This week was busy as usual. I am always thinking soon, things will calm down a little bit around here - but I am usually wrong on that. running this house is like running a major corporation. I usually do it to myself with agreeing to do more volunteering at the school or helping out a friend with things or like my new photo album/sideshow I am making for my mom's 60th day. but it is hard for me not to be involved in things. I guess I always want to be in the thick of things!
I try to be involved in my kids schools and also try to make sure I am addressing all their individual medical issues from Trevor's failure to thrive and silent reflux, Speech delay and Sensory Processing Disorder to Ryan's Developmental Delay and everything else. My kids have some special needs, but overall I realize I am blessed because overall they are happy and relatively healthy boys.
So each week I always have a ton of Mom Jobs on my to do list along with other house projects and things I want to get done. I am lucky if I get most of the mom jobs done (I've been known to start a load of laundry at 6:30 am because the boys might not have underwear or socks for the day). This week we had the nutritionist Monday (she did not do the usual weight check as i guess she didn't want me to get all down if Trevor didn't gain weight as he had been sick, but she again gave me tips on getting more calories and protein in him).
Tuesday was our "Little Learners" class (mom and tot class) in the morning and a PTA meeting at night. Now I actually had to decide do I go to the Special Needs PTA where they were having a speaker about things I'm not even interested in enough to remember , or do I go to my schools PTA and listen to the Superintendent talk. Last year I never went to any of the Special Needs PTA's. I didn't really think I would fit in there; my son's issues seem so mild compared to what I would think most of the Special Needs PTA parents issues are. what a difference a year makes. And what a wonderful resource I was not taking advantage of! I realize that I have to be more of an "in your face" type of parent this year or they will continue to not do as much as they can(and should) for my son. I went to our school's PTA - and I am glad I did. The superintendent talked about how different demographics were performing compared to other schools in our district and to other schools in the state. I was a little shocked and plenty outraged to hear our Special Needs children are under-performing by 34%. I've had my gripes since the start of the school year and it seems I am justified! I did speak a the Board Meeting about my frustration with the lack of communication and the school's not developing a good plan for Ryan. Immediately the next day Ryan's services Coordinator emailed me to go into great detail what services and support Ryan is getting and what other things they will be trying. We definitely are doing our part here at home doing about 45 min of homework each night with him (he's in 1st grade). So I am glad that I will be able to have a meeting with all the support people and his teacher to really see their game plan and to have them address any concerns I have at this time instead of waiting for his 3 year full evaluation that would be coming up at the end of the year. So I guess the saying the squeaky wheel gets the oil (or whatever the saying) is true. Letting my frustration known to the Superintendent and to the Principal got pretty fast results (I am surprised because last year I had a meeting with the principal and even wrote board members about the class sizes which they didn't address at all. I even tried to get other parents to go to a Board Meeting and to sign a petition about class sizes, but I had very little support from other parents, so I kind of let go of the issue. (28 kids in a 1/2 day kindergarten class, and yet other classes in our same district had class sizes of 16 and 18!! - anyhow I am getting off on a tangent)
Wednesday is Trevor's OT (for sensory processing issues) day. He gets it every other week. Right now we are trying listening therapy. He has been crabby lately, but it seems to be the terrible twos, and not so much sensory sensitivities. He actually wants to do his listening therapy and will wear a hat now and even gloves now ( definitely not something he would wear last year!)
Today I was a classroom helper in Ryan's room. I got to take a few kids out one at a time and have them read a short book that they pick out themselves and see how they read it and mark them down. I loved this as it gives me a chance to see how Ryan is reading but to also see how other kids in his class are doing (And he is doing really great - doing so well compared to the start of school). And also today during "my mom work day", I finished the school directory (its been a month of working for several hours several days a week for 5 weeks!!), and finally bought the Nintendo DS from Toys R Us for Stephen- Today was my third trip to this store just this week trying to get that thing!
The best part of today was my son Ryan came home with a sheet full of stickers. Whenever Ryan is good in a certain area (there are about 10 designated areas/time slots including centers time, reading, bathroom, etc) he will get a star sticker if he stays on task and does his work without acting out . If he has trouble he will get an x through it. If he gets 4 stars in the morning he will get to go to the Services coordinators office to do something fun (listen to a song on a CD, or color with a friend). He has the same opportunity in the afternoon. So they are trying to give him extra incentive to focus and attend and be respectful of people and property. So today, he came home with a sticker in every box. Wow, how proud I am of him! this is huge!
Ok, so Nutritionist for Trevor on Monday, PTA meeting Tuesday , Speech therapy, and OT Therapy on Wed for Trevor, Classroom helper today (Thursday) in Ryan's class and I finished the school directory. and of course I finally was successful at Toys R Us. I feel like I won the lottery this week! Now tomorrow is Friday and I am feeling good that I got so much done already this week. tomorrow there is a a Cub Scout pack meeting in the evening - the best part is that daddy gets to do that!! (OK, so I can not do just nothing tomorrow - I do have to get a present for my son's friends b-day party on Saturday and maybe find a babysitter for a date with dear hubby on Saturday, and make sure the holiday outfits are good to go for Holiday pics on Sat, and maybe get some of the popcorn that neighbors bought from Stephen my scout out of my house - still I can sit back and take a few minutes to be happy right??)
So its been a "good Mom week" for me! got some more answers for Ryan's goals and a new meeting date with the team for him, got the directory done, am almost done Christmas shopping for the kids and i still have one day left in the week, YAHOO!! I'm doing the Happy Dance!!
