Coincidence?

Sometimes there are moments I life that catch me off guard and make me stop.  I had one of those today.

Several months ago my best friend from 4th grade told me she was pregnate, then she told me that her due date was a day after Elijah's due date.  I was super excited, for I think she will be an awesome mom.  Due to the baby refusing to flip around, she had to go in early to get the baby out. In she went on Friday and out came baby!  They, like I, chose to deliver at the hospital slightly far from our house but with an amazing reputation.  So today, 2 days shy of my own son's birthday, I returned to the hospitali delivered in.  As I'm walking through the mother/baby floor I get flashbacks of 5 years ago.  As I enter the final hallway it clicks, there is no flipping way, she is in the same room as I was with Elijah.  You have got to be kidding me. Between the baby, the new parents, and being back in the same room I was in with Elijah I welled up with tears several times.  Even as I got home and was talking to BJ about it I started to cry.  It's stupid, maybe it's because she has been like a sister to me over the past 24 years, or because by the time any of my siblings have kids they will be so far away I won't be able to see them in the hospital, but I am in love with this baby and her mommy and daddy.  

I think I might go back tomorrow too.  BJ wants to come too.  He will love her too, I just know it.

Poor X

I have been attending some training a these past few days about Autism.  However, I took all these trainings last year and have been going to refresh my memory.  This leads me to some points during the lectures/presentations where, surprise, surprise, I get distracted and my brain starts to wander.  On one of these days, we were in a kindergarten room of the school and the only thing on the walls was the alphabet strip.  Of course only the first three letters and last five letters were visible so I became fixated on the lonely letter X.  Poor guy.  He doesn't have many words that start with him, and his name is his sound.   You know when you say the letter M sound you go mmmmmmm.  For X you say "eks" or X.  That sucks for him.  And sometimes in words like xylophone, he sounds like Z not eksylophone.  Just saying, I feel bad for the poor letter.  

That is all carry on.

Shoes and their laces

We have all heard them. Those short comments that make such a huge impact they stick with you forever. I think any comment that questions your parenting no matter what kind of parent you are hurts 10 times more than anything else.  

Well known fact, I'm a pediatric Speech Language Pathologist and developmental milestones are a huge perseveration/ hobby of mine.  I like to know a majority of the gross motor stages, (rolling, sitting, crawling, walking) and of course the speech/language ones (totally not enough time), and fine motor (grap patterns, sensory, writing and other stuff).  When it came to these milestones I was, well, hypersensitive to these things.  Watching, observing, not pushing too soon but knowing to push a bit more as we came close to the end of "typically" developing range.  I pride myself on the fact that Elijah has hit almost all skills within age range and never too early. I didn't push potty training until 2.5 years even though he probably could have done it closer to 2. Stair climbing/both feet leaving the ground, not his strong point, but he can play on the playground fine and I don't have fears of broken bones in my future.  We're all good.  I do confess though, I did bring him in for a speech screening because I'll be damned if my child shows up at school and needed speech services!!

That comment I was hinting at? Oh you know, when I knew the independence of my 2-3 year old was more important than skills that are too advanced for them and allowed Elijah to have Velcro shoes/boots/sandals.  Here's the comment, are you ready? 

"All these kids with these Velcro shoes these days, no one ever takes the time to reach them how to tie.  Kids and parents are just so lazy now days."

It would be one thing if I over heard this in a store, but I didn't.  It was in my home, made about my son's shoes.  I kid you not, it took every ounce of strength to not turn around wave my developmental milestone knowledge in their face.  It hurt.  I did though sit on this until 7 days before my son turned 5. We have started shoe tying.  It's a hard thing to learn and teach. The number of steps, the fine motor, it's a lot for a little kid.  

To make matters worse for the poor boy, everyone is teaching him a different way.  Giving him their extra two cents on "how this will make it easier."  We only started yesterday, my goal is for him to get the shoe lace cross, under and pull tight.  STOP. That's it.  The loops need to be done on longer laces than what he has on his shoes, but he doesn't stop trying.

Tonight ended in tears out of frustration. But he is so motivated. Probably because he can't wear his superman shoes to school, until he can tie them myself. We will keep trying, we will get this and he can wear those shoes on the first day of kindergarten.

How do you think I would share huge news?

It is not a secret when I was 24 I created a 7 year plan for my life it included getting married, having a baby buying, selling and buying a house and having a second child.  In my 7 year plan I wanted my second child born the summer of 2014.  Well guess what, life got in the way of my plan.  Seeing as I'm not pregnant I don't think I will be having a baby this summer.  However, this is the problem everyone is way to hypersensitive to the thought of me telling the world I'm pregnant.  Like if I happen to mention that I'm not feeling well today that was not code for please ask me if I'm pregnant, that will make me feel 100 times better.  Also I will talk about our future with a second child openly around my first child, but that is not the announcement of a baby in our life.  Don't worry we will tell everyone in a great way, and our family will know in a very clear way no questions should be asked.  Don't worry we won't wait for the last 5 minutes of our 7 hour day to drop a small clue that we might have a baby... No no it will be something like we are pregnate and the baby will be here_______.  See no questions, clear as day.  I'll let the rest of the world know about 4 weeks after that.  Deal?  

Oh wait you don't have a choice.    

Guess who's back..

In the words of Slim Shaddy, guess who's back, back again. Kelly's back again.... Okay school is done, I survived.  Garage sale is done, I survived that too. Summer school has started and I'm moving into a summer frame of mind.  Let's hope that mind includes some rocktastic blogs.  

March???

Wow! Who is bad at blogging? Ooh pick me! 

