Filling Everyone In

So many things have been happening these last couple of weeks that I've been a bit overwhelmed.  There has genuinely been no time to sit down and write here or anywhere else.  So, please forgive a very long rambling post, but the time has come to put everything down and get my "publicly available online journal" current.  I can't quite say "Up To Date" because I'm sure I'm leaving many important things out, but at least I don't have to worry about telling back stories and can start fresh.

You see, starting fresh is something I always try to do on October 11.  As it's my birthday, it gives me that new outlook.  This year, my goal is to do a better job organizing my many obligations -- to myself, my family, the organizations that I work with, to my writing(s)....everything.  There is no reason why there isn't time to get the things I desire to get done taken care of.  The problem is a lack of organization.  So, that's what I'm trying to do right now.

But I know you aren't here to read about me rambling on about how I need to get organized.  You want to read about my kids and how they are doing.

I'll start with Simon.  He has started the same Special Needs Dance Class that I had previously enrolled Rachel in.  I'm not allowed to see what happens during the class.  I can hear some things through the walls as I wait, I can see some things through a window, but in general I'm in the dark.  So, after class, I always try to ask the teacher questions about his performance.  And he seems to be enjoying it and doing quite well.   But he never wants to do anything with the group.  He has a tendency to hide behind a small barrier that is typically where the children place their shoes (they come in wearing ballet shoes and change to tap shoes about halfway through).  At his last lesson this past weekend, the teacher told me that Simon is doing everything and demonstrating the skills but he will only do it when he's behind that barrier so he believes that no one is watching.

Simon has also had a few other activities happen these last few weeks.  First was a doctor's appointment to Children's Hospital for his regular follow-up.  Normally, when we go, I bring the leash (cute animal harness) so he can stay within an arms reach of me when we are walking through any form of parking lot.  I do this because he is TERRIFIED of the elevator and any building which contains an elevator.  He allowed me to put the harness on and we walked into the building holding hands.  He immediately and gently walked to the stairs and into the waiting room.  And, at the end of the appointment, he behaved well leaving the building and heading back to the car.  I didn't park in the parking garage but on the street so we didn't have a second elevator to avoid, but the improvement since our last visit there 6 months ago is HUGE!!!!!  Even the doctor commented on this.  When she came into the exam room, we were already there.  Simon was reading a book aloud to me about a bus making it's many stops.  Every time the bus stopped, someone would get on and / or off.  And then, at the end of the page, the book would ask him to find something on that page (sometimes related to the bus story, sometimes not).  And every time, he would read this and search for the item on the page.  This is the first time that I ever saw him exhibiting reading comprehension in any way other than describing the "Beginning, Middle and End" of a story.  And the doctor, who was witnessing this, said she was "tickled pink" to see the progress he is currently making.  It was probably Simon's best visit there to date.

Also, Simon had an IEP meeting this week.  He is 1 of 3 first graders in his classroom right now along with 5 kindergarteners.  The teacher chose to keep these three students because it was believed they would do better with a second year with the structure she provides that is lessened as time goes on.  Also, the familiarity would help them and they can be examples to the kids coming into the school.  His teacher started the meeting by saying how happy she was that he did stay with her.  That because of his familiarity with the classroom (even though there were many changes since last year) and the staff, it made it much easier for him to find his place at the start of the year.  Additionally, the staff knew him quite well so that they were able to address issues before they were allowed to become issues.  Overall, he is growing in so many ways.  They described several social activities that he joins in with, including ones that he enters of his own volition.  This is one of my biggest concerns as Simon really does prefer to be isolated from others and really does his best to avoid human contact with almost everyone.  His list of people who he likes is VERY small and it's very difficult for him to interact with someone who isn't on his preferred list.  But he's been doing much better with this during this school year.  He is still having trouble putting concepts together as he is very much a rote learner as well as a splintered learner.  But he has demonstrated his deviousness at every opportunity and is happy to go to school.  I know he's not there to have fun, but at 6 years old, if going is such a chore, he will never be successful.  He genuinely LIKES school (although not as much as his sister) and is finally demonstrating an ability to try new activities (in his own way) under the supervision of his teachers.

