Saturday, April 24, 2010

Separation anxiety / Chickpeas

This is a copy of an email that I wrote to Nikko's teachers:
I wanted to address two behavior-related issues that I've noticed in Nikko over the past week or two. First, as mentioned in his school report on Friday by Kathy, Nikko has really turned up the whining. I speculate that it is a communication thing, possibly not able to find the right words to express what he wants or feels. But around here, what he almost always wants and whines for is to have "Snack" and specifically, fruit snacks. I will give him one bag around 3pm but afterwards he wants "More snack" and I don't give in because one mini bag is enough for him in a day, I believe. The whining is RELENTLESS.

Second, on the tails of his whining and/or sitting next to Ronin at any given time, Nikko has begun to hit and swat Ronin, and sometimes myself. It may look random, but it can happen during a push-pull "argument" or even at the dinner table when they are sitting next to each other and Nikko seems to want to start up some trouble. Nikko's behavior causes Ronin to act up, and then I'm surrounded by drama. Typical for brothers? Probably. Typical for Nikko? No, not really, and to discipline him I hold his hand/arm firmly and tell him we don't hit, and to say sorry.

I didn't know if Nikko was whining a lot in school, and if he has begun to swat at his classmates, but I wanted to bring it up in case Nikko's been hitting other kids when they want what he wants. If you could keep an eye out for these behaviors, and hopefully they disappear once he walks into school, I will try to curb them, but might need Linda Hoeck's counsel on this. Thanks!


Today's speech report was: A bit fussy today, whined at me a lot. Good job naming colors - named red, yellow, blue, green & orange. Worked on teacher names and directions too.

This morning, Audrey was acting like a real pill when I got all the kids into the living room to change diapers. She wanted to hold her book, kept banging it on her forehead, and was screaming so loud and often that I wanted to get up and leave. I think one day this week was a peaceful morning before breakfast, but all the other days started with whining, crying, screaming and any combination of the three. While Nikko was at school today, I was at the dentist getting a tooth drilled down and a temporary crown put on it. My mouth was numb for hours. I got out by 11a and raced home. I saw that the bus had beat me home, so Nikko was inside with Denis. When I got out of the car and into the house, Nikko was indeed standing in the foyer crying while Denis finished taking off his shoes and socks. Nikko was happy to see me, but later on went into a tirade again when I had to leave to go visit the optometrist for a contact lens/red eye follow up. My corneas are still not healed from the Tobrodex, so she put me on another opthalmic solution. She said to come in on Monday. I'll try calling mom or Chinny, but this time around I don't think I can avoid bringing in the crew to my eye appointment. When I came back, Nikko had fallen asleep on the armrest of the couch. He made sure when he woke up that I was not out of his sight for the rest of the day. Nikko attempted to ask me for More Snack, and at 3p I gave him a bag. But ever after, he was whining at me for more and I refused to give him more. Really ugly whining, I tell you.

At the in-laws for dinner. Everything seemed to be going well. All the kids had chicken nuggets in some form. Ronin had his with white rice and he ended up eating mostly rice. Nikko had his nuggets and didn't venture to try the other food on his plate. Audrey had nuggets and we tried giving her some chickpeas and some "fake fish" from a recipe of his mom's. Suddenly Audrey threw up her food. She also started blotching on her cheeks and up by her temples. We cleaned her up and I got an allergy tablet for her to chew on. My mother-in-law said that there were no eggs in any of the dishes she made for dinner, which consisted of mixed veggies, curry [fake] beef, white rice, and chickpeas mixed with [fake] fish. My thoughts are that she reacted to the chickpeas, which are legumes, and legit for being allergic to. I guess I'm going to have to take her to get tested again. And Ronin should probably be retested since he reacted to lentils two weeks ago, but that might be a waste of time since he hasn't come close to outgrowing any of his other allergies, and if I know he reacted to lentils then to just stop giving him any!

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