May!

Did you think I was never going to post again? I didn't realize it had been so long. The events of that last weekend in March are still fresh in my memory so it's hard to believe it was so long ago! April was a very busy month. I was extremely busy at work and then with soccer and dance lessons, it seemed that every minute was taken up. We did have some nice, busy weekends and some fun with friends.

Marcie's dance recital was this past weekend, and as usual, she did a terrific job. She really is quite good for only having finished her 3rd year in dance. Age-wise, she was supposed to have been in the Kinderdance (4 and 5 year olds) when I enrolled her last fall but she was so serious about her dance that I moved her up to the 6 and 7 year old group (combination D) last September. That was a good decision as she really did pay attention in class, try hard and practiced a lot at home. It paid off and she performed very well. My tap students were nervous but they did a nice job, as well.

I got Kyle and Joanna registered for Kindergarten. All 4 of my kids will be in school in the fall! Both did fairly well on their "Brigance" testing. I was amazed at how well Kyle did considering he had only been in the 4 year old classroom at daycare for about 4 weeks prior to the testing. He scored a 72. Joanna, who had been in that classroom since last June, scored a 78. I think 100 is the highest score possible with scores below 68 indicating the need for more work prior to school starting. So, I was very proud of Kyle.

Speaking of Kyle and having moved to the 4 year old room -- yes, he finally did it! He finally figured out how to keep his pants dry! He is now fully potty-trained and is nearly always dry (sometimes his underwear get a little wet) and he is often dry at night. He is still a silly and relatively immature little boy for his age (but that's typical of boys!) and he's smart as a whip. I am really looking forward to watching him blossom with more educational opportunities. He can even read a few words and he just loves to learn. He has a very analytical brain, so I am looking forward to a future engineer making the big bucks to support his Mom in her old age! (Just kidding! I hope to be self-supporting!).

Joanna is still very quiet and obedient for the most part. She is a bit sneaky but seems to not hide things as much as she used to (unless she's getting better at it and I'm getting worse at finding them). She sometimes still has strange answers for the questions she's asked and she still lies a lot. She also still carries around paper and loves to fold and unfold paper. She enjoyed the dance recital and when people ask her if she wants to dance, she hesitates and then nods. She's never asked for dance classes, though. I think she's more of an artist. She seems happiest when she has paper and crayons. Because she gets preschool special ed services, and she has one more year of her IEP, she'll have special ed support for Kindergarten. I am glad because I think language processing is still an issue for her and that's why her responses to questions seem so strange. Maybe it explains some of the lying, too, as she has to search her brain for the correct words.

Prima Donna Marcie is doing exceedingly well in school and just loves the social opportunities school presents. Last night was Science Night at their school and the Kindergarteners sang. She looked so cute! My friend snapped a picture so after she sends it to me electronically, I'll post it.
Charlie just finished a science project -- a diarama (is that how you spell it?) of a habitat for an animal that the child could choose. Charlie picked "bear" initially, then narrowed it down to polar bear. He did a nice job and really loved his work. He did pull his science grade up from a "M" (minimal progress) to an "S" this past 9 weeks. He is working really hard in school but still struggling with language arts and reading.

So, that's where we are at the moment. I am still trying to figure out how to use coupons, etc., to save a little money. It just seems to take more time than I have but now that my spring semester is over, maybe I won't be so crazed. I do have students this summer but the grading isn't quite as extensive so I won't have so much to bring home at night. Now, if the weather could stay warm, it will really feel like summer is here!

They Conned Me Again!

