One More Day Till Auction

We have one more day until the auction. We have been approved for our mortgage. Kind of scary to think about doubling our mortgage. I will let everyone know if we win. You might be able to hear me screaming from where ever you may be.

Lauren had a big accomplishment at her swimming lesson. She jumped off the starting block without help and came out smiling. Last week they couldn't get her to do it. She was terrified after they helped her in the week before. This time she was laughing and happy. She even said it was fun. It might have helped that Jim and I had told her that she could have candy out of the machine if she made the jump. Brandon starts his swimming lessons at school today. I hope they go well. The biggest shocker was Arion. I may not have mentioned it before but Arion is a bit of an agoraphobic. He really is hard to get out of the house. He doesn't even go to friends houses. He has started working and I think it is helping. We have been dragging him with us to the YMCA for the swim lessons. On Tuesday we were going to race but they were using all lanes. Arion went to the locker room to change back and met the teacher for the karate class. When he came out he decided that he wanted to sign up for TWICE a week. I checked the price and I think it's not so bad. Just need to get him off work on those two days. Now if I can just get him to drive, we might make some serious progress.

Life, Stress, and Total mayhem

Life here is hit full throttle. Total craziness. Brandon is over his cold (or hot as the case maybe). He is back to BRANDON and not BARNDON. I wait for the next Brando World issue to deal with. Lauren had her first Girl Scout meeting last night. Lots of fun and should be good for her. I met a woman who's daughter had a sensory disorder. It was fun talking to her and exchanging experiences. Tonight is swimming lessons. Jim and I are looking to go to a auction this weekend to possibly buy a house with over 2 acres. This caused us to freak about how our house looks and we started to do things to fix it up. If we win we have 45 days to find a buyer. On top of all this Jim's sister needs surgery again. We are very worried about it and pray for her improved health everyday. When they schedule the surgery, Jim will need to head out and be with his sister. This leaves me to hold down the fort and continue with the planned (and some unplanned by Jim, HA HA HA) projects. I feel like were running in circles. I am so glad that I feel comfortable that I don't have to worry about Brandon at school very much. He seems to have settled in and enjoying his class and new friends.

An Interesting Comment

This morning I was talking to Brandon about school and his friends. We started talking about one of the boys the teachers say he plays with a lot. I asked him if he like this boy. His comment back was "He listen to me." I find this interesting because I guess in general people don't listen to Brandon. Probably because he take some time to get what he wants to say out and it doesn't always make sense the first time. I'm so used to repeating back and clarifying what he is saying. In general, this is not done, if you can't say it fast and get to the point, people probably blow him off. Especially kids his age. I am so glad that he has found a friend that takes the time to listen and hear him.

Is it Cold or Hot

For the last two days Brandon has been sick. I was kind of worried about the fever. It started Sunday night. He didn't want to eat dinner and by bed time he was feeling hot. I gave him some medicine and put him to bed. By 5:00 am he was burning up and I could tell I was staying home for a day. Later that day I decided to take him to the doctor. He was miserable and just laid on the couch. You know he is sick when he just lays there. This being opposed to running across the living room so he can do a running head stand on the couch. So we go to the doctor and he checks him out. No big deal, no ear infection and lung are clear. He tells Brandon you just have a cold. Well, you know Brandon, that just didn't make sense. So Brandon says "No I don't, I have a hot". In the grand scheme of life this is not the time to argue. So we agreed and said "your right, you have a hot".

Jim stayed home with him today. Fever was back at 2:30 am and took to 3:30 am to get him back to sleep. According to Jim he is feeling much better and back to trashing the living room with no problems.

BRANDON OR BARNDON

Welcome to the next edition of Brando's World. Yes sports fans we got over the tea pot. No more yelling and screaming every time I have tea. We are all very grateful that it is over. Now the next problem. Brandon has decided that his name should be spelled BARNDON. If we argue with him he gets VERY upset. Temper tantrum extraordinare. I guess it started at school. They sent a note home on Friday, saying he was getting upset and not writing his name correctly. Now, you must understand, Brandon has been working on writing his name for about 9 months. It's not something new. But in typical Brando style he just decided that he wanted to change it. In church today he threw a major wingy because he wanted to write BARNDON on the envelope and not BRANDON. In hind site that was not the place to fight him, but I was helping and we made the R and he went ballistic. I'm hoping this one doesn't last long.

