Report Card Time!

Got Mikey's 2nd period report card today and it was good news! He got all A's and B's except one subject. Reading he went from a D to a B and is now back to meeting the reading standard set by the state. He also went from a C to a B in science!

However he went from a B to a C in art ><. Mikey finds art completely unnecessary. Not only do they often do things that are difficult for his sensory issues (fingerpaints, chalk, etc etc), what exactly IS the point of all that stuff anyways? Do we really need another painting of a sun, trees and flowers? Is the beaded bracelet really important in the grand scheme of things? Why would he be doing something 'fun' like art when he could be researching sprite sheets for his latest video game?

So overall I am happy, he's improving in the important subjects anyways. School has been very rough this year and I considered moving him to a school like the Academy for Autism. I thought perhaps a school centered around working with autistic kids might be a better fit for him than a public school with many different kids needs to worry about. Jason agreed with me.

However I called them and they appear to deal mainly with kids on the lower end of the spectrum, while Mikey is higher functioning. She suggested the Maitland Academy but that's a pretty far trek twice a day, and of course we currently only have one car. So that may not be an option after all.

And as much as I'd love to homeschool, it's hard enough getting homework done with Heather around. Add in the fact I'll be watching my baby niece once we move while her Mommy is at work, it's probably not gonna happen.

Sooo just have to do the best I can with what we have and hope for continued improvement.

Social Practice: Christmastime

So I mentioned to Mikey that his teacher might ask what he got for Christmas, and what was he going to say. I had a small hope he might actually pick one or two gifts to mention but of course, that was not the case.

We argued for a bit about why this conversation should even be happening. So I tried to roleplay. I was going to be his teacher. And we could practice what we would say.

Me: "Hey Mikey, welcome back to school. What did you get for Christmas this year?"

Mikey: "Why are you asking me, you already know what I got"

Me: "No, Mikey, I am pretending to be your teacher remember. She doesn't know what you got"

Mikey:"But why does she want to know? Does she want to steal my presents and make them for herself?"

Me: "No Mikey, she just wants to know cause it will make her happy"

Mikey: "Why would my presents make her happy? She has her own presents for making her happy."

Me: "It would make her happy to know what you got because your presents made YOU happy"

Mikey: "Why does she need to know if I am happy?"

Me: *sigh* "Because sometimes people like to hear what other people are happy about, because they care about them and they like them. Now let's try this again. Here I will help. Did you get any games this year?"

Mikey: "Why are you asking me? You already know what I got."

We're gonna need a lot more practice. And I'd like a big barrel of patience too please.

Merry Christmas!!

Well ours is about over. We did the usual Christmas Eve at Granny and Grampys, spent the night with Jeremy and Wendy and did Christmas morning with Dad, Cindy and them, then came home and Mom came by later for more presents and Christmas Day Dinner.

Here's a run down of what the kids got:

Mikey:
Cars Sheet set and blanket
Tiger Woods Golf and Sonic game for Xbox
Target gift card
Transformers (which we have been given permission to exchange haha)
$25 B&N gift card (which we will be spending online)
HUGE bag of his favorite snack foods in individual packages including Cheese Its, Teddy Grahams, Mini boxes of cereal and cereal bars
Blue Snuggie
Bionicle shirt
Lego Star Wars shirt
Hot Chocolate gift set with mugs, cocoa and ingredients for Smores





(Sorry Mikey is really hyped up.. if you cant tell...)


Heather:
Baby Einstein Rocket toy
Minnie Mouse shirt and smaller Minnie items
Littlest Pet Shop salon
Kitchen playset with sounds
Disney Princess Tea set and cart (we've had 'tea' 4 times today already)
Disney Princess tent and sleeping bag
Pink Snuggie
Bath items (bubble baths, markers, shampoos, spray bottle, etc etc)
Lots of clothes
Tinkerbell Activity clipboard
Disney Princess flashlight







As usual we have tons of food leftover: Turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing, corn, Sweet potato casserole, Green bean casserole, rolls, cracker and port wine spread, potato salad, Pigs in a blanket and pie! We can eat for a week on this (including Mikey's snacks haha).







I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and got to spend some time with the people you love (like I did!)

Kids Christmas Pics 2009

The best session I have ever had with both kids together. I have no idea whether I will achieve such picture perfection again while they are young. Enjoy.

Christmas Pics 2009

Happy Birthday Heather aka MAN I am tired.

Today is Heather's 4th birthday. It's so hard to believe how big she has gotten. We had a big day planned for her and it went off without a hitch!

We headed to Downtown Disney's Marketplace in the afternoon. Fortunately the rain of the last several days had let up, but it was still quite chilly. While waiting on Grandma, Granddad, Aunt Amber and Aunt Wendy we browsed the shops, so Heather could pick out exactly what she wanted. We also took a few train rides.






Mikey started off badly. Jason had to take him to throw up and he was very unhappy. Who can blame him, the place was a madhouse. I thought we might end up having to go home earlier than expected, then he kinda worked his way around to actually being in a good mood.

They arrived and gave Heather her first present, a few very cute outfits for her to wear. Then we hit the stores. Our first round of shopping netted Heather a new hoodie, a woolen cap with a pom pom on top, a Minnie Mouse pillow and cupcake making kit, a Mickey Mouse baseball set (ball, bat and glove) and Mickey Mouse ice cubes and lastly, a Daisy Duck shirt. Then it was time to take a break for dinner at McDonalds.





The second round of shopping she ended up with a Disney Princess place mat, plate, bowl, silverware set, 4 matching Princess cups AND a Disney soccer ball. And all I can say is thank god for Cindy's discount and the wonderful family who donated birthday money. We're going to work on Thank you cards this week lol.

And lest you think Mikey came away with nothing, well he really wanted nothing. Till we passed the "Make your own Lightsaber display". And make one he did, proclaiming it to be the best lightsaber ever and that he was very happy with what he had. That's my boy.

While there I was also able to snag a few more Christmas gifts for him in the form of a Bionicle shirt and a Lego Star Wars shirt. So he needs one more thing then both kids Christmas is done.

Next stop: Grandma Francis' house. Upon arrival we have Happy birthday signs, a HUGE My Little Pony balloon (to go with the My Little Pony cake I ordered that she got her), Princess plates, napkins, cups AND a 'Birthday Princess ribbon Heather insisted on wearing right away.








Grandma had a new outfit for Heather and had bought Barbie's "A Christmas Carol" for them to watch. Heather would be spending the night and then going shopping with Grandma tomorrow for even MORE birthday presents.

Tomorrow I will be going thru Heathers room and purging.. ALOT. She made out with tons of new clothes, a pillow, dining ware, food, ice cubes(cause mickey shaped ice is HOT) and really only two toys (the baseball set and soccer ball). That's not too bad actually..

More pics when my Dad gets them online!!

Frustration

It hasn't been a great year for Mikey so far. New teacher, classroom, schedule, routine.. after 3 years of basically the same. And things are definitely more academic this year and moving faster than before. He'll be taking his first FCAT... blah.

He's been acting out alot. Disrespectful, refusing to do work we know full well he is capable of. Hiding work. Arguing with other students. Disruptive... the list goes on and on.

His anxiety levels have gone up also it seems. We spent 30 minutes Sunday dealing with a meltdown over ants on the sidewalk that would get killed by kids at school walking around. He's constantly checking his hands for dirt or hair, his table setting, his computer area. He agonizes over scrapes that take too long to heal, teeth that take too long to come in, and we cant watch the news even.

And we are STILL.. since preschool, dealing with reading comprehension. The FCAT pre tests they send home don't bode well. He can spot a grammatical error or spelling error a mile way, but he can't tell you what the story was about. Take homework last night. He whizzed through some multiplication that was visual (3 sets of 3 coins each.. 3 x 3 = ?? for example). Then we got to this.

