post as soon as I get back on how I think it went, wish me luck.
I’ll spend tomorrow and Wednesday morning prepping for the questions.
5 Comments