4 and 5... The age of lost hearing!

Hi everyone! Boy, it has been awhile since I have gotten to write. So much has happened in the last 3 months! We got the chance to go on a cruise, got to Disney World and made it through pneumonia!! As with every winter, you are bound to get at least one bad cold, ey? Thank goodness there is a light at the end of the tunnel, spring has sprung, at least I think, and the boys are so excited because they are putting in a new park 3 doors down from us! Everyday, rain or shine, we visit the park to see what is new that day. Today was very exciting because the playset was being cemented down!
Zach is doing great, he is growing up way to quickly. We signed him up for kindergarten last week and he got to see his new school. I was very worried that since he made the cutoff by 4 hours that he would not be ready, but educationally, he is advanced. He is doing 2nd grade math and loves to read and write. Emotionally, night quite there! We will see what the summer brings. We have had Zach's Iep meeting and he will be mainstreamed with speech therapy. His speech is improving, but he stutters alot and he can still be hard to understand. I called this the age of "I've lost my hearing and can't find it" mainly because of him. My husband actually asked me to go get his hearing checked, because he will stare at you and still has no clue what you are saying. I told Jay it is called "selective hearing", maybe some of you have grandparents that have that??? I do! Yell "ice cream" and they come running, but tell them to clean up their toys and, well, selective hearing! Zach is great at pushing your buttons though! I think he takes after me. I am not good at knowing when to stop sometimes, and guess what... Zach is 10 times worse! I guess when your parents say "one day I hope you get a child just like you", it works. To bad he is so damn cute, it makes it hard to get mad!
Dan, dan, dan. Well, he would be our pneumonia boy! I do not know what happened this winter, but the OCD problem he has somehow spiralled out of control this January. Dan has become a health nut. He is obsessed with what he eats and has lost 9 pounds since January. He looks great, but it is getting to be a bit much. On the cruise he refused to eat, and it turned into crying fits when you tried to make him. He is so afraid of throwing up, that he has given up all his favorite foods, especially pickles! Those were his fav's and now he will eat only one, once in a while. He told Zach this morning that he should not eat marshmallows because they are not healthy for you. It's like living with Richard Simmons, without the exercising. I will admit though, he can run a lot faster now! How bad is that? We are also trying to decide what to do about school. Danny is being made fun of alot in class. He has been called stupid, slow and they are being mean to him. I took him to a party and no one would let him sit by them. Luckily, he does not fully understand what some of the things that they are saying mean, but as a parent, it breaks your heart. We have been thinking about private school where no one will know that he is "slower". Part of the problem is that he is taken out of class so much for therapy, and having an aide probably does not help him be more "normal". I am hoping that Zach does not have to face the same issues. Dan is a terrific kid though! Somehow, he has fallen in love with the opposite sex, and I mean everyone who is the opposite sex and under 12! He tells me all the time about girls (girgles he calls them, because he cannot pronounce girls) he thinks are so pretty, and he kissed a girl on the bus. Our friends have a daughter in 1st grade and he was so excited to get to go see her because he wants to kiss and kiss and kiss her. He is actually very romantic, he holds doors for them, and lets them go first and loves to hold their hands. What is up with that? I always say, whatever girl ends up with him will be very lucky! He is kinda like that guy from the commercial... "I think your toenails could use a second coat honey" (As the guy is painting her nails)! Now, on the other side, we have Zach... "Hey, get in the kitchen and make me some dinner!" He wins the award for laziest boy on the earth! Of his arm broke off, he would wait until someone was around to pick it up, hmmm... just like Jay and the remote...hmmm! Well, I tell Jay it could be worse, but I guess the birds and bees talk will have to come earlier than expected.
Last week, Zach got a dinosaur from Target. It was from the dollar bin, so you can guess how crappy it looked, but to him it was great. He asked Jay the name on the bottom of the dino, and instead of the name it read "made in China", so Zach thinks that is his name. He brings it everywhere and tells everyone that its name is: Made in China! How do you stop that, it is quite funny! I guess one day he will realize that most of his toys have the same name and then he might believe us, but until then, he loves his "made in China!"
Well, it's late, so I better log off, but I hope everyone is ok and for those moms out there worrying about how their child will fit in school, you are not the only one! There are thousands of us going through the same thing, so buck up buckaroo and here's to a better future! Jen