tidbits

Sweet Pea is back from camp and big brother is off to Boy Scout camp with his dad (I guess I should say “cub scout” instead.  I still can’t get in my head that they’re NOT the same thing.  Sorry dear!).  So, we are another kid (and adult) short this week, again.  They’ll be back mid-Wednesday though.  I know they’ll have a ball and there will be plenty of father/son bonding which is SOOO good!

My family will be coming by for the 4th holiday.  I’m looking forward to spending time with them.  I really need my mom sometimes (even as an adult…I hope my kids feel the same way one day) and it will be good to see her again.

We are struggling with the diagnosis process with our 5 yo.  We saw the “ROT” office last Tuesday.  It was a joke.  The doc was diagnosing ADHD just talking to dh and I, without ever seeing our son, and after telling us she was incapable of diagnosing anything because we didn’t take him to public school.  Evidently in order to give an accurate diagnosis they have to go off of the observations of a teacher, instead of a parent.  We’re not qualified to look at behaviors and determine whether or not they’re on the range of normal.  Yeah.  We walked out of that office and won’t be back.  She was a bit intimidated by us.  The fact that I was using words like “proprioceptive” and “neurotypical” just threw her for a complete loop. 

SO we’re back to square one and trying to find someone competent to evaluate our son.  I think by the end of this whole process we’ll be the ones in need of evaluation. 

I am off to make mac and cheese.  The dinner of superheros!

 

Peace!

 

We have…

TEETH!!

2 to be exact.  On the bottom.  They’ve been breaking the surface for awhile now.  I’ve not blogged about it because, really?  I’ve just not felt the need. 

Until now.

OUCH.  Baby teeth hurt.  Bad.  I knew that.  I promise I did, but I had NO IDEA what they would feel like on my nipple.  How do you keep from getting bit?  What are your tricks?  I am in need of any and all ideas!  I’ve been yelling “ouch!!” and taking him off the breast but it’s not working incredibly well thus far.  It doesn’t help that he’s only 4.5 mos old and the understanding just isn’t there.

Thanks in advance.

Peace.

“you are my sunshine…”

My sunshine is gone.  Only for a week, but still. 

#2 is away at Girl Scout camp.  I know she’s enjoying every minute (and yep, I told her to pack her rosary!!) riding horses and hanging out with friends, swimming and climbing.  I know she’s having fun, and I hope she is missing us just a little.

I didn’t realize how much she contributes to the over all attitude of the entire family.  She is our ray of light and our bubbly happiness, even when she’s not.  I can’t wait to go pick her up tomorrow and listen to hours of endless chatter about her week.  I can’t wait to hear what friends she meets and how much she would like to go back next year. 

Just waitin on sunshine to return…

grammar, what grammar??

Ugh.  I have read back over a few posts, just to remember what I wrote and am ashamed at the grammar mistakes I have been making.  Not that I plan to stop, NO SIR!  I am not willing to constantly police myself for the sake of blogdom.  Just know that I am fully aware and will catch what I can when I can.  If at all possilbe, love me in spite of em (or because of em, I’m not particularly partial).

 

Peace!!

beautiful.

She’s gorgeous.  I’ve known it for years. 

Not the “cutsie” kind of gorgeous either.  Nope.  She’s Sophia Lauren, scare the heck out of guys, mysterious, doesn’t know it, kind of gorgeous.

The only thing I can take comfort in is how intimidating a young woman that looks as beautiful as she does can be to young men.

I am normally in a state of constant denial.  I am happy in that state.  Really, I promise I am.  Then something happens, she does something, participates in something and everyone feels the need to come out of the wood work to tell me (as if I haven’t already noticed) how beautiful she really is.

My baby girl is growing up.  She is turning into a young woman and she is doing it quite gracefully.  I like the woman I see her becoming.  She kissed her little sister on the head when she (the little sister) arrived a bit late for a field trip.  She can react with such tenderness and warmth (qualities I wish I possessed). 

She’s beautiful and I can’t be more proud.

busy, again???

I am always saying that life has been busy, but REALLY!  It’s been really busy.  I’ve been teaching at church for the past week and a half.  It’s something that I am committed to doing, but more exhausting than I remember.  One thing it has done for me (outside of the intrinsic value of teaching children thier faith…blah blah blah) is to show me that my family doesn’t do well at getting out the door early.  Or quickly.

Makes trying to head to school on a regular basis seem nearly impossible.

Still working on that schooling decision.  But it’s becoming more clear.

 

Peace!

R.O.T.?

We are trying to get the 5 year old (the one with SPD) in to a behavioral psychologist.  I got a name from my OT (occupational therapist) and called that office.  The reaction of the receptionist really shook my confidence in this particular office.  I am hoping that she is just someone’s mother that was filling in for the day.  I’m afraid to call back and find out the answer to my question.

To start it off with, she couldn’t hear me.  I was in a quiet room on my cell.  Still couldn’t hear me.  I told her our OT had referred me to the office and we were in need of getting our son further evaluated (this is a doc that could diagnose  spectrum disorders) and that he had SPD.  I had to explain what SPD was (that should have clued me in) I had to repeat many times over the name of the OT group we go to.  One known throughout the state.  Ugh.  She talked to me about her grandson, who is 10, has SPD, sees a doc in a major town south of here, homeschools, and whose mother gets a lot of info off the internet, and why don’t I go that route as well….

As I was hanging up (very near pulling all of my hair out from frustration) she asked who referred us to their office.  Ummmmm.  I already told you, but ok.  “Our OT.”  “R.O.T.??? What is ROT?”  “Our occupational therapist”  “Oh!  Your occupational therapist is named ROT?”  “No.  Our occupational therapist is <name> just like I told you 5 minutes ago”  “ok, but, what’s ROT?”

ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously. 

 

I really hope this doc is worth it!

 

Peace.

what to do, what to do…

It’s been awhile, hasn’t it??

I’ve been busy contemplating our schooling options as the summer rushes in on us. 

 As I’ve mentioned before I have a son with SPD.  He’s a challenge at best.  He demands a decent amount of my time when things are going well.  I love him, but he is a driving force in our family.  His demands on my time during the school day have made it challenging to get school accomplished with the other children.  I have fallen into the theory that the family would be better off away from him, and I, than here, dealing with the challenges that we all deal with having a loved one with special needs.  We have thought, briefly, about putting the children in public school.  It’s just not an option for our family.  We’ve gone to the private school that most appeals to us and meets our needs.  It’s lovely.  Small.  Sweet.  30 miles away.  We are trying to weigh the cost, not just in fuel but also in the emotional toll it would take on the 3 children (including the SPD child) that I would have at home with me. 

I’ve been struggling with the decision.  I have thought that I couldn’t provide the best quality of education through high school.  I didn’t trust that I could give my children what they needed.  I think often we fall into the trap of self doubt.  The enemy relishes when we fall so easily. 

I approached a friend whose children I greatly admire.  One is in college now and the other two are in high school and junior high.  I approached her about her experiences with homeschooling through high school, and just in general.  She said something to me that I am still digesting.  She said she often felt inadequate herself.  OFTEN.  Her children will sometimes come to her because they feel “alone” and like they have no friends.  Her response to their anguish is that maybe they are at the point in their life where their friends seem distant because God wants them to work on something within themselves.  She spoke to me about my inadequacies saying “I finally realized that my children not scoring two or three points higher on their ACT was ok, as long as their souls were intact.”  She said that it was her job to get them to adulthood with their souls as pure as possible.  The ACT really isn’t as important.

I am still digesting what she said.  I am still trying to place that on the sweet little shelf I’d like to place it on so I can walk away and forget it and come back and dust it everyonceinawhile.  I’d like to leave it for someone else to discover.  The reality is that I needed to hear it.  Now I can’t just place it on a shelf and walk away.

So I’m praying.  Still.

But things are getting clearer.  Slowly.

Peace.