Small Victories...

I have been all a-panic lately with Aiden's schooling. Since Aiden has Asperger's he currently attends a program at one of the public schools in our town specifically for children on the Autism Spectrum. However, there are only six kids in his class and all are very 'low' functioning. We decided half way through the year that this wasn't an ideal situation for him, and he moved into a mainstreamed full day kindergarten class at that school. He still received his services, and they actually added some specifically to his IEP that were included with the Insights Program but were never written on his original IEP.

We were told a few months ago (March) to put him in the lottery for Full Day Kindergarten at our district school. He would still get his services, but would just be in his home based school so that he could take the regular bus and make friends with 'neighborhood' kids. However, we didn't 'win' that lottery and he was put on the wait list...number 20 to be exact, which means we would never get him into full day Kindergarten there.

So that is why I've been freaking out. There's NO WAY he could do a half day and still get PT, OT, Speech and Social Emotional therapies. And learn? He'd be spending his day going from one therapist to another, which is just kinda insane right? I was certain our current school was giving us the boot. He is an expensive boy when it comes down to it and the word 'budget' was being thrown in my face far too frequently. There's no room, there's no money, there's no program...blah blah blah...making me just really want to punch someone in the face.

Today we had an IEP meeting to add PT to his current IEP and to continue or previous discussion on what to do about next year. I had been in contact with the school, toured the school, written letters to the school and it had all been "We'll talk about it at his meeting" with no one giving me a clue that they had any idea what to do with my kid besides throw him on the street and decide he was another schools 'problem'. Obviously this isn't the case, but that is where a momma's mind goes...you gotta be prepared for the worst case scenario right?

So, he will be staying at his current school. Attending a half day kindergarten program and be fully mainstreamed, no pull outs for therapy. His Aid will come in with him during English Language Arts and Math every day and help him one to one as he does the things the rest of the class does - he needs help with processing and repeated direction. He will then attend the other half of the day back into the INSIGHTS program that he started the school year in. During this time is when he will receive his OT, PT, Speech and social emotional group therapies. Hooray~ they aren't throwing us on the street! Haha...okay I'm upset with myself for thinking that but whatever.

Anyhow, I have to comment on the victory. It's nice to know that 1)I'm not crazy in thinking my son needs help and 2)he's actually going to get it.

Now to get him HippoTherapy and get the insurance company to pay for it... :D

Stomach Flu

SUCKS

and has caused this momentary interruption in blogging...

Please carry on and try and avoid it at all costs...

(Aiden and I each thankfully only had it for a day, C Dog is on day 2 however...)

Until we are well again...later gators...

My Life's Work...

You ever get into one of those moods where you need to be deep? Where you feel that a pinnacle event is about to occur and you will obviously be having some eye awakening moment that will inspire you to create your lifes' work - a novel pouring out of you -- providing the world with all that wisdom you have to share....wisdom about motherhood, being a woman, spirituality, crafting, or well whatever it is you think you have wisdom on at that moment...



You are pretty sure you are going to end up on Oprah for this, if not Oprah that at least Good Morning America. For sure your mom will call and let you know that she ran into your old 7th grade writing teacher who said they always knew you had it in you. You'll get letters from old friends who you haven't been in touch with for years letting you know how much you have always meant to them and you are so glad to be reunited with them and feeling all on top of the world for helping everyone and being so absolutely wonderful...



And then you feel a tugging on your leg... you are awakened from this 'dream'

And your kid hands you a booger.



Yeah...me too. I have those days ALL THE TIME

(above photo is C in March of 2008...he was 8 months old...I figured a booger shot may not be exactly palatable so I went with this one...he's so cute)

In which life is 'normal'

It's my bday...I wanted to sleep in...

I awoke this morning covered in the pee of my 5 year old...who for some reason came to my bed last night, took off his overnight (yes he still needs one) and cuddled in close...and of course...pee'd.

My 2 year old decided that seven am was a good time to inform me that daddy was laying down and he (meaning C not daddy) just pee'd on the floor and I need to come pick it up.

One of the four legged creatures did something nasty to the floor...haven't figured out yet who it was or what some of it is...but yeah...grossness that you don't need me to explain...

So anyway, not even 9 am and we've delt with a great amount of bodily fluids belonging to others this morning...thankfully however, because of the date...hubby gets to clean most of it up. :D

100th day...

Yesterday was the 100th day of School for Mr. A.



100th day of Kindergarten.

He has technically been there for four additional days then the rest of the kindergarten due to the fact that he is in a program that started school early, but we aren't going to get into the confusing details of that (which is indeed a subject all on itself that will have it's own blog).

Anyhow...A being in school for 100 days means that there are only 80 Days Left!

Yes folks, that's correct, 80 more school days until Summer Vacation!

