Well we finally finished up Paul`s IEP yesterday. It will work, the evaluation which took forever to get done opened a lot of eyes. Now he is old enough that the FASD stuff is really showing up and he is off all seizure medications so he is no longer snowed. The electricity went off about half an hour into the meeting so we got to finish it in the dark. There have been an awful lot of things that have gotten in the way in the process of getting this done.
Then I went home to still no electricty so we took the kids out for pizza.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Monday, January 17, 2011
Late Again
I awoke this morning at 5:45 am (yes, all of my kids were still sleeping for some unknown reason) to the phone ringing. It was the school`s automated system telling me that school would be running 2 hours late, AGAIN! That stinks, I was supposed to be at a meeting at 9:00 am and the bus would not get here until at least 9:15 am. We are not meeting this morning, not sure when that is going to happen as most of this week is packed with Hanna having surgery, Paul`s IEP stuff, and then we are going to do something fun for my birthday next weekend.
She (Hanna) is bonkers, of course right now. We pretty much expected that from her. She trashed her closet and all of the downstairs Friday and Saturday. She will get it cleaned up one way or another. Paul`s tooth fairy money was in her room, but of course according to her, she did not have anything to do with it being there.
Anyway are we going for some kind of a record with all the late starts or what?
She (Hanna) is bonkers, of course right now. We pretty much expected that from her. She trashed her closet and all of the downstairs Friday and Saturday. She will get it cleaned up one way or another. Paul`s tooth fairy money was in her room, but of course according to her, she did not have anything to do with it being there.
Anyway are we going for some kind of a record with all the late starts or what?
Friday, January 14, 2011
The Gym Is Gone Forever
At Paul`s school this week they are presenting their winter music program, you know those little darlings are sssoooooooo cute up their singing. I will attend the program this afternoon, the last show because well, you will figure it out very soon.
The door opened and four kids came in and started taking off the boots, mittens, etc, leaving the door open of course. Then Paul started jumping up and down screaming IT`S GONE, IT`S REALLY GONE FOREVER!!! He is throwing boots, coat, mittens, backpack, lunch box, and glasses at the wall, bam, bam, bam. so I pick him up still in his snow pants and take him to the rocking chair to calm him down.
He is flapping his arms, kicking, screaming, and crying all the while telling me that the gym is gone because there are lots and lots of chairs in there, and peoples, and kids everywhere, it is noisy, the piano is there, and Mrs. Music Teacher, and he is sad because he wants the gym back, and he is very, very sad.
Oh my goodness this kid thinks that because the music program is in the gym it is actually gone forever. I do my best to explain that everything will be back to normal after the program is over, but he does not understand time, he does not transfer information from one setting to another and this music program itself is very hard work for hm.
While I am calming Paul down Allen decides that throwing shoes, boots, coats, etc is the thing to do so our wall now has a few more holes in it and a little less paint on it.
Hanna ate three bags of fruit snacks (the orthodontist is going to cringe when she hears this). The dollar bill Paul had gotten from the tooth fairy was on the corner of the counter because I was going to take it down to the safe when I went down to get milk from the locked refrigerator and I did not have a pocket in my sweat pants. Well at any rate it disappeared and Hanna I know you took it and if you did not give it away I will find it because it has glitter on it, so you have been caught AGAIN!
Lauren was being a very smart young lady, she went downstairs and stayed away until all was calm.
This afternoon I am going to the music program and then I am going to find Paul and take him to the gym. We will sit there and watch them stack the chairs, take down the bleachers, and sweep the floor so that Mrs. Gym Teacher will be in the gym next week and Mrs. Music Teacher will be back in the music room where she belongs.
The door opened and four kids came in and started taking off the boots, mittens, etc, leaving the door open of course. Then Paul started jumping up and down screaming IT`S GONE, IT`S REALLY GONE FOREVER!!! He is throwing boots, coat, mittens, backpack, lunch box, and glasses at the wall, bam, bam, bam. so I pick him up still in his snow pants and take him to the rocking chair to calm him down.
He is flapping his arms, kicking, screaming, and crying all the while telling me that the gym is gone because there are lots and lots of chairs in there, and peoples, and kids everywhere, it is noisy, the piano is there, and Mrs. Music Teacher, and he is sad because he wants the gym back, and he is very, very sad.
Oh my goodness this kid thinks that because the music program is in the gym it is actually gone forever. I do my best to explain that everything will be back to normal after the program is over, but he does not understand time, he does not transfer information from one setting to another and this music program itself is very hard work for hm.
