Back to School? What Happened to Summer?

Well, you read it right, Katie started her new school year today. She was a little confused - and there was some whining when she saw the bus pull up to our house. But once she was on, she was good. Happy. We are thankful that she enjoys riding the bus.
Mary is off at camp this week, so the house is quiet. It's almost strange. It's a little weird for summer break. The good news for Katie is that she is in school for 2 weeks and then she will have another 2 weeks off. It's an unusual school schedule, but I think it will work for her. She only had 5 weeks off for her main summer break - and let me tell you, she is ready (needs) to go back to school. She has loved the pool and watching videos, but trying to keep her actively engaged was starting to become a struggle. I'm sure she will run for the pool as soon as gets off the bus this afternoon - and that will be just fine with me. I'll post more once she's home and I find out how her day went...

Onward and Upward.....and maybe even healthy!

Yep, I hesitate to say this, but I think we might actually be getting healthy. Wow, it's been a long time coming. Katie is back on antibiotics, but they actually seem to be working this time...so that is a huge bonus. Mary is on the mend, too....so I think we're getting there.

School for Katie does continue to be a challenge. With two new children in her small (6 students) classroom - and her routine has been blown to bits. She has been a bit uneasy, naughty, and almost irritable. She didn't eat anything today at school, but when she got home she pigged out. She's been "hitting"( I hesitate to use the term hitting as I think it is more of an expression of dislike as to what she is being asked to do. Often when she is stimming and someone -- a teacher etc-- asks her to stop stimming, she almost slaps or hits them in a reactionary way as if to say "NO, I'm not stopping". ) and actually did try to run away as she often did in previous years. Only once though..teacher put an end to that at the first sign of fleeing.... We have conferences tomorrow and that will be a good time to see where she is. We do have that classroom locked in for next year, so that is a good thing....I think we are just in a period of adjustment for her as she gets used to the two new students that are finding their own way into this unique class.

The girls have half days tomorrow and Friday - and then are off Monday and Tuesday, so we are looking forward to a little family time. We have some fun things planned ....so there will be a lot to report on next week. Happy March!

Sick of Being Sick

Well, I'm just back from the ER...has this been a winter or what? Mary has some weird infection in her ear where there is a bunch of fluid that has actually bubbled or blisted on top of her ear drum. It could rupture (we are hoping not)...and she has a fever and feels horrible. Her wonderful teacher had the office to call me to pick her up as she was so lethargic the teacher was concerned she wouldn't be able to ride the bus home successfully. She got a shot of rocefin in the ER. If you've never had the pleasure, I call it the miracle antibiotic. It truly knocks the bacteria out of their bodies - and considering that she has had 2 other courses of antibiotic in the last 6 weeks, I am ready for this to be done....

On a lighter note, I received a note home from Katie's teacher today which read:

"...Katie took all of her clothes off during circle time :), but other than that she had a great day!"

How can you not laugh when you read that!

A Long, Hard Winter

Well, yes, it is February and it is definitely still winter here in Michigan. We got several inches of snow yesterday -- and 8 more are predicted for Wednesday - yes, 8 inches. I was ready for winter to be finished about 2 months ago--- so for now we are just taking it day by day and praying for some significant sunshine :)

We have all been very sick lately, too. Bill, Katie and I are all on antibiotics. Mary finished her second round earlier in the week. I'm not sure if it is because of the weather, or the kids' school, or what, but it just seems like we have all had a lot of trouble getting healthy this winter. I invested in a jumbo size can of Lysol at the grocery store (1/2 off this week - so that was an added bonus) and I've been walking around the house spraying everything with Lysol. Window sills, sinks, doorknobs, remotes, telephones...all that stuff...in hopes of eliminating whatever germs have managed to set up shop in our home. I really wish we could just open the windows and air things out - but at 30 degrees I don't think that is a realistic option!!

Not too much else happening here....Mary is going to be an elephant in her 3rd grade musical in March...too funny! Can't wait to see it. Katie continues to be doing well, and we are happy with the fact that she is now "locked in" to the same classroom for next year with her amazing teacher!

Hope you had a fabulous Valentines' Day!

3rd grade update...

Yes, after 3 full days in 3rd grade, Mary (and mommy, too) seem to be adjusting well. I think we have most of the kinks ironed out (Monday was a little rough). Mary seems to be making friends fairly well...and I am anticipating good things. They started learning their multiplication tables yesterday...so I am glad she is there and somewhat settle to begin that learning process with her new peers.

Katie is also adjusting well to the return to school. Almost surprisingly so. She seems quite happy to be back in a daily routine with her teacher and friends...so we are thankful for that, too. I am going to try and take to speech therapy tomorrow afternoon. She hasn't been since early November, so I'm not sure what her reaction will be. It seems her aversion to transition has grown -- and when we leave school and go places - or vice versa - this is when she often develops self-harming behavior (like when she slammed her face into the sink at school and blood was basically everywhere....). So, with that said, therapy days are always kind of a wild-card. I'll be interested to see how tomorrow goes. We have skiing tomorrow night, too -- but it has become very cold here - and is supposed to keep dropping - so we'll have to see how that develops -- maybe I'll actually get to take some pictures.

Brrrrr..

Well with the beginning of October, cold weather has descended upon Michigan. That makes life a little more complicated for us. No more outdoor swimming for Katie -- she was still "swimming" as of last week -- it was still in the high 70's here - even though our pool has been down for several weeks now. It also means that Katie has to wear socks -- which is on her list of "dislikes" - but she is becoming more tolerant of them as she gets older. They fly off of her feet the second she gets in the house after school! Cold weather also means that these are not a good option for her - even though they are her favorite.. She likes to wear them all winter -- but we often get weird looks for that! (and no, I don't buy the brand name ones, Family Dollar has great ones for 2.99 -- and sometimes Meijer has them for 4.00 - so that is usually my preference -- HELLO! we're on a budget people! Although I must say that now that gas has come down under 3.50 a gallon here - our budget is much improved !!!

Not too much else to report. The girls have a big walk at school tomorrow - it's the fundraiser for the parents club, of which I am the Sr. Co-chair, so I'll probably be spending a few hours at school tomorrow. I'll try to take some new pics -- it's been awhile -- and I need a new profile pic for my facebook page, too!

Too much to tell...

Wow - a week since my last post, it must be the school year. No new pics - or if I do have them I haven't uploaded in awhile. Things have just been crazy here. Mondays are BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) for both Mary and I. Tuesday is Girl Scouts. Wednesday is Music Makers for Mary (school aged after school music program). Thursday is soccer practice and speech therapy for Katie. Friday might be the only weekday that we don't have a regular commitment. Saturday is soccer and soon starting will be Special Olympics swimming. (I'm really looking forward to that for both of the girls, as Mary will also get to participate in the practices). Sunday is church day and then we start all over. Yikes!

Anyway -- what a day today was. Katie had a small accident at school today. Thankfully I was in the building when it happened -- she had a tantrum in class. She was tired. She had speech therapy first thing in the morning and then we went to school. She didn't want to go to school. After therapy she usually just wants to check out for the day. I had gone down to the office to speak with the principal when I was "summoned" back to the classroom. Katie had thrown a "tantrum" if you want to call it that. She was standing at the sink to wash her hands for lunch when she whipped her head back and then slammed her face into the counter. Blood was everywhere. She ripped the piece of skin inside her mouth which connects your lip to your gums. She also shoved one of her top front baby teeth up into her gum a bit -- but those teeth were already loose - so that isn't a big concern. It took 30 minutes to get the bleeding to stop. We ended up going to the pediatricians office in the afternoon just so they could check her. They said those injuries usually heal fine if the lip can be left alone (hello, this is Katie we're talking about). She also had a slight infection in both ears - so that combined with the need to keep her mouth from becoming infected demanded amoxicillin (sp?) (free at Meijer - big bonus) - hopefully she will be doing much better tomorrow.
Well - that's it for now. Did I mention that good T.V. starts this week? Not like I have time to watch it :)

First Day of School

Hard to believe ...but I am now the parent of a second grader -- and of course, our special Katie. The new header picture is my favorite...Katie getting ready to leave the house for school. Here are some of our other "traditional" first day of school pics...

Overall it was a great day. Katie had a little trouble adjusting first thing, but seemed to calm down into a great day. I still like the new teacher...so that's good. Mary loves her first "boy teacher" as she calls him. He' s all about manners - so I love that...it will be good reinforcement for her. :)

Well...the hectic school pace is already setting in, but I love it. Back to the routine that makes us tick....it will be good.

Summer Wind-down

I can't believe that we're less than 36 hours from the start of school..and yes, I'm ready. I am sad to see the Summer go...it doesn't feel like it's going anywhere. It was 90 today - and is supposed to be 90 the next four or five days.... funny, considering we've only had 2 90 degree days all summer before today :)

Anyway, Katie did something funny tonight while I was at work and her daddy was watching her, and I had to share. She has a "beloved Dora couch" that stays in her room - and many nights she actually sleeps on the Dora couch which she puts on top of her bed. Well, daddy was watching TV -- or doing something in the front room. He got up to go check on Katie, and this is what he found...


Yep, this is Katie with her Dora couch on the counter. Funny, I would have thought she would have turned it around to watch the TV....but regardless, this is pretty funny :)

Tomorrow is family day -- finalizing things for school - early bedtimes for the girls (which we have been doing for several nights, and it's actually working well). Maybe a little swimming - yes, the pool is still up. We usually take it down before school starts, but with the hot forecast, we weren't quite ready to take it down.

I am really looking forward to our family getting back into a regular routine. Regular sleeping habits, daily habits (school, sports practices, Girl Scouts, etc.)...and regular work for me... life seems to flow a lot smoother at this house when we are all on a good schedule! So farewell friend Summer..... Fall, here we come!

How Time Flies

I can't believe a week has flown by since my last post. Bill was on vacation all week - so we stayed pretty busy. We spent a lot of time out at the lake where Bill's Dad lives...with Katie learning to swim and jump off the diving board we had a great time.

We went here on Wednesday. It was loads of fun as it always is. We try to go once in the summer and then back on a Saturday in the Fall for Halloweekends. We left Katie with my mom this time..and that seemed to work out better for everyone, Katie included.

School finally starts a week from tomorrow. I think that 13 weeks is far too long of a break...especially for kids like Katie. They lose so much in that time. I'm actually already in my "advocate"mode. There is a new teacher in her classroom this year. If you follow my blog or know me personally, you know that we had far too many problems last year with Katie's school situation. I'm hopeful that this year will be much better. We were promised that the kids would have the opportunity to either have a home-visit by the teacher prior to the start of school, or at least would have the chance to meet the teacher at school prior to the first day -- but it's not looking promising. Katie still cries everytime we drive down the road towards her school - so I'm trying to remain positive - but next week could be a little trying - so keep us in your prayers.

Well, I'm off to soccer practice for Mary and then work.... more later.

Mary's Teacher

Mary had an amazing teacher for first grade this year. Mrs. Potter. She was awesome. I loved her ,too! I just had to put this picture on the blog because I think it's so cute! And I just wanted to say that I believe (after this year more than ever) that a great teacher can make a huge impact on a child's life. So to any of you out there (Fred) who have chosen teaching as a profession - my kudos to you! And thanks Mrs. Potter - for all you have done for Mary this year!

One of Those Days...

Yesterday was one of those days that I was glad to have be over. I was tired and feeling sorry for myself. As gas prices soared again I was depressed by Jim Cramer (host of Mad Money) who expects gas to be at 5.00/gallon by the 4th of July. I began to question how in the world people are supposed to afford it. What is happening to our world?

I tried to put myself together, went and grabbed an ice cream cone and came home to start cleaning. I almost immediately recieved a call from school that Katie had managed to "escape" the classroom and was unaccounted for for almost 10 minutes before she was found. This has happened before, so I'm never really shocked by the call, but am always anxious to make sure that she has been reclaimed in an unharmed state. 10 minutes is a long time for an autistic 5 year old to be unaccounted for at a school that is right on the river.

After the day I had been through, my mom and I started to talk about Katie and how that her life is so simple. She lives to play outside and play with water. She is unconcerned with the daily burdens of life such as gas prices, disease and illness, and the many ofther things that make my life at times miserable to bear. She doesn't worry how the bills are paid (nor would any 5 year old..but this will be Katie's life for the foreseeable future.) or that we have too much laundry to do. She is carefree. She is happy. She is Katie.

Fast forward to this morning. It was Mary's last soccer game of the season. She was so excited. Unfortunately with the sudden spurt of 90 degree days that we have had it was too busy at the marina for Bill to make it to her game. She was a little disappointed, but we worked through it. He will be able to come to her big carnival at school Monday. so that helped to ease her pain a little. We are hoping to get our pool up this weekend which will also put smiles on both of the girls faces :)

Happy weekend....

Post-Weekend Update - Gas is 4.10/gallon

Well, another week has passed. They are flying by at an astounding rate. Only 6 1/2 days of school after today. As I have previously said, I am ready for school to be over. Katie cried and cried again as we walked into school today. She is done, too. Mary seems to be enjoying the end-of-school festivities as most 7 year olds do. For that I am thankful.

If you see my new header picture above, it was taken this morning. That is Katie in Mary's soccer jersey from last year. Katie would not leave for school without wearing it. She pulled it out of the laundry basket (no, I am not caught up on laundry, and as usual have many baskets to put away!) and threw it at me..which in Katie speak is "Mom, I'm wearing this and I need you to help me put it on!"

Our weekend was fairly uneventful. Mary's soccer game (she only has one left,) Church, we finished planting the garden, put up the kiddie pool that my mom bought for the girls. We have a 1000 gallon pool that isn't up yet. My mom saw this pool (see pic) in a Land's end catalog and apparently thought it was a lot bigger than it was. Too funny, but the girls liked it anyway. We will try to get the big pool out this weekend. It is supposed to be hot here all week (86 on thursday, so yes, summer is coming), so I think it is finally time for the pool!

And as a final note, yes, gas is 4.10 here. Thought it would go down a bit after the holiday, but apparently not.

Are we done yet??? With school that is!

Well, two weeks of school to go, and both of my girls are more than ready to be done. These are pics from Monday (Memorial Day). We spent some time at the Lake (Bill's dad's house). It was 80 plus degrees - great day.

My iris' are blooming ...that makes me happy.

Katie's schooling continues to stress me out. You would think with only 2 weeks to go I would not let anything phase me...but once again they wanted me to pick her up and take her home today. I am honestly tired of it... She was fine at home, but starts crying as soon as we pull into the parking lot at school. I think it is a combination of her allergies, her lack of desire to do cognitive work at school, and the vibe that she gets at school that perhaps they aren't really into dealing with her lately. She has always been the type of child that totally senses her caretaker's emotions and plays off of them. The teacher did concede at the end of the day that it was good Katie stayed because she did seem to settle into activities once she got past the initial reaction to them.... 9 1/2 days.... I can do this!

We 've started putting the garden in too... I'll post pics of that later when it's finished. My mom is coming over in the morning to help me finish it. We are going to try and grow sweet corn -- I know, sweet corn in the city...not sure how that is going to pan out...but I'll keep you posted !

Birthday Reflections...

Yes, as I said in my post yesterday, today is my birthday. I'm 38 - it's not a secret. I'm not one of those people who tries to hide her true age -- how silly. Just be who you are, the age you are. Yes, I have gray hair -- my dad was completely gray at 30, so I'm fortunate to be 40% gray (according to my hairdresser.) Sometimes I color my hair, sometimes I don't. C'mon people - I have a daughter with autism, I work, I volunteer at school, I do 4 people's laundry (and we all know that is a lot of laundry) -- so when do I have time to worry about coloring my hair!?!

