Gabriel's 9th Birthday

So this "no longer little boy" turned 9.  I have realized so much lately that he is no longer a little kid.  I don't know if it should have taken until now for me to know this, but it did.  This school year so far seems to have been a big turning point for him.  His school work is more intense and challenging compared to last year, he is much more independent, and he is developing closer friendships

Just playing some Green Ember.  Rabbits with swords.
I sent this picture to the author and he wrote Gabriel
back a message, which he thought was pretty cool

Just getting dirty at the park

Gabriel has had a lot of changes in the past year.  We had talked with the pediatrician toward the beginning of the year about how the occupational therapy seemed to have taught us what it could and we were wondering if there were some other resources for his quick moving mind, energy,  and emotional regulation. We decided to put him on a list at Virginia Tech for a Child Development Study.  We were told that they were booked until at least the fall of 2021.  We got a call at the end of March that they had a cancellation and asked if we could do it the next week.  This worked out perfectly since that next week was spring break.  All of the session were conducted over zoom, some with me and some with Gabriel.  They were all done by a grad student named Delshad that we instantly loved and she really connected with Gabriel.  The next week they called and asked for a follow up session.  We were told that if they could not adequately do the evaluation over zoom that we could come into the office, but the zoom option actually really worked. Gabriel really enjoyed the challenging math and logic puzzles, which Delshad really liked because she said usually kids don't like them and it's hard to get them to participate.  Gabriel actually told her how much fun it was and she said that was very helpful to her to have a child that enjoyed himself.

Waiting at the pediatricians office, stuffed Stitch and a book in hand

It took several weeks for VT to get back with us with their final report.  It was very long and detailed and we had another session after that to ask questions and talk about results.  The diagnosis is what we had anticipated.  Moderate ADHD with some sensory processing struggles, but high intelligence and processing speed.  Hearing Delshad explain all of this helped us to start understanding the unique and awesome way that Gabriel's mind works and processes.

Delshad recommended a course of family therapy, which involves sessions with just Gabriel and sessions just for the parents talking about strategies.  I called VT and put him on the wait list for this, which they said could take up to 6-8 months. Delshad called us in June and said that she can pull people off of the list if she feels that it is necessary and that she thought she would be a good fit to work with them.  She wanted to know if we'd like to start going through the program with her.  Of course!  So we started in the summer and actually have our last meeting next week.  We have all learned for much from her.  She helped us make a 504 plan for Gabriel at school, has guided us in making some changes in how we structure things at home, and has given us a lot of insight into how to move forward.

Some days I still feel like I have no idea what I'm doing trying to help Gabriel learn and grow, but in the past several months I have seen so much maturity from him.  He still has hard days, like all of us do, but I see him trying, using coping skills that he has practiced, and responding in very calm and mature ways.

Enough of that part.  This is about him and his birthday.  Gabriel is a fun loving kid.  He likes to create and make up stories, make comic books, listen to audio books, read, play the violin, play with Legos, play board games, talk about anything and everything, motivate and encourage others to a task, and is overall a kind, warm, and friendly guy.  His class is much larger at school this year and he was enjoyed all of his new friends.  The boys are all about talking about Nintendo and Minecraft so we got out our device that lets you play old Nintendo games and he has had fun with that.  His biggest wish for his birthday was Minecraft, but I don't that that he actually thought that he would get it.

He has had many different kids that he plays with this year but one in particular is his friend Aiden.  They just connected right from the start of the year and they call each other their best friend.  Aiden came home from school with us one day and they were talking in the back seat.  Aiden said something about having ADHD and being on the spectrum.  Gabriel immediately got excited and they started talking about therapy they have done and medications, etc.  Gabriel's teacher and Aiden's dad have commented to me how remarkable their friendship is.  They both have very outgoing and determined personalities which makes them the ones that usually make up the rules and ideas of what is being played, but they actually have a system where they take turns making decisions and it works well for them.  Their teacher had lunch with the two of them one day to explain to them that sometimes their systems are too complicated for their classmates to understand, but they seem to speak the same language and agree about a lot of things.  After Gabriel's friend Grant moved over the summer I was hoping that he would find another good friend and he certainly did.

Field trip and chatting with Aiden

Trick of treating downtown with Aiden

Watching the World Series

Last soccer game and some Waffle House

At church.  He does such a good job of sitting in the service and paying attention.  Pastor Chris even said to him one day that he could really tell that he was listening to the sermon.  On Sundays that I work and Taylor is preaching Corban goes to children's worship and Gabriel sits in the service with no issues.  He is playing his violin with the pianist for Joy to the World during the Lessons and Carols service this Sunday.  He had a communicants class with one of the elders a couple months ago and then met with the Session about taking the Lord's Supper.  So many big things for him.

Alexa call with his cousin Drew.  They were discussing Minecraft

For his birthday this year he really wanted a party with friends.  We have done things with family the past couple of years so it seemed like a good idea to us too since he has so many new friends this year.  He originally only wanted to invite the boys but a couple of the girls in his class didn't like that idea.  I looked into the local pools but they were booked and there aren't a ton of options for cold weather parties.  We decided to go withe the trampoline park and they had so much fun.  Only two kids in his class couldn't make it.  They jumped, at pizza and cupcakes, and played arcade games

The kids in Gabriel's class knew that Minecraft (and Harry Potter) are current things that he is into.  He got 4 of the same set of Minecraft Legos.  The boys were all saying "just give us each one!"  The girl who gave it to him started crying because other people gave him the same thing so I told her we'd keep the one she gave and return the others.  She asked how I'd know which was hers and told her it was on the bottom of the pile since she gave him her gift first.  Gabriel returned the other Lego sets and got a remote control car that he's really enjoying

His actually birthday day was the day off of school before Thanksgiving day.  Grandma Cheryl was here.  We asked him what he would like to do and he wanted to go bowling and eat at Outback.  So that's what we did.  He built Legos in the morning, bowling before lunch, some chill time to play, and then dinner

His friend Aiden got him this since he himself has the same
set and he said that they could play with them together

Blanket with a map of Middle Earth

She got a strike!

At Outback.  He loved his bloomin onion, steak, and loaded potato

At dinner we gave him one last present, which was a birthday card with a Minecraft code inside.  He was stunned for a second and then kept saying that we were the best parents ever.  When we got home it took some time and computer updating to get it to work and it was looking like he might not get to play before bed.  Showing great patience he said, "well, if I can't play tonight Dad will have it working by tomorrow and I can just play then."  Thankfully Taylor did get it working and he got to stay up and play for a while

So that was this funny, sweet, creative, energetic kids birthday.  Taylor pointed out that he is halfway to adulthood.  No ok with me :)