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The testing isn't for another month, hopefully I can hang in there. I chatted with his pediatrican today, as my youngest had another ear infection, and I asked her about some breathing "deep sighs" that I noticed Marshall doing quite frequently. She thinks it is something that he thinks he has to do when doing something quiet. So, we discussed that we could be looking at some obsessions that he has developed.

I never thought about an omega three vitamin...we'll give it a try. Any other natural supplements you'd recommend...not big on the idea of medication.

Thanks for the advice, we'll go get some today and see how it works! Maybe we'll try the sign too.

Mary Beth

Golly Mary -
I remember those days! At 3 my son seemed as "unsocialized" as my cousin's 18 month old! I could finally feel like I had someone who could behave in public at age 5. I read "The Phantom Tollboth" and "Ozma of Oz" to him at this age, and didn't think it was odd that he sat, listened and followed the story beautifully, for hours at a time if I would let him. DS9 had a tantrum while we tried to watch the movie "Fly Away Home." He paniced whenever the Father got into that little airplane. (We had fast-forwarded through the bad set-up in the other room.)

Oh yes - age 3 is when I told the daycare people that if they had a full time slot, please sign me up. Up until then I had fought to limit work to part time and spent every possible moment with him. I just faced that he had a lot more energy than I did!

Writing this I have to wonder if he's any less mysterious on the inside now than he was then - we're all just so used to it! Plus I think that the mysterious inside just shows less than before.

I'm not sure if I have a point, just to enjoy the moments - take as much care of your self and your adult relationships as you can, and try to gather a core of supportive adults and teens who can take some of the intensity off you. Good luck with the testing!

Trinity

Mary:

I can't thank you enough for the Omega 3 suggestion. It has worked wonders. The school said that Tuesday was his best day ever, and over spring break, Marshall asked to color for the first time in his life and sat through some lessons on spelling! Still have some tantrums, but not nearly as much. Thank you a thousand times over! I feel like I can breath again! Hopefully this will be the beginning of the end of the inattentive and crazy behavior he has been showing.

Well, he is finally Four and amazing us every day! We love it!

I'm so glad it worked. I haven't logged in for a while and just saw your post.

The other thing we have found that really makes a huge difference is carrots. Apparently Beta Carotene makes a big difference. My husband does the cooking and found this one by accident when the store ran out of our brand of carrots. 2 weeks with no carrots and we were having problems.... when the carrots came back, no more troubles. Too weird.

We were really against the multivitamin thing until recommended recently by a neuropsych. She said some kids have different needs than others and no matter how healthy our son ate, it was possible that there was something that he simply needed more of. We tried it and it has helped more.

Just realized I only mentioned Omega 3. We actually use a supplement with 3 and 6 in it and found it to be an improvement over 3 alone.

I would really make a big deal over every good day you have. Positive reinforcement is great.

Don't count on this being the complete end to inattentiveness as he is only 4. However, maybe this is the start of a great year.

Mary

Carrots, huh? Well, we'll try it too. I can tell when he hasn't had the Omega 3 supplement. When we run out, we'll look for Omega six. Yes, we are finally having success at school, now that the year is over...go figure. We didn't get into the monissory school, it's a lottery entry, so now we are faced with looking at private monissory schools or sending him back to the school he was at this year. I am not sure what we'll end up doing. We are going to ask his pediatrican and the neuro psych he is seeing next month. Everyone, including his current school, thinks that he is not a traditional schooling student. So we tried to get into the only monissory school within the public school system. So, now that we didn't get into it, we aren't sure what we will do. I can't home school, nor have the patience for it, as I am a real estate agent and just can't do it. The private school costs 350.00/month for half days and over 500/month for full days. They go until age 9. We are thinking this would be a good option, but not sure that we can afford it. I am so disappointed that he didn't get in, but now have to spend the next month or two trying to figure out what we are going to do for next year. Any one have suggestions? I never thought school was this difficult and stressful. I guess I have more of that in the future, huh? Mary Beth

I read somewhere that the hardest ages are 4 through 9. I can't wait for 10.... (BTW - anyone out there with the experience to correct me on this: DON"T I enjoy dreaming.)