Anyway, I just wanted to take a few minutes for myself on my birthday to reflect on the past year and where I 've been - and where I would like to be going in the 39th year of my life :) In the past year I:

1) Have stopped working full-time and am now a part-time employee. This gives me more time for my girls and for my hubby.
2) Have stepped up my volunteering at the girls' school and will be the President of the parents club at my childrens' school next year.
3) Have returned to regular church attendance - due in large part to a special program our church has developed for Katie. I have blogged previously on this topic, but am continually blessed to back in consistent church fellowship.
4) Have been thrilled with the progress Katie has been making. This is especially true in the areas of speech and imitation. She has come such a long way this past year.
5)Have been reminded that this life is not something we can do on our own. I serve an awesome God who is willing and wanting to walk along side me as I journey through this life. He has given me a wonderful husband and two amazing children to join me in that journey. How blessed I am.
6)Have been reminded of all of the fabulous friends I have made during my life. The "facebook revolution" has reconnected me with so many of my friends (especially my Moody Bible Institute friends ) and this have been a HUGE blessing to me to have renewed these friendships.

I am sure that there are many more things I could reflect on in this post, but you know, it's my birthday and I want to go downstairs and scrapbook for awhile before I need to go pick the girls up from school ... so that is what I'm going to do. Have a great day ... I know I'm going to :)

So you've had a bad day....

Well, more like a tough 48 hours...but who is keeping track? As I wrote in my post on Tuesday, the week got started with tough therapy for Katie and kept right on rolling.

Tuesday afternoon they called me from Katie's school to come pick her up early because she was trying to climb out the window (For those of you who are new to my blog, Katie has previously escaped her classroom several times this year - once out of the classroom window without them having any clue where she had gone.), and they "didn't want to deal with it " anymore. So at 3.99 a gallon I drive to school 45 minutes before the end of the day and pick her up. She looked tired and a bit put off. I picked her up and we waited for Mary to get out of school. Whatever happened to dealing with "naughty" behaviors in the classroom rather than calling the parent? We have a behavior plan in place. I'm thinking a time-out would have sufficed with only 40 minutes to go... They told me she actually had gone for the window twice - and at recess she had gotten away from them and wandered to the edge of the playground where it turns into parking lot. They told me "she never runs off at recess - so we were really surprised" - ARE YOU KIDDING ME? She runs off all the time - so why are they "trusting" her? I was a bit confused by that.

Anyway, that aside, today was a little better. They told me she had a much better day today.. Yesterday had been okay, but not great -- so I guess we're headed in a good direction. I was able to be home today and clean -- and I even squeaked in some time for SCRAPBOOKING! I know, what a shock. No calls from school -- it was a good day.

Tomorrow is my birthday -- and no, I don't have to work :) Bill made me a butter pecan birthday cake tonight...I can't wait to try it tomorrow. Hopefully I will get to do some more scrapbooking -- and have some good family time...and we'll forget about school until next Monday :)

This and That (Oh, and Gas is 3.89)

Well, lots has been happening since our weekend of swimming, soccer and spider hats, so I wanted to write an update. Some of you know that we do private therapy through the hospital for Katie twice a week -- that has been a huge bonus for her. We have seen so much progress. I thank God for great therapists that care about Katie and work to meet her where she is and push her to places I never knew she could go. We have started therapeutic listening with Katie - and she seems to love it. We have now borrowed the take-home set of earphones and are going to be doing the therapy on a daily basis. I'll try to take a picture of her when she is wearing the huge, oversized headphones. It's really cute :)

I'm also very tired. I've been spending too much time on facebook, mostly reconnecting with friends from college - and that is fun -- but I need to remind myself that facebook is not my priority -- and at midnight, sleep should be my priority. Are there any other facebook addicts out there?
And by the way -- gas went up to 3.89 here today. A record high for the State of Michigan. Lovely.


Another item worth mentioning here is that effective tomorrow I will be the Sr. Co-Chair of the parents club for the school that my two girls attend. I know, I'm crazy, but I'm really excited. I'm the Sr. Chair for next year, but I take over at the meeting tomorrow night. I'm sure there will be some posts in the future about the exciting times at parents club, but for now I will leave it with the fact that I'm a little nervous, but really looking forward to it.

Well, enough for now I guess. I should probably get to making dinner ....(or back to facebook -- just kidding :)