A Whole New Child

We got the medicine last week. Ethan is taking Concerta. He started it on Friday. His teacher was aware that he was starting it, and I sent him off to school worrying about how his day was going. Around 10:30 my cell phone rang. It was Ethan's teacher. For an instant my heart sank and I asked, "What's wrong?" She quickly started reassuring me that nothing was wrong, and in fact everything was right and that was why she was calling me. She said that she was so excited and just HAD to call me. She started laughing, giggling almost, and said she wanted to know who that child was that was sitting in Ethan's seat that day. She told me that as soon as Ethan got to school he started working on his sentences that they do every morning. He was the first one finished. Usually, he doesn't even have one sentence complete before they are moving on to the next thing. When she was standing up at the board teaching, Ethan was raising his hand to answer the questions and he knew everything she was talking about and was waiting his turn and was so polite and so perfect. When they were doing their seat work, he brought her his papers when he was finished and showed it to her and she told me that he not only COMPLETED it, but he did a beautiful job on it, too. At the time that she was calling me, she said that the kids were eating snack and while many of the kids were being distracted by some stuff that was going on outside the window, Ethan was sitting at his desk like he was supposed to and just eating his snack. The teacher was so excited that she was giggling. That phone call absolutely made my day!!!!! When I picked Ethan up from school he ran out and told me that he had an awesome day and that his teacher told him how proud she was of him that day. It brought tears to my eyes and made me realize just how much I was doing the right thing for him. Because he is old enough to be aware of his medical stuff, I had explained to him that morning about the new medicine and I had asked him to let me know if he didn't feel well. Ethan told me that he didn't feel anything at all! Thank goodness. That is what I wanted to hear.

For us, the test was seeing him on the medicine over the weekend. On Saturday I didn't notice a difference at all. And honestly, I'm happy about that. We had some friends over and the kids were running around and playing. I would have been very unhappy if I had noticed a change in Ethan's personality or seen him act down in any way. He ran around and played and acted himself. I decided that his big test at home would be on Sunday at church. Ethan usually complains about having to go to church even though he loves Sunday School. I am always spending my time during the actual church service threatening my child to sit still and be quiet. (Kind of funny considering it is church, huh?) I usually allow him to bring something small to keep him busy like a coloring page or a book or something, but it never matters. He still always complains, lays across the seat, falls to the floor, etc. It is so distracting. Well, that didn't happen this Sunday. It was the most pleasant church service we've ever had. Ethan took his library book with him. He actually sat in his chair and he quietly read. There was no fighting with him and no complaining. And when the pastor started his sermon, I asked him to put the book away and listen and he did. It was WONDERFUL!

Now here is the kind of cute and funny part that we have seen about the medicine. We were told that Ethan could be grumpy or moody when coming down off of the medicine in the evenings. The opposite is actually the case with Ethan. In the evenings, Ethan gets very happy and we see him skipping from room to room when he goes through the house. This past week has given us back the Ethan that I knew was lurking down inside that little boy. I think I have heard him laugh more in the past five days than I have heard in the past three years. He spends his days reading books, drawing pictures, and building with blocks. I asked Rob if he can tell a difference in Ethan's personality, and he had to sit and think about it. He said, "Well, I can't think of anything at all negative that we have seen." I told him that that was my point exactly. Usually, Ethan is getting in trouble a lot for not doing this, or for forgetting to do that, or for not paying attention to this, and I told Rob that we haven't had to raise our voice to Ethan even one time since Friday. Can you imagine what that must feel like for Ethan's self-esteem????

Unfortunately, the kids have missed school all week because of a very rare late season hurricane that churned up (Hurricane Ida) and so we haven't been able to see how Ethan will do at school again on the medicine. Today is Veteran's Day and so they are out of school again because of that. Tomorrow will be the test to see how he does, but I have to take the kids out of school early because Ethan has an appointment at the pulmonologist and then has to get his allergy shots. Emily was supposed to have her big test yesterday to test her pituitary function, but it all had to be canceled because of the storm. It has been re-scheduled for Dec 8.

Before I close this post, I have to acknowledge on here how lucky I am to have such wonderful friends in my life. I was thinking about something the other day when I was humbled and blessed by my friends who stand by me through thick and thin. There are so many people who come and go throughout our lives, but there are a select few that we know will always be there. A true friend is one that never NEEDS to ask you how you are doing because that person already knows. To all of my friends, thank you!