in which Becky volunteers at preschool

A while back I picked today to volunteer in Ricky's pre-K class because Thursdays are my day off and this week is F week (starting at the beginning of the school year they do a letter per week), and I wanted to bring my french fry cutter and make french fries with the kids.

Rick took the boys to school because I had my polygraph for the dispatcher job at 8:30. I think it went well.

Right when I got there at around 10:30 they were slicing up FRUIT for fruit salad (it being F week and all). Ricky didn't get to do it because he was really, really naughty yesterday -- kicking and screaming at the teacher and writing on the wall at naptime. So I got him and a few other kids involved in slicing up the potatoes with the special safe french fry slicer (really easy, fat free fry recipe by the way, I'll pass it on sometime) and sprinkling the salt and garlic powder.

Two little girls carried one of the cookie sheets and a little boy carried the other cookie sheet into the kitchen where I put them in the preheated oven.

Then I hung out with Ricky's class till it stopped raining and we all went outside. It was kind of muddy and the 2's (including Andy), 3's, and pre-K were all wound up from being inside all that time, so it was sort of an emotional recess. Lots of crying and one little boy got so upset he threw up on the Director. The school isn't usually like that. The teachers were glad to have me there to help. I mediated a few disputes and even helped a little girl find her hair clip. I have to admit I don't know much about little girls but I did o.k. with that.

Andy found me outside and decided to sit on my lap for a lot of the time and play with my hair and blow zurbits on my cheek. Very cute and cuddly. Ricky showed me how to make a fort with the egg crates and stomped in puddles with his buddies.

We went inside for lunch and the pre-K had some french fries with their lunch. Ricky and his little friends (and some of the girls) all wanted to sit by me which was really cute. They all loved the french fries by the way. Well, almost all. One little boy politely refused.

Then it was naptime, and I helped a bunch of the kids set up their mats with their sheets and blankets, and rubbed Ricky's back and held his hand for a little while. He doesn't nap, but rests instead. I told him I'd be back to get him later in the afternoon.

I went away from there feeling really fulfilled and contented. And really having an appreciation for what Ricky does all day and being happy that he was so glad and excited to have me there. I couldn't do it every day like those teachers do, but I really want to go back and volunteer again. In two weeks I am going to volunteer in Andy's class. And I'm going to make it a point to do this once in a while from now on, maybe on a regular basis like once or twice a month. I love spending time with my boys no matter what we are doing. :)

Just wanted to share. :)

Ricky mini-update

Well, as most of you know, we've been having a hard time with Ricky for a while. Around the end of last year he started being very angry and spiteful and aggressive. When he was in the hospital in February they actually gave him a diagnosis: adjustment disorder with emotional features. Whatever that means. I didn't find out about this till last week.

You might recall that a couple of months ago I took him to a psychologist who decided without even seeing him that he had ADHD, which I basically rejected as being beside the point -- even if he does have it, that's not what's bugging him at the moment.

Anyway, the past couple of months he's been even more aggressive at school, doing things like attacking kids at preschool (including his brother -- he threw shovelsful of sand in Andy's face last week) for no reason. And talking about killing people, chopping off their heads, and things like that. The teachers have been working with him but a few weeks ago I decided he needed more help.

We think that a lot of Ricky's anxiety and acting out might be caused by his health being worse this year. (Just a refresher, he was in the hospital for a tuneup in February and in for sinus surgery in March.)

Our insurance does cover psychological stuff with the exception of ADHD. They mainly cover "disorders," which it sounds like he has. We finally found out what to do to get him evaluated (took three weeks for the pediatrician to get around to calling us back, but she called me herself and apologized so I am not too mad... LOL). All we had to do was call the behavioral health insurance division and ask for help. They told me that he can go to Stanford -- hooray! Which is where he has two of his other specialists. Early this coming week the folks at Psychiatry Intake at Stanford are supposed to call me to make an appointment for a full evaluation. They probably can't see him till November. But it will be worth it.

We're gonna help this little guy. He is so wonderful and so worth it. Thanks for listening...