Ross

So I have enjoyed writing the last few days, telling you of my boys. What inspired me was today.  I wanted it to lead up to this.

Today, 13 years ago, at 9:46am, a 7lb, 7 and 1/2oz; 20 and 1/2 inches long little boy changed my life. Today, 13 years ago, I became a mommy for the first time. Today, 13 years ago, I held my own child in my arms after a 10 hour labor. Today, 13 years ago, Anthony Ross, became his mommy's boy.

He has been a challenge. He always keeps us on our toes. We found out early on that he has certain behavioral and neurological problems. However, I'm not going to go into that in this post. Yes, it is a part of him. Yes, it is something we have to deal with. However, it does not define him. He is much more than these things.

He LOVES to read. I think this is how Mark learned to love it (he wanted to be like his big brother :) ) Ross loves to read history. He's read that same Ben Franklin book that Mark has...not as many times, but still...lol. He also likes fiction. He really got into the Percy Jackson series. He could even tell you alllll the people throughout the books. I was lucky to remember the main characters (I read the books along with him)

Talking about being able to tell you about allll the characters...his mind is like a trap. Once something is in there, he can spout it back out at ya. He can read something and then tell you about it, even a week/month/and sometime a year later. 

His love of history goes beyond books. He loves going to historical sites. We have gone to Old Salem and Latta Plantation. He had a ball. He loves learning about the places. He has gone to other places thru his school as well (I'm not even going to try and remember them...lol)

He loves his electronic games. I think if he could, he wouldn't ever let them go...lol. Anytime we talk on the phone, he tries to tell me about his games. I don't understand them, but he tells me about them to the "T."  He likes other games, but he bores very easily...lol, so it has to have a lot of action...or at least he wants to be certain he can win...lol.

He loves those hard to pronounce games and shows. You know the ones: Pokemon, Digimon, Bakugan, and ones along those lines. I don't get them. I have tried to play along with them....yet...nope...don't get 'em...lol.

He is very serious about things. He doesn't like magic or magic tricks. "How does a kid not like magic?" you may ask. Well, he'll tell you this: It's just an illusion and it's not real, so he doesn't like it. Ross deals in tangibles and concrete things. It's hard for him to think in abstracts. He likes to know how things are going to be and know what's going to happen and when that doesn't happen, he doesn't like it. 

He is my serious boy. He is my protector boy (he takes care of everyone). He is my history buff. He is my gamer. 

He is the boy that changed this girl's life forever, 13 years ago, at 9:46 am.

This is my Rosserdo! 

Mark

Mark is my second boy. 

He is the one that has been the healthiest. The first time he was sick, he was 3. It was so funny, yet I felt so bad for him. Since he didn't know what was going on, he was so confused. He just had a little bug, so it wasn't too bad, but poor little guy...lol. He laid on the couch with a little fever, with a washcloth on his head, looked up at me and said "What's wrong with me, Mommy?"  He's only had to go to the doc once for a sickness.

The other times of being to the doctor is for his ADHD. I struggled with having him put on medicine because I thought it was my parenting since I already had one child on medicine. So I fought it for a long time. I finally had a person tell me "If your child was sick, you'd want them to get well. This is the same thing." That's the thing that finally got me. So we got him diagnosed and on medicine. It hasn't been an easy road. He has such a FAST metabolism that medicine blows thru his body. 

However, when we have his medicine correct, he can focus so wonderfully in school, this boy is a whiz. He loves to learn, so that's not a  problem. It's making sure he can focus. He's an A/B student and can stay there as long as his medicine is helping. When his medicine isn't working correctly, he slips into the C/D range. As I tell him, if that was the best he could do....I'd have no problem with that.....but I know he can do better. We have proof from his report cards :)

He is the messiest kid. His room can't stay clean for even a day...lol. We have tried so many tricks, that we have ran out....lol. I have just tried to pick my battles. During the school year: would I rather have his schoolwork done or his room clean? Would I rather have him pout about having to do his room and take forever on his schoolwork and do it incorrectly or just have him work on his homework and figure out the room later? So it's just a battle with him and with myself with what should be done. The odd thing? He'll help me around the house...just not his room...lol. So....I just have to deal sometimes. I'll go in sometimes and work with him to clean it, but even that is a struggle, too.

