Road To San Michelé

Not much news here. It's school summer holidays, and the kids went to visit their grannies for the week. All but the baby, of course. Sounds like they're having a lovely time! We got their report cards when the schools closed, and they both did really, really well. We're absolutely amazed at how much Boeboe improved. Not just improved, but excelled!!! She especially did well in her maths, which pleases us no end. If you can do maths, you can do anything in life! We're slowly accepting that all our worries about her were unfounded. She just needed time. There was too much pressure on her, too soon. She would've done better earlier if she was in school 20 years ago. But with today's fast pace and work overload, she needed more time to find her feet and get the work under her belt. I'm so grateful. Very very grateful.

Mr N also did well like always. Exceptionally well, and we're proud of him. He studied hard this year. But to be honest, what makes us prouder than his good marks, is the fact that he READS. He read the Harry Potter books in about 1 month, in between the exams!!! So he was only allowed to read evenings and a bit over the weekends when he was done studying. Still, he finished ALL 7 books in little over a month! What's really amazing to us, is not only the fact that these books have a total of over 3000 pages, but it's all in ENGLISH! That means, he read the books in his 2nd language, not his home tongue!!!! Translations of the books are available in his home tongue, but we've always believed it's best to read books (when possible) in the language it was written. So we decided long ago to wait until Mr N can read the books in English before giving it to him. A while ago he read a handful of Roald Dahl books. About 2 or 3 a week. So when he ran out, he asked me what can he read next. I scrolled through my Kindle books and said, well, what about the first Harry Potter? I just assumed it would take him weeks or months, by which time we'd have found some more books for him. Well, a few days later he declared it finished and asked if he could read the 2nd one! I never thought him ready for book 4 or 6 or 7, with all the sadness and violence in the books, but he flew through them and handled everything beautifully. We spoke about it a bit, and like me, the problem with him is that he's visual. He can handle reading the written word, but he can't handle seeing the same thing on TV. I was so happy about this, because I was secretly starting to think he's too sensitive for a boy his age. Now I know, it's just tv that upsets him. Though, now that he's read the books, he can also handle the movies. He just looks away on the worst parts, which is fine by me, since I too look away, LOL!

Monkeyman isn't doing so well. When I took him to the pead a few months back, we made the decision to take him off his reflux medication. He's been on it since he was 6 weeks old. He was never diagnosed via a ph study though. I took him for his 6-week checkup those days, and told the pead that I'm pretty sure he has reflux. Based on our family history of GERD, she put him on reflux meds and he immediately shown huge improvements. Since then, he's been on the medication. But most babies do actually outgrow their baby reflux. We just assumed that he wouldn't, because the elder 2 kids was diagnosed with GERD when they were 4 and almost 2. Which in children means they would never outgrow it. And with my GERD diagnoses, it seemed a given that Monkeyman thus also had GERD and not just baby reflux. Anyway, so me and the pead thought lets see if Monkeyman will be fine without his medication. Unfortunately, he's been off it for about 2 months now, and has had about 4 colds! Very light colds, but still. They all started with a painful throat, his voice croaks and then 2 days or so later he would have a runny nose for a day or 2. Then he'll be over it. So clearly his immune system works well, but the reflux is attacking his throat, making it a weak spot for germs. I'm pretty sure it's the reflux, because he usually gets about 1 or 2 colds a YEAR, and it's now summer in our country, when my children usually don't even get ill. So to get 4 colds in 8 weeks is severely abnormal for Monkeyman. We now have to make the decision to either just put him back on his medication, or give him a ph study first to see if and how bad he has reflux (GERD), or put him through a gastroscopy and check how his throat and stomach valve looks. He's the same age now as what Mr N was when he had his first gastroscopy. I'm loath though to put Monkeyman through yet another sedation. I'm a bit sad that it seems that Monkeyman too will be diagnosed with GERD. My poor kids. :-(

It's going well with Peanut. She still sleeps extremely well at night. Usually she has a 6-hour stretch, then a 3-4 hour stretch, then another 2 hour stretch at night. Bliss!! During the day she would mostly sleep well, but sometimes her naps are cut short and then she'll clearly not be happy until she can nap again. She's rarely difficult though. Even when tired, she would just moan a bit to let you know. She doesn't cry easily. I do try to anticipate her needs though, so she doesn't really have the need to cry. Her cues are very easy to read.

Here's some pics of the last month or so: