Happenings

So much has happened in the last month, I don't know where to begin. The spring semester started at work and it is every bit as busy as my semester beginnings and endings usually are. There is so much clinical coordination that I do in addition to my scheduled time with students that I literally meet myself coming and going. The kids have only had minor illnesses but their appointments have been very time consuming. Charlie seems to be functioning better in school and hasn't caught the wrong bus again! Marcie got a terrific report card with lots of Es and only 3 S's. She was concerned about the S grades but I told her that she can be very proud of herself; that her report card was excellent. Joanna is behaving a little bit better at daycare but then just yesterday she hit a child in the face with a toy and last week, she drew on the bookshelves with a marker. I guess she just decides she wants some extra attention and she'll take it any way she can get it. I also discovered in January that she was eating glue. No wonder her poops seemed so thick sometimes and would stop up the toilet (she was eating a lot of glue). Oh, and about the attention thing....Joanna gets lots of individual attention at daycare and her preschool special ed teacher sees her once a week in her preschool class, working with her individually for much of the time and in a group setting part of the time. I don't think giving her more attention will cure her. We are trying to figure out what to do next with her. Kyle is, well, he is still Kyle. Still unmotivated to keep his pants dry and still not in the 4 year old classroom at daycare because he won't stay dry. It doesn't have anything to do with his diabetes or bladder capacity -- he has had very high blood sugars and has been able to stay dry and sometimes wets when his blood sugars are normal. He is just LAZY!!! The teachers and I have been working with him and trying to help him understand that we will let him go back to playing if he needs to stop what he's doing to go to the bathroom. Now, I'm trying to motivate him with ice cream....if he is dry all day at daycare, he can have ice cream for a snack after supper. That actually might be working. However, typically on the days he stays dry all day, he behaves horribly. I guess it's a toss-up: you either behave or you keep your pants dry. We can't have both (!).

Some other things that have happened: On the night of Jan. 31st, my brother-in-law's and my sister's 16 year old nephew was tragically killed in a car crash. We were all stunned and saddened by the loss of this vibrant young man. He will truly be missed. Please pray for his family.

Joanna got her prosthetic eye. It has an iris painted on it to match her other eye and the iris is positioned in the outer corner so that it looks like both eyes are working together (she virtually keeps the iris of her actual eye in the center by the bridge of her nose as that's how she can focus without the eye beating so much). It is a little strange looking but I guess that's because I'm used to seeing her without a prosthetic.

I had to get 2 new tires on my car....I punctured one tire and when I went to get it replaced, the mechanic pointed out that I had another tire with virtually no tread left on it. So, I got both replaced, and am very thankful that I didn't have an accident caused by tire failure. While I didn't plan on spending money this month on tires, I am definitely grateful that I didn't have to spend more money on car repairs, medical bills...or worse.

So, here we are at Valentine's Day. The kids are all excited and I know they will have fun with their valentines from their friends and the candy. Now we only have 1 candy holiday (Easter) left before we get a few months break until the next candy event (Halloween). It's pretty sad that I have to mark our lives by the candy holidays...but I am really tired of sticky candy and being asked, "Can I have my candy now?" Maybe I can teach them to say, "Can I brush my teeth now?" or "Can I read a book now?" Okay, I won't hold my breath....