2006...the year in review

I haven't done very well keeping up with this blog, but maybe you'll understand what's been going on with us.....and I promise to try to be more timely with updates.

2006......Well, what can I say except it has been a doosey! What started out as promising, soon turned into the worst – job wise for both Gator & me. I was laid off as Sales Operations Mgr. for MasterWorks Décor on 4-14-06 due to the bad financial situation of the company. Then a couple of months later, Gator lost his job at Logistic Leasing because he was charging his laptop while he was working – on trucks – not on the computer. The computer was never on and we have heard some other things that indicate he was “set up”.

So, with only unemployment checks in hand, we turned more of our attention to Gator’s real estate ventures and KYLE!!! As many of you can guess, real estate is very slow in the big city of Union! He’s left Weichert and is now working with Century 21. He’s had a few recent sells, but Gator’s only been in real estate 1 ½ years – it will pick up a little, but not ever enough to be full time for him........unless a miracle happens in Union. You can check out his website: www.gatorhudson.com Gator recently began working for a company in hauling telephone poles. YES, Gator is back driving a semi! He’s home every night & weekends with good pay & benefits – YEAH!! He loves it.

I just started working for Union DSS as an Intake worker. I will have to go to Columbia, SC for three weeks of training in March, so I’m doing a lot of hands on training – in between naps and spider solitaire games – well I am a state worker now, what did you expect?!?!?!? I am learning a lot and hope to eventually be a big help to this community. I will be the person that takes the initial reports, works with the school guidance counselors and police officers, and anything else that is thrown my way. This is a big departure from my previous manufacturing worlds of trim and flowers/trees. Pray that I have the strength to handle the issues that will “be” my job.

On to the “Chunky Monkey” – aka: Kyle. He is great – wild as ever. Had our first trip to the hospital a few months ago from jumping on JoJo’s bed and fell off, bumping his head and ended up with 4 staples to the top/right/back side of the head. Kyle started going to a special preschool class this Fall where he gets 60 min. of speech therapy a week. Kyle is still not talking yet. The school specialists feel he is just delayed and is only on a 1 ½ - 2 year old developmental level. We did see a couple of people in July with the Developmental Behavioral Pediatric Specialist in Greenville, SC and we have two appointments in January. There has been talk of possible mild autism and ADHD (which I have not doubt he has since Gator is ADD).

He is such a happy, playful child – and the biggest tease! Kyle loves school and is very mechanical – has to figure out how everything works. He is very smart and amazes us everyday! Of course he loves to try our patience and is very impatient himself, but we wouldn’t trade him for anything – even though he is THE ENERGIZER BUNNY!

We’ll be celebrating Kyle’s 4th birthday on 12-23-06 with a “Cars” (movie) theme amongst all the Christmas decorations. We took him to see his 2nd favorite band, the Doodlebops, in November. We don’t want to risk hearing damage to see his #1 group – Rascal Flatts! (don’t know where he picked that up???) ....no Christmas music CD playing with Kyle in the car because it has to be Rascal Flatts!!!!

Please keep us in your prayers as we learn more about Kyle in the coming months, we get more involved in our new jobs, and we re-cover from many, long months of unemployment. (Though it was kinda nice to have the summer off with Kyle!!!)

First Day of School

Well, we've had a few things happen lately. Our Chunky Monkey has started school and is riding the school bus home!

Kyle is now in a special education class Monday - Thursday each week from 8:00 - 10:30 am with 60 minutes of speech theraphy a week. You see Kyle is not talking yet and he'll turn 4 on 12-23-06. After many evaluations and some speculation that he may be mildly autistic, the majority feel that he is just delayed on many levels - mainly communication. Yet through all this, we know he understands every thing we say. Of course it could be he's just stubborn........don't know where he would get that from?!?!?!?!?!

He's also fearless and will climb on any and EVERYTHING. We've already warned his teachers that they will have their hands full. And all reports so far are GREAT. He plays and interacts well with other students and is very curious and interested in learning new things. We hope very soon he will start talking and we won't be able to shut him up....you know all I want for Christmas is for my son to TALK and say I LOVE YOU! (Also, to prove those specialist wrong that he is not autistic!)

Yet, on the other hand, my mother is taking a class to renew her teaching certificate (she's retired but can do homebound and long term subs and make more money by renewing her certificate......she says this is the last time) and she is taking this opportunity to make it all about Kyle and is possible diagnosis of mild autism by learning all she can about it .........just in case it turns out that he is.

In the mean time, we just go day by day and laugh by laugh until we him tell us all what he thinks!

Why "Chunky Monkey"?

Some of you may be wondering why we call Kyle aka Chunky Monkey, well it all started when I was in college............my love of Ben and Jerry's Chunky Monkey Ice Cream. Kyle is a very active 3 1/2 year old who loves to jump, no matter what! One day my mom and I were joking around about his jumping and we referenced it to my favorite ice cream (next to Baskin Robbins Chocolate Chip of course)..........well the name stuck and he has lived up to this nickname.........believe you me!

I have never seen a child jump as much as he does. If only we could bottle his energy.....we would be millionaires and you would not be reading of our parenting adventures. I used to sing Kyle the "Ten Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" song all the time and he would just laugh and then fall asleep in my arms. Now, he still laughs at me.......while he jumps away into mischeif. And we have had the run to the Urgent Care Center at 9pm for the 4 staples to be administered into his head while me, my mother, and 4 nurses try to hold him down for the doctor to clean, shave, clean, staple, and clean again his head. (And it happened on grandma JoJo's watch.........don't you know I would have gotten a safety lecture if it had happened on our watch!) And believe you me, JoJo felt pretty guilty.......though the only fault was Kyle's for not listening.

You need to understand how fast this three year old is...........he can even beat you working the safety doorknob cover! My mother had to take the doorknob off of her dining room door so to slow him from getting to the china and crystal. He has since learned to take keys or anything else he can get his hands on to open the door anyway. Given the chance and a set of car keys, he can start that too. I've already alerted one of the Union police officers that if he hears of a toddler car theif, it will probably be mine!

All this, and he still isn't talking.....we found out this summer that he may have a mild case of autism and we are being very proactive and having testing done as per his pediatrician. All of this I'll save for another installment. For now I leave you with this, another picture of our Chunky Monkey who prefers a shower instead of a bath.....

Here are a few older pictures of Kyle.

This is what Kyle came home to December 25, 2002.......an under the sea world to explore. Not bad since he was born (December 23rd @ 8:30pm) in the middle of winter. The nursery always seemed warm and inviting. We were living in Rock Hill, SC at the time and when we moved in May of 2004 this room was the hardest part to leave behind. We put a lot of love and hard work into making this a wonderful room for Kyle.

My friend Jen over at Amazing Trips has introduced us to blogging. I love that she is keeping a journal of their triplets daily adventures for their future reading amusement. I hope that I follow in her footsteps of recording Our Chunky Monkey....so enjoy getting to know our non-stop 3 1/2 year old - Kyle.