Now, onto Rachel.  She is also having a great start to the school year.  She immediately acclimated to returning to school which was not something I was expecting given past experiences.  She has two friends from last year who have joined her in the classroom this year as well as a fellow Daisy from her Girl Scout Troop.  She is willing to do all of her work, the aide working with her is able to step back regularly and has reduced the amount of "Good Job"s that she receives.  She has demonstrated that she CAN do the work independently and now they are starting to expect this from her.  It's not always easy and they have to watch for her becoming overwhelmed when things get to be too much, but that has only happened a handful of times.  She is very happy to keep trying her best and is very pleased with the assignments she is bringing home.  I am hoping to begin volunteering in the classroom at the start of the second marking period (beginning of next month).  Her teacher really wants to make sure that she recognizes that he is the authority figure in the classroom before I make an appearance.  As I have been able to come in for observation visits before, I suspect that this will go well once we have one or two visits.  But I am working with her teacher so we see the best possible results.

She also had a visit to Children's Hospital for a regular follow-up.  She saw the same doctor as Simon and also demonstrated how much she is growing in her development.  I read a report that her teacher had emailed to me to the physician so she could hear how she is doing in school (in addition to bringing a copy of her interim school report).  Unlike Simon, she was VERY impulsive during this visit, but she was still patient (relatively) and cooperative.  She was willing to do whatever the doctor asked of her and demonstrated a HUGE improvement in comprehensive skills testing at least on grade level in all areas (this is a FIRST for either of the twins)!  We did discuss some social concerns I have for her.  She is complaining often that people are "laughing at me".  I've seen her say this at home with regards to her brothers (when they are doing no such thing -- they're not even laughing) so I'm not certain this is the truth.  The doctor gave me questions to ask her when she starts saying this of the kids at school, trying to ascertain if this is actually going on so I can determine the best course of action.  But I have noticed that she is becoming more socially aware and is really trying to make friends and to be a friend to others.  She is also beginning to initiate imaginative play with her dolls and her stuffed animals.  I want to encourage these positives, so I have to be careful not to thwart the positives while trying to understand what she is telling me.

So, there is a VERY long "summary" of our lives these last couple of months.  Sorry to drop it all in one post, but if I don't you know (as well as I do) that these stories will never be told.

Another small vindication

Today was Music Man's visit to the pediatrician for his annual physical. We suspected he was in good health, but it's important to be sure that things aren't missed. Going to the doctor is a bit of a challenge with Music Man. We have found ways to make it work (well, at least make it more tolerable), but it's still something that I'm glad we only have to cope with not much more than annually.

First of all, this time I started at a disadvantage. My social story for going to the doctor has disappeared. I knew when I upgraded "Stories2Learn" on my phone that there was a chance of that happening, but I made sure to back it up so that I could have it, at least on the computer if not in the phone. But I can't find it anywhere. So, for the first time in probably 4 doctor's visits, I didn't have that to help prepare him. I should say that I need to create a new social story anyway -- that one is out of date. Our pediatrician has changed offices since I made it and several pages of the story are now literally inaccurate.

But he knew where we were going when we got off the highway. He started saying her name. I told him we were going to the doctor's office, so between the multitude of cues, he recognized our destination. We parked the car, walked across the parking lot and then walked into the building. Music Man made it very clear he did NOT want a ride on the elevator, so we took the stairs. We found the office, checked in and sat down to wait in the waiting room.

We get to know waiting rooms quite well. You see, Music Man doesn't like going to the doctor. But he doesn't mind the waiting rooms. He finds ways to keep himself occupied. So, we tell the staff to not bring us back to the exam rooms until we know we can be in and out quickly. We would rather wait for her in the waiting room than in the exam room. And they learned this as we did, so they are very willing to give Music Man that option. We even did some of the assessments in the waiting room. The nurse listened to his heart, checked his temperature and even did a vision test while we were waiting. The vision test led to a question of whether we need to see an ophthalmologist (he was very uncooperative and we aren't sure if he was just being stubborn or if he couldn't see the chart from 10 feet).

