Detour And No Meds

It got to be a long day yesterday. There is one way out of town go west, that is it. Everything else is closed down doe to the flooding. Minnesota Ave. which is also known as main drag here looks pretty well deserted, you can even park along there without the fear of being hit by a semi truck.

Anyway Dad and Jared gave us directions and we followed them precisely, however when we got to the place where they had said it would be safe to cross the Minnesota river that bridge had just been closed, AURGH! We had to drive another 40 miles before we could get back on tr4ck. All of this extra driving made it impossible to take time to stop and eat. None of us had eaten since breakfast.

We got the girls to the orthodontist where they got the hardware in their mouths rearranged a bit. For Lauren it was a fairly short appointment, but of course Hanna had to have everything redone. Her mouth looks a lot better since her surgery two weeks ago so that makes the work worth doing.

We then went to a sit down place and had a nice dinner. That went well except that Hanna`s meds had long since worked their way out of her system so she was beginning to lose it. Putting food in front of her face calmed her down at least for a bit.

The drive home was not fun. Hanna was being loud, VERY LOUD. I did not think to bring her meds along so we were going to be in for a ride. Everything was like riding on a roller coaster, every bump, curve in the road, taking corners got her to yelling, Karre was not driving crazy or anything, but Hanna was just losing it altogether. By the time we got home at 8:45 pm, nearly three hours past the time when Hanna usually takes her meds, I had had enough of her so I told her to forget about doing homework and go to bed. That idea did not go over well with her at all because she thought she was going to get in trouble at school for not doing her homework. I explained that I would write a note and things would be okay.

I get to make the same trip again today, but this time I only have to take Lauren so it will be a breeze. She is quiet in the car and from time to time she even falls asleep. I also know the detour route that is going to work so that will cut about 40 minutes off the trip. We will make it home for a late dinner, oh yeah I have confidence that we will. This flooding is ridiculous, it is September here and we do not do this in September. Spring time would get very interesting at the rate things are going right now.l

Steamed

I am steamed, okay if I were a tea kettle I would just about be boiling over right now. Why is it that teachers have to put a happy, smiley face on EVERYTHING? Okay that is not all teachers, because I work with one who is able to tell it like it is, but 99% of them just have to tell me that my kid had a great day every day and how is this that a kid who is impulsive, hyper, has sensory issues and an attention span of about two minutes on a good day is sssssooooo perfect all day long? I guarantee that if you REALLY follow this kid and document the day accurately everything would not come out quite so perfect. I know this kid has behaviors and issues that are neither age appropriate nor school acceptable.

I need to know the positive, the negative, and everything in between. I need this information in order to make adjustments in medication, meeting sensory needs, and making transitions. These are all issues we are dealing with on a daily basis.

Kids are kids, I have eight of them and not a one of them is perfect. I do not find it offensive to hear that my kid is not perfect, as a matter of fact I want to know what is going on so I can help them to learn from their behaviors. Lets get it straight not everyone is going to be performing above average, not everyone is able to sit quietly and follow directions all day long, and not everyone loves being a student. That does not mean these kids should not be educated, they should be, but it does mean that sometimes we need to think outside the norm to make it work for them.

Done with the rant, now I have to communicate this so that maybe, just maybe, (I can hope can`t I) some teachers will find it possible to get real.

Here Comes The Water

It is flooding here, thanks to the ten inches or so of rain we had last week. Both of the bridges over the Minnesota River are closed. That leads to some major traffic headaches to deal with.

The school alerted us, ( setting off three cell phones, the house phone, and two e-mail addresses at one time), that buses will be running forty minutes early until the bridges are open again. The driver of the special education bus left us a message that their bus would pick them up twenty minutes early. This leads me to believe that these kids are going to be late to school unless this guy has some secret formula or magic powers which will get his bus around the river faster then everyone else. At any rate they are going to get a long ride. None of my kids who ride this bus have trouble riding so since this will keep them more in their routine we will do this instead of transporting them to school.

I have to figure out how much driving we are going to have to do on Tuesday since both Lauren and Hanna have orthodontist appointments in the metro area and the high way heading from here to there is closed too.

Home Alone

This morning being home alone is so nice. I can listen to whatever music I want to, clean things up in a hurry, go ride bike, and I will have time to bake. I figure the lunch boxes could use some cookies next week.

We go about ten inches of rain, way to much. I am used to seeing sand bags around town every spring, but it is a bit strange to see them out there in September. We live at the top of the valley but much of our town is having flooding issues. It has stopped raining at least for now. We now have a wind advisory. We can`t say that we have boring weather around here since it is always changing.

Next week Lauren and Hanna have medical appointments, yippee, I don`t have to go to the court house at all for jury duty, a bigger yippee, and the biggest yippee of all is I get to go to a mom`s retreat for the weekend! I will use my at home alone time next week making a few meals for Dad and the kids to have while I am gone.

Talken Baseball

Jared and I were having a brief chat about our fabulous Minnesota Twins when Paul had to get his two cents in as well. We have the baseball game on the radio in Paul`s room almost every night because the noise calms him enough to get him to sleep. I don`t know what we will put on when the season ends.

At any rate Jared had said something about the Twins playing very well on the road. Paul chimed in " that`s naughty to play ball on the road".

We went on to discuss the fact that they were playing at home for a few days. Paul says "it`s naughty to play ball in our home too, they should play at the park".

He is just such a concrete thinker. Where ever they are playing way to go Twins!!

Revenge Hanna Style

Yesterday Hanna`s behavior chart from school showed that she had left a mess in the bathroom sink. (Hanna is not exactly a neat freak when it comes to brushing her teeth). One of the boys had reported to the teacher that she had left the mess there. Now Hanna is angry with the kid because as she puts it "he is a tattle tale".

Well I suspect that he nor anyone else wanted to take responsibility for a mess Hanna had made so he told. I do agree that he did tattle, but there are times when it is appropriate to tell and then there are those times when one should not be doing so. The trouble is Hanna does not understand the difference and trying to explain it is getting absolutely no where with her.

She is just plain mad at the kid so I had to send a note to school today to warn them to be on the lookout for revenge Hanna style. She told us several times that she will get him back on Tuesday. (every day in Hanna`s world is Tuesday). I just hope she does not do anything to stupid.

Fall Weekend

Paul plopped down to try out the apples. He thought that he should have a bite or two out of several of them, but we set the limit at just one.
Hey boy, stop!! Paul kept running off with the wagon instead of waiting for the apple pickers to fill it up.
This Oscar the Grouch got Paul`s attention. He did not care at all what is said, he just liked the grouch.

We went to pick raspberries, strawberries, and apples. I froze berries and Jared made apple pies to put in the freezer for the long winter ahead. The kids enjoy going to pick apples and they get so excited that they fill up the basket in a hurry. Jared and I picked the raspberries because they require a whole lot more patience then the younger four have.