He LOVES to read. Let me say that again.....LOVES to read. We can't go anywhere without a book or magazine with him. We live about 5 minutes from the grocery store and the pharmacy. Even to take a ride there.....yep....along goes a  book or magazine. He is kinda picky about what he likes, but once he gets into a book, he's absorbed. He likes to read about Ben Franklin. I know this because we have one book about him that he has read eight times (that I know of....lol) He likes to read about NASCAR. We have some books on the history of NASCAR and their drivers and some NASCAR magazines and he reads them.

He loves games. Be them board, card, or electronic ones. He loves Uno, Monopoly, and almost ANY electronic game...lol. He will play any game with you. It may take him a little bit to learn it, but he will play it. Skip-Bo he likes....it just takes him a little bit to remember it every time he starts it again. You need a partner for a card game? Call Mark :) (just no gambling with my kid...lol)

Although, honestly, he's not good at sports.....he tries soooooo hard at them. We work with him, we encourage him, we get him to try and try again....but he's just not going to be a sport kid. 

Now drawing.....that kid can draw!!!! It has amazed me what he can draw. I love to put his drawings on the fridge. I have had a couple of times when my fridge has been overrun with his drawings...lol. He's done drawings of a dragon, a bear, an Indian,  Scooby Doo, and many others. I'm planning an area of our wall where I'm going to put clipboards where we can put their art on the wall and switch them around as we want. The boys can do it as they want to, too.

He's my shy, yet competitive boy. He's my messy,  cleaning helper. He's my aspiring artist. He's my aspiring chef. He's my "can't put a book down" boy. He's my teacher boy...always wanting to teach the younger boys things he has learned. He's my protective boy....always making sure everyone is ok. 

This is my Markers. 

Trevor

Trevor has been my over zealous child. He has learned things at a zooming speed. Whether or not some things stick...well, that's another story...lol.

Trevor came as a surprise. Mark was 5 when Trevor was born. He was graduating from preschool and I was worried that I was going to miss his graduation ceremony because of it. Luckily, I didn't :)

Every milestone, he tried to get to very early. I think it had more to do with trying to keep up with his brothers. He didn't want to be left behind. At 7 months old, he was already walking. Not stably, of course, but he was determined to follow his big brothers. He didn't want to be in one room while his brothers had taken off to another...lol.

Although he does have problems with certain words, he has a huge vocabulary. A lot of times, instead of saying "I" he'll say "My" so it's cute if he has to say "I do" (in the song by Taylor Swift "Begin Again") it becomes "My do"

He is a sponge for learning.....when he wants to. He loves to learn about dinosaurs. Anytime he sees a book with dinos in it, he is immediately drawn to it. Another thing he likes to read/look at pictures about is nature. At the doctor's office, there is an A-Z book of ocean animals. I think he looks thru it everytime. And he has figured out when pages are tore out...lol.

When he wants to learn something, he will try and try and try. One example is with winking. He can wink fine with his right eye, but he has trouble with his left eye. But he doesn't give up! Sometimes he'll try and "train" it by using his finger to close it, then try and keep it close. Other times he'll just focus real hard to wink with just his left eye. It's so cute to see him try sooo hard for something he wants sooo hard to do. I pray and hope that this goes for everything he does in life.

