Thanks Trill and Cass. I think I am mostly alright but I can still see the grass swirling around and around as we rolled over and over. So horrible knowing I was not getting hurt but having no idea what was going on in the back. I will see how A goes but she seems more alright with it now. She was so hysterical at the hospital and they ended up sedating her so they could check her out.
Cass, it isn't crazy to downsize to afford other things that are important to your family well being. My kids would get made fun of too in that case - they have homemade sandwiches, homemade cookie or muffin, fruit and yoghurt etc. I have been making subway for W and he is loving it - being him I think that is his lunch sorted for the next 3-4 years lol.
Trill, OMG at your own class! Well done! That sounds crazy scary to me lol. I am amazed at how big all the kids are getting - two away at school already! Time just keeps rolling on. W is doing alright so far. I imagine it will get worse as the term progresses but for now it isn't too major.
Cass, how is L going at school now? Did the meeting help?
How is everyone going with the back to school routine? I feel like a headless chook with two different bus runs on opposite sides of town! I quickly realised there was a pick up clash and so now W is going to the library for 20 minutes after he gets off the bus because I can't be in both places at once. I don't feel great about it but he is a sensible kid and he gets dropped off outside it.
So after three weeks of school A's teacher has already spoken to me about her inability/unwillingness to attempt letters or even to draw anything and that she forgets instructions as soon as they are given. I am sure I have mentioned before how incredibly vague she can be so it wasn't news to me but there is already talk of learning support/possible teacher aide for her. I guess part of me was hoping that it would magically not be an issue when she got to school. I will give her a bit more settle in time and then probably take her to the OT that was working with W for assessment so we know what it is we are dealing with.
I managed to sprain my back yesterday and got my wisdom teeth out today so I am having a quiet weekend at home while DH and the kids go to Scout camp. Study, movies, sewing project and mushy food are my plan
Oh man. school is sooooo back on in our house. ATM i have THREE different drop offs to make twice a week and 2 different drop offs 3 days a week (and of course they are all at different times....ARRGHH!).
DHs dad is visiting from italy and that has actually been really awesome as he takes Miss L to school on her brand new bike (that he bought for her ... Miss M got one too!). I will sorely miss that help once he is gone.
Arte: i mean, i guess it is good that the teachers are on to it, but hopefully it is just a settling in thing. of course, because it is on my radar, just make sure that the 'vague' is just vague and not a minor absence seizure lol. we have to tell that to kindy as it looks as though Miss E is listening and engaging when in fact the lights are on but noone is home lol.
I have probably mentioned it in here before but lately-ish (ie for roughly the last 5-6 months) we have had some pretty atrocious behaviour from Miss L. It is so out of character (well, how out of character now that it has been going on so long???). but the other week really took the prize of awful i tell ya.
Picture this: lovely summery afternoon, friend's birthday party and we are all invited (kids included) to this gorgeous winery where there are cricket pitches for the kids and chooks roaming around and big fields for the kids to run around in. FABULOUS. anyway, about a couple of hours in, all hell breaks loose. a bunch of kids is busted....doing GRAFFITI. And my little turdburger is one of the offenders!!!! Turns out they helped themselves to the shed (door open) and found the spraypaint and decided to go to town on the walls and on some of the farm equipment. Although Miss L assured me that she *only* did a little scribble on the shed wall, I am just beyond disappointed, embarrassed and furious. I never thought in a million years that I would have to deal with that kind of stuff. not ever. cannot believe it. a whole bunch of kids made the right choice and did not engage in it while she made the wrong choice. i am trying to figure out why...it took ages for her to actually even understand how much trouble she (and us) were in. and i am not proud to say that i ended up in tears on the way home with my disappointment at it all. so so mortifying. anyway, we had to fork out for cleaning stuff etc. but it was just awful.
(ah, yeah, just totally dumped on y'all there lol)
She could have just gotten swept up in the moment and wanting to be like the other kids - especially if they were older. A is like that in a lot of ways. If someone says 'hey, it would be really funny if you did ran across the desks', he'd do it and then get in trouble, while the other kid sits back and watches the fun and never gets in trouble. There are a few sly kids like that in his year group who are older (march and april 2007) who know how to manipulate the other boys to do things like that. But I would have been devastated too and very disappointed. FWIW though, it is just a stage and them learning about good and bad choices etc. I hope it passes soon for you Cass
Arte, that's a tricky one. If your school system is like ours, she will have to be fully tested for IQ and any processing issues in terms of being able to apply herself to her work, but if they are already talking about getting an aide for her then maybe you'll be lucky enough to bypass all of that and she'll get classroom support quickly. I hope the back and tooth extraction aren't giving you too much pain.