It's hard to pass up on fun. I had anticipated being able to get a lot of stuff done in my house over the weekend because when it's rainy, the kids don't beg so much to go outside. Saturday started out rainy, so Charlie's soccer game was cancelled. Most of the day was really cloudy so we stayed in the house. I did 5 loads of laundry and put away all of that laundry plus the other laundry that had been resting nicely folded on my couch all week. When I went in to put the sheets on the girls' beds (don't you think someone could invent bunk beds that are easy to make up?), I noticed the junk underneath Joanna's bed (bottom bunk) and I pulled it all out. I told Joanna and Marcie that they needed to go through it, put the toys in the toy boxes or bins and through the trash away (a lot of candy wrappers -- Marcie and Charlie are the culprits). Joanna started working right away but Marcie balked and then ended up bossing Joanna around. Marcie even threw some cards on the floor and ordered Joanna to pick them up. I intervened and sent Marcie away and added a frowny face on her chart. I then got Marcie to work on the toys in the living room, though, it really was a losing battle. Joanna worked like a trojan all day. Charlie came in 2nd with the work ethic, then Kyle 3rd and the princess last. Marcie did vaccuum the living room floor and washed their snack dishes after dinner. My parents came over for dinner and my dad replaced the faucet in the kids' bathroom and put the mirror on the girls' dresser (thanks, Daddy!). My Mother made the cube steaks (a.ka. "Granmommie steaks" to my family), showing me how to do it without killing them (thanks Mom!). We had a wonderful dinner. I so enjoyed eating "real" food. I get tired of chicken nuggets, hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, etc.

Then, Sunday dawned bright and beautiful. One of the kids said, "look Mom, the sun!" They were thrilled. Unfortunately, that meant the end of the cleaning that I wanted to do. They begged to go visit a friend, so I agreed and fully intended on only staying about an hour and a half so that I could come home and continue working inside the house. My friend has a large capacity, front-loading washer so she let me bring a comforter over to be washed while we visited and the kids played. When it was time to go, my friend's daughter who is Marcie's best friend, wanted to come with us, so I said she could go with us to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things. We had to stop by my house so that the kids could change clothes since they had squirted each other with the hose. I guess with the 80 degree weather, they decided it was time to play in the water. They wanted the pool, too. :) Anyway, when we went to Wal-Mart, I instantly realized why having the extra child wasn't such a terrific idea. The kids weren't bad, just silly. They wanted to walk in a line holding hands so they were blocking the way for some of the shoppers. Then, they wanted to run. Fortunately, my friends' child responded to my stern voice. Then, they wanted to goof off in the parking lot. After that, I took my friend's daughter home, and my friend and I ended up talking for awhile longer and watching the Medical Mysteries show on the Discovery Channel. Needless to say, no work ever got done at home. I kept thinking that I needed to gather the kids up and just go but they were having so much fun and I knew with all of the activity, they would end up going to bed easily. Well, I knew we had stayed too long when Charlie came running over to say that Marcie was hitting her friend. I looked over and saw the 2 girls literally wrapped all over each other on top of the trampoline. They rolled over and Marcie sat up and I saw the wild look on her face and her wild hair, then noticed the girls punching each other. My friend and I both ran over to them yelling at them to stop and get off the trampoline, which they did. Fortunately, neither had hurt the other. My friend talked to both of them and told them they had to kiss and make up. They started laughing at that and I moved them together to hug each other, joking about it. They both hugged each other and then we all started making kissing noises. It was really funny but there was a clear message to me that we had stayed a bit too long! They played a little longer, then I got my kids into the car and Marcie still wanted her friend to come with us (so I was relieved that there was no lingering hostility!). We finally got home just after dark and they had sandwiches and chips for supper (we had a decent Sunday dinner) and then my younger 2 had baths and were in bed by 8:30 and the older 2 by 9. I vowed never again to 1) let them con me into spending an entire afternoon away from home when I have so much to do and 2) let them con me into taking one of their friends with us to the store! I did enjoy the day, though!

To Worry or Not To Worry

My usual state of being....I don't really worry all that much, trying to choose the "not worry" option or at least choosing to live in a state of denial. I think not worrying is much better but somehow worry creeps in at times. Monday evening March 16, I received a phone call about Charlie's upper GI study done on Friday the 13th (hmmm....). Evidently, the radiologist was concerned about a spot on Charlie's right lung that had been seen in a previous X-Ray (December) but looked a little bigger when they did the GI study. So, she recommended a CAT Scan. Now, considering what my sister went through only a few years prior (and I recommended at the time that we not worry until after we had all her test results .... not that worrying would've helped but it turned out that we did have something to worry about), I said that I wanted the first available scan appointment and I would cancel whatever I had to to be sure that it got done. However, the gastroenterologist wanted to talk with the pulmonologist first. So, that seemed reasonable but I reiterated that I would just like to get the scan scheduled. Of course, I'm thinking that the sooner we could make the appointment, the better because it would be a few weeks (or longer) before an appointment might be available. I usually see the pulmonologist on the unit when I'm in the hospital with students but I didn't see him on the 17th. So, finally I emailed him, letting him know the GI doc was going to call and the reason and also stating that I would like to get the CT scheduled and then cancel if we decided we didn't need it (Charlie already had a pulm. appointment scheduled for 4/2). So, by Friday, I knew that the pulm. had gotten my email and was going to review the X-Rays with the radiologist and Friday night, I spoke with the GI doc. who basically said that he knew that the pulm. and the radiologist were going to look at the X-Rays. Of course, all week, I was thinking all kinds of terrible things knowing that it was most likely not the worst case scenario, but my mind still went there. Finally, on Monday, I heard from the pulmonologist and he said the radiologist recommended some additional X-Rays and that we could just do them on 4/2. Apparently, the radiologist thinks the "shadow" (not "spot" as I was originally told) might just be the pulmonary vein. Can you just hear my sigh of relief? I know we could still need to have more studies (CT Scan), but I do feel better that several folks have really studied those pictures and I trust their expertise and advise. I am most appreciative that all of Charlie's doctors were concerned and took time to study his X-Rays, and get back to me. And, had I checked my work email over the weekend, I would've discovered that the pulmonologist emailed me back Friday evening. So, I could've felt a little relief sooner! Oh, and by the way, Charlie will need some additional GI procedures, but all of us who know him well won't be a bit surprised by that!

So, back to worry. I decided to get my toe X-Rayed (wow, that looks strange!), and yes, it is broken. Spent 1 hour and 45 minutes waiting to be seen by an orthopedic doctor (yes, I had an appointment but they were 45 minutes behind, I was told....well, they were really behind!). The doctor was very kind, didn't look at my toe (guess he didn't need to), looked at my X-Ray, confirmed that it was broken and said there was nothing to do at the moment. Yes, I waited 1 hour and 45 minutes for that....missed a department meeting and photo...and party! He could've told my primary care provider that and saved me a visit! If my toe doesn't heal (and I have to wait until it has been longer than 6 weeks from the injury), then I may need surgery. Now, I didn't go to see if anything could be done at this point. I was just wondering if I could be injuring it further by continuing to walk on it, etc. I didn't think the weight-bearing was bad; just wanted a little advice. So, I wasn't really worried about it all that much, and it turns out that I didn't need to be worried. But, that's okay, Charlie causes me enough worry!