I Think it Time to Make a Double, A Triple

The other day I had to fill out a Sensory Profile assessment Form for Brandon. Kind of interesting. About 5-6 pages of questions. Not unlike some of the forms I fill out for the ADHD assessment, but different questions. As I fill out the form I start to notice that some of the questions apply to Lauren. Yesterday I went back to the internet and did some more checking. I find it funny that under some of the pages on sensory disorders they list both dyspraxia and dyslexia. And to make me more worried they also asked questions about toe walking on the assessment. So here is my question, if Brandon has a sensory disorder and trouble processing in his brain, is it to far fetched that Lauren would too, but not as bad. Is it possible that this is the reason that she still walks on her toes. I mean we did the physical therapy and stretched her calf muscle out, but it never helped. They kept saying that once she got the muscle stretched out she would be fine. Are her feet just having a problem with the sense of feel. Is this the reason for the dyslexia. Well, I think it's time to turn it over to the expert. I am calling the neurologist and try to change the boys double appointment to a triple and ask him. Lauren saw him in the beginning and he said if the physical therapy didn't work to call, guess now I have to call.

Lauren's Big Jump

Last night was swim lessons. They both were doing great and having great fun. Brandon's teachers says not to worry, he is doing the best in the class and tries everything he is asked to do. See I didn't need private lessons. Now for Lauren's big moment. You sure could tell we went in over the weekend and worked on a couple of things. She was much more confident and seemed to be a little braver. At the end of the lesson they were having the kids jump off the starter mounts. Well, Lauren gets nervous jumping off the wall when I hold her hand. I saw this and thought, yeah, good luck. I have to give them credit. They didn't let her give up. It took about 3 minutes just to get her standing on the block. She looks so scared. Finally they had one teacher in the water to catch her and one on the side to hold her hand. The one holding her hand said she would count to 3 and they would go in together. OK. . . . 1 2 3 and she pulled Lauren off the block and into the water. The other teacher brought her up. Everyone was cheering. By the time they got her in, everyone was watching. At first she had a big smile on her face. Once she got out of the water and over to us she was crying. She had got water up her nose and was doing the drama queer routine. It did really scare her. I told her we would come back over the weekend and work on jumping off the side in the deep end.



These pictures are from last summer, but they are some of my favorite pictures of her. Next week I'm bringing the camera.

DING-DING-DING

Yes, I was right. Ok, as usual, when confronted with a new thing with Brandon I looked on the net and figured it out. Dyspraxia is a subtype of a Sensory-based motor disorder. This is a subtype of a sensory processing disorder. Actually one of three subtype of sensory processing disorders. That didn't take long. So what they found is what the neurologist had found and put in the diagnoses. You know. . . everyone had kept asking me why he had put that in Brandon's diagnoses. I guess this is why. Anyway I am thinking of adding some links so if anyone wants to know where I come up with this information they can see.

OT Screening - And the Research Continues

The school started Brandon's Occupational Therapy Screening and sent the report home yesterday. They noted that he is able to cut but has problems holding the pencil. Not sure I understand all they noted. One thing in the reports states: "Brandon appears to have difficulties with sensory processing which may be influencing his ability to attend to tasks, grasping his pencil for writing tasks & to write with adequate pencil pressure." OK this is a new one. I guess I'm back in research again. I wonder is this is more of the Dyspraxia coming into play. I guess I will find out later. The recommendation is for Further Assessment: "Sensory Profile and informal assessment of fine motor dexterity skills for classroom & self-care tasks."

If anyone understands this, I would appreciate comments.

What a Weekend

This weekend went lighting fast. So much to do and so little time. Saturday morning I went shopping (a little alone time) for some house stuff. After I got back Jim decided he was going to take the kids to McDonalds for lunch. This gave me and Arion time to go out to buy shoes. Now this is not as easy as it sounds. Arion wears a size 14. So we went to Kolh's and worked our plan. This plan has come from trying to buy him shoes before. We go in and gather every pair we can find in his size. This amounted to 4 pairs. Luckily, 3 were in the brand he likes. We finally agreed on a 14 wide. Thank God we didn't have to go the specialty store and order a pair. Later I took the kids to the pool to practice their swimming (kicking). Hope this helps them do well.

