On the behavior side, he knocked it out of the park with one exception (as you can see below): "Completes work on time." Next to it, she writes "is a perfectionist." I laughed at seeing this because I know he's like this... She used the example of one time the kids were given a worksheet and asked to color all the squares.. Most kids dug in.... coloring 1, then 2, then 3, 4, 5 squares.... Teacher looks at Jackson's page... He's still on the first square. Most kids are on the 5th. She said it's quite "cute." He will trace the square, shade the outside carefully, go around the edges, and finally color the middle... all so delicately. I agree, a perfectionist. One of her observations that I was shocked to see was "Will focus on task at hand." I told her that this is something we struggle with with Jackson... He tends to get distracted VERY easily and doesn't always want to listen... If he doesn't pick up on something right away, he gets very frustrated and wants to quit. Well, she said she sees the exact opposite of him in class. Shocking to us!! We were not expecting such great reviews on the behavioral side, but I'm proud of him for demonstrating good behavior and showing his best side when he's at school. She told us many times - "He's just such a good boy." Ryan and I walked out of there so proud and chests high - our big boy was doing a great job! We're still about 85% sure we're going to Bridge him (A program offered for kids not quite ready for Kindergarten but past the point of preschool... it's basically Kindergarten, half days - just to give kids a little headstart, rather than him being in a class where 90% of his class is older than him). The teacher was 100% in favor of either Bridge or Kindergarten... She said she thinks J would succeed in either one. I'm just really happy that Jackson has had such a great experience at his first "real" school.... I'm excited to see what his future brings him! 
Last Saturday was "Daddy Day" and that was extra special because Ryan was gone Wed night, Thurs night and Fri night - so by Saturday, the boys were elated to have a whole day to be "just the boys" while I was in Eureka Springs. Ryan took full advantage of having some time with his little guys... and being the big kid that he is anyway, he decided to tweak the box. He cut out windows, made hidden doors and a back exit.... The boys have been in heaven ever since! So funny - this is exactly what John Rosemond (Author of "Making the Terrible Twos Terrific" - a GREAT book, by the way!) was talking about with kids... They don't need special toys.. they need an imagination and some TLC. My boys are so so blessed to have Ryan as their daddy... He's such an involved, loving and STRONG father for them to admire.... I'm so glad they have him as a role model and I pray they always do look to him as who they want to be "just like" .... What a better world this would be with more little "Ryan Stearle" clones.... I know this is why God insisted I have all boys.... Ok - enough of my sap. 
Well, Jackson decided to make this week extra interesting for us! On Tuesday morning, he woke up at his normal time, came downstairs and climbed into bed with us begging to play Angry Birds (his normal routine). We usually let him play until Ethan wakes up just to give us some time to climb out of bed and get ourselves awake... Well, Tuesday was different. I noticed that Jackson was breathing rapidly... He had had a cough for a month, lots and lots of sniffles, but nothing scary. Rapid breathing - like you just ran a marathon and cannot catch your breath - that's scary. So I asked him to stop - just breathe normal, but he couldn't do it. When he tried, he'd choke up and gasp for air - then cry because it hurt. He was breathing like this - picture deep belly breaths - for 45 minutes without easing up when I texted Jenny - who asked Rhonald - who asked me to check his number of breaths. Apparently, normal breathing for his age group should be 20ish to 35ish breaths in a minute... Jackson was breathing at 48. (Seriously, try to take 48 breaths in a minute and you'll be exhausted in a few minutes). Rhonald said waiting on the doc office to open is a bad idea - head to the ER. I knew he was right. He said the biggest concern 
is that a kid breathes like that and gets wiped out and then can't breathe anymore.... So Ryan had him at the ER by 730am. They immediately gave him a breathing treatment and that helped tremendously. He started breathing more normal after that - so they did a chest x-ray and the ER doc said everything came back normal. He told us Jackson has "Reactive Airway Disease" which is basically a precursor for asthma. The thing is - he's too young to be diagnosed with asthma so that's what they call it when the other tests show normal.... The doc said he may have a virus which triggered this... gave J an oral steroid and an inhaler and sent them home. By the time J was back home, he was back to breathing very very rapidly again. I can't explain how frustrating this is... not really having any kind of real answer and seeing your kid breathe like this... Around 1p, I called the pediatrician office.... couldn't reach anyone til 2p. Finally I talked to the nurse. I got a follow up appointment for Wednesday morning. By this point, Jackson, extremely lethargic, fell asleep on the couch (which he NEVER does) and started breathing normal. The nurse told me that if he was breathing super fast like that again Tues night and the inhaler wasn't working, I'd probably have to take him back to the ER to get it to stop. Ugh. Tuesday night, at bedtime, he was back to breathing fast... but not as fast as before and he just wanted to go to sleep. After he fell asleep, Ryan ran up to check on him and he was back to breathing normal. Such a mess. He woke up Wed morning wound up and happy... but still breathing a LITTLE fast - certainly nothing like before... and he was being his normal playful self... So by the time his appt came, he was breathing well, but I took him anyway. He was grumpy, but breathing ok. The doc checked him out and said he "definitely" has allergies. He said that this can all be caused by not getting a handle on his allergy symptoms. He said that he "possibly" has asthma but there's no way of knowing that for sure at this age. He said it's crucial that we get a handle on his allergy symptoms - Allegra twice a day - blowing his nose properly, indoors when the allergy counts are high, etc. He also said it's a "must" that we keep the inhaler with us at all times and then he wants J to take a 2nd steroid every day for a month to try to get this crap out of his lungs. He said if he doesn't need his rescue inhaler much for the next month, we can stop the steroid. In the meantime, I still don't really feel like I have many answers.... I still feel confused as to what happened.... nothing really has changed in his life and he's not ever had problems like this before... But I'm thankful that he doesn't have pneumonia or anything....I hope we don't have any more rapid breathing like this... It's SO strange! Hopefully, my boy will be ok now. Dear Lord, PLEASE no more ER's unless it's me having a baby!
Ryan was in Memphis overnight on Friday night, so we asked our friends Jenny, Cole and Lily Kate to come over for a little painting, super hero mask making, and pizza... AND they brought super hero cupcakes! Score! We had so much fun! Even LK and Ethan got to participate in everything, and they had their own little kitchen party. Fun times... really made Ryan being gone that night MUCH easier for me! We're hoping for a repeat party! :)
