to treat or not to treat

Our boy (5 years old), was diagnosed with Epilepsy at 2.5yrs after tonic-clonic febrile seizures and a drop seizure when sick. EEGs show absence seizures, which can also be elicited by hyperventilation. We've observed some absence seizures ourselves, but not very often. My 7 yr old claims that she observes him having an absence seizure about once a week. We've started recording that, and it's more like once or twice a month. Against the advice of our neurlogist we've decided to NOT start him on AED meds. Mostly because of a fear of side effects. We thought that we would start treating him when he starts school. In the mean time we would take precautions to protect him against injuries due to seizures. Now here we are 3 yrs. later. His seizures seem rare and mild (or are we missing them??). He has had several fevers without seizures. And he is doing great academically. He is only in Kindergarten, but is reading at at least 1st grade, if not 2nd grade level. So, are we wrong in still holding off medication? Anyone else doing this? Any opinons, experiences, advice?? mkz