Of course it might not make for a super interesting post, but heck I am happy!
I try to be involved in my kids schools and also try to make sure I am addressing all their individual medical issues from Trevor's failure to thrive and silent reflux, Speech delay and Sensory Processing Disorder to Ryan's Developmental Delay and everything else. My kids have some special needs, but overall I realize I am blessed because overall they are happy and relatively healthy boys.
So each week I always have a ton of Mom Jobs on my to do list along with other house projects and things I want to get done. I am lucky if I get most of the mom jobs done (I've been known to start a load of laundry at 6:30 am because the boys might not have underwear or socks for the day). This week we had the nutritionist Monday (she did not do the usual weight check as i guess she didn't want me to get all down if Trevor didn't gain weight as he had been sick, but she again gave me tips on getting more calories and protein in him).
Tuesday was our "Little Learners" class (mom and tot class) in the morning and a PTA meeting at night. Now I actually had to decide do I go to the Special Needs PTA where they were having a speaker about things I'm not even interested in enough to remember , or do I go to my schools PTA and listen to the Superintendent talk. Last year I never went to any of the Special Needs PTA's. I didn't really think I would fit in there; my son's issues seem so mild compared to what I would think most of the Special Needs PTA parents issues are. what a difference a year makes. And what a wonderful resource I was not taking advantage of! I realize that I have to be more of an "in your face" type of parent this year or they will continue to not do as much as they can(and should) for my son. I went to our school's PTA - and I am glad I did. The superintendent talked about how different demographics were performing compared to other schools in our district and to other schools in the state. I was a little shocked and plenty outraged to hear our Special Needs children are under-performing by 34%. I've had my gripes since the start of the school year and it seems I am justified! I did speak a the Board Meeting about my frustration with the lack of communication and the school's not developing a good plan for Ryan. Immediately the next day Ryan's services Coordinator emailed me to go into great detail what services and support Ryan is getting and what other things they will be trying. We definitely are doing our part here at home doing about 45 min of homework each night with him (he's in 1st grade). So I am glad that I will be able to have a meeting with all the support people and his teacher to really see their game plan and to have them address any concerns I have at this time instead of waiting for his 3 year full evaluation that would be coming up at the end of the year. So I guess the saying the squeaky wheel gets the oil (or whatever the saying) is true. Letting my frustration known to the Superintendent and to the Principal got pretty fast results (I am surprised because last year I had a meeting with the principal and even wrote board members about the class sizes which they didn't address at all. I even tried to get other parents to go to a Board Meeting and to sign a petition about class sizes, but I had very little support from other parents, so I kind of let go of the issue. (28 kids in a 1/2 day kindergarten class, and yet other classes in our same district had class sizes of 16 and 18!! - anyhow I am getting off on a tangent)
Wednesday is Trevor's OT (for sensory processing issues) day. He gets it every other week. Right now we are trying listening therapy. He has been crabby lately, but it seems to be the terrible twos, and not so much sensory sensitivities. He actually wants to do his listening therapy and will wear a hat now and even gloves now ( definitely not something he would wear last year!)
Today I was a classroom helper in Ryan's room. I got to take a few kids out one at a time and have them read a short book that they pick out themselves and see how they read it and mark them down. I loved this as it gives me a chance to see how Ryan is reading but to also see how other kids in his class are doing (And he is doing really great - doing so well compared to the start of school). And also today during "my mom work day", I finished the school directory (its been a month of working for several hours several days a week for 5 weeks!!), and finally bought the Nintendo DS from Toys R Us for Stephen- Today was my third trip to this store just this week trying to get that thing!
The best part of today was my son Ryan came home with a sheet full of stickers. Whenever Ryan is good in a certain area (there are about 10 designated areas/time slots including centers time, reading, bathroom, etc) he will get a star sticker if he stays on task and does his work without acting out . If he has trouble he will get an x through it. If he gets 4 stars in the morning he will get to go to the Services coordinators office to do something fun (listen to a song on a CD, or color with a friend). He has the same opportunity in the afternoon. So they are trying to give him extra incentive to focus and attend and be respectful of people and property. So today, he came home with a sticker in every box. Wow, how proud I am of him! this is huge!
Ok, so Nutritionist for Trevor on Monday, PTA meeting Tuesday , Speech therapy, and OT Therapy on Wed for Trevor, Classroom helper today (Thursday) in Ryan's class and I finished the school directory. and of course I finally was successful at Toys R Us. I feel like I won the lottery this week! Now tomorrow is Friday and I am feeling good that I got so much done already this week. tomorrow there is a a Cub Scout pack meeting in the evening - the best part is that daddy gets to do that!! (OK, so I can not do just nothing tomorrow - I do have to get a present for my son's friends b-day party on Saturday and maybe find a babysitter for a date with dear hubby on Saturday, and make sure the holiday outfits are good to go for Holiday pics on Sat, and maybe get some of the popcorn that neighbors bought from Stephen my scout out of my house - still I can sit back and take a few minutes to be happy right??)
So its been a "good Mom week" for me! got some more answers for Ryan's goals and a new meeting date with the team for him, got the directory done, am almost done Christmas shopping for the kids and i still have one day left in the week, YAHOO!! I'm doing the Happy Dance!!
Of course it might not make for a super interesting post, but heck I am happy!
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