How we got through the holidays.

I had been giving this a lot of thought when in reality that is exactly the opposite of what I needed to do. How we got through the holidays is by simply enjoying them. And don’t think that was an easy task either, not with 3 ADHDers and one very worrisome Mom. Going to see family has always been a bit stressful, beginning with the fact that we have very limited amount of time to spend with them since we live far away, and then splitting up our time between his family, and my family, and making it all count. Then you add the fact that my kids are very rambunctious, Dad is very strict, and a lot of the Holiday events are somewhat formal…this equals some more tension.

So I had a conversation with my husband before taking off on our trip. We chose to drive given the high prices of flights and the need for our own transportation once there. We also decided we would break up the long trip into 3 shorter more digestible drives, making our first stop a bit over 6 hours into it at a hotel, our second stop the next day at a bit over 7 hours at my brother-in-law’s house with his wife and kids where we spent the rest of the day, and the last stop in less than 5 hours with my in-law’s.

We also decided we needed to take enough for the kids to be entertained both on the drive there and during our stay, so we got them their Christmas presents early, which where 2 mini iPads, loaded plenty of movies, books, and games. We also brought along some regular books and toys.

One key factor for us at least was planning some time for the kids to decompress, which meant making time for them to be just with us (Mom and Dad), and not having the pressure to “behave”. Don’t get me wrong, my kids behave pretty well with us, Mom and Dad, but they can get a little out of hand with all the excitement of seeing relatives that they can forget their manners in an attempt to be funny. Coincidentally we had the opportunity to stay at my sister-in-law’s house while she was at her in-law’s, and that made that decompression time a bit easier. If we had not been at a different house alone we would probably had made pockets of time for the kids to be alone with us, like we did on our last day when we did spend the night with my in-law’s and chose to take the kids to a movie. The movie was a way for them to let their hair down, besides the fact that my kiddos crave entertainment on a regular basis.

Another part of my conversation with my husband was to have a mutual understanding that we would somewhat disconnect. What I mean by that is that precisely because our kiddos are so rambunctious we tend to need to supervise them constantly to make sure they are not setting the curtains on fire or sticking a fork in anything electric (I say this in jest….a bit….but not really) . Needing so much supervision, and a lot of it being repetitive given their ADHD, can make any parent a bit irritable, but a Dad with ADHD even more so. So we both agreed to not supervise them so much. We would have to roll with the punches. Hopefully one of their cousins would tell on them if they decided to juggle knives.

We were also traveling with a newly discovered constraint, which is my son’s milk allergy. Although his allergy is not life threatening and could very well continue to eat dairy with some antihistamines, we have seen improvements in his ADHD symptoms and also my daughter’s ADHD symptoms (who doesn’t show any milk allergy symptoms) since we decided to lead a dairy free life to the best of our abilities. With that in mind we decided to take a few measures to continue this diet as much as possible on our trip, but to also break a few rules and let them eat some dairy if it was right in front of their face, like Christmas cookies, or some other yummy treat.

I am happy to report that with much of the dairy products evaded during this trip, and since we were on vacation and let our hair down, we actually went a few days without ADHD medication without many complaints. I believe their ADHD symptoms were very reduce (including Dad), but pair that up with our “vacation” attitude, and we faired really well.

We knew we were asking a lot out of them during this trip, both for being in a car for so long and with behaving with relatives, that we also planned a tiny reward for them at the end of the long journey. Our second to last stop back home was Universal Studios. We ate out, walked the park, rode the rides, saw the attractions, walked away with 2 very cool transformers’ T-shirts for the kiddos, and stayed 2 nights at the nearest Hilton (one to rest up before the day at the park, and another to rest up for the last bit of driving).

It was a total of 10 days, and although I did do some laundry in the middle, I came home to do a ton of laundry on the 31st. We were all so tired, but so happy to be home too. One very excellent way to tie 2012 in a perfect little bow. So Perf!!

How did you get through the holidays?


Rossana G-A

A few tricks to keep your ADHD kid on track

Who has not seen a child fumbling around trying to find where they left that toy, or their backpack, or their left shoe? Add to that the emotions that come with it, and you have a child angry, crying, or yelling about the misplaced item. The added frustration with an ADHD child is that this episode repeats 20 times a day, sometimes 20 times an evening, and an ADHD child is quicker to let out all those emotions. As the parent/caregiver you also feel frustrated by the frequency and the outbursts.

Most kids need consistency and routine. A kid with ADHD needs it even more. Establishing a pattern of activities, and giving your child as many tools to help them accomplish them all, can lead to a less chaotic home. Yes, I said less, because in an ADHD world, chaos comes with the territory.

• Tasks lists are your friends- 
• I have a list in big poster sized paper in almost every room my kid has chores or activities. It has gone a long way for her to have these reminders all over the place.
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1. In her bedroom listing step by step what to do when she gets up in the morning, and step by step what to do when it’s time to go to bed. 

2. Another list by the front door listing out what she needs to do make sure she has with her before she leaves for school, and what to do the moment she walks back in after school. 

3. Another list by the dinning room table listing how to set the table, and what to do when it is time to clean up after each meal. 

4. I also have a list in the bathroom sink listing out what to do before her shower, and what to do right after she steps out. 

