Catching Up

Since my last post, we have had another visit to Duke, Easter, and Spring Break.

Our most recent clinic visit was on Tuesday, March 26.  It was a busy day for the clinic staff, with 4 families there at once.  Ian and I were put up on the third floor in a nice quiet room by ourselves.  Once he got over the fact that we were not in our "normal" room, he settled in fine.  The day was mostly uneventful and we were out of there fairly early and back in Richmond in time for rush hour....


At this point, we are now in the part of the study where the medication dosage (whatever it might be) will stay the same for about 4 weeks.  Prior to this, the dosage was gradually increasing.  At this point, I'm wondering if we are on a very low dose or even a placebo.  Ian continues to be very withdrawn .

Ian and his Sponge Bob Easter basket

 I was hoping he might have more fun on Easter, but he was very reclusive.  Yes, we did have people over for Easter dinner, but he chose to steer clear as usual.  He showed minimal interest in his Easter basket, as usual.

After our dinner, we went outside to play croquet.  Ian did show a bit of interest, but it was short lived.  He was mainly interested in following the dog around.  Have I mentioned that holidays can just be so hard?

Ian with Grandma and the boys for croquet on Easter

Spring Break is the week after Easter this year.  Rob has school, so we didn't make any plans to go away like we did last year.  Trying to keep Ian occupied and engaged is a challenge, and I am so ready for him to get back in his school routine.

On Tuesday I took him to see The Croods, and that went quite well.  Even though the theater was crowded, and sometimes noisy, he did great.  I brought the old iPod along for him to have something to hold onto when we left the theater; I've learned that that is hard for him with all the people and noise and darkness.

Going to the movies

On Wednesday we ran some errands.  We went to the recycling center, Target, Goodwill, and our local garden center.

Making silly faces for the camera at Target

Ian had great fun at Target and was rewarded with a DVD.  He picked out a Max and Ruby Easter DVD, which was okay seasonally, but not age appropriate at all.  I was hoping he was growing up with his TV choices when he started watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but now we have some regression.

On the way to the Garden Center, he kept talking about seeing Brian and Mike.  Mike is the owner and Brian is his grown son.  They are the kindest people and have known Ian since he was a baby.  Brian got Ian a wagon to play with while I picked out some flowers.  We had a good visit.

Checking the iPod while Maryanne packs up our flowers

 When we got home, "we" dyed Easter eggs.  Ian was not especially interested though he participated more than he has in previous years.  Of course, he got sidetracked looking for a lid to a container for awhile and when he put the eggs in the dye things got kind of messy.  But, we did it.

Looking for a lid

The weather improved and we've spent a lot of time in the yard.  Soon we will plant our "garden" again like we did last year.  In the meantime we are working on transition to middle school and looking forward to our next visit to Duke on April 19.