Fun In the Snow and Then Summer, Then Back to Winter

Wow! March has brought some crazy weather, but it usually does. March came in like a lion bringing first rain, then snow. So, you know what that means ... a layer of ice under the snow. It actually wasn't too bad as snows in this area go, although, I bet folks who were in accidents or otherwise inconvenienced by it, wouldn't agree. I was so excited, though, on March 1st late in the afternoon when it began snowing. I was holding my breath just about hoping for enough snow that the kids could actually play in. The last time we had enough snow for me to dress the kids in snow boots and get a picture was about 4 years ago. Charlie didn't even remember what measurable snow looked like! Anyway, everyone was excited and anxious to get out in it, but I wouldn't let them go out early Monday morning because it was only in the mid to upper 20's outside. I made them wait until late morning, and then they just about tore up the snow in the yard in under 10 minutes. It was kind of funny. They made snow angels and we attempted a snow man. Unfortunately, the snow was a little too powdery and wasn't packing well. So, after much effort, we ended up with an approximately 2 feet tall "snow lady" in a skirt with pennies for buttons and rocks for eyes and a nose. She had the classic stick arms and a curved stick mouth. She was really cute! Marcie wanted to go in less than 10 minutes after we had gone out because it was cold but I made her stay out for the creation of the snow lady. Then, we all went in and had lunch and goofed off for a little while. It actually snowed all morning and we ended up with about 6 inches. Later in the day, we took the sled down the street and a neighbor allowed us to sled down the hill in her back yard. It was great and the kids LOVED it! Joanna did not want to sled and played around in the snow while the other kids rode the sled down the hill, carted it back up and waited for their turn to come around again. Finally, just before I said we had to go, I made Joanna ride. I took it down the hill a little lower so she wouldn't have far to go, got her on it and gently gave the sled a push. She was scared but when the sled stopped, she jumped up and said, "I want to do it again!" So, she rode about 3 times and we just had to go home. My broken toe was really hurting (guess the cold wasn't the remedy it needed) and I knew the kids would be too tired and cold to walk up the hill back to our house if we didn't leave. The temperature never made it above freezing that day or night, so the schools were closed again on Tuesday. I was really hoping the University would close again so that I could take the kids sledding again on Tuesday but no such luck. They went to daycare on Tuesday and Wednesday. The roads were pretty good in my area but I heard that there were places throughout the county that were really bad because snow plows didn't come through and it was just so cold...not to mention the ice underneath the snow.

Fast forward to the end of that week and nearly 80 degree weather over the weekend: the kids wanted to go to the pool! Poor things, they are really confused! So, now we all have spring fever and it's cold again. It was snowing this morning, though too warm and not enough for any accumulation. It's 38 degrees outside with a cold rain. Not the weather that makes me the happiest! I wish we could get another great snow and I could stay home for a few days with the kids. I didn't even get to make snow cream for them, which my mom used to make for us when we were little. I hope it's not another 4 years before we can have fun in the snow again!

Well, the kids overall are doing well. Charlie is eating glue again for who knows what reason. He gets very defensive when I talk to him about it. So, the teachers are removing glue from his desk and making sure he doesn't get near any of it in the classrooms he is in. He had an upper GI today, which showed some reflux. Of course, we already knew that but now we have some more proof. Charlie's recent funny sayings: A few days ago, Kyle was sitting in the car behind Charlie and Kyle sneezed this juicy sounding, loud sneeze. Charlie whined, "Mom, Kyle bless-ed on me!" I had to try so hard not to laugh out loud! This morning, Charlie agreed that Marcie needed to go and stay with her daycare teacher for "camp boot" for a few weeks.

So, speaking of Marcie, she has such a hard time earning her rewards. She is supposed to get 6 happy faces on her behavior chart (she's 6 years old) and right when she gets to 4 or 5, she just simply cannot behave well enough to get the last one or 2. She has 5 on her chart and when she gets to 6, she gets her "High School Musical" tennis shoes. I told her last night that if she got ready for bed with teeth brushed and got in bed without giving me any trouble and if she was dressed and ready to go on time for school today, she would get that last smiley face and her shoes. Well, she did neither. She dawdled and essentially refused to get in bed last night until almost 10 and while she got up a little bit better this morning, finally ate and took her medicine, she balked at not being allowed to wear a sleeveless shirt to school. We ended up chasing the bus down the street again this morning and I practically threw her on it. So, for most of this week, she has made it to school dressed but with dirty teeth and un-brushed hair. So, yes, Marcie needs "camp boot."

Joanna is still the same....she is very compliant, does everything asked of her, tries her best, eats and does just about anything else at a snail's pace. Last Saturday, she was at a friend's house and she sat on the outdoor swing with my friend (an adult) for hours. She didn't play with the kids at all. Finally, I made her get up and go play. She's like a little old lady in a 5 year old's body! After she went and played, she said she had a good time. Go figure. She is still lying a lot and she is very sneaky. I think she's finally figured out that I will find most things she hides. I hope she stops doing that before she finds better hiding places and I find spoiled, molded food or other yukky things months or years after she hides them!

