Curse You, ADD: A family's journey

Most of my friends know that Lauren(8) has ADD. She wasn't diagnosed until the middle of first grade, even though some of the symptoms starting showing up a few weeks before she started Kindergarten. Since I worked at her school in KG and 1st grade, I visited with her teachers frequently about my concerns. Her KG teacher, Mrs. Baskett, was just wonderful. She told me that Lauren did handle things differently, but she didn't expect her students to be like robots, all acting the exact same way. She also said that with Lauren's determination, she will be a CEO one day.

I'll talk about her diagnosis in another post. This morning I was faced with another ADD meltdown and on my way to take the kids to school, I decided I would track our experiences through blogging.

On Thursday mornings Stephen leaves bright and early so he can attend a men's group at church. That means I am all on my own for morning routine. We have it down to a science. Stephen makes the kids' lunches before he leaves and I wake the kids up, make sure they get dressed quickly, prepare their breakfast, and remind them to brush their teeth and hair. Sounds simple, right? I don't have to remind Caleb (7) to do anything. As a matter of fact, I wake him up 15 minutes later than Lauren and he still runs circles around her. At the beginning of the school year, Lauren was barely getting it all done before we were walking out the door. I am pleased to announce that now we have about 15 minutes to spare.

So this morning Lauren had extra time and she asked me if she could do my hair. This was a very strange request, Lauren doesn't usually ask to spend time with me. I really didn't want her pulling on my hair and tangling it, but I knew it was an important moment to bond so I agreed. She gathered my hair into 6 rubber bands (I have really long hair right now). She tried making the design where you make several ponytails at the top of the head, then take half from one ponytail and half from another to make a new ponytail. When she was finished she said it didn't look very good. I did my best to assure her that it was great and all things take practice to get better.

Just as we do every morning, I went upstairs to carry Abby and Spencer down from their beds. That is a signal that we are getting ready to leave. When I told Lauren and Caleb to get their backpacks, Lauren decided she needed to look for her Kanani chapter book. I told her she did not have time, we had to walk out the door and that she had plenty of time to look instead of doing my hair. She insisted that one of the kids must have moved it. This is part of her ADD, she always blurts out that someone else must have moved things that she can not find. I told her not to accuse others and that we had to leave. She proceeded up the stairs. I grabbed her arms and lifted her in the air and put her down on the couch while telling her, "Lauren, you are hyper-focused. You need to stop right now. We are going to school." She burst into tears. This surprised me because she usually does not 'get it.' She said, "I have done something REALLY, REALLY bad. I have done something AWFUL." I was totally surprised, when she gets hyper-focused, we usually can not redirect her for a long time. Then she said, "You hair just looks so bad."

See, ADD! She totally missed the part about not getting her book and we were going to school. This is NOT the way I like to start our day. I just want peace and happiness for all. Then, something else odd happened, Abby tried to console her, "Lauren, Mommy's hair looks really good." That just touched my heart. Abby is only 5 and doesn't usually know when to say things like that. I got the kids to the van and then it was Spencer's turn to throw a fit. He was upset because I slid the carseat buckle up his chest. He waited until I had buckled myself in to tell me he wanted to do it himself. So I had to get out and slide it down so that he could slide it back up. I buckled myself in again and he cried, "I can't do it." I unbuckled again, and we agreed to do it together. Then on the way to school, Lauren said, "Mommy, my Kanani book was in the van."

See, ADD not only affects the patient, it affects the whole family. I have a friend whose daughter is an only child. She has much more patience and less frustration with her daughter because she is not also being a mommy to 7, 5, and 2 year olds.

I will continue to journal here about our experiences with this invisable disability. I look forward to sharing stories with other people who are being affected by ADD/ADHD.