Didn't we just start this school year??

I will share later, but am in the process of making Mr. A a count down so he can cross off those remainder 80 days...kid is a huge fan of vacation...and an even bigger fan of crossing things off.
:D

Rainy Days are good days...

Rainy days are good days for sitting around the house and doing about zero...with a little added tasks added on you feel incredibly accomplished.



So far I have called Comcast, my sons current school and his future school and managed to feed all critters - big, small, 2 legged and 4 and I feel like I've been incredibly successful, granted it is 11:30 am and C and I are still in our pajama's but whooohooo I'm on a roll...



Perhaps I'll even do a load of laundry and BAKE something today...who knows...I mean it is afterall pouring buckets on this dreary February day. I have no appointments at the shop so the mere fact that I'm not sleeping on the couch or in my bed right now makes me awesome. (Please don't shoot me)

Anyhow, proud of Ree. I am sure that if you are a blog follower then you for sure follow The Pioneer Woman.

If you missed her, here she is on Fox and Friends this morning (ewww Fox)...

And now I MUST go make those Cinnamon Buns...



Ree's Recipe is here: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/cinammon_rolls_/

Mmmm...Pasta...

Wednesday night is Pasta Night at our house.

Do you have a favorite pasta dish?

We try and mix it up so I'd love to hear your favorites.

Happy Anniversary

Today is my 10 Year Cancer-Free Anniversary.




Did you know that all cupcakes in which the frosting has been licked off by your two year old are fair game?

They don't count.

No calories.

No fat.

It's amazing.

I think it has to do with the counteractive properties of their saliva.

Only your child's saliva will work though, so don't even think about the discard tray from your kids 3rd bday party.

That's just gross.

Sunday sunday...Laundry Land

Just another manic SUNDAY...

I'm starting to love Sunday's because this is my day to prep for the week. AND prepping for the week makes the whole week better. Really. It does.

So to start, I am sure that all of Mt. Washmore is put away. Yes, I've named my laundry. I mean think about it, I tend to it every day, it has it's own room, it needs food (detergent)...It's my pet. Rather than calling it Stinky as would be appropriate, I'm going with Mt. Washmore.

I have finally created a system for my boys. Woot. There are two sweater hangers in their closet, one on the left for C, one on the right for A. (The hanger labels are from Living Locurto. Aren't they incredibly awesome and cute? I know I am not using them right, but one of these days I'll tweak them a bit to work for this purpose. But they are cute, add a spot of color and 'neatness' to the chaos.)



I go through their drawers and fill up their cubbies with the clothes that are still in there. This ensures that all clothes are worn. If they aren't being worn and are cowering in the back of that drawer growing dust and a contemptuous attitude...well it's time that sucker be tossed into the Good Will Bag.

Next we put away the laundry from the week that has been collected in their bins. Some goes into the hanging organizers because despite how hard I try there is never enough underwear clean at one time...Somehow they own 37 pairs of underwear and only 4 pairs are ever clean at once...I'm not sure what happens, I think it requires a physics professor, detective and tax analyst to figure it out so I give up.

"WAIT! WHAT?" You ask. "Laundry from the week??!!"

Yes. I roll like that.

Deal.

I do the laundry as I can throughout the week and fold and put them in bins, each person in the house gets a bin. To wash, fold, and put away is just too much for me to handle all in one sitting...I have way to short of an attention span and something always grabs my attention...typically a half dressed child with something inappropriate on his head.

Here are our bins, yeah I know, they ain't pretty but they work for now until I get something totally cool from the container store or something (Liz Lemon much?).

C is potty training, thus the largest bin. Anyone who has been through potty training with a boy (I don't do pull ups) knows why tons of room is completely necessary.

Laundry is put away, voila.
Hanging Organizer is full, voila.
Mt. Washmore is on hiatus for 32 seconds.
And all of Laundry Land is at peace.

contemporary laundry room design

And if you think that is really what my laundry room looks like you have another thing coming! That picture is from Houzz where I spend the day drooling planning future rooms of my future house. I don't even have dry wall in my laundry room...but heck no way I'm showing you those scary depths...

Welcome...

Welcome to my new blog. I haven't decided yet what the focus of this blog will be, so probably something like a little bit of everything and probably a lot of nothing.

It's called "Working Title" because I'm one of those people that hates finalizing things...commitments and choices of being 'stuck' with something (besides my husband that is...hehe) are totally against my grain. Paint colors scare me and choosing pictures for frames seems daunting (yes I have MANY empty frames, some even hanging on my walls!). So I'm working on it...and thus, a working title...

Hope you visit often and please comment. As much as I love talking to myself I enjoy knowing that every once in a while someone else is checking out my shelf of blogland...even if it is to just look at my book jacket...(what?).