I mean really, the past week I have been on spring break with Elijah still going to daycare you would think I could blog every now and again...well apparently not.  Spring break this year has been, well, different.  First of all this is my first spring break since 2005 (I don't think I had one my last year of grad school), second my husband only gets 10 vacation days a year so to take five to sit at home would not be a good use of them, third, I still was going to pay for daycare so Elijah might as well go and have something to do.  Now in all fairness to me, I did spend the ENTIRE day cleaning on Monday. This house looked amazing.  On Tuesday I hung with new baby down the street for breakfast then went to meet my husband at IKEA for lunch and to look at closet organizers.  That turned into not liking the closet thing I thought I would want and BJ finding one he did like.  He then left me as I was going to walk around for a bit.  As I was leaving I walked through the "as is" section only to find a pile of boxes marked for $90. The boxes were returns or damage or something but you had to buy the whole pile.  In the pile were 4 of the new closet systems that we wanted and each new cost $100. Now I love deals.  I walked around that pile 20 times, I got down on the floor making sure we could use at least two of the unites, I asked,if I had to buy the rest that I didn't want, I called BJ at least 3 times.  Finally I decided, let's do it.  Then I had to figure out how to get it home.  The longest box was over 93 inches long and weighs well over $100, and remember, BJ went back to work.  A nice worker helped me load the first fe into the car the a very nice passerby helped with the long ones and tying down my trunk.  By the time I knew it, it was 5 and nothing really got done, other than buying $1000 of random Ikea stuff for under $100. Wednesday was appointment day, first my hair, then Elijah and I had our eyes checked, then I had my two clients. That day was shot. Today was drury and gray and took me over 2 hours to get ready. I had one more kid today and then spent the day grocery shopping.  Wahoo, I know. Tomorrow I am taking Elijah to the zoo for mom and child time, he is so excited, and to be honest, so am I.

Made up words

All kids do it, either make  up words or mispronounce words.  Elijah is in that stage of life.  He is learning so much vocabulary right now he was bound to get some errors in.  I would have been upset if he didn't to tell you the truth.  For example, Brebrember=remember.  But my favorite one has to be, globby.  From my understanding globby means blurry or fuzzy.  Ways I have heard it in sentences by the creator, my eyes are globby but if I rub them it goes away.  Or it is really globby outside (foggy).  Everyday any he says something new that I enjoy he keeps me on my toes that's for sure.

P.S. Elijah is eligible for walk in speech but I think I will pass and just deal with it over the summer.  

The day has come

I feel as though I should start with a duh duh dunnnnnnnn or at least a trumpet dododadooooo.  Elijah is going in for a speech screening at the school district.  I know you can say it I won't judge, "it's about time!"  I know, I know.  I have known since he was just shy of 3. I knew he needed speech, I knew his speech development was not normal, I also know that once an atypical speech pattern starts it will not correct itself.  I know that there are phonological processes that should disappear by certain ages.  Yet I waited.  I needed a job and no time over the last 2 years was I able to get my son in for therapy and back home in between what I was doing.   I know I know.  Tomorrow I will know for real if my SLP and mothers intuition were correct or just in crazy over drive.  And since Elijah has to come with me to second job maybe I'll throw him at my coworker there and have her evaluate him too.  Summer 2014 is the summer of speech for little man.  

IEPs take 2

An IEP is the shortened name of Individulizes Education Plan. Each child 3-21 in a school that receives services, speech/ occupational/ physical therapy/ modifications on tests, blah blah blah.  What most people don't understand about IEPs is the amount of time and effort that goes into each one. I will let you peak at the process of IEPs.  

Like I said, all students on my caseload have to have an IEP.  Every year the IEP needs to be reviewed with goals to be addressed over the next school year and results of the last year reviewed.  Every three years a child needs to be reassessed with a more intense review of current level of performance.  For a non-review year I would gather the data from the past year write a report (45 minutes or so), meet with teachers, aids, and other services (30-90 minutes) discussing overall progress for the past year.  We also discuss the most appropriate goals for the up coming year and the best placement for them.   For those three year reviews, you have to add in testing time, scoring of the test, analyzing the test, meeting with others doing testing to discuss their results, a more intense report explaining the testing and scores.  That adds about an hour onto whole process.   

That is just the physical process.  What doesn't get added into the IEP time is the time I spend laying awake thinking of goals, letting test scores sink in and processing. I think about these kids in the shower, making dinner, in bed when I should be sleeping, in my dreams and in the car.  

As professionals we put out heart and soul into these kids lives to give them the most help to let them succed with the least amount of support.  We get together as a team and recommend from our hearts.  We don't sit around and pick our favorite kid and give them everything while the rest we try to screw over. I sometimes felt while in private practice parents viewed the IEP as a time of us against them.  We really are on the kids side, but due to policies we might not be able  do what we fully want, but guess what, you can't do it in all in the private practice either.  There are limitations there too, but those are not viewed as horrible.  We are professionals, we do know what we are talking about and for my caseload of 26-28 by the end of IEP season I will be surprised if I can still function.  

Future

One thing that is said is future behavior can be predicted by past events.  With that knowledge you all will be lucky to hear in April.  I was so wiped out by two IEPs this past month, I don't know what I will do come April with my 12... I for see LOTS of margaritas that month!   

IEPs

Well I had a great post... Then I hit the stupid undo button and lost it all.... You've got to be kidding me.  I'm not in the beat mood this week and my explanation was just deleted.  How do you think that makes me feel? Awesome.

I don't have the time or the patients to explain why guess I'll try again tomorrow.  Grrr.   

Close call

One of the best things about working in the schools is the theme days they have.  I really think that they are more for the teachers especially the pajama days.  Today I thought was one of those days.  I'm in my yoga pants and show up to school.  However, I was there fairly early today and didn't see anyone.  Then all of a sudden in see two teachers, not in their pjs...uh oh.  Did I read the e-mail wrong, was it really next Monday?  Small panic attack followed by quick math of leaving, changing, and getting back to work.  I whip out my computer and check my email.  All good, it was today.  Tomorrow at my other school it is pj day too.  Score!

Thoughts

One of the reasons I wanted to go back to blogging was because I feel like my brain is always on.  Sometimes it comes up with some weird scientific questions, sometimes it replays events from my day with alternative endings, some times it just gets stuck in thought.  When my brain does this I have a tendency to feel weird while expressing these thoughts.  All throught life we get a lot of practice expressing two emotions: happy and anger.  Happy is the easy one, anger we are taught what is acceptable and how to control it.  But the other emotions are hard, sometimes I can't even appropriately label the emotion I feel.  Therefore, blogging allows me to express my thoughts without the actual awkward social interaction that I want to avoid.  I do want people to know the thoughts but I don't necessarily feel comfortable in that moment.  I guess this is the point that I should warn all of the emotional readers out there at work (Mom), if I as reading this I would probably cry.  So close down the web page and wait for later or grab your tissues and here we go...

