Checking in, as requested.

Doctor was not at all Dr. McJudgey-Pants. The very first thing he said was, "This is brain chemistry and NOTHING you did in raising her." In fact, he has ADHD. He was very impressed with her printing abilities and her spelling.

But, bottom line is that she does have ADHD. Joe and I made the choice to start off on a very low dose of medication and build up to a dose that helps her in school and hopefully learn how to focus and control her behaviors, and see how it goes from there. I'm still a bit apprehensive about medicating a 5 year old, and Doc didn't push for it either way and actually gave us quite a few pieces of literature on behavior modification and stuff to supplement the medication.

Of course, as she;s ringing the backdoor bell INCESSANTLY RIGHT NOW AND WILL NOT STOP, I'm tempted to give her all 30 days worth right now.

So there's that.

Knowing when she's young is better. ADHD in young girls is often missed.

You and Joe are good parents, Aims; you'll be able to watch her bx and see what works for her, and what doesn't. You just want Em to be happy and well, and you're doing the best that you can to ensure it.

I'm glad the dr. was nice.

I'm glad y'all know, Aims. It seems like it will so much easier, for you and for her, to know so young, however you decide to help her cope.

Eta: also glad that the doc was nice, he sounds like a good 'un

Aims, so glad that the doctor was knowledgeable and non-judgy. And if you want any opinions or perspective from a former kid with ADD, you've got my IM.

And, speaking of ADD, I cleaned up my apartment a bit. It's still obviously a mess, but I picked up all the dirty clothes from the floor and put them in the laundry basket, and I vacuumed so that the carpet looks a bit less grody.

Yay, Aims, glad the doc was sympathetic!

Frankly, I am a very fat man, skinny ex-military types are likely to think I'm that much of a slob.

Yup. I fucking hate the conclusions people jump to based on someone's weight. It's bullshit. And I agree with putting something to block the trash stream from the can on the other side of the cube wall.

I'm still a bit apprehensive about medicating a 5 year old

Well, you can always give it a shot and then decide to stop the medication. It's not an irreversible decision. I hope, for all of your sakes, though, that it helps.

Also, if you want/need more info on ADHD stuff, we have a ton of it (since The Boy is both an autodidact and on the board of the local ADD support group), and I can certainly pass info on or at least point you in the right direction.

I tell you guys what, the saving grace (for lack of a better phrase) has been that I know so many awesome, smart, functioning, wonderful people with ADD or ADHD. It really helps alleviate the fears and concerns you know?

t big group hug

OK, I dusted my bookshelves and TV stand, and I sprayed the couch where my sister is going to sleep with some hippie natural Febreeze-type stuff. And the messy pile of cookbooks is now a neat pile of cookbooks. I think that's all I'm going to manage tonight.

(The hippie natural Febreeze-type stuff, if anyone cares, is called Pure Ayre. It smells like peppermint when you first spray it on, but that smell fades in about ten minutes, and whatever other smells the fabric had fade, too. And it doesn't give me a headache like most scented things do.)

Good job, Hil!

So far I have grocery shopped , used one of Megan's recipes to get dinner going,filled and ran the dishwasher, and cleaned out the office enough so we can slice up the door we used to use as a desk. ( It is a 10 foot fire door - that may become a new door in our house, however our ceilings are only 8 ft high, so it must shrink even to be stored). If I sweep the floors, empty the cat boxes, and clean off the Kitchen table, I'll feel like I have done enough. Yet, I can't quite get there yet

Aims, this is totally anecdotal, but I've experienced it myself and heard it from several other people with AD/HD, and I just remembered it, so I figured I'd share -- certain types of red food coloring make me really hyper. I haven't figured out exactly which ones, but certain artificially red foods would send me into hyper much more than the same thing in a different color. It doesn't happen for everybody, but might be something to look for when Em has popsicles or candy or stuff like that.