Jim sat in the driver's seat of his cruiser. Parked on the roadside he watched and waited. Lately, there had been several wrecks here. Some drivers did not obey the speed limit. With his badge on and his radar ready, he was all set.

What is Jim's job?

He could.not.answer. I reread it at least 5 times, added additional clues of my own ("Mikey, would a doctor do that? A teacher? Who watches for people speeding? Who wears a badge? Who writes tickets for speeding?") and I just got "Jim? A guy who holds a stop sign? Someone who doesn't like speeders?" "Ok Mikey what is the name of that JOB? If it's not a teacher or a doctor, what job do you think wears a badge, writes tickets, looks for speeding cars?"

Over and over and over and over.... and over some more. I finally gave up :( What wasn't connecting? What could I have said or done to get him to understand what I wanted him to tell me? And if *I* couldn't get it out of him, what happens come test time?

Yeah, I am frustrated...

On the other hand we had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I got to hold my new niece and spend some time with the family. Mikey did great. He was very over stimulated but he was HAPPY. We don't get that much in large social gatherings, so I was pleased. At least SOME things are getting better.

Busiest Time of Year

Well we are coming up now on what is always our busiest time of year.. the time between Thanksgiving and New Year's.

This upcoming week is of course Thanksgiving. Wednesday I will be cooking my butt off (or at least I wish that were possible) in preparation for both Thursday (spent at Granny and Grampy's house in the evening) and either Friday or Saturday evening depending on whether my Mom has Friday off or not.

It's generally too much to ask of Mikey (or Heather to be honest) for too much to happen in one day. We COULD do Thanksgiving lunch with my Mom and dinner with my Dad and Stepmom's family, but the kids would be worn completely out and probably not very friendly. My Mom has always been awesome at accomodating us and we have gotten into a groove of doing Thanksgiving with HER (and my brother if he's around) a day or so after the actual day. The kids are more relaxed, *I* am more relaxed and my mom visits friends on the day itself so I don't worry she is by herself.

So that will all be going on next week. I really enjoy this time as we often come out with TONS of extra food and we all have alot of fun. IN addition this year, I get to meet my new niece on Thanksgiving, Abby Kay. She was born to my step-sister Amber on November 13th with a full head of hair!



I absolutely cannot wait to hold her, she looks absolutely precious.

The weekend after is Heather's 4th birthday on Saturday, December 5th. We plan to meet up with Grandma Cindy and Granddad and hopefully a few other family members (and MAYBE one of Heather's best friends) at Downtown Disney. We'll let her play, pick out her gifts and eat dinner. From there it's off to Grandma Francis' house for cake and ice cream and more presents, where she will most likely spend the night (WOOT)

The following weekend nothing is planned YET however I would like to get the kids Christmas pictures done. I still have the coupons for 5 free sheets from last year's horrible issue with Walmart photo studios and since I haven't usually had a problem there before, I will try again.

The weekend after that, December 19th, is the annual (and last) family Disney Christmas trip. We have been doing these for as long as they have been married and longer for Cindy's family of course. This year its just Heather and I going as Mikey likely wouldn't last the day and Jason isn't a huge fan of theme parks. We'll meet up, have lunch or dinner, shop till we drop and then check out Osbourne Christmas Lights. It's a tradition I will miss (as Dad and Cindy are moving to N. Carolina in March) so I didn't wanna miss the last year.

Of course.. the Friday after is Christmas. We'll do our usual Christmas Eve at Granny and Grampy's but I am unsure what the plans are for Christmas morning yet. The afternoon will probably bring my Mom and Christmas Dinner. And then of course, the following week is New Year's. We usually dont make any plans to go out, we just get some drinks and watch the ball drop and then football the next day. By the time that's done.. PHEW.. Holiday Season 2009 comes to a close. I can only hope I make it thru in one piece.