This year has already put our family though a bit of a roller coaster and we are bairly 60 days in.  During the first few weeks of the year we found out BJ's mother was rediagnosed with breast cancer but that was all we knew.  We spent many days talking about what test she was going to have, what it would tell us and how would we react to the information we would get.  It came down to cancer localized in just her breasts which would mean chemo followed by a double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery.  All very scary.  All kinds of emotions that we didn't have a lot of practice dealing with.  I mean his family hasn't yet healed from the loss of BJ's grandfather in August, let alone a new family member being horribly ill.  But as the weeks go by the thoughts that are stuck in my head are these:

-Several years ago a pastor did a sermon on Why God? The question we all ask when bad things happen to good people.  The result of the sermon was we are asking the wrong question.  We should be asking "What do you want me to learn from this God?"  So I have been.  Still waiting on my answer, but I think I may be able to help my mother-in-law with her answer. 

-God creates us both externally and internally but sometimes our eyes and minds overlook our best assets that we are given.  My mother-in-law is a strong woman who has had to deal with lots of things in her life that most couldn't imagin.  But I don't think she knows how strong she is.  She has one of the most kind hearts, which makes her a great nurse, but again I don't think she knows it.  She also had beautiful red hair, that she did know.  But notice it is now a had, the chemo that will fight off the cancer stripped her of her hair, but it can't take away the other parts of her.  I think God needed her to know her true beauty.  She needs to be able to see how amazing of a person she is, no matter what she looks like.  This weekend we spent Saturday with all the family and you know what? The littlest kid, never even noticed.  He knows and sees the true beauty, love.  He loves her and she loves all of us.  

-I also feel that this strong, caring heart has taken away her time to really focus on herself.  She is so concerned about how everyone else is she forgets to be just the smallest bit selfish and do things for her.  Well now she is doing things for herself and saying things to people she might not have before.  It pains me to see great people be taken advantage of and walked over just because they are too afraid of the others views.  In reality most people don't even know that they are doing something rude or wrong.  I mean how many times do people get into arguments because they thought the other person knew something they didn't? More often than we probably think.  I just hope she continues to say what she feels, and listen to the responses she gets.

Tomorrow is treatment number two which will take us on yet another crazy ride, but as her body fights the cancer she grows stronger in ways I bet she never knew and I the end she will have boobs perkier than most twenty year olds and more hair/wigs than most actresses and her inner beauty will be shining out of ever part of her.  Talk about life cycle of a butterfly...

Funny

I'm not 100% on why I found this so funny! but I did.  I now present to you a Siberian Husky wearing a Siberian Husky hat.  

Maybe it's the eyes. Who knows, but it made me laugh.

On another note:

Happy birthday to my father in-law enjoy your youth.

Another note:

It was a warm 40 today with steady rain and now fierce winds that might blow us to Florida, which would be Awesome!

Sorry that dog put me into a slap happy mood today.  

Summer

Okay, well maybe not quite there yet but we are getting closer, I can feel it.  Today it actually was up to 44 degrees, which according to the radio has been the first day since the end of January to be over freezing.  Wahoo! I actually was excited for this week of weather, 40's all weekend rain on Thursday.  Then next week it will be back to the 20s...all week.  Boooo!

On a related note I'm almost done with my boat.  I think I may need it soon.

Wonder what snow looks like?

Well I'm not going to show you. If you want to see what snow looks like please go to Facebook and look at any and all people who live in any of the northern states. Also if you want to see the temp here open up your weather channel app and see for yourself. Instead I will show you my boys together on the couch watching dad race cars.  

I love both my boys and my youngest boy loves his daddy. And my oldest boy loves his son. 

P.S. Go Hawks!

Auto show

For the 6th year in a row we went to the Chicago Auto Show for our Valentine's Day celebration.  Most people don't enjoy the auto show,it it doesn't bug me.  After awhile most of the cars start to look the same but I don't care. My husband seems to enjoy it and he knows more about cars than I do.  The first year we went I was pregnate with my little monkey and this year was the first year since we didn't drag a stoller around with us.  I was not sure how Elijah would do with all the walking but he did it without needing to many breaks.  Here are some pictures of our day.  

 

 

At the end of the day Elijah was rewarded with ice cream and was aloud to throw some money into the fountain to make a wish.  When he was done I asked him what his wish was and it was to see Grandma, I kid you not within minutes I get a text from Grandma wondering if we were still there.  Yup his wish came true.  As we wre tucking him in that night, he told me his favorite part of the day was the whole thing.  Can't beat that can you!

If I had to pick it for him though it would have been the hand stamp he got, ice cream, making silly movies, or sitting in all the driver seats. 

Who? Who?

Elijah learned a new joke this weekend, compliments of my mom, here it goes the best it can for a one sided joke experience.

Knock knock

Whose there?

Cow says?

Cow says Who?

Cows don't say who they say moo!!!

But what does say who you ask? Why they owl that lives in our hood.  He has been coming out more, not sure if he is hungry because there is so much snow or if he is just keeping a friendly eye on the neighborhood.  If he is hungry I would gladly invite him into our dead body room (aka the wasted space under our stairs that is the closest thing we have as a crawl space/basement) where all the mice seem to be visiting during these cold months.  

Tonight however, I thing his wooing??? If that's what you call what an owl does, woke up the dog.  We went to see if we could spy our night time friend and sure enough there he/she was sitting on the top of the house across the street from us.  I think he needs a name this is the third time this winter I have heard him, and the third time I have seen him since we moved it. (Assuming the owl I saw leaving work in November was the same one). Any suggestions on a good owl name and although he is white I will not accept Hedgwig.  That bird died a horrible death and I want to keep this one around a while.  Just saying.  

False spring

When I wake in the morning I always peak out the window across the room hoping for a sneak peak of the weather. Today when I got up I saw a bit of the sunrise and was excited that it was a sign of spring! Wahooo! I should also mention that last night I did not sleep well and did not feel well most of the day.  In fact, as I'm writing this I am laying in bed and will be asleep within the hour.  I slowly started getting ready taking several breathers along the way praying I would be able to make it into work.  After my shower, is shuffled out of the bathroom wanting to lay back down before dealing with my hair, makeup, and clothes, I casually glance at the clock and notice it says 7:00.  Here is the internal dialogue that followed.  

