Update

School has started back up again.  The Busy Little B and the Super Kid are back to school, Baby W (who isn't really a baby anymore, is he?) starts preschool after Labor Day, and Miss Iz is homeschooled again this year--we will formally start once W goes to school so we can focus without toddler interruptions :p

The Busy Little B is back on his trileptal.  Neuro left us hanging--he might night be having the abnormal brain activity but all those secondary symptoms were back with a vengeance.  The obsessive compulsiveness was really hard for everyone.  We saw his psychiatrist and he prescribed the trileptal again--we started to see a difference within hours of that first dose.  Luckily we already know the med works and it is also used for mood stabilization in psychiatry so he could go back on it.  It is suspected B may have OCD but Dr C says the meds typically used to treat OCD can have some pretty harsh side effects so we don't want to try them with B unless absolutely necessary.  When he gets older, we will probably need to do the evaluations to confirm or rule out OCD but for now the trileptal makes the symptoms manageable and improves his quality of life so that's the plan for now.  Trileptal is one of the "safer" meds and he's been on them for years with no bad side effects so I'm good with the plan :)

Miss Iz continues to improve with her anxiety responses but she's not ready yet to return to school.  She realllllly wants to, though.  She's a little confused why the adults at school can't just help her through anxiety attacks the way I do.  She says everyone knows if she gets too upset, you just need to step in and give her tight squeezes so she can calm down so why won't they?  But the school has a complete hands off policy so while I, as her parent, can step in and help her physically when she gets overwhelmed, the school will not, so she continues at home while we work on her ability to self soothe.  We talk a lot about the fact that she does not have to stay calm because everyone has Big Feelings and it is perfectly okay to express those Big Feelings but we do have to stay in control so we are expressing Big Feelings in ways that are appropriate for the situation.  Her therapist is pleased with the approach we are taking and has noticed a big difference during their sessions.

The Super Kid is really into electronics and computers and has a soldering station set up in his room so he can work on stuff.  He is now my go to when I have something that needs repair :p  Screen broken?  He'll replace it!  Charging port is loose?  He'll solder it back in place!  I think I see the computer and technology high school in his future :p  He has been riding his bike a lot to build up his leg muscles and stamina because cross country is starting on Monday.  He really enjoys cross country and its good for him, too!  Last year all the practices and meets led to less anxiety and a calming down of the hyperactivity.  He declined to do track last spring but I'm hoping this year he will do track as well.