Things are settling down. We're back into a routine now so I feel a lot more organised. A is going quite well at school and he's really taken on the responsibility of being one of the eldest in his class and he's starting to mature a lot. He can still be silly sometimes, but that's rare. Only when he's with a particular couple of boys but they aren't in his class which is good. He's eating me out of house and home though! Can't fill him up at all. I take extra food to school because he finds me at lunch time looking for more food. I weighed him tonight and he's 31kg! And he is 130cm tall - if he keeps growing at the same rate he'll be nudging 100kg and 6ft 2 by the time he's 18 according to the blue book growth chart. But he doesn't look fat, just starting to fill out and get solid looking. L is geting a bit worried that his little brother will end up bigger than him and kick his ass when he's older LMAO! making up for all the times L's wrestled with him.
Cass, your drop off schedule sounds like mine - except I am lucky enough that most of mine are sequential so it is only one giant loop in the car. My new car has arrived now. It has electric doors which are thrilling the kids (and secretly me) no end lol.
Was L with older kids doing the graffiti? Or kids she wants to be accepted by? How has the shift been for her i.e. has she made friends/feeling settled or is the bullying at school etc affecting her quite a bit? Anxiety is always on my radar and honestly the difference between holiday W and stressed out W is amazing. He can be a complete toad when things aren't going well for him. Perhaps some relaxation techniques might be helpful?
I don't think A is having seizures, just a general vague like she has always been. I have long suspected auditory processing problems - I even arranged to get her tested about a year and a half ago and repeated several times on the phone what I wanted, then when I got there they only did a normal hearing test! I was very angry! However, it hasn't been too big of a problem until now.
Trill, hopefully we can bypass the whole IQ thing but if that is the path they want to take then I guess we will go there. I don't think she is unintelligent, just that she often doesn't seem to get what is being asked itms - like if she understands the instructions she can complete a task very well but if she doesn't understand then she just vagues off or gets upset - and that happens quite a bit more than you would expect. I have been doing reading eggs/mathseeds with her and one on one in a quiet room she is picking things up as fast as W ever did. But in class she wanders around in a daze. She also has very little confidence in her own abilities which doesn't help but I have already noticed a difference since she is succeeding with the basic stuff.
Sounds like A is a whopper! I measured W a few weeks ago and he is 121cm and 21.5kg. A has now nudged ahead in weight, although she is still a couple of inches shorter.
MD, I still haven't looked for those yoga moves for E. TBH, W's room is a massive tip and it is a bit scary to venture in there lol.
Back is nearly better and the teeth aren't too bad. I am really looking forward to eating solid food again!
The IQ thing is to assess their cognitive/receptive/ ability etc and how quickly they can process answers, so it's not the test IQ as such, but its one of a range of tests that they do when assessing for processing/cognitive issues. It's frustrating that you keep getting let down by these people who are meant to be helping you! Very hard to keep trying to pursue help when the help you do get isn't very, well, helpful :lol. I have a kid in my literacy class who is quite smart, but will sit and do nothing for the entire lesson if you don't ride his ass every single minute (which is impossible with 28 kids in th class!) and we're actually suspecting he might have Inatentive ADHD because he just spaces out too. Not saying that's the issue with A, but there is just such a wide assortment of things that can interfere with their learning. It's just a matter of findin the right way to deal with it.
A was skinny for so long that in a way it's good to see him put on weight. He was always tall, but he's filling out at a rapid pace.
Yeah, I have found that you get what you pay for in the public health system. We have a private psych that we see now to help W.
ADHD inattentive has been on my mind for several years now with A, but then I wonder how much of her behaviour is her natural 'do the bare minimum' personality. For the last two years I have been trying to get her to write her name and she plain refuses to try. For writing she will do lines of o's and l's. Then today when I was at school helping with literacy I said we should practice writing her name to surprise gran when she goes to help at school next week and she wrote her whole name perfectly and then went back to her scribbles! I showed the teacher who was just as surprised as I was. So how much of it is an actual cognitive issue and how much is just stubbornness/laziness/lack of confidence is hard to tell. She has never been one to want to do anything for herself.
Re: Babies Born ~ September 2007 #75
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks