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Fun nearly ruined

Posted on September 27, 2008 10:49 am by TheAngelForever

A week ago at this time we were on the road to Six Flags. JSL was staying with my parents for the day and we had a special day set for NHL. Our things were ready to go, our prepaid tickets printed and everyone was excited for a fabulous day at the park.

When we arrived at our destination we opted to drive past the park and head to lunch. We quickly found a cute little pizza place and went there. After lunch we got back into our car and went to the parking area of the park. As I was loading things up to go inside the park I looked at JL and asked where my purse was.

Ever have one of those moments where your heart skips a beat and you can not breathe? This was my moment.

My purse was not there. I then recalled putting it on the seat next to me at the pizza place. I am not used to having a purse, especially a small one and just forgot it. I quickly went to an attendant in the parking lot. He told us to go to the gate and ask for our parking pass back since we had a prepaid. JL hopped out of the car and went to the gate where we had paid. They quickly gave it back to us.

As we drove a short distance it seemed like forever to me. I had to literally remind myself to breathe. My heart was ready to leap out of my throat. Everything was in that purse – cash, credit cards, gift cards, drivers license . . . the works! The tickets for the park were safely in the backpack in the car with us.

When we finally arrived back at the restaurant JL ran in. People were sititng at the table where we had been. They saw how anxious JL was and asked if he was looking for a purse. Sure enough when they sat down they saw it and gave it to the people of the restaurant. Everything was still inside – thank goodness there still are honest people.

When we drove back to the park my heart was slowly settling back down. We were lucky enough to be able to go right back to the parking spot we had left (right next to the bridge to the park) and went in.

After a few rides and watching NHL’s smiling face I was able to put the scare behind me. Thank goodness our day was not ruined by my stupidity!

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While visiting in Looney Tunes National Park NHL and JL went onto a little roller coaster. Here is a sign that we passed on the way there.

Here are the boys waiting for and then going on the ride. It was anticlimatic after the Bobsled ride, but fun none-the-less.

Of course when you are near Wile E Coyote there has to be TNT. I thought this was cute and too funny not to take a photo of.

When we were ready to head out of the area they still had the water on and JL joked that he would toss NHL in to cool off.

Clearly finding my purse was meant to be. Someone was definitely watching over us. Had something different happened in the morning, none of these memories would have happened.

Categories:
family fun jl nhl photos road trip weekend

Always trust your instinct

Posted on September 25, 2008 8:38 am by TheAngelForever

Ever have one of those moments where you just want to slap yourself in the head? Yesterday was one of those days and I should have stopped it long ago.

NHL was diagnosed with seasonal allergies in the spring. He was put on a pediatric dose of Singular. I had been on it as an adult and had wonderful results. Of course at the same time NHL was put on it there was a lot of controversy with the medication and use with children. Our allergist noted the recent studies and told us to watch and see if there were any behavior changes.

Back in April/May NHL’s teachers mentioned to me that he was acting different. He was more emotional, bothered by things more, and just not himself. When we went back to the allergist in August I told the doctor about this. I told him that it was hard for me to guess if it was the medicine or changes in his life. NHL was just finishing up at a school he loved and getting anxious about kindergarten already, so I had a hard time knowing.

The truth is things really started to fall apart in mid-August, just after our appointment. NHL cried for several days that he did not want to turn five years old. A huge red flag should have gone off in my head, but I was not thinking straight. I thought it was thanks to NHL being nervous about kindergarten. NHL never seemed happy, he was always tired, moped, emotions were high and low, and he was extremely impulsive. For the first time we were also having defiance issues.

When NHL started kindergarten things really blew up in our face. Since he started almost a month ago I have only had two days of slightly decent behavior reports. Yesterday was by far the worst. My son actually colored on his chair at school and when told to stop simply switched colors.

I was beyond mortified and frustrated. I did not know who this five year old child was anymore and talking to him was useless. I went home cried, put in calls for all of his doctors and went to my trusty Google friend and started to search about Singular behavior reactions in pediatric patients.

I quickly found this website and forwarded it on to my husband. JL honestly thought that I had written the June 1st entry since it was SO similar to NHL (just a few subtle differences). The allergists office called back within 10 minutes. He asked questions about the behavior. He did note that I had mentioned concern in August. I told him how things had intensified and I was frightened for my child. He asked if NHL was depressed. I told him about the birthday crying and how he hardly smiled these days, except for the smirk after doing something inappropriate. They called back again 10 minutes after the initial call and told me to STOP the Singular immediately and see if we note any changes in behavior over the next 2-3 weeks.

After that I e-mailed NHL’s teacher with the article and asked her to confirm if what was noted by the one parent sounded like my son. She agreed and thought we were onto something.

Most of the night I kept beating myself up. Why didn’t I stop this months ago? How could I do this to my baby? Why was easy breathing and allergy relief clouding my eyes from seeing the true problem at hand? Could this truly be the problem and wil it make things better so the new school can believe me that my child is not like what they have seen all this time?

Please, please, please learn from my stupid mistake. Always trust your instinct. You know your child best and need to be their advocate. Thank goodness I finally saw the light and hope that my sweet little five year old boy will be back in our life soon.

For JL’s view of things you can check it out here.

Categories:
allergies bad news decisions doctor health awareness looking back nhl school

Ready for the bobsled team

Posted on September 23, 2008 8:50 am by TheAngelForever

Think back to your childhood for a minute. Did you like to go on amusement park rides? If you did were you more of a merry-go-round kind of kid, or did you like the thrills of any or all fast moving rides?

Saturday at Six Flags we quickly confirmed that NHL is into thrills. He was disappointed that he was not allowed onto two rides that were interesting to him (you had to be 48 inches tall), but quickly found one that was his absolute favorite by the end of the day.

After leaving Wiggles World for the first time, I convinced both of the boys to go with me on the Alpine Bobsled ride. JL was not too sure about this, but I promised him it was a very fast yet controlled ride. The boys agreed and we went onto the ride in seconds since there was absolutely no line.

Both of the boys were pleasantly surprised with the ride. NHL actually asked to go back on it immediately. JL took him on this time and I caught up with them for some photos. Here are NHL and JL in the Team USA bobsled. NHL was not looking at the camera since he was paying attention to the bobsled ahead of them.

Next they come around to check and make sure the bars are in place and locked correctly.

Then you wait for your bobsled to head up the hill of the track.

Here are the boys on the last turn of the journey.

Can you tell they like it? Oh wait, perhaps you can not see NHL since he is a little low in the bobsled (you can barely see the top of his head). Still you can tell JL’s response. This is just before coming back to the station.

NHL adored this ride and went on it four times during our day at the park. In fact at one point when we offered to go back to Wiggles World he said "No Mommy, it’s boring there I want to go on the Bobsled!"

LOL – that’s my boy!

Categories:
fun jl kid talk laughs nhl photos road trip weekend

Adventures in Wiggles World

Posted on September 22, 2008 4:00 pm by TheAngelForever

For months we had promised NHL that we would take him to Wiggles World at the Six Flags park near us. We finally fulfilled this on Saturday. We were not disappointed. Wiggles World was absolutely gorgeous. The area was masterfully designed and easily makes you fall in love with the bright primary colored land.

As soon as you enter Wiggles World you are greeted with familiar characters. The first item you literally could bump into is Henry right in the middle of the area.

NHL immediately wanted to go and drive one of the Big Red Cars. We went over there and he got on immediately since there were almost no lines the entire day.

While the boys were busy Toot Toot Chugga Chugg-ing along I looked around. Everything was in Wiggles theme, even the snack bar where they sold Fruit Salad of course!

The familiar colors that scream Wiggles were on everything. Even the park benches were donned in the Wiggly yellow, blue, red, and purple.

After the Big Red Car ride, NHL went for a spin on Dorothy’s Rosy Tea Cups. No adults on this ride, so he was flying solo on this one.

The final ride in Wiggles World was the Big Red Plane. JL and NHL went on this one while I took photos. Later on I went for a spin on this and boy does it give you a fabulous view of Wiggles World.

Wiggles World also had a stage for a show. We watched parts of the show two times (photos to come later). NHL enjoyed this, but we were too spoiled with the real Wiggles shows.

When we left Wiggles world the first time Henry was out visiting people. He posed for a photo before we left to find other fun rides to try.

Even if you are not visiting Wiggles World you must follow this advice:

Categories:
fun jl nhl photos road trip weekend

Wonder which way

Posted on September 21, 2008 9:26 am by TheAngelForever

Saturday we spent a beautiful Mommy and Daddy day with NHL at a local Six Flags park. We had an absolutely wonderful time. We arrived when they opened at 12:00 and left at about 6:30 (they closed at 7:00). As soon as we stepped foot into the park NHL was focused on one item. He wanted to get to a certain section of the park.

We looked at the street signs to figure out which direction to go. We were able to figure it out thanks to some familiar faces on the sign.

We started our adventure and saw that the park was already being decked out for Halloween. It really is hard to believe that October is just around the corner. (Note to self – get a costume for NHL soon!)

On our way to the location of interest we stopped for a quick ride on the Merry-go-round.

We even took a special photo for Nana of her favorite animal that happened to be there.

Then we continued to wander in the right direction. After walking around corners, up hills, and past the Looney Tunes National Park and Justice League we finally saw familiar signs of yellow, blue, red and purple!!!