While I am calming Paul down Allen decides that throwing shoes, boots, coats, etc is the thing to do so our wall now has a few more holes in it and a little less paint on it.
Hanna ate three bags of fruit snacks (the orthodontist is going to cringe when she hears this). The dollar bill Paul had gotten from the tooth fairy was on the corner of the counter because I was going to take it down to the safe when I went down to get milk from the locked refrigerator and I did not have a pocket in my sweat pants. Well at any rate it disappeared and Hanna I know you took it and if you did not give it away I will find it because it has glitter on it, so you have been caught AGAIN!
Lauren was being a very smart young lady, she went downstairs and stayed away until all was calm.
This afternoon I am going to the music program and then I am going to find Paul and take him to the gym. We will sit there and watch them stack the chairs, take down the bleachers, and sweep the floor so that Mrs. Gym Teacher will be in the gym next week and Mrs. Music Teacher will be back in the music room where she belongs.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
One Down Nineteen To Go
Paul lost his first tooth today while at school. He must have swallowed it or something because he did not bring it home with him. This tooth has been loose since early December. He was not going to let anyone take it out of his mouth. The new tooth is already coming up. It looks really crooked, sigh, really big sigh, do we have another kid needing the orthodontist? He only has nineteen more to lose. Our little boy is growing up fast,very fast.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Just A Flower
We had a meeting yesterday afternoon with twelve people in attendance and three more that should have been there. ( I did excuse them knowing there was plenty of information already and they will get there chance later). We began going over the evaluation that I had requested last spring which is finally done. In this testing Paul was the sweet little guy I know. All of there formal testing told them EVERYTHING I have been telling them for a long time now.
Paul was having trouble with one part of the testing so he told them that he was not going to do it, "lets just pretend". I thought that was pretty creative coming from him. On another part he was asked to identify pictures and when he came to the picture of the flower he said that it was a flower and then he was asked what kind of flower it was he said "just a flower".
Paul is not able to pay attention to details at this point unless he is obsessing with something (usually cars). He does not care if it is a red rose, a yellow tulip, or blue daisy, a flower is a flower and that`s that. That is okay for him right now, we can worry about the details later if and when he ever gets to that point.
Now comes the tricky part of this I as his mom know all of the details and want them documented to represent the complete picture of who he is, how he functions, and how to best provide a learning environment that will meet as many of his needs as possible. He is a complex child who has numerous diagnosis so there needs to be a fair amount of detail here. I have a team of fourteen other people who are not seeing all of the details that I am so we have to come to some sort of agreement as to how to best do this. I am willing to make some concessions, but I do not want to make the picture so simple as to leave out important information that could really help them to work with him effectively and make his school experience the best that it can be.
Until next week when we meet again to try to finish this laborious task I have some details to think about. If only it were "just a flower" life would be so much easier wouldn`t it,
Paul was having trouble with one part of the testing so he told them that he was not going to do it, "lets just pretend". I thought that was pretty creative coming from him. On another part he was asked to identify pictures and when he came to the picture of the flower he said that it was a flower and then he was asked what kind of flower it was he said "just a flower".
Paul is not able to pay attention to details at this point unless he is obsessing with something (usually cars). He does not care if it is a red rose, a yellow tulip, or blue daisy, a flower is a flower and that`s that. That is okay for him right now, we can worry about the details later if and when he ever gets to that point.
Now comes the tricky part of this I as his mom know all of the details and want them documented to represent the complete picture of who he is, how he functions, and how to best provide a learning environment that will meet as many of his needs as possible. He is a complex child who has numerous diagnosis so there needs to be a fair amount of detail here. I have a team of fourteen other people who are not seeing all of the details that I am so we have to come to some sort of agreement as to how to best do this. I am willing to make some concessions, but I do not want to make the picture so simple as to leave out important information that could really help them to work with him effectively and make his school experience the best that it can be.
Until next week when we meet again to try to finish this laborious task I have some details to think about. If only it were "just a flower" life would be so much easier wouldn`t it,
Friday, January 7, 2011
Aurgh!! Anyway
We have been back from vacation for less then two weeks and every single day I have had to go some place or do something. Today is the first day everyone else has been out of the house doing their own thing and then when I turn on the news at lunch time I see schools are closing early due to the weather as close as twenty- five miles away. They better stay put here!
We are still working on getting Lauren`s seizure issues under control. This involves a lot of medical appointments, phone calls, and documenting. It is going to take some time to get this right, but we will figure it out. We have an excellent team working on it.
Hanna has been bonkers lately. She is scheduled to have surgery in less then two weeks and she knows something is up. We will be going over the particulars many, many times with her. Finding ways to deal with her when she does not understand takes some creativity. In the mean time she is really trying the patience of all of us.
