Behavior, Health and Halloween Monsters

So let’s see where we left off last time…Isaac’s surgery went well and he’s all recovered. The MRI results came back and showed the potential effects of FAS (shortened Corpus Callosum). I’m using the word “potential” because the effects of pre-natal alcohol are not something of absolute certainty and vary from individual to individual. Doctors like to look at other possible issues such as genetic abnormalities etc. In the case of the twins, there are developmental differences that they want to make sure are not the result of something else. As of now FAS is at the top of the list in explaining Isaac’s problems and other behavioral issues that have become more evident with Isabella. In future posts I intend to post further details as we learn more about the effects of FAS. Before we adopted, this used to be something we didn’t want to deal with but as we learn more about it and thanks to some adoptive families that shared their own personal experiences, we feel like we can help our children lead an independent life, even though it won’t always be roses, butterflies and rainbows ;)

The twins have had a couple of really bad days with their grandparents. I think that their proneness to ADHD makes it difficult sometimes to focus and listen. Behaving properly is difficult for a brain that cannot focus and jumps from one thing to the next. For a while it was difficult to figure out what we can withhold as a punishment. Now we mention vetoing toys, Barney (ugh!) and riding in the car if they don’t behave. After an abysmally bad Monday, they’ve had a much better two days, although they did start misbehaving a bit again today. After some timeouts on the couch, they improved. Once I got back from work and Isabella was all over me with hugs and kisses, we had the “talk” and she sombered up as her head lowered during my speech. Isaac didn’t want to talk about it obviously but motioned that he was sorry. Hopefully as we continue to mention these punishments, they will think twice before getting out of control. I’m sure we’ll have many instances where these punishments will be enforced before they “get it”.

Isaac has now started Physical Therapy once a week to work on his fine motor skills and gait training. Getting his attention is the biggest challenge, but hopefully once he gets on a schedule and we start working on specifics with him at home, it’ll get better. We re-did Audiology testing, but one test (tympanogram) was inconclusive yet again due to wax buildup. His ear canals are very small and the reduced volume has a big effect. The other test went great and he passed with flying colors. So we’ll retest before the end of the year after more ear drops and wax cleaning.

But it wasn’t all health and behavior problems; we had some fun too! For Halloween, Lori dressed up the twins as clowns. I think the idea was really inspired by Isaac, the real clown.

The costumes fit them great and they wore them on our non-traditional outing. What better way to spend Halloween than to go see some loud “Monsters” in person? We all enjoyed the outing, but Isaac was the most excited (my father was a close second).

 

Yes, Monsters with wheels! It was a great contrast between insanely big and oh so small.

We took pictures with Isaac and Isabella sitting on the wheels of one of the trucks, which turned out to be the winner of the night.

 

We like to think they brought a lot of luck to “Tail Gator”. It was a chilly night of great value for some awesome, loud family fun. The twins don’t yet understand Halloween, so a non-traditional celebration was a better option for us. We all enjoyed the truck-donuts and freestyle events. We were rednecks for a night!