Update on The Boy and Thoughts on Siteminder Hits

I thought I'd update you all on The Boy. I haven't been doing much blogging about Tourette's like I promised I would. And I have to say it was mostly due to the lack of tics in The Boy lately.

Yesterday, I met with his teacher for an hour. The conferences are scheduled in 15 minute increments. So the hour was due to her absolute love for The Boy. I sure don't mind sitting there listening to someone verify how amazing I think he is. Academically, we've all known he's off the charts. The disconnect was always with his social skills. His lack of personal space boundaries. His lack of social boundaries - ie - saying whatever popped into his head, not reading body language to back off, etc. In kinder and 1st grade, these were very evident. Kids respected his smarts and kind of liked him. But he was often alone in school, despite his exuberance in meeting people. A lot of kids dealt with him in that awkward way that kids do when they know they shouldn't be mean to someone but they just really aren't comfortable with that person, you know? It was very subtle and it broke my heart.

This year has been amazing. His teacher tells me that he is completely appropriate in his socialization with his peers. When I come to the school, I see kid after kid yelling hello to him. A couple of girls have declared that they will marry The Boy (their parents are free to submit applications for my review). And many boys want to be his friend. I LOVE this. Because The Boy LOVES people. He will bend over backward for you if you're a friend. So this just blesses my heart like you wouldn't believe.

She also hasn't seen or heard any tics from him lately. I would have to agree. With the possible exception of a tiny squeaking noise I keep hearing now and then. But I can't always tell if it's coming from him, from Lil' Bro or from the TV. It's almost as if someone were imitating a mouse sound. But very softly and not repeatedly. So I'm thinking he might be doing it and not even realizing it. I've only heard it a few times this past week. So it could just be...nothing. Who knows.

But I'll tell you, God is being wonderful to us. I have prayed for total healing of The Boy's Tourette's. I'm praying big. And God is delivering.

Now for the 2nd part of my entry today, I'm going to steal Ellesappelle's idea and show you some stats on how some people have found my blog. After checking my Siteminder stats, I'm actually feeling bad that I'm not blogging much more about Tourette's. Some people come here looking for answers or support and they get me whining about my back or my divorce or who knows what. It's why I edited my intro paragraph to add the disclaimer that, yah, I meant this to be a Tourette's site but it's kind of taken on a life of its own.

Here are some of the recent Google searches that brought people to my site:

• tics stress - interestingly, I was the first hit with this post.
• poems for moms that are funny - again, I find it odd that I was the first hit with my post about bad poetry.
• mom and boy pic - the whole search screen was in some kind of Arabic script
• farting friends dad - oh yes, I can see how this would happen due to the title of my post on chili.
• my 7 year old has tourett can he have kids in the futrue - this one made me sad. I know that fear of what the future holds for your child. And I know the fear of passing on bad genes. After all, I gave The Boy a double whammy with renal reflux from me and Tourette's from my side of the family. But I also gave him a huge butt-load of big-ol'-brain genes, singing genes, funny genes, cute genes, math genes and lovable genes. So it really evens out, I'd say.
• sample essay what are you gonna do if you are a millionaire - this is funny that I was the first hit with a meme I took from JenKneeBee.
• tourettes tic pictures - I should have browsed through the search results on this one as I was wondering what kind of pictures might come up that would illustrate tics properly.
• tourette loves God - they got my blog as a result because of a bunch of comments from you guys. Funny.
• child never walks he jumps spins skips hops + tourette - I imagine I was a result due to my mention of a documentary where a child walks like this.
• excessive blinking toddler tv - this took them to my post on parent induced tics.
• Sweet mom and boy - well, yes we are. Thank you very much!
• how can i tell the difference between my boy having a smart mouth and rude behavior of tourette's - I thought this was funny. Not as in laughing AT the person looking for this. But because I can totally see why someone might need to know this. Full on Tourette's tics can definitely be mistaken for rude behavior. It's one of the fears I had when The Boy was first diagnosed. I know my half-brother was often sent to the principal's office because they thought he was flailing his extremities on purpose.
• noise tics - I was the 2nd hit with this post.

So you can see why I feel a bit bad that my blog isn't much more informative for those poor souls that are looking for help with Tourette's. However, having said that, I'm still glad that some searching parents actually leave a comment so I can get to know them. That's how I met the wonderful Jane (my soon-to-be travel partner!).