We have finally completed a full evaluation for Paul so I am preparing for a meeting to get things moving forward for him. I know everyone is not going to be on the same page here so I am getting prepared to be the crazy mom if I have to.
Someone (thanks Trevor) who was trying to be helpful, left the freezer door open so we had to have a cleaning party late the other night. We had lots of things that were usable but could not go back in the freezer so I have been cooking it all up.
My van was is an accident while we were gone (one PCA backed into the other on the ice) and the re-set switch for the wheelchair ramp was damaged so we have been putting it up and down by hand until we can get the part to fix it. This is a dirty, heavy, job to do by hand. The insurance paperwork is finally all done so now all I have to do is get an authorized person to repair the thing. I hope we do not have to take it to the cities to get it done. That would be just one more trip I do not need.
We have nothing on the schedule except to get grocries (we always need those) this weekend so I hope that I can get caught up on a few things here, even with the kids at home. It is going to be cold and windy so there is not going to be any chance that I can send them outside for very long.
We are still working on getting Lauren`s seizure issues under control. This involves a lot of medical appointments, phone calls, and documenting. It is going to take some time to get this right, but we will figure it out. We have an excellent team working on it.
Hanna has been bonkers lately. She is scheduled to have surgery in less then two weeks and she knows something is up. We will be going over the particulars many, many times with her. Finding ways to deal with her when she does not understand takes some creativity. In the mean time she is really trying the patience of all of us.
We have finally completed a full evaluation for Paul so I am preparing for a meeting to get things moving forward for him. I know everyone is not going to be on the same page here so I am getting prepared to be the crazy mom if I have to.
Someone (thanks Trevor) who was trying to be helpful, left the freezer door open so we had to have a cleaning party late the other night. We had lots of things that were usable but could not go back in the freezer so I have been cooking it all up.
My van was is an accident while we were gone (one PCA backed into the other on the ice) and the re-set switch for the wheelchair ramp was damaged so we have been putting it up and down by hand until we can get the part to fix it. This is a dirty, heavy, job to do by hand. The insurance paperwork is finally all done so now all I have to do is get an authorized person to repair the thing. I hope we do not have to take it to the cities to get it done. That would be just one more trip I do not need.
We have nothing on the schedule except to get grocries (we always need those) this weekend so I hope that I can get caught up on a few things here, even with the kids at home. It is going to be cold and windy so there is not going to be any chance that I can send them outside for very long.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Hanna Is Up To No Good
We had a really great vacation!!! I will be sure to put some photos up when I get around to it, but for now we are back to normal routine.
Yesterday Rene` had the kids get their backpacks out so that we could make sure they had everything ready to go back to school. They all got the job done except Hanna. She could not find her backpack anywhere so we told her that she was going to have to give up some of her allowance to put up as a reward for the finder. Everyone searched this house, van, truck, and garage for it. Lauren and Rene` emptied out the closet completely looking for it. We could not find it so I had Rene` call Christine (one of the PCAs who watched her while we were gone and she told her that the backpack had been on the stool in the dining room. That is where four us of remembered seeing it. She also said that there had been candy in it from school. Knowing that there was candy in the backpack we gave up the search. I told Hanna that if it did not turn up she was going to be buying a new one and replacing the contents as well.
This morning two minutes after it was time to be heading out the door to catch the bus that hot green backpack appeared in the closet where it is supposed to be, the one the girls had emptied just yesterday afternoon. Just for the record the candy was ALL gone, but there were plenty of empty wrappers in there.
We are back to our reality that's for sure.
Yesterday Rene` had the kids get their backpacks out so that we could make sure they had everything ready to go back to school. They all got the job done except Hanna. She could not find her backpack anywhere so we told her that she was going to have to give up some of her allowance to put up as a reward for the finder. Everyone searched this house, van, truck, and garage for it. Lauren and Rene` emptied out the closet completely looking for it. We could not find it so I had Rene` call Christine (one of the PCAs who watched her while we were gone and she told her that the backpack had been on the stool in the dining room. That is where four us of remembered seeing it. She also said that there had been candy in it from school. Knowing that there was candy in the backpack we gave up the search. I told Hanna that if it did not turn up she was going to be buying a new one and replacing the contents as well.
This morning two minutes after it was time to be heading out the door to catch the bus that hot green backpack appeared in the closet where it is supposed to be, the one the girls had emptied just yesterday afternoon. Just for the record the candy was ALL gone, but there were plenty of empty wrappers in there.
We are back to our reality that's for sure.
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