Future posts:
How ADD affects her schoolwork
Lauren's delays in learning household/school routines
Teachers who get it, and teachers who don't!
Trying new medicine
I don't feel as close to her as my other kids
Trying to find what makes her happy
Mess after mess after mess (more than the other 3 combined)

Back To School

Oh my goodness, I am so behind. I had to stop what I was doing to post a story that Lauren's teacher just dropped by to share with me. Let me begin by saying that Lauren hasn't played out side much this summer because it has been too darn hot. When she does play outside, she often comes barreling into the house screaming about a spider or a wasp. Yes, we do have a lot of wasps, but EVERYTHING is a wasp to her.

So her teacher just stopped by my classroom to tell me that the other day, Lauren walked up to her with her hands cupped together and asked where she could put "it." Her teacher asked her what she had and Lauren told her it was a grasshopper. MY LAUREN had a grasshopper. She wanted to know where she could put it to bring it home. With much consideration of Lauren's sensitive nature, her sweet teacher told her that it might be best to take it back outside to be with it's grasshopper family.

I am so happy to hear that Lauren is already making good friends and has not come home once telling me that someone was making fun of Tinkerbell or that someone was going to take her to the zoo where the monkeys ate the people.

Lauren's Dance Recital

Saturday night was Lauren's first dance recital. It was really cute to see all the little girls try to complete a routine they have been working on since September.

She really seems to be following along.

But this is what she did at least 10 times. I'll count when I get the video. She kept blowing kisses to her teachers.

Lauren and her best friend Katie. Don't they look like they've been doing this for years?

What a cute little pose. I want to know if the other girls are right and Lauren is wrong or if Lauren is right and the others are wrong.

Time to celebrate with her pal.

Lauren's first roses!

More Laurenisms

We have The Little Mermaid in the DVD player in the van. Yesterday we were driving home from church when the part comes on where Ariel is arguing with her father. Soon afterwards Ariel says that her father just doesn't see things the way she does and Lauren said,
"Ariel's daddy needs to go to the eye doctor."

Another Laurenism

We put out a few Mardi Gras decorations the other day and Lauren asked Stephen what Mardi Gras is. Stephen began to tell Lauren that it is a big celebration the day before Lent begins. Of course she asked what Lent is and Stephen told her that Lent is when Jesus was in the desert for 40 days talking to God. Her reply:

"So Jesus was talking to Himself?"

Laurenism

The other day I found Lauren's pop-top cup in the van. It had been leaking apple juice on a pillow for at least a few days and with the near 80 degree weather we've had lately, you can imagine what the smell was like. I told her it, "Smelled to high Heaven."
Her reply was, "Oh. So can Grandma smell it?"

She's a pretty smart little girl I tell ya.

Laurenisms

Lauren was singing a Christmas tune the other day, have you ever heard of "Walkin' in a window of Aladdin?"

Last night I was flipping stations and stopped when I heard Journey, ya know, "Don't Stop Believin'", "Open Arms", "Faithfully" ? From the 80s? So I finished singing the song and so proudly told Lauren, "That's Journey, can you say Journey?" She replied, "Why do they have 'germs'? " Stephen and I couldn't help but laugh out loud. Children are so precious! We'll have a Journey 101 lesson after Christmas. I might even have to buy a CD or two since cassettes are so stone-age.

The Memory of a 3 Year Old & Happy Birthday Stephen

Last night when I was putting Lauren to bed, I reminded her that when she woke up it would be her daddy's birthday. She replied, "We have to sing the birthday song." I told her that when the sun came up she could sing to her daddy.

Well, I wasn't home when she woke up but Stephen called me to tell me that when Lauren woke up she was screaming from her bed. Now, we try really hard to teach her not to scream from her bed and somehow she always forgets that simple request but she didn't forget what we talked about at bedtime. Stephen had raced to her room thinking something was wrong because most mornings Lauren gets herself out of bed. When he got to her room, she said, "It's your birthday!" I wish I could have seen his face because I'm sure it lit up like....a Christmas tree.

Happy Birthday Honey! I love you!