Conferences and Allergy Test Results

I went to both Carissa's and Gabe's parent teacher conferences on Wednesday. Carissa went with me to her conference, and Gabe was taking a nap during his conference so he didn't go. Carissa got the highest scores on her report card that she could, and her teacher said that she was a very conscientious worker and a good citizen. We need to continue working on reading, and counting to 100. But, Carissa's teacher said that she is doing wonderful and is right where she should be or better with everything. Gabe's teacher said that he has been doing great academically, and that he does still have some problems with sharing (normal for his age). Also, Gabe hasn't had any more fits or behavior problems since the last time we had talked in September with one exception being the day of the conference. Gabe didn't want to go inside when outside time was over, so he climbed the play equipment and a teacher's aid had to help him down which made Gabe upset, but the aid said that he needed to calm down by the time they got to the door and he did. So, he still did pretty well compared to past events. Gabe also still confuses a couple of his colors and doesn't recognize very many letters yet, but he is still on track for where he should be.

Then the allergy doctor called me back yesterday with Carissa's test results. She definitely has lots of allergies, and since he just went over the results on the phone I don't have all the details for everything. She is very allergic to sagebrush, and cats, grasses, and weeds. She is still allergic to egg whites, but it isn't very bad. Dogs, walnuts, and trees are mild allergies. She is a candidate for the allergy shots, but there is no way she would let us give her a shot every week for 20, then every other week, then once a month. Totaling about 3 years worth of shots these shots, we may do it someday though. So, the doctor wants us to find a new home for Leo, our cat, but for now we aren't looking. He is 8 years old, and I would like it if he could live the rest of his life with us. Also, it is a possibility that Carissa will develop asthma, and the shots could help prevent that. As of now with the current allergies that Carissa has she should have hay fever from May until now every year with a slight let up in July for a couple of weeks. Then because of having a cat and not airing the house out in the winter like we would in the warmer months, Carissa's allergies may be bad from now until May. All of that means that as long as we have the cat and don't do the shots Carissa will need medicine pretty much year round. We need to schedule an appointment with the doctor for March, so that he can figure out a medicine regiment for Carissa before her hay fever starts. And, we will just keep using children's Zyrtec for the time being for the cat allergy.

Halloween

This year Carissa decided to be a "wicked witch" as she was telling everyone, and Gabriel decided to be a "vampire." And they made sure that everyone knew exactly what they were. They both took naps yesterday, which was great because they really needed them. And, they did great all evening and they had a lot of fun trick or treating. There were a few houses that they thought were too scary, but mostly everything went well. It was just the kids and I that went out this year, because Ben was supposed to be working at the haunted house. But, the car wouldn't start and he didn't end up making it to the haunted house, so he was home when we got back and the kids got to him all about trick or treating.