The consequence of waiting for the doctor in the waiting room rather than in the exam room is that I tend to get frustrated. Our appointment was for 9:30, for which we arrived approximately 5 minutes early. We didn't leave the waiting room until about 11:15. We saw many patients come and go while we continued to wait. Music Man was fine. I was getting antsy, frustrated, and anxious.

But when we did go in, as was promised the doctor was in the exam room waiting for us. Music Man went in with minimal complaints (with his iPhone in hand) and we were able to conduct the exam. He didn't like it when she tried to check his eyes or ears, but otherwise was a reasonably good patient, as long as we didn't try to take the phone away. He even allowed me to have a short conversation with her without insisting we leave. THIS is new. She was so pleased to see the progress that he has made since she saw him in September when we were there for his immunizations.

So, everyone who sees our Music Man sees the progress!!!!! It's so nice to know that I'm not the only one noticing the positive changes that are happening and it points out to me just how far he has come. Whatever piece was missing seems to have found its way into that oh-so-smart brain of his. It feels so nice to be vindicated in this way. And it's the type of thing that I truly hope will continue.

Too much going on.....Time to get my head around it all....

I'm posting here because I need to put it down on "paper", so to speak. I really need to stop and take a breath right now. Tomorrow Music Man is home from school because he has his annual physical in the morning and on Monday's his program ends at noon. He'll also be home on Tuesday because his program has no school that day (professional development, I suppose). We are preparing for placement meetings for kindergarten (x2) at the end of the month and beginning of March (I think). Ballerina has her annual physical on Thursday morning, but assuming she's happy, I'm taking her to school once it's done so I can get some things done. She also has an appointment with the specialist next week which will be an all day affair. And we're planning on potty-training Music Man next weekend (since it's a 3-day weekend and he has NO plans). These things are on top of my other obligations. My stress level is through the roof. My head feels like it's going to EXPLODE!!!!!!!

This is a modified post of what I put on a Facebook Group I am in. After typing it all out, I realized I needed to sit down and write a blog post. That always seems to help me get myself more organized and get some perspective.

Everything I said in that first paragraph is true. All of these things are happening this month. We had the two school visits that I wrote about previously. We have heard the recommendation for Music Man, but Ballerina hasn't been seen by the cluster representative so we don't know if she will get the "green light" to enter the Early Learning Center (however, it seems that a negative response doesn't carry the weight of a positive one). And to make things more stressful, Ballerina decides that this is the perfect time to develop Pink Eye so she was home from school on Thursday and Friday and we made a "quick" visit to an urgent care clinic since we couldn't get an appointment at a convenient time with the pediatrician. Seriously.....my head is just POUNDING!!!!!

The truth is, this month really doesn't contain much more than any other. It just seems that way because of these few extras. And this placement meeting is really weighing on me. It seems so important. I know that if we decide the placement isn't correct, we can work to make changes so nothing is completely concrete. But it still feels that way. If we as a team make a decision that turns out to not be in their best interests, we can do something about it. And considering that the Early Learning Center is in our home school (the school they would be attending if they weren't classified as "special needs"), we have told that both our kids "have priority", should we need to transfer in during the year.

I am trying to live in the moment. I can't spend their lives wishing time to pass because we are faced with a deadline. This month is the first time in quite a while that I find myself thinking this way. But I need to stop. We are seeing a HUGE explosion in Music Man right now. And Ballerina continues to amaze us with her pixie-ish ways.

I need to stop worrying and realize that we are all doing the right things. There isn't a single day between now and Music Man's meeting that is completely overwhelming -- it just seems that way when we put it all together. So, I need to stop putting it together and take it one day at a time -- one event at a time. This week we have the 2 physical exams (and we'll squeeze in a haircut at some point) and Music Man will be home from school for a couple of days. There.....doesn't that seem easier?

We'll deal with the next chapter when it comes.....in just 5 days......