5. I even have a waterproof board inside the shower listing out what to wash first.
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(You can buy it on Amazon.com)

• She is now doing more things out of the house, so we have made her lists mobile by adding them to her iTouch calendar and having them alert her when certain chores or activities should be done, like homework time.

• Timing is everything, so time everything you can-
• As I mentioned, my daughter has a calendar on her iTouch that alerts her when something needs to be done, and that is a start. To continue on with that she needs a timer to show her how much time she has to complete a tasks to keep her on track. 

1. She has a timer her teacher sets up for her at school when completing activities. 

(Image from http://www.timetimer.com/)

2. She has another one on her iTouch that we use when she is doing homework or reading, or completing a particular chore. 

3. She even has a timer in the shower, so she knows she can’t play around too much.

(You can buy it on Amazon.com)

• Reward good behavior – 
• It is a major accomplishment for an ADHD child to stay focused and complete a task. It takes a lot of effort, and with a young child, it takes even more. When they do cross that finish line, praise them, give them a treat, or allow a special reward. It doesn’t have to be a big thing, as long as it is meaningful to them.

• Patience and understanding – 
• It will take a lot of reminders from you to have them look back at that list or see how much time is left on that clock. It will also mean sometimes the time runs out and they haven’t finished, or that they skipped a task on the list without noticing. This happens more often than anyone could care to count. When this happens, don’t be to hard on them or on yourself.

Helping your child learn these tools will help them cope better as they grow into their teens and into adulthood.

What strategies do you use to keep your kids on top of chores and homework?



Rossana G-A


FTC Disclaimer: I am not compensated to write this post.

Going out with kids: Not Mission Impossible.

Venturing out of the house with two kids can be challenging some days, traumatizing others, but perfectly doable all the time. If it is going grocery shopping, a doctors's visit, a stop at the bank, or a nice family meal at a restaurant, I do my best to plan ahead.

What you DO need to know are your kids patterns and their likes. Avoid outings when it is close to their bed time (or nap time for younger kids), meal time, or their usual high activity peak time. I know my kids are super active around 10am and will slow down a bit after lunch time. They hit another peak time around 3pm but tapper down close to 5pm (around dinner time).

I also know that after 30 minutes at an given place without some sort of entertainments will result in acting out. I try to keep outings to no more than 2 hours and always take some entertainments options with me, not to mention some sort of snack and water. I understand that not every errand or outing can be done in 2 hours, and all the more reason to go out prepared.

Some tools I have employed can be as simple as paper and crayons and as technologically advanced as an iTouch.

One line of activity books I love is from My Doodle Masterpiece!

My soon to be 8 year old can spend hours coloring alone, but this particular book, Fabulous Doodles, gives her many more creative ideas, like coming up with designs for painting a foot with henna, or what you can see below if flying in a hot air balloon. So much fun for her.

And they have other books available depending on the interest, like Halloween or Christmas themed, among others (like they show on the back).

My 6 year old boy loves Oodles of doodles, and it also offers many creative activities from counting, to finding patters, to simply drawing and using his imagination.

What could be carrying this boy away? A dinosaur maybe? A gorilla? Or who is the mystery guest? And you can see he already came up with the scary movie. How funny boys can be!

And it offers other options at the back.

 These, along with a box of crayons, and always some extra drawing paper is all I need while waiting for our order at a restaurant, or maybe even waiting for our appointment at the dentist.

The more advanced option for us when going on an airplane or even when walking through the grocery store is an iTouch. The app store has tons of free games, but they also offer many affordable games for a more defined interest, like all the makeup and dress-up games my girl likes, or the angry birds or zombie games my boy begs for.

I paired these up with some blue tooth wireless headphones from GoGroove Audio and we can actually enjoy a quiet flight while they watch the latests movie downloaded from Netflix

(Image from GoGroove Audio)

(Images from Netflix)

These options are So Perf! for us as they restore some semblance of sanity to our outings. And yes, we do try to spend some quality family time talking, but it really doesn't work when your waiter is asking for your order and the kids are jumping up and down, or when your flight is 4 hours long. We allow ourselves to make exceptions and it works for us. All if fair in love and war, and in raising kids without tying them to their seats.

What tricks do you have up your sleeve to make your outings with kids more manageable? 

Rossana G-A  

FTC Disclaimer: I am not compensated to write this post.

Baby Monitors: We have come a long way!!

I was running into the Apple store yesterday to look at a few things I needed for my iPhone and iPad and had Gadget Envy for something I don’t really have any use for anymore; the Smart Baby Monitor.

As a mother of 2, I wish I had this available back then. Being as dependent as I am now on both my iPhone and my iPad, I am certain this little gadget would have come in handy and made life easier.

Clear image, wide-agle, night-mode with infrared camera for dim conditions, digital soud to hear your baby clearly, as well as alerts for temperature, moisture, sound and motion so you can do what you need to keep baby sleeping longer. 

Other features include the ability to talk to your baby remotely, play a lullaby, and changing night lights.

The monitor can connect via WI-FI hotspot wherever your are connected to your iphone, ipod or ipad. You also have options with Ethernet, and always via Bluetooth. For all those techy Moms out there, this gadget at $299 although a bit pricey will probably afford you plenty of rewards and comforts.

Gandget Envy aside, this product is So Perf!

Would you use this baby monitor?

Rossana G-A 

FTC Disclaimer: I am not compensated to write this post.