Hmmm that's odd, I think I typically leave the house for work at 7:00.  I think I leave for work that 7:00, ugh I really don't feel well.  What time did I tell my mom to be here today that's when I typically leave.  I think it was between 7:00-7:30.  How did I take an hour and a half shower and not run out of water.  Wait, what time is it.  Yup 7:05.  How the heck am I going to get this done?

End internal dialogue, begin external dialogue.  BJ, GET UP IT'S 7:00 I MUST HAVE TURNED OFF MY ALARM. GET UP GET UP!  

I then proceded to run around unorganized opening doors, getting Elijah, looking for my clothes.  It wasn't until I was in my schools parking lot that I realized the sun I saw at what I thought was 5:30 was really the 6:30 sun.  Well that sucks! Guess I'll just have to wait a bit longer until spring.  

Rescue

When we first got our dog we had issues to say the least.  After trying to train her we came to realize she was a bit, well, different.  She wasn't motivated by food when there was ANYTHING that could distract her.  Our training method was a positive reinforcer, you do what we tell you to do, you get a treat.  Guess what, she didn't do so well.  We also never were able to solve our dominance issues.  We finally had a sit down meeting with one of the "behavior specialists" and were told that we were going to have to choose between our new dog or children because she would never be good with kids.  This caused a huge fight between BJ and I.  He refused to give up on the poor puppy, and I couldn't imagin putting our children in danger with a dog that could possibly bite them.  We then found a negative reinforcement training program, you do what I say or you get a pinch on your collar.  It took a while and we still do have minimal issues but nothing to big.  

That leads us to the present.  Lately, we have been having a harder and harder time finding Rescue at the end of the day.  Typically she is laying on my pillow in the middle of our bed, but the last few nights, Elijah's bed.  Last night was one of those nights.  So much so, I didn't even see her in there at first glance. 

Keep in mind my son is laying under his pillows at the top of his bed so that might have slightly distracted me.  We ended up fixing Elijah, tucking him in, and leaving him there.  Most nights, Rescue I will leave and come into our room within a couple of minutes.  This morning when we were awoken by our 7am alarm "MOMMY, THE SUN IS UP!" Which is actually translated to, Mom I'm awake can I get up, Rescue was still in his bed.  He came into our room, crawled in bed and we started talking about the dog spending the night with him.  His response, "yeah, I covered her with blue blankie." So BJ got up to go check on her...

Yup, I'm glad BJ convinced me to keep her.  Elijah loves her so much and she knows that he is her human.

On a side note, our whole story with Rescue reminds me so much of kids with behaviors or special needs.  Lots of times they just get a generic, "you should do this" without being fully understood.  Most of the kids I work with are driven my anxiety and live most of their life in a fight or flight state of mind.  Without understanding what is the cause of the anxiety to help decrease it, they look naughty.  I don't know how many kids are just given up on instead of really understood.  Just goes to show you even though she is a dog, she has taught me a ton about life. 

A Fly Went By

Not going to lie this book is probably one of my favorites for children's books.  Every time I read it though I can't help but think how times have changed.  There are multiple pages about how the fox will kill the little cow, the hunter with his gun, blah, blah, blah.  Not that anything is wrong with, mean that's what I grew up reading, I'm fine.  But I feel that with the way the world is now we shelter our children from evil then turning around to expose them to video game violence.  It's just weird.  But now this book is earning a new space in my heart, for my little boy is now reading a large percentage of the words. It's amazing hearing those words come out of him. Again...He's getting so old!

Brrr

I think I have finally hit my breaking point. I am freezing! I can't feel my nose, or fingers, or toes.  It just keeps getting colder. I am proud of myself at how long I have lasted but now I'm done.  Done, done, done!  Tomorrow is supposed to be another super cold day too. By this time I usually start my count down to warm weather, but I don't think it will ever stop so I can't start counting.  Brrrr.

Kindergarten

It can't be.  My baby is old.  Next Monday is Kindergarten registration for our home school so that's where I will be.  However, I am new to this whole school thing.  You have to jump through some crazy hoops or be super organized, neither of these things I am great at.  I need my son's most recent physical (daycare can't find it), a dental report (appointment is for Thursday after registration), and a vision exam (yeah I got nothing). I had no clue the state of no money, I mean the state of Illinois requires kids to have eye exams before entering kindergarten. Well that is not going to get done before next Monday.  I also have to bring his original birth certificate, our mortgage statement, a water bill, and a gas bill. You have to fill out about 20 forms and sign things that make me laugh for a kindergarten student, like the internet policy.  I mean my kid can bairly spell, if he gets onto a site he isn't supposed tto, call google and get him a job.  The security in the schools are crazy, I can't even get to some teacher sites because they are blocked, I think my son will be okay.  Oh and get this we have the option of either half day kindergarten or full day.  Being a kid who spends 50 hours a week in daycare, I think he can handle full day school. Plus I'm a working mother, I can't pick him up half way through the day.  Nope. Full day it is. Here's the kicker though, cost of registering a half day kid $35 bucks, full day $250... WHAT!!!! That math doesn't seem right but whatever. 

Here goes nothing...I'll let you know if I cry at registration.  

A boy and a party.

Alright so I'm blogging more, but still not taking pictures on our lives.  Let's do baby steps here okay? 

The little girl across the drive had her birthday party today.  And since her parents love her more than we love Elijah, she actually gets to invite friends to her party (but that's a story for another day).  The party was held at an indoor golf/bounce house place.  The first hour we were there the kids we're running between three bounce houses that there was no chance of taking pictures, then of course the golf was all in black light so any pictures I wanted to take just turned out black. Talk about boring.

So due to us knowing that this party was coming up and it is for one of Elijah's closest friends, I didn't tell him of the party until last night.  We went out to get a gift for her and I told Elijah that it was her birthday.  It took us a while to understand we were not getting anything for ourselves, but once he got that down he was super excited to pick out a gift.  When he woke up today he came into our room and was making the plan to get to the party at 7:30 am.  I had to explain to him that the party wasn't until the afternoon.  About an hour later as we were all still in our jammies, he was concerned we were going to miss it and needed to go.  30 minutes later while drinking my coffee I realize Eli was extra quiet to find m putting on his boots and coat.  Good grief child, we won't let you miss the party.  We were able to get him to help wrap the gift and convince him to cut his hair and shower all with the phrase, "don't you want to look and smell good for the party?"  While showering he request to were his tie to the party and I agree.  After the shower I send him down to find his tie, again he disappears for a bit and I call down to him.  He again has his boots, and coat on.  I tell him again we still have an hour to go.  We are just about to leave and I get a text from the girls mom needing a ride because he car, with the beautiful cupcakes just got rear ended.  So we told Eli we need to wait a bit and he was trying to convince us to leave her behind.  

The party was fun but bitter sweet knowing that her next birthday will be with an entire kindergarten class.  I'm so not ready for this whole school thing.  

Happy birthday Colette.

Kids are Funny

I love kids and I think that is ultimately why I love my job.  One of the biggest reasons I love kids is because it is the best way to explore how we learn about the world.  Now that I am old I take a lot of my knowledge for granted.  Like learning jokes, I don't remember actually "learning" jokes, yet some how I know them.  Elijah today as we were driving pipes up from the back, "Mom, did you know chickens can cross the road?" Real sure that was supposed to behow a why does the chicken cross the road but that was the best he could do because he already knew his answer was to be run over by a car.  

I also enjoy listening to children trying to figure out pregnancy.  Like when I was pregnate, there were many questions about the baby and how it would get out..."Will it hurt? Will there be blood? Does it come out your belly button? How did it get in there?" But the best one came today while we were looking at a picture of a mother in a hospital bed next to a baby and the new dad.  My little friend told me, "the dad is happy because the mom just burped the baby out of her stomach." I was laughing so hard I kept the white board and the picture and shared it with all my co-workers.  If only it was as simple as a burp.  I would have 3 or 4 now for sure. 

We've moved!!

Surprise! We have decided to move.  Not really sure when it was all made final, or even when it happened exactly, but it did.  You may be asking where we moved to, or how we sold our house, or even what did we buy? Truth is we were able to move our whole house, yard and all.  We moved our town and our state.  We are somewhere in the arctic circle.  I am still waiting to see my first polar bear but we are getting another 18 inches of snow between now and Wednesday. Awesome!

Kindergarten

If I write it it might come true, so since I don't want it to come true I am having a hard time writing it.  

In August my baby will officially stop being my baby and turn into my school age kid.  I have been thinking since he was born that I would hold him back a year and start him after he turns 6 but I can't justify it anymore.  I work with the kindergarteners and know what is expected of them at this point in  the year and in some areas Elijah meets and exceeds those areas.  Therefore, I have to come terms with it all..and it's hard.  Registration is the second week in February, I'm floored.

On the up side, Elijah knows 60+ sight words in flash cards and some books.  It's crazy how fast he has added these words.  We only started at the beginning of January.

Snow day

What did I do on my snow day you ask? Oh you know some laundry, walk the dog in the ridiculous cold, wrote some IEP's, and lesson plan. I hate to say it but I'm bored.  I really haven't been at work long enough to really need the day off.  I did have BJ take the little man to daycare just because he would be bored out of his mind here and at school he has buddies to hang with.  

I have to thank God thought, he  decided to allow my body to accept the colds that were going around school.  Saturday I was down for the count, stuffy, drippy, achy, and crabby. Now I'm just stuffy with a small side of coughy.  This long weekend has really helped me recover without missing work.  Could I have worked? Most definitely! Am I happy I could be germy, snotty, and gross in my own home? Yup!

Today is brought to you by the letter W.

All those sick of winter say "I," "I."  

Seriously I am done with winter. We are having our second canceled school day third canceled work day tomorrow with another one pending for Tuesday.  That adds four additional work days to the end of the school year.  Four!  And we haven't even begun February. And since our last away was before Memorial Day now we have to add almost the whole week of Memorial Day to work.  Boo.

However, on a positive note the kiddy germs finally broke through my immune system of steel yesterday.  I was one crabby mommy yesterday with a bit of congestion today.  By Tuesday I'll be back to my old self with an extra day to rebuild my immune system. Fantastic!  

More Olympics

As you know I get a bit obsessed with the Olympics.  Last week I started the Olympic buzz wit home of my older kids and we all know how well that went over...

This week during our group time were checking out the weather for the kids and I thought why not check out the weather in Russia.  Here is what I found out.

Weather in the Chicago suburbs: cloudy/snowy with a high of 8 and a wind chill of -25.

Weather in Sochi, Russia: rainy and a high of 53....

I get it, they have a mountain and all but we have a mountain and gee I don't know...SNOW!

Expiration dates are just suggestions... Right???

Let me tell you something about me...wait this is my blog it's all about me!  But here is another little bit about me.  

Several years ago we changed our spending habits and the way we view our  finances.  Around that time we really cut back on our non-essential spending.  That unfortunately took away a lot of my shop for fun time.  Because that was gone I strongly looked forward to grocery shopping every week.  It was something that had to get done and I was spending cold hard cash.  I was getting great at finding "deals" to save the money I needed while still getting all that we wanted.  I admit we did get some odd things bit all was good.  It was also good that we have income extra storage space in our kitchen because I became queen of the after holiday sales and storing things for the following year.  For example, I have the die to make Easter eggs, a ginger bread house and two boxes of candy canes all in the cupboard right now.  I do admit I TRY to buy things that won't go bad, but some times I forget we have that thing until it's too late.  I didn't mention that I have had that ginger bread house since the Christmas before last due to me forgetting about it twice.

 

Now unintentionally this forgetfulness has impacted parish able food as well.  But some of the things I completely disregard the expiration date.  Like a bottle of Italian dressing as long as there is not mold in the bottle, I think it is still edible.  If cereal is past it's date, it's okay.  I have however, come to find out that sometimes that date may be for your overall safety.  I recently (as in 3 months ago) I found a can of crescent rolls in the fridge. I typically buy these when they are on sale because we have so many quick dinner ideas for them.  So this day when I found them they were the only ones in the fridge.  No biggy, I peeled back the label and BAM! The can explodes.  So much so that I was now standing at the counter with my hand throbbing, the can across the island and crescent roll dough on me, BJ, the counter, and I'm sure the floor.  I the. Hear from upstairs, "Whatw as that?" Ooh thing dear, just your lunch.  BJ was floored about to get really made and contact the company.  He grabs the can, looks a t the expiration date...oh you know only Oct of 2006!  Yeah that is a six.  As in before we even moved into this house... Wow!  They still tasted fine, just a bit flat not very puffy.

