We have had kids in school for 23 years, yet we have never had a school week quite like the one we are finishing up today. Monday and Tuesday school was 2 hours late because of freezing rain and ice. Wednesday school was on time, however it was a "home room" day so classes did not run on the regular schedule. Yesterday and again today everything is running 2 hours late because of the extreme cold brought about mostly because of some nasty wind blowing from the north.
All of this schedule rearranging makes for lots of chaos with 4 kids who like routine and function best when it is there. They do not understand how to relax and for goodness sakes they could never sleep in, ever. They don`t get time so they are always in a hurry to do everything. Make any little change and you have messed their entire day up. We have had plenty of tears, thrown brushes and shoes, spitting, head banging, screaming, stomping, kicking, and the like. Yesterday Hanna was being extremely oppositional. She just was not going to do anything that she was supposed to be doing. She was angry about the behavior of some 7th grade boys which took place last school year. She was stuck and there was no getting her off that topic. Finally after listening to that nonsense for over an hour we decided that she was just staying home. She spent the better part of the day angry at those boys. Today they all made it out the door and hopefully can keep things together at least until they get home. We are going to hang out at home this weekend and hopefully things will be back on schedule Monday morning. We do not need any more 2 hours late around here. We have had enough drama to last us for a very long time.
Friday, February 1, 2013
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
It Is Time To Move On
Since the kids went back to school earlier this month Hanna has been stuck on Martin Luther King`s birthday. They work on a calendar, what comes first, next, weather, holidays, etc.
First it was January 15th is his real birthday, but that is Karre`s birthday and they can not have the same day. We explained that millions of people share the same birthday and that is okay. After we got her off that she could not figure out how come his birthday is being celebrated on the 21st this year and it is celebrated on different days depending on how the Mondays land on the calendar. There was no explaining to get that concept through to her so we pretty much gave up and told her that is just the way it is. After that there was the fact that there was no school here on that day and it was not really because of the holiday, it just happened to be the end of the quarter and that Monday was a teachers work day. We did not even try to bother and explain that to her.
Hanna was supposed to think of things about the holiday or things she might do to celebrate it so she could write them on her calendar page so she comes up with making a snowman, but we do not have any snow. Then there was making hot chocolate (which is chocolate milk with ice cubes in it). There were several others, but the best one was that she was going to make birthday cards for the sick people in the hospital. Now she has something new to be stuck on, since we are trying to explain get well cards, anniversary cards, baby cards, etc.
I don`t know if she has learned anything about Martin Luther King or how holidays work on the calendar or anything else, but she sure has been busy being stuck on it. I am glad it is finally over so we, hopefully can move on to something else.
First it was January 15th is his real birthday, but that is Karre`s birthday and they can not have the same day. We explained that millions of people share the same birthday and that is okay. After we got her off that she could not figure out how come his birthday is being celebrated on the 21st this year and it is celebrated on different days depending on how the Mondays land on the calendar. There was no explaining to get that concept through to her so we pretty much gave up and told her that is just the way it is. After that there was the fact that there was no school here on that day and it was not really because of the holiday, it just happened to be the end of the quarter and that Monday was a teachers work day. We did not even try to bother and explain that to her.
Hanna was supposed to think of things about the holiday or things she might do to celebrate it so she could write them on her calendar page so she comes up with making a snowman, but we do not have any snow. Then there was making hot chocolate (which is chocolate milk with ice cubes in it). There were several others, but the best one was that she was going to make birthday cards for the sick people in the hospital. Now she has something new to be stuck on, since we are trying to explain get well cards, anniversary cards, baby cards, etc.
I don`t know if she has learned anything about Martin Luther King or how holidays work on the calendar or anything else, but she sure has been busy being stuck on it. I am glad it is finally over so we, hopefully can move on to something else.
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Superman
It is so nice to have a soon-to-be occupational therapist in the family. There are things for the littles to work on all the time. We work on one or two at a time. Sometimes there is success and then sometimes it just isn`t going to happen no matter what.
We have been crushing pills every single day, at least twice a day since Paul arrived. He will most likely need to be taking medications for all of his life in order to function to the best of his ability. Anyway crushed meds mixed in apple sauce are just part of every day, that is until Rene` got him to swallow his smallest pills uncrushed with the apple sauce. Paul was one very excited little boy when he finally realized that he had done it. After they worked on that for a couple of days he started doing the same thing with the capsiles, and finally the larger chalky ones were added. He did it, yesterday we did not have to crush any meds at all!!! We have been telling him that he is a real Superman because he can do this. Next we have to work on changing from apple sauce to water, but that will come soon enough.
Now if Rene` can get Allen to stop chewing his meds, which gives me the shivers every time he does it, that would be so awesome.
We have been crushing pills every single day, at least twice a day since Paul arrived. He will most likely need to be taking medications for all of his life in order to function to the best of his ability. Anyway crushed meds mixed in apple sauce are just part of every day, that is until Rene` got him to swallow his smallest pills uncrushed with the apple sauce. Paul was one very excited little boy when he finally realized that he had done it. After they worked on that for a couple of days he started doing the same thing with the capsiles, and finally the larger chalky ones were added. He did it, yesterday we did not have to crush any meds at all!!! We have been telling him that he is a real Superman because he can do this. Next we have to work on changing from apple sauce to water, but that will come soon enough.
Now if Rene` can get Allen to stop chewing his meds, which gives me the shivers every time he does it, that would be so awesome.
Friday, January 4, 2013
One Ends Another Begins
It has been awhile since I have had a chance to blog here. We have been busy.
We took a much needed break and found some sunshine, relaxation, and drama free days away from here. While we were gone PCAs held down the fort here just fine.
We came home just in time to celebrate Allen`s birthday. He is so easy to please and appreciates all the little things that life brings his way. We had sandwiches and cookies in the van while we drove around looking at Christmas lights and most of us sang along with the Christmas music on the radio, too. Jared called while we were on our adventure so most of us spent some time talking with him as well.
We had Christmas dinner of roast duck and chicken, vegetables, dinner rolls, and cookies, (menu chosen by Trevor this year). We draw names and Jared had gotten Paul`s name. He had asked Paul what he wanted and he had told Jared that he wanted Army underwear. Jared asked what that meant and I told him I didn`t know. He got Paul a kid sized Army uniform, complete with his name on the jacket and the rank of captain. Paul is adorable in it! He got Kermit D`Frog from his Godfather and the frog is wearing Cars pajamas so Paul thinks he is really cool. Paul didn`t remember that he had actually gotten to "make" the frog a couple of months earlier.
A couple of days after Christmas Paul turned 8. He was so excited to be 8 because "I am crazy like crazy 8". He lost 2 teeth that week as well. He wanted Taco John`s for dinner. (His birthday is the only day of the year I will eat that).
Now we are into the new year and the kids are back in school. Rene` doesn`t start her final internship for another week. She was supposed to start Monday, but that got changed and now she is also unexpectedly getting paid for doing this one so she is happy about that. We are getting some projects done here. I organized and got rid of some of the kids movies. I need to go through their games and books. too. We are going to take one day for ourselves too.
It is full speed ahead as always around here, another year of appointments, paperwork, etc. has begun.
We took a much needed break and found some sunshine, relaxation, and drama free days away from here. While we were gone PCAs held down the fort here just fine.
We came home just in time to celebrate Allen`s birthday. He is so easy to please and appreciates all the little things that life brings his way. We had sandwiches and cookies in the van while we drove around looking at Christmas lights and most of us sang along with the Christmas music on the radio, too. Jared called while we were on our adventure so most of us spent some time talking with him as well.
We had Christmas dinner of roast duck and chicken, vegetables, dinner rolls, and cookies, (menu chosen by Trevor this year). We draw names and Jared had gotten Paul`s name. He had asked Paul what he wanted and he had told Jared that he wanted Army underwear. Jared asked what that meant and I told him I didn`t know. He got Paul a kid sized Army uniform, complete with his name on the jacket and the rank of captain. Paul is adorable in it! He got Kermit D`Frog from his Godfather and the frog is wearing Cars pajamas so Paul thinks he is really cool. Paul didn`t remember that he had actually gotten to "make" the frog a couple of months earlier.
Now we are into the new year and the kids are back in school. Rene` doesn`t start her final internship for another week. She was supposed to start Monday, but that got changed and now she is also unexpectedly getting paid for doing this one so she is happy about that. We are getting some projects done here. I organized and got rid of some of the kids movies. I need to go through their games and books. too. We are going to take one day for ourselves too.
It is full speed ahead as always around here, another year of appointments, paperwork, etc. has begun.
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Special Mail
The chore of going through the mail is one that I get done every 2 or 3 days. There are lots of catalogs, offers to give us credit cards of all sorts, things telling us that we have won this or that, and a couple of times a month there is a bill or 2 which needs to be paid. Mail fills up the shredder and recycling bin regularly.
While going through the usual garbage I came across something unusual, a large envelope, decorated with snowflakes, a snowman, and plenty of glitter. When I opened it gift cards fell out of it, (lots of gift cards). The card enclosed with them read in part "spreading joy to people who are special in the lives of adopted kids. All of us are wishing you happiness this season and good things in the coming year" It was signed with "thank you from all of us.
The post mark on the envelope was from this area. We have no idea who sent it, but it feels wonderful to know that there are people out there who appreciate what we do every day of the the year. We very much treasure our adopted kids, yes, even when they are being rather challenging. We are glad that others have taken notice of what we are doing, but we never expect to be thanked for it. Anyway whoever you are THANK YOU! from all of us.
While going through the usual garbage I came across something unusual, a large envelope, decorated with snowflakes, a snowman, and plenty of glitter. When I opened it gift cards fell out of it, (lots of gift cards). The card enclosed with them read in part "spreading joy to people who are special in the lives of adopted kids. All of us are wishing you happiness this season and good things in the coming year" It was signed with "thank you from all of us.
The post mark on the envelope was from this area. We have no idea who sent it, but it feels wonderful to know that there are people out there who appreciate what we do every day of the the year. We very much treasure our adopted kids, yes, even when they are being rather challenging. We are glad that others have taken notice of what we are doing, but we never expect to be thanked for it. Anyway whoever you are THANK YOU! from all of us.
Friday, December 7, 2012
Making Adjustments
It is about time I get around to posting something here. I know it has been awhile, but really I have been busy with all the tasks involved in being the mom of 4 kids with special needs.
Allen and Paul are doing just fine, as is usually the situation. Rene`, Allen, and I took Allen`s Mum (birth mother) out for lunch. She so much appreciates us letting her be involved in his life. That is not the situation with her other kid, though and the whole thing is very sad.
Lauren had a seizure just before Thanksgiving so we had to adjust her medication and shunt a bit. She is doing fine and hopefully that continues for a long while.
We have a new psych doc. for Hanna and I think this will work out, but it is going to take some time and the psych resident has got to go, lets just say that this resident does not get Hanna and does not know how to communicate with me. The first thing was to take Hanna completely off her ADHD med. She is just a bit off task, has a shorter attention span and is not able to attend to details. She is sorting things into color categories so we have a bin with Elmo, a red crayon, a red car, some red puzzle pieces, a red ball, red Duplo blocks, etc. in it. We also have other bins filled with things of every other color of the rainbow just like that one and for all of the things that are to colorful, which she has not been able to decide what bin they should go in there is a pile that she calls the rainbow group. She not only did this with the toys, crafts supplies, and games, but she did it to my pantry. Needless to say I can`t find a thing around here right now. We are going to have to straighten all of this out, but I have the feeling that there will be crazy land to deal with when we do it. Taking her off this med has not done anything to lessen her extreme anxiety which is what we were trying to do so we will soon be trying something else.
The other day Hanna came home with a small candle which she had purchased from the "school store" for Jared. Trying to explain to her that we can not send a candle to him in his Christmas box because he is in the Army, in the Middle East, where they work with bombs, guns, dynamite, and other things that can be blown up is not sinking in at all. I will have to get that box sent off one of these days while she is in school otherwise there will be trouble to deal with.
Anyway things just keep moving along one day folding into the next. It is all okay because very soon I am going to leave this routine behind for a week of vacation. I am so ready to go!
Allen and Paul are doing just fine, as is usually the situation. Rene`, Allen, and I took Allen`s Mum (birth mother) out for lunch. She so much appreciates us letting her be involved in his life. That is not the situation with her other kid, though and the whole thing is very sad.
Lauren had a seizure just before Thanksgiving so we had to adjust her medication and shunt a bit. She is doing fine and hopefully that continues for a long while.
We have a new psych doc. for Hanna and I think this will work out, but it is going to take some time and the psych resident has got to go, lets just say that this resident does not get Hanna and does not know how to communicate with me. The first thing was to take Hanna completely off her ADHD med. She is just a bit off task, has a shorter attention span and is not able to attend to details. She is sorting things into color categories so we have a bin with Elmo, a red crayon, a red car, some red puzzle pieces, a red ball, red Duplo blocks, etc. in it. We also have other bins filled with things of every other color of the rainbow just like that one and for all of the things that are to colorful, which she has not been able to decide what bin they should go in there is a pile that she calls the rainbow group. She not only did this with the toys, crafts supplies, and games, but she did it to my pantry. Needless to say I can`t find a thing around here right now. We are going to have to straighten all of this out, but I have the feeling that there will be crazy land to deal with when we do it. Taking her off this med has not done anything to lessen her extreme anxiety which is what we were trying to do so we will soon be trying something else.
The other day Hanna came home with a small candle which she had purchased from the "school store" for Jared. Trying to explain to her that we can not send a candle to him in his Christmas box because he is in the Army, in the Middle East, where they work with bombs, guns, dynamite, and other things that can be blown up is not sinking in at all. I will have to get that box sent off one of these days while she is in school otherwise there will be trouble to deal with.
Anyway things just keep moving along one day folding into the next. It is all okay because very soon I am going to leave this routine behind for a week of vacation. I am so ready to go!
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Meow
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