Nathan Update

So anyone who follows this blog or has the personal joy of knowing Nathan knows that we've been struggling for some time with how to, for lack of better words, parent him. He's so different from Ava and nothing that worked with her works with him. Here is a small excerpt from a report I sent to the FDA after struggling to control his asthma and figuring out the Singular was definitely not working for him. It's long, but I've put it in here for posterity's sake.

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My son began taking Singular (Montelukast Sodium) once a day pills for pediatric use in Oct of 2008, following an asthma attack that resulted in our visiting the emergency room for 2 consecutive days. He was on the pills for over 2 months, along with daily Pulmicort Respules and occasional Xopenex treatments, both taken by nebulizer. His symptoms cleared up and he did not have any significant asthma attacks during the time was on the Singular.

While using the Singular we experienced severe mood issues, much more than related to the normal "terrible twos". He stopped sleeping at night, waking for up to 3 hours in the middle of the night and not being able to get back to sleep, even if we laid by him or tried helping him settle. He also had extreme rage and aggressiveness, constantly scratching us and the baby, headbutting and biting occasionally. We visited our pediatrician concerning these behaviors and she discussed several restraint holds we could use with him, none of which were effective. He also had extreme agitation and jumpiness and seemed like he was crawling in his own skin. He wasn't able to sit still to read books or watch a movie. He also suffered from an outbreak of some sort of hives or bumps, which were severely itchy and seemed to bother him most at night. He scratched them until they bled most nights. We treated them with a steroid creme and also for scabies but they remained for over 2 months.

He also exhibited unusual fear and anxiety over normal things, such as the cars in the parking lot and had terrible meltdowns and tantrums with extreme screaming periods. In short, he was almost unmanageable and a severely different child from the one we had before he began taking the Singular.

We went to see his asthma specialist (independent of the pediatrician that placed him on the Singular) and when we told her these symptoms she told us to take him off Singular immediately. The results were amazing. That night he slept the entire night through and his behavior the next day was markedly different. He stopped headbutting, scratching the baby and biting. He became much more reasonable and we were able to logic things through with him. His fears seemed to vanish over the next few days and the meltdowns and tantrums turned much more typical for a 2 yr old. Over the past month his behaviors have drastically changed, and while he is still a 2 yr old boy, he is definitely more like the child we knew before the medication.

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I'm so happy to say, Nathan has done a total change for the better and he's so much fun to be around now. He's happy, he's playful, he's cute and he's potty trained. Yep, in the past week, he's decided that he does want to go in the potty and he's pretty much done it all himself. This may be why I'm feeling like writing about him right now since he's definitely on my good side.

His favorite pasttimes are singing, cutting with scissors, riding his tricycle, playing pretend animals and cars with Ava, and eating anything and most everything. Today on the way home from church he was singing " Cun-tee (country) Road's take me home, to the pace I belong - West Aginia (virginia), mama rock me, Cun-tee Boy, take me home". This is a mix of his three favorite songs (Country Roads and Thank God I'm a Country Boy by John Denver and Wagon Wheels by Old Crow Medicine Show) but it's the cutest thing to see him belt it out in the backseat. Another favorite song is "Jingle Bells, oh it's too fun to ride in a one horse sleigh". And today at lunch he ate almost an entire avocado by himself. Weird, but cool by me, and definitely Nathan.



He's quite a introspective little guy and has the greatest insight into life's mysteries. If we ever lose anything he's quick to bring us the item, although most of the time it's just an imaginary one that he's conjured up to hand us so we won't be sad. He's very sensitive and cries when he thinks anyone is mad at him... but he hasn't figured out that if he listens and does what we ask when we ask it then we won't need to get upset with him. He tells me frequently "Don't be fus-tated with me, Mama".



I've started calling him buddy and he thinks that's pretty cool, unless he's pretending to be something else that day. Tonight it was an elephant and I got in trouble if I asked the real Nathan anything, I needed to address the Elephant. He's also started calling me "Mommy" in a whiny voice I can't stand so I call him " Natey" back in the same voice. He tells me constantly that he's not my little boy, but he is Dada's big boy. And he loves telling Lias that he's his big bruzzer. Every morning he runs into my room, climbs on my bed and announces to Lias that "hea's you big bruzzer. did you sleep good last night baby boy?" May the terrible twos be over for good!! Welcome back Na-ten!!!

Look for an Ava update soon too, in case anyone was starting to think that I'm playing favorites.