SPARK results

This is Lauren at the beach.

She was rewarded for taking her SPARK for two weeks.

We will have a test trial by taking her off of SPARK for a time so we can truly evaluate its effectiveness.

What a happy girl we have.

Here's our results for our two week test.
SPARK helps Lauren focus. It helps her little mind think faster and it helps her to be able to listen to and follow directions more easily.
Drawbacks: SPARK is the antagonist to sleep. Lauren is having a hard time settling down and getting to sleep at night.
Also: It really increases her energy. Perfect for an athlete, but not so ideal for a bouncing three year old who is already known as monkey.

All in all, we are really pleased with the results that we have found with this product and will continue to purchase SPARK.
Also, Lauren and her sister DID NOT CARE FOR the PINK LEMONADE, they much perferred the Orange, although sometimes it was hard to even get Lauren to take that too.

Congratulations SPARK, you have made our family pleased, especially my husband Tyler who is working on his fitness routine and trying to lose weight, also, thanks for allowing us to try this product for a test run. we are pleased with the ADVOCARE sport drink.
Liz

Roller coaster days.

Lauren has had some ups and down with her mood and her study habits. This is seeming to be more regular these days. Somedays she can concentrate and get alot accomplished, but with that, she seems to be bouncing off the walls. Not long afterwards, it is as though she is down on herself, almost depressed. I think she has some serious bi-polarness going on and I wonder how this SPARK is reacting with this. I hope to have more information on this, as I know the study with Texas Tech, was with ADD and ADHD but not with bi-polar children. I really need some more time to really take into account the many mood swings and the caffine effect. I am thinking of doing a study with some placebo orange juice mix our church makes that tastes alot like SPARK and tang to see some real effects with the caffine verses sugar content.
Lauren's dad has been taking it before work and has been satisfied with his ability to think faster and have energy.
I will try it out for a paper route I am helping with on Sunday to see if it will help me to stay away in the early hours. I have noticed a change in my sleep when I take SPARK, and my inabliltiy to stay asleep. I hope this is just something to get used to, or I won't be able to take it.

Tuesday July 6th, 2010

Early Childhood Education came by to see Whitney and set some new goals for her social development. Lauren was upstaging her sister pretty badly today and seemed to be a bit rambunctious. I had to set her in a time out chair twice and make her sit quietly a few times. Then she went to the table to color and interrupted me a few times. This morning she had not received SPARK. As I give her some, I hope this will help calm down this tasmanian devil, who really is just wanting some connection with the adults through distractions.

Sunday, the 4th of July

Today we went to church, and Lauren had a hard time sitting still and listening. She was very irreverent during the first meeting and had a hard time focusing in class.
Earlier in the week, we had been to her teacher's home to swim and enjoy dinner. Her teacher asked if I had given SPARK to her. Then she said, "if you have given her SPARK it is not working, but if you haven't it just might be, as she is different today than what I have seen earlier this week."
It is really hard at this stage to determine if the five little boys in her class get her going, or if she is just used to being a busy body at church and not listening intently, or if she is just acting out as a three year old is known for doing.
I hope to be able to see better improvements when she is with her peers, and hopefully, she will be able to focus more intently.
Also, I need to be a bit better at giving her SPARK at the same time without food each day. How am I going to do this before school?
This poses a difficult question.

Sunday July 4th

Lauren was pretty gittery at church this morning. I had a hard time getting her to sit down durning the meetings, and when it was time to be reverent.

In class, she was very distracted and had a hard time following the teacher and the rest of the classmates, which consisted of five boys and herself. I thought she should have been able to do better than she did. I don't know if this is due to the SPARK, or just her three year old behavior, and lack of wanting to be reverent and still.

Her teacher asked if I had given her SPARK and said, if so it's not working, if not, well it just might be, because she is different this morning than she was the rest of the week, as she had observed her at her own home while we went swimming.

The decision to continue is a hard one, but we will continue our study. The real test will be when the study is complete and the notes are compiled, and I take her off for a few days and study the differences.

Over the fourth, there has been some fireworks.

Wow,

I have a few things that I would like to point out. We have had such a crazy weekend around here and have been crazy busy. I have been taking notes and have a short in which to record them, so I will do my best, although I might have to revise them later.

Thursday and Friday were hard days for Lauren to focus. We had some upsets to our normal routine, which posed a few problems in her SPARK. I am grateful for this, as this will be a glimpse into what we will experiance in the future.
Lauren has been pretty good up to this point in taking her SPARK even though it was tough to get her to drink it sometimes without the bribe of 1/6 of a peice of Stride gum.

Thursday she surprised her daddy as we sat down to talk after dinner, and she sat down by daddy to trace her abc letters with a marker. She did the whole alphabet without wiping the previous letter off. She has never done this before, usually she is more caught up in the erasing of the letters than actually tracing them. We thought this was pretty significant in her progress.

Friday, she went with her older sister to go and watch some movies and play with some family friends of ours, unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to get her to drink her SPARK, and therefore have no evidence of what went on, Although the family she went with told us that she was delightful and that they would do that again. They spoiled them with McDonalds and skittles, sugar high.... oh my.

Saturday was the third of July and it was full of fun and activities and a whole lot of driving around. Lauren had a hard time settling down to a nap. It was really difficult for her brain to shut down. I wonder how this will affect her at school, and weather or not we will be able to get her to take a needed nap after she gets home to wind down.

All, in all, we have been pretty satisfied with her development, but notice that she is having a hard time staying in her bed at night. She seems to be up a few times a night, whether it is sleep walking or what not, we don't know. We do agree that she needs to get a better night's sleep, and we need to weigh the importance of good sleep with school work.

A few changes to note

(a picture from last Easter I thought was cute)

Okay, this is Thursday night, and we have had two days to observe a few changes we have seen in Lauren from before administering SPARK until now.

Lauren considerably listens more intently, and is able to answer questions and recall things we have taught her quicker.

She smiles more. This is a big difference even from last Sunday! We thought she was having some mild sadness or depressing mood swings (nothing uncommon from a 3 year old, but noted)
She is smiling and more silly today.

I usually mix up 4 oz in the morning, split it in half and give it to her an hour to two hours after breakfast without food, and then around 3 in the afternoon a few hours between meals without a snack. Today, my husband prepared the SPARK for Lauren. I didn't notice until she got into the fridge for her afternoon "dose" that he had made 8 ounces.
OH MY WHAT A DIFFERENCE 4 OUNCES MAKES.

In fact, we noticed she tended to be on the bouncing off the walls side. WOW. we won't be doing that any time soon. She was still in a good mood, but seemed to be on a caffeine kick, which is a big deal, due to the fact we aren't coffee/ soda drinkers in our home and our caffeine intake is very very minute.

She was still able to focus more than before, but listening skills were a little harder.

At least we know now some limits and measurable quantities to work with.