Khalif

Khalif had a birthday over the summer and got to celebrate it multiple times...lucky boy!  We had a small family party and then an extended family party and then when we came back, he had a friend party!  We went to pump it up and ice cream with a couple of his best buddies, Miles and Kadin.  They had a blast and it was such an easy party for me to manage and thankfully, we were able to fit it in before school started.

His friends know him well....

We had some ups and downs this summer and unfortunately, we had a walk in the woods that brought on a lot of fear and took him to a place in his early childhood and there was no rationalizing with him.  I was particularly discouraged by this since we spent a year doing EMDR to overcome his trauma.  It appears we will have to learn to deal with it on an ongoing basis.  He is finally starting regular therapy next week....we often revisit some of the days issues and he doesn't know why he does what he does and he doesn't want to continue these habits, but he can't seem to stop, so hopefully, she will be able to give him some tools.
The start of the school year was a good indication that he needed some help.  He had his two best buddies in his class and got the teacher he wanted (and she is so amazing!), so things should have been great and they were, but he could not harness his energy, excitement and spinning mind.  His teacher talked to him several times a day and they had a couple heart to hearts and then she talked to me and I decided it was time to give CBD a try, rather than go through all the school testing.    Anxiety can look a lot like ADHD.  His teacher asked me if he ever stopped talking and it made me really aware of how much he does talk and how active his mind is, to the point where it is counterproductive sometimes.  So, I had a consultation and was given instruction on how to dose, but unfortunately, Khalif can't necessarily give an accurate assessment of what is happening in his body.  After the 3rd day of him noticing nothing, I decided to ask his teacher.  This was her response, "I almost sent an email today to compliment Khalif.  I told him today how proud I was of his efforts this week.  He is so much more engaged, full of timely questions and doing really well socially.  I hope you are seeing the same changes at home.  He is such a wonderful kid!"  I guess it works for him!!!  Although it wears off by the time he gets home.  We just had his conference and she asked if I had any concerns, so I brought up his behavior and she said that a month ago, that would have been the topic for the conference, but he has settled down so much.  Phew!  She said she has maybe 1-2 kids like him per year and sees him being a merit scholar someday, so thankfully, we don't have to worry about his intelligence!  He is very bright :).
First day of school

We also started Jujitsu last month and it was quite an ordeal.  He had an incident in June where a boy came at him and he got a bloody lip, so he was very fearful about going back which is unfortunate because he was enjoying it and the coaches there are so amazing at reading him and have really made him feel comfortable (even letting him sit out at times).  This is where it gets difficult as a parent....not good to let fear direct the choices we make, but at the same time, I don't want to increase his anxiety so much that it is altering him.  So, it has been several weeks now and he has been crushing other kids...he is very gifted in this sport, but if you ask him, he will tell you he doesn't like it.  Hmmm.  Again, what to do.  We will give it a little more time.  Ryan is drooling because he sees an amazing little wrestler, but Khalif isn't willing to give that sport a try.  Maybe someday.
Sadly, swimming ended this week.  Our team is dissolving for 7 months while the pool is closed for repairs.  They were not able to secure a spot anywhere else and there's no other team in the area where the kids could practice at the same time, so we are taking a little break, which is a bummer because they just had a swim meet and Khalif made huge progress, dropping 35 seconds off of one of his races!  I can't seem to upload the video of his 50 fly, so here's the link:  https://www.facebook.com/ryan.wade.9216/videos/1155947791244969/
He sure has a cool gi!