Ethan turns 5!

Ethan turned 5 last Wednesday, well almost Thursday since he was born at 1159pm. We decided this year to give him two low key parties with just family. We celebrated with Ken's family on Valentine's Day with a BBQ and last weekend Ethan and my niece, Ella, celebrated turning 5 and 7 years old together.

Ethan brought in cupcakes to share with his class on his actual birthday. It was the first time we needed to bring in something for his birthday since this is his first year in school.

We are now less than 6 months away from Ethan starting Kindergarten. I'm really excited for the new experience and he keeps asking when he's going to Kindergarten especially now that he's 5.

We've been working on breaking his habit of sucking his thumb. We think that his constant sucking his thumb could be contributing to him getting sick. At school I hear lots of coughs this time of year, so it would be extra helpful if he'd stop.

We are also have begun trying to get him to sleep in his own room ALL NIGHT. This has been a constant struggle for 6 months (since we moved into our new house). He did well last night. Making it his third night since we moved in that he's stayed in his bed all night. So that's progress! Now to make it a habit.

We've been talking a lot about responsibility like how it's his responsibility to put on his clothes, take off his clothes, brush his teeth, etc. We should have worked on these awhile back but better late than never.

That's about all that's happening with Ethan. Can't believe he's 5 already!!! How is it possible I've been a parent for 5 whole years.

The sickness that won't go away!

I hate that most of my posts since the new year have been about sickness but we're going on almost 4 weeks of Ethan being sick. He's had 3 days of no sickness and then one day between when we thought he was better and when another runny nose appeared yesterday. He's symptom free now with treatments, but as soon as we stop it comes back. I'm baffled.

I don't really know what to do since it stops when he's doing extra treatments. I don't know if it's a continuation of the RSV or what. I hope not. I heard it would take 2-3 weeks to be over all symptoms but we've exceeded that. Was it two different sicknesses? I'm just not sure.

Ethan's missed 6 days of school in the last month and that's out of 10 days he would've been in school. I worry he'll fall behind and know that Kindergarten next year is most likely going to bring more sickness. How will we keep him up to date with schoolwork? I don't want to homeschool and we have one of the best schools because of being in Elk Grove school district.

We'll see how this next week goes and what clinic says to do. I just want it to go away so we can go back to normal life with 2 treatments a day instead of 4. That's a difference of 50 minutes a day when well vs. 3 hours and 45 minutes when sick. That's 3 hours he should be playing every day.

Germs

I'm beginning to think a lot of how Kindergarten will be next year with all the sickness preschool has brought this year. Ethan's preschool is very good about hand washing several times during the 3 hours he's there and he's still managed to be sick 4 or 5x since the beginning of school in August. The last one was RSV and he missed 2 weeks of school. Total he's missed over a month of school (3 days a week). I can't imagine what life will be like once he goes into Kindergarten with double the number of students in his class (24) and possibly less sanitizing.

We'll put it all in his 504 plan, but it'll be hard to regulate. His 504 will read that he won't be penalized for missing more than 10 days of school as that's the number of days you are allowed to miss in public school before being truant. It will also say that homework will be sent home if he's out for more than 2 days of school to keep him current and that the room be wiped down each day.

I'm really concerned that he will be out for a week maybe even two weeks at a time for sickness or a tune up in the hospital. I don't know how he's going to stay current in his schoolwork. I'm really hoping for a teacher that will help us keep him current so he doesn't fall behind.

I hope we don't have to home school because of this. I don't think he'd listen to me and follow my directions. I also feel that school is better for him educationally and socially. His speech has improved since starting school and he's picking up a lot of great skills at school by learning to write his name each day before signing him in, sorting and counting items, etc.

I'm really excited for him to go to Kindergarten, make new friends and learn more.

These are my concerns, but I know he'll probably be fine. We'll deal with everything as it comes.