Trevor LOVES to sing. We just got finished with VBS at church. When he came home in the evenings, he'd sing the songs over and over and over and over (which is cute, but Mark wasn't liking it...lol..Mark gets songs stuck in his head real quick, so he wasn't wanting that...lol) He will sing songs until he knows it  backwards and forwards. One song that is popular around here is "Wagon Wheel" by Darius Rucker. He will sing it over and over and Dean with sing with him :)

My son knew his racecar drivers before he knew his ABC's. I have a video of him pointing to different #'s and bobbleheads and telling who they are. Jeff Gordon is his favorite driver. Why? I have NO idea...lol. No one else in the house is a Gordon fan...lol. My only guess is because my dad had a Gordon shirt at one time and gave it to Mark and Trevor saw it and it stuck in his head. It's a stretch, I know....but I can't figure anything else out...lol. He won't sit and watch a race, but he'll walk thru and ask "Where's Jeff Gordon at?" Drives L crazy...lol.

Trevor is also a clothes addict. He loves to change clothes over and over and over and over and....well you get the gist...lol. I think he gets this from Mark cuz Mark will do the same as well. He loves to pick out his own outfits, although his matching skills are, of course, sometimes in  question...lol. I even told his teachers at preschool one time that I wasn't dressing him, that he was dressing himself, and that if he didn't match, if was his choice...lol. Didn't want them thinking I didn't know how to match clothes...lol.

He is my running, playing, loving child. He's my intense trier, my playful goof. He's the one who will try his hardest to help you. He is DeanDean's "Twewa" and he's my surprise. 

He is my TrevTrev. 

Dean

Dean has been slow at learning things. Not that that is a bad thing, it's just something that we have had to keep a watch on to make sure that he doesn't fall behind or anything. He squeaks right up to those "deadlines" for milestones. We have also had to learn things ourselves because we have to adapt things to learn from him. He's a smart bugger....he's just laid back and takes his time :)

First, he was slow to walk. For those that don't know, by twelve months, most children are walking. Not that some don't walk later. At eighteen months, if they can't walk, that is when you are supposed to be concerned.....well, Dean inched right up to that deadline. For a bit, he wore a brace to straighten him out....he didn't care for it and he didn't wear it long. It was to bring his stomach in and his shoulders where they were to be. It worked for what it was to do and he grew out of a little bit of what he was doing. He still has a bit of an ankle and foot problem, but we will keep watching that.

Second, he has been slow with talking. He was only saying mama and dada at twelve months, but other than that...nope. He'd grunt, but that was the extent of it. At two years old right now....you HAVE to know what he's talking about to know what he's saying :) I sometimes play around with L because L still has a problem knowing what Dean is saying. If Dean comes to me wanting something, and I know what he wants, I'll have him go to L and ask him for it. I watch as L looks at me with a deer in the headlight look :) It's funny as he tries soooo hard to figure out what Dean is saying.

Here's a bit of Dean's Dictionary: (What I can think of right this moment)
Ga: Thank you
Boo: Move
Bote: Remote
Mak: Mark
Nah: Ross
Nah: Love you (This is the reason for context :) )
Nan-know: Banana
Fred: Bread
GrodGog: Hot Dog
Zeescel: Cereal 

While I am telling you this, I am also telling you that he is a smart bugger. The agency that has helped us to make sure he is staying on track, had a PT come out. She had a bag of different activities for him to do and Dean was doing activities that she hadn't had to bring out with other kids in a long time. He was blowing thru the activities for his age, that he was actually getting to ones above what she needed to test. Maybe not figuring them out (one activity, he did NOT want to put the right shapes together), but it was the fact of him trying :)

Today, I actually heard him say "I love you" for the first time. Not the "Na". Of course now he won't repeat it and it took me about 30 second to realize he actually said the whole phrase, but he actually said it! When I tried to get him to repeat it, he said "Na"...then he said "I na"...so it'll come again....just hate it took so long for it to register :/  

Dean is my hugging, kissing, chilling, sitting in my lap, riding my back like a monkey, playing with my hair, flipping over the couch to be beside me, bringing me my drink, bringing me my pillow, bringing me my blanket, lovable child. 


This is my DeanDean :)