BJ however, does not share my disregard of experation dates.  I came home last night to a pile of candy, and some other stuff on the counter that were past the expiration dates.  He even threw my jar of crushed garlic (I don't use it much so it has taken while to use.  Apparently he tasted it and said it tasted funny.  It'ts straight garlic, of course it tastes funny.  It's raw garlic.  Alright I'll clean up a bit, but every time I throw away food that was past it's date I have a sad moment knowing that the money and time put into (fill the blank).

Therefore, if we ever all die or get sick, you may just want to jump to the conclusion that is was because of bad food.

Fire

A couple of months ago a coworker of mine had her house catch on fire.  The cause of the fire was an electrical issue that was set off by her crockpot.  Since the fire we have talked a little more each day about it, but it does make me think about things.  Here are some of the things that the whole ordeal has make me think of.  

1. I am thankful both BJ and I have family with extra living space where we could live for a short period of time.

2. I want all of my pictures stored on the internet so I don't have to worry about that.

3. I have come to the conclusion that other than the living things in the house I feel I could replace everything except Elijah's favorite stuffed animals.

4. I constantly think about not having the dog in the crate when we are out hoping that would give her a chance to live.

5. I have a continus list of things that are plugged in of where fires might start.

6. I wonder if people would know where to find me during the day.

7. I want to redo my kitchen!

It makes you tank that's for sure!

Happy day off!

What did I do all day you ask? Lay around? Sleep? Fun stuff?

Nope! I cleaned my whole house.  I always hate cleaning the house.  I know it is a 5-6+ hour activity and physically exhausting at that.  I actually haven't deep cleaned the house since around Thanksgiving and I found some gross stuff.  During that time I moved things in our house that have been in place since we moved in.  Yeah that was bad.  

This time I started last night and did some of the "easy" rooms. I typically have only about 5 hours of attention/energy to clean the house so by starting the night before I figured I could get everything done.  I did real well today I even Cinderella style cleaned the floor, although I didn't talk to any mice while I was doing it.  The only room that didn't get done was the master bedroom. But I hate doing that room myself.  I ALWAYS come across stuff that has come from my huaband's pocket and I never know how important it is or what it is half the time.  So that room is still blah but the rest of the house looks great! 

Now I need to have company over so people can see my beautiful house, before Fridays because I am anticipating the house to barf again.  

P.S. Thanks to my family for taking my boy for the night and day so I could get this all done! It was greatly appreciated.

Never Underestimate

Never underestimate a good pair of underwear!  You never think about how much it really matters until you either don't have a great pair when you put on that great pair.  If your undies are too big you are constantly readjusting, walking funny from the riding and the bunching, if they are too small they are pinching and ridding and just plain uncomfy.  Again a small pair of undies will make you look fat and that is never a confidence booster. Therefore, when you find a good pair buy a bunch so you feel great and are in a great mood!

Missed one

I was doing so well, but I missed yesterday.  I have excuses if that counts? I could also post twice today and make up for it.  I also had a great post idea while I was getting ready for church but in the time it took to go to church and shopping and have lunch I have forgotten what I wanted to write about.  Boo in me.  So instead I will tell you about last night.  Oh you know, we went to see Frozen for the THIRD time in the theaters.  Yeah I know my child knows almost every song by heart and sings along.  I know my child also knows 50% of the lines throughout the movie but still, we went anyway.  We have even gone so many times that he has decided he wants to be a prince because he can't be a princess since they are Girls. It is really cute. 

What can I say, I am a Disney girl at heart and I will do anything in my power to make my child a Disney boy.

Apps

It is no secret that I am not the most tech savy person but ever since the bond between my tablet and therapy was made I love finding ways to make it useful.  I have a handful of apps that I use for teaching but I also have a ton of apps as reinforcers.  In a 15/ 20/ 30/ 45 minutes session having quick reinforcer is nice.  Back in the olden days, you know, before tablets, bubbles were the number one choice of most therapists, board games were a second, and piece earning were the third.  All of them worked the same way... You do X number of sentences/sounds/target behaviors you get bubbles/ a turn/ pieces of the puzzle or track.  

Since moving to then school my session times are shorter but the need for reinforcement is greater.  Therefore, finding an app that will give me a quick brake for my friends is needed.  I now have a few favorites here they are:

Most Toca Boca apps make my list but specifically Toca monsters or Toca kitchen.  Simple start point pick food, cook food, cut food. Followed by a simple end point food has been eaten by the monster or the person.  To make it even better, most of my friends think the monsters look like Monsters Inc monsters.  

My second favorite is the Lego game.  I actually think it is just called Lego and to make it even better it was just upgraded.  The old version let you drive you car over the landscape, collecting coins to earn different choices, until you get the end where you "build" a 3 part trophy.  In the upgrade they made it more 3D but still fun.  Elijah could play this game for hours if allowed, but again it has a nice start and a nice end.  Love it.z

Sometimes I Forget

When I work I sometimes forget why these kids need me.  I forget with language disorders things that we learn so quickly takes months or years to learn for these guys.  It's not until I start a basic unit on the Olympics and break out vocab such as team, coach, competition, and country to a group of older elementary students.  Once I realize the level of difficulty with these words it becomes an instant word game for me.  

Team becomes class

Coach becomes teacher

Competition becomes games

Country becomes... Okay I got nothing it stayed country. 

This is why I love my job.  There was know prep for that one.  After 15 minutes of going over those words I don't think they sunk in.  For the next 6 weeks we will work on those words several times a week and I will view success if one or more of them adds at least one new vocab word.  

For the next few weeks I have plans for team building activities to encourage working together not competing against each other.  We are also going to encourage cheering each other.  We are going to make personal flags that show personal likes, hold "practice" on our Olympic events, and hold competitions.  Our competitions will be basic relay races, family feud type activities for what makes a good listener and good friend, as well as singles events but I haven't thought of those yet.  