Kyle is still acting like a wild buck but is doing pretty well with his behavior chart. He does not like getting frowny faces! He only has to earn 4 smiley faces for a special treat and he now has 5! He is generally keeping his pants dry (2 accidents in the last 6 days) and has been very helpful at home. He told me this morning that he is going to "remember you to put my Thomas sheets on my bed tonight." So cute! He also told me that he needs to put "little money" in the "Marching Dimes" bucket at KinderCare. So, we will bring some coins for the Marching Dimes on Monday.

Quick Post with Momentous News!

Well, now that I have your attention, it's really not that big of a deal..... but, Kyle has been totally dry for 5 days in a row! (Maybe 6, I've lost count!). I don't know if the smiley/frowny face chart worked or wearing diapers again, or what, but he is finally serious about staying dry. And, he is even behaving better. He really does not like for me to put a frowny face on his chart. Marcie has started a chart for herself, too, and she puts her own happy faces on it. I had to put 2 frowny faces on it for lying. She didn't seem to like that but she also didn't change her behavior. She hasn't asked what rewards she will get for smiley faces but she keeps putting them on there (she checks with me first to see if she's supposed to get a smiley face). Kyle knows he gets a reward for accumulating 4 smiley faces (one for each year of his age). He now has 7, so just one more and he gets a 2nd reward .... nothing big ... he usually just asks for candy. :)

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....

His Eye Is On the Sparrow

I know I've been delinquent and one day, I will catch you all up on the holiday events....and post pictures. But, for now, I am just going to tell you what has happened this week.

On Tuesday, Charlie took the wrong bus home from school. He got on a bus driven by his afternoon bus-driver last year. That bus does not go to Kindercare in the afternoon, so when Charlie realized that, he got off at a subdivision a little down the road and across the street from our subdivision. He then started walking. I didn't know about any of this until 4:17 pm when I got a phone call from a neighbor. She had been paging me (my pager didn't go off) and calling about every 3 to 5 minutes beginning at 3:56 pm. An off-duty school safety officer (police) saw Charlie walking in our subdivision. She said he looked tired and was dragging his coat and book bag. She knew that the elementary children should be home by that time, so she approached him and asked if he were lost. At first he said he was just walking home, then he admitted that he was lost and tired. She said he didn't cry, and after she showed him her police badge and her uniform with patch on it, he got into her car. She asked him where he lived and he directed her in this round-about way through our subdivision and then over to another busy street. He just didn't remember our street name, which he does know. She finally drove back into the subdivision and he showed her where to turn. They pulled up in our driveway and when she discovered I wasn't home, he told her that he could go to our neighbor's house. When they got to my neighbor's, the officer told her what happened and my neighbor called Kindercare. Turns out, the staff at the day care center thought Charlie had a doctor's appointment and I just didn't tell them.

It is all so frightening. I didn't sleep well on Tuesday and Wednesday nights because I just kept thinking about what might have been. Charlie had to cross a relatively busy 2 lane road in order to get to our subdivision. I drove the distance and found that he had walked 0.7 miles. That's a lot for him. He fell asleep on Tuesday evening while I was teaching dance and was soundly asleep when I tried to wake him up to go home. He kept saying he was so tired.

He was so brave. He didn't start crying until he heard my neighbor telling me what had happened. He knew she was upset that he had been dropped off without a parent present at the bus stop and that the daycare center hadn't verified that he was with me when he didn't arrive as planned. I've spoken with the day care teachers, the school principal and the county transportation department. The principal is going to ensure that Charlie is escorted to the correct bus everyday. I am so thankful that the police officer intercepted him and ensured that he was safe, and that this has a happy ending. I know that God was watching over him and kept him safe. It is quite humbling to realize that but for the grace of God, Charlie could have had a horrible experience, been hurt... or worse. Now, I just keep hugging my sweet little boy extra tight!