Bits and Bobs

It's been a busy couple of weeks. After many months (almost a whole year) of Anna enduring post-nasal drip, a stuffy nose and a persistent cough without being able to pinpoint the culprit, I decided to rip out the carpet and refinish our hardwood floors. The only way I was able to convince DH that we needed to bite the bullet on this and just do it is to link the old carpet to Anna's respiratory woes. After a week of living without the carpet, DH and I agree that Anna is no longer snuffling and snorting. Score one for Mommy!

(We don't miss the carpet, but the cat sure does!)

So I am very happy to be rid of that old carpet. Ripping it up was a process! It was hot, heavy work, but it was worth it, and cathartic to sweep up and throw away the years of accumulated dirt that lay underneath it. Before we ripped it up, a friend convinced me to paint the bedrooms. What a good idea, I thought before I started. What a horrible idea! I thought as I was halfway through painting Megan's room. The guy at Lowe's told me this nifty painting edger was better than using painter's tape. Not having painted before, I listened to him thinking he knew better. Well he didn't. There is a reason professional painters use painter's tape! Painting Anna's room was much better with the help of a friend and painter's tape, and I got to slop paint all over the carpet with no regrets!

As I was busy moving furniture and books into the garage, painting bedrooms and helping DH rip up the carpet, I realized that the harder I worked, the better I felt. Right in the middle of painting with my friend, I told her I wanted to finish painting myself because it felt good to work hard (thanks for understanding, T!). I was tired, but my mind was not racing or drifting...it was focused. So exercise does help focus the ADHD mind (that old doctor is right!). I always knew that deep down without knowing what the issues really were. I've always enjoyed physical work but usually got teased for it because it's not especially girly. It seems like people think girls should go to the gym or do workouts with a video. I don't like those options because they are boring. But physical activity with practical purpose is something I enjoy. Which is one of the reasons I've always loved being in the kitchen.

So yes, it's really official - I saw the doctor who is as old as the hills last week and he says I truly do have ADHD. All the blood work came back normal (liver, thyroid, lead) and all the surveys and questionnaire results came back abnormal. He recommended medication. When I declined, he gave me a stern look and told me medication would make me a better wife and mother. I chose not to be offended because our age gap lends to differences in worldview. To placate him I said I would at least research the pros and cons of medication. Of course I have not done that yet. I'd rather approach this holistically. Because I'm bloody-minded like that. I'll do it my way at my own comfort level, thank you very much. Apparently this sort of attitude is normal for people with ADHD and generally, doctors consider this attitude to undermine possible treatment. I think it's just taking control of my situation. And that's where I am with that.

Yesterday I did a little baking and offered to let the girls help me. Megan turned out to be more interested than Anna was...she kept me company and wanted to be an active helper while Anna ran outside to play in the sandbox. Surprisingly, Megan's attention was focused on what we were doing for almost an hour. I think I'll take that and run with it. Maybe being busy in the kitchen will help her as much as it helps me.

The girls have also recently completed a round of swimming lessons. They learned how to swim and do some strokes last summer, but this summer we focused on floating and survival skills. With Anna's low muscle tone I thought it'd take her a long time to figure it out, but she got the hang of it within a week! She is so blissfully happy in the water. It took Megan two full weeks to get the hang of floating, mostly because she is stubborn and did not want to give up control. She actually yelled in anger and frustration at the teacher - I was mortified. But the teacher was unfazed and Megan finally got it. Now she wants to float all the time! The swim instructor has experience working with kids with special needs and says swimming is very good for ADHD. 

(Belly flop - precursor to diving!)

The girls might share  a love of swimming but I think their other hobbies will be different. Megan can spend a long time drawing and creating art, long after Anna gets bored with it. In fact, if I don't give Megan time every day to draw, she gets cranky. Anna on the other hand is reading voraciously. If I don't give her quiet time to read every day, she gets cranky. Anna is not very interested in books that feature people as their main characters. I think she might have trouble following or being interested in the conversational prose. But she is all over books that feature animals as their main characters. Right now she is reading The Call of the Wild which my mom tells me is pretty advanced for her age (she'll turn 8 next month). She has White Fang waiting to read after that, and she's also working her way through Black Beauty. She's also absconded with DH's comic books - Calvin and Hobbes gets her into stitches. I went and bought her a little dictionary and I'm pretty sure she'll read it on her own...which is hilarious, because DH read through the encyclopedia when he was a kid!

Later this summer Anna will be attending a social skills day camp. I'm keeping Megan home with me - I think we'll be busy in the kitchen. That's it as far as summer activities go - aside from visiting school friends and hosting play dates, it will be a quiet summer. It's already going by really fast!