Oh I'm so excited for the next few weeks!!!

What Does Your Mom Do?

In the past few years I have made some changes in my job.  I went from working in the private setting getting most of my clients with private insurance between the ages of 3 and 7, to working in the homes with clients between birth (realistically 18 months) to 3 years, to working in the public school setting with the Autism program.  During all that one thing still was the same I am still a speech path.  In my current job I work with visual cues, visual schedules, and visual everything.

As a mom, my little child has grown to an almost 5 year old and is a great child.  Don't get me wrong I love my child but let's face it. He is an only child and being so most of our lives revolve around him. If we say let's play a game, he gets to pick the game. If we ask for suggestions for dinner and he gives us a good one, we cook it. However, now he has figured it out and will whine/cry/be utterly obnoxious.  I was at my wits end, lots of yelling at my child and sending him away because I was so frustrated with him asking and asking and asking the same question with the answer not changing.

What did I do you ask? Oh you know, I meshed my first occupation with my second occupation and created this: 

Seeing as most of our issues revolve around technology that's what we are working for.  He has to earn 10 "stickers" for iPad and 20 "stickers" for extra tv time.  Some ways to earn stickers are independent tasks like the getting dressed, brushing teeth, and feeding the dog. Where others are adult directed like working on our reading, and cleaning up. Yet there are still others that are randomly given such as no whining, and no timeouts.  

This chart was a simple make (other than the laminator not working), I also found the stickers that have been sent to us in the mail, I laminated it all and put velcro one the board.  I also attached the side strip with velcro so that can change as he gets better at these and gets older.  We will see how it goes tomorrow, but I already know it will work.  

Just a Taste

Yesterday BJ fixed the garage door!  It opened and closed all by itself! It was wonderful I didn't have to get out of my car I even stayed warming. Then the temp dropped again and the door refused to open grr. I do, however, have the world's best husband that came out and opened the door for me.  Come on warm weather, I need my garage to open.  

Timber!!!

Timber by Pitbull featuring Ke$ha

It's going down, I'm yelling timber

You better move, you better dance

Let's make a night you won't remember

I'll be the one you won't forget

Wooooah (timber), wooooah (timber), wooooah (it's going down)

Wooooah (timber), wooooah (timber), wooooah (it's going down)

Every time I hear this song I think about my cousin Katie.  And for the next 15 min I giggle thinking about our time together when we were kids.  We had and I'm sure we still do have a a wonderful special relationship. We would only see each other 3 days a year after Christmas but we were two of the three oldest of all our cousins so we hung out a lot before the others were around and after the others came around we were too old to play all the kiddy games.  However, before those others came around we had to entertain ourselves and we did so by making up games.  One of our most favorite games was called Timber!  It was a simple game we would stand at the end of two mattresses on the floor (also known as Katie's parents bed) and we would fall stiff as a board back on the bed.  We would do this for hours and hours on end.  As we got older we modified it to us holding pretend weddings to our crushes and after we were pronounced man and wife we would fall back on to the bed and laugh for hours. We would do this so much I think we were the reason for this: 

 Therefore as long as this Timber song is popular I will laugh and remember parts of my childhood at least until the song starts to go crazy and dirty.  Then I just sing the first part over and over and over.  

TIMBER!

Nap time

I will confess, my child might just be 15 and still be required to nap on the weekend because I need to nap. I don't necessarily need a nap both days on the weekend but Sunday is a definite requirement.  Since we have been in this house I have curled up on the couch every Sunday unless there has been conflicts, like holidays or family gatherings, and have taken a nap. In fact, our Sunday is like clock work. Wake up at 7, got to church, so shopping either costco or Meijer, eat lunch, nap, laundry, dinner, bed.  It's the best thing ever.  I know that Elijah doesn't need naps everyday, but he does still needs mid day sleep at least 3 days a week or else will become a basket full of whiny pouty mess.  And if I miss my nap...I am crabby, I just don't function right.  I have even let Elijah nap downstairs with us on occasion to encourage the activity.  Okay maybe I will just push the nap thing until after the non-conceived next child is 2. So that is already looking at 3 years from now...it's cool for a third grader to nap...right? Poor kid with a loser mom!

And in case you are wondering my lip is still swollen and gross and painful.  

When a doc talks...

LISTEN! 

I went in for some dental work today.  I don't do well with the drilling part of dental work so I requested that they didn't skimp on the novican, and she didn't.  She even gave me a booster 2 hrs in.  I was a crabby girl when I woke up this morning, mostly due to the fact that the main event dental procedure wasn't even my fault.  When I was 16 I had a cavity filled and since then it was decaying underneath so the dentist needed to take out the old filling, get out all the new decay, and put on a crown.  As she was fitting me for the crown they realized they needed to grind down a bit more tooth but the first bit of novican was wearing off so I got a bit more.  After it was all said and done the dentist and the tech both reminded me I needed to be very careful because I was still numb.  Actually I should even wait to eat or drink until I could feel things.  We'll an hour after getting home I was hungry and thought I had feeling enough to eat.  I made toast and away I went. Three quarters of the way done I realize the bread has blood on it...that's odd...oh wait... I run to the mirror and sure enough I had taken a bit out of my lip. I was done eating then. Now I have a swollen lip a sore jaw and achy teeth.  Awesome! Next time I will wait to eat. 

Brick wall

It's hard for me to believe that I had just had 2.5 weeks off of work. I feel like I have been working nonstop for at least a month.  The reality though is it's just been 3 days. And they were not the hardest days either.  The kids have been great these few days.  Happy, compliant work bugs.  But I have to say I really miss my 8:00am roll out of bed time, along with my afternoon nap.  That is probably the real reason this week has kicked my butt.  On the up side of things all the teachers feel this way. I have teachers who have lost their keys for three straight days only to find them at the end of every day. I have seen teachers looking off into space for moments on end before they realize what they have been doing.  Please note thoughts (unless I'm just that exhausted I can't remember) I have given you a small window into my life.  Thanks for coming back, I know I can be a bit scary/weird sometimes, but let's be real, that's why you love me.

Dear Garage Door,

Dear Garage Door,

You are a key part of our home.  You keep our home protected and more importantly our stuff protected.  When we moved in we even upgraded you to have the motor out on so, so we wouldn't have to do any of the hard stuff ourselves.  However, I have a bit of a beef that we need to discuss, your function is to open and close to let us out and in.  When you decide it is too hot and don't want to close all the way and you make us sit outside playing "hit my button as fast as you can" it's not fun.  It actually makes us late for work and crabby.  And when you decide it's to cold to open and need us to physically get out of the car to encourage you to open that too makes us crabby.  The cherry on the top of this wonderful Sunday though is that now you are refusing to close.  Come on!!!!! It really is obnoxious. I realize that you have the upper hand in this deal because you know we won't get rid of you but this is a plea to work with the rest of the house.

Sincerely,

The home owners.

How did the first day go?

How did the first day back at school go? You know after 2 weeks and 2.5 days off school? Oh about just like this...

Yeah between all the teachers upset that they couldn't take mid-day naps and the kids who still went sure how they got to school today it was quiet and delightful. I was proud of myself for not falling asleep between meetings or while at my desk. I even remembered that it was Wednesday and I went to my second job. However, with that being said, I am sleepy and I think my bed is calling my name.  

Personal pet peeve

Backward emoticons.  

Alright let me show you all :) right way, (: wrong way.  

We read from left to right. Trust me on this one it took me long enough to learn it I don't think I will forget anytime soon.  That being said when your emoticons are backwards it looks like you are starting a phrase surrounded in brackets or parentheses.  By the time I figure out you are showing your emotion I have to read backwards to find out how you feel. Plus you can't do all emotions backwards :D, yup no backwards equal. Now I'm still by no means an expert on emoticons seeing as there are still a handful that I have no clue what they mean.  

Good grief I need to get back to school...

I confess...

I said I wasn't going to do it but here it is! 

Yeah you see that right feels like -42. I have, however, come to the conclusion that after -5 it all feels the same, COLD!  I walked the dog both yesterday and today and yeah cold is cold, painful, and breath taking.  I am very thankful for my warm home and faithful heater.

I also have to confess that on this semi snow day I sent my child to daycare so I could actually get work done.  That being said I should probably stop blogging and start working!

I also let my dog poop in the street and didn't clean it up, I'm not planning on showering today, and I'm loving my peace and quiet!

Stay warm!

Wonder what snow looks like?

Well I'm not going to show you. If you want to see what snow looks like please go to Facebook and look at any and all people who live in any of the northern states. Also if you want to see the temp here open up your weather channel app and see for yourself. Instead I will show you my boys together on the couch watching dad race cars.  

I love both my boys and my youngest boy loves his daddy. And my oldest boy loves his son. 

P.S. Go Hawks!

Life: According to the grocery store.

I know you all were hoping to hear about my thrilling trip to the grocery store today. That's why I am going to tell you all about it. 

I decided today that I didn't want my last day home from break crammed with crazy normal Sunday activities therefore, I went shopping today.  Now please understand that the word grocery is a weird word for me and I never feel like it is spelled right so bear with me if I'm not even getting close or just stop using the stupid word.  Anyway, off I go to the store with the little one in tow and what do you know the entire state of Illinois has decided to escort me through the store.  How sweet.  It was so crazy there was a selection of 3 carts two with the wheels broken and constantly trying to make a right or left turn and the third with rusted sharp metal pieces.  I naturally chose the rusty cart. I let Elijah climb around in the cart for a bit to make sure his tetanus was up to date and headed to the pharmacy to get some meds for my leaky nosed hubby.  The isles were packed!  I looked but I guess all the free samples were gone.  Then off to the 70% off broken Christmas section, because we all know my addiction with a good deal, nothing there either.  Headed to the soap/detergent isle where apparently all the magic cleaning soap that does your clothes and dishes for you was gone too. My appear look of surprise invited a nice lady over to explain to me the difference of the soaps she buys. Dawn is the best is what I got from that meeting. The rest of the store was full of people. It wasn't until I was at the check out that the lady explained to me the end of the world is coming tonight, tomorrow, and Monday. Oh right the 3 inches of snow and cold weather induced a crazy panic for all to shop right now!  So if the end of. The world comes it was nice knowing you all at least I'll have food and clean dishes.

What do you do?

What dou you do when it is 10 degrees before wind chill, and there is 6 inches of snow on the ground, and your dog can only stand for 1 minute before her paws start to freeze but needs 5-10 to do her business?

Why you tape your child's baby mittens to her paws of course! Good thing we had two sets.

 

Poor thing hated it at first at least was able to stand the temp. long enough to get what she need done. I can't wait until Monday when the high for the day BEFORE wind chill will be -10! When did we move to the North Pole?

I have a problem

Several years back B.J. and I needed to get our finances in order.  In other words we needed a budget and needed to stick to our budget.  In that process I became in love with bargin hunting.  In fact, the end of May beginning of June is my favorite time of year because it's garage sale time! I also spend a lot of time price shopping during the other 11 months so been I see a deal I know it and grab it.  However, here is where my problem comes it.  I sometimes get blindsided and forget just because it's a dollar doesn't mean I need 100 of them.  Biggest culprit is clothing for my child and toys for work.  I just realized how bad I was with buying clothes for Elijah when I was sorting though his old clothes and found I had over 20 long sleeve shirts for him. That means during the whole winter season (6 months) I would have only had to wash his shirts 9 times.  See problem.  New goal, don't do that again.

Good by Christmas

 It's that time of year again to put Christmas back in boxes and shove it back into the attic until November. With all of the sparkle and glitter goes all of the childhood excitement and joy. Some where in this process we opened a box that holds lack of sleep, headaches and crabbiness. Let me tell you I didn't invite that in but it is here. We have also come to the reilization that over the last few weeks behind the tree all of Elijah's toys were reproducing and now we don't have room for it all. This also is the best environment for crabs to join our festively day as we can't come to any sort of agreement as what should go to make way for the new crap I mean stuff.  Ahhh welcome 2014 I can't wait to see what you bring to us. Preferably less crabbiness, less crap, more fun, more family, and more friends.  Oh and more time!