Sunday was the day of picnics. We went to church and they had a picnic for Sunday school registration. He had fun but couldn't linger because Brandon's new school was having a back to school picnic. That turned out to be great. Brandon and Lauren both got balloons made for them and got to watch a magic show. Jim and I got to meet the teachers and therapist. We also got to meet some other parents. All in all a great time.

Trip to Holland

This is something I picked along the way. It really helps describe the feeling you have when you are dealing with children with special needs. I don't remember who the author is. Hope it help everyone to understand.

I am often asked to describe the experiences of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this....

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The coliseum, the Michelangelo David, the gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland!"

"Holland?" you say. "What do you mean Holland? I signed up for Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay. The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you go out and buy new guidebooks. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met. It's just a different place. It's slower paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills, Holland has tulips, Holland even has Rambrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy, and they've bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life you will say, "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

The pain of that will never go away, because the loss of that dream is very significant loss. But if you spend your life mourning that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, very lovely things about Holland.

My Top 10 Things You Should Know About SN Kids

This is something my brother requested I write.

1. Putting kids on meds does not make you a bad parent.

2. Each child learns differently, even if they don’t have special needs.

3. All children have gifts – you just have to look for them.

4. An IEP can be changed or adjusted at the parent’s request.

5. An IEP needs to be updated every year or it expires.

6. Testing for your child HAS to be preformed by the school if you request it (and there is a time limit – PA is 90 days). Best to do it in writing so you have the date requested.

7. If you don’t agree with the findings from the test, you can get outside testing that they (the school) are required to pay for.

8. The schools, family and friends are not always right. Follow your gut.

9. Special needs kids qualify for medical assistance that pays for extra therapy and the schools can also be reimbursed for therapy they provide. (At least in PA)

10. Keep all copies of IEPs, diagnoses, therapy prescriptions and any other paperwork needed for your child. The schools always seem to misplace their copy. Always take your folder of papers to each appointment for when they do.

First Day of School and Swim Lessons Too

Yesterday was Brandon's first day of school. Was a little crazy in the morning. Going to have to get used to it. Shouldn't be as hard as I first thought. We have buses at 7:00 (Arion), 7:30 (Brandon) and 8:30 (Lauren). The only problem is Brandon bus. Yesterday it was 1/2 hour late because the driver got lost. When it was time for Arion to pick them up, it was supposed to be: Lauren's bus at 3:45 and Brandon's at 4:00. Right. Arion left the house at 3:35 (good boy) and as he left the house he noticed Brandon's bus pulling up at the stop. He ran down to catch him. Then they had to wait till 3:50 for Lauren's bus. Otherwise the teachers note said he did pretty well for his first day. Only 1 time out when he got mad in the PM. Could have been more emotions from the meds. It's been getting better, but still have some problems.



Last night was our first swimming lesson. I was good. I told the instructor to show him and not count on what he told him getting in. It was good until they switched teachers mid way because one of the girls couldn't deal with the man. I had to kind of yell to the new teacher when she was having some problems. All in all he did very well. Lauren on the other hand seems to be needing the most help in her class. She was very scared before we got there. She was sure she was going to drown. They worked with her and I think she will be fine. The best part was Brandon yelling "Look, I'm swimming" as he floated out on a noodle.

Microwave and Emotions from Hell

Well we gave up the idea to wait till pay day till we get the microwave. Just can't do without. Funny how you get attached to those crazy things. So, CHARGE IT, and about it later. Actually found one just as big and $50 dollars cheaper. Later in the shopping trip Brandon had a fit because I would buy him a shirt he wanted. I know what your thinking, I should have just bought him the shirt. If I had it would have just made it worst the next time. I had told him we needed long sleeve shirts and he found a short sleeve with some figure on it with a toy. I just think he wanted the toy. I saw some long sleeve with other figures but he wouldn't change his mind and didn't get either. Big fit, fists, tears, but would talk to me. He later fell asleep in the car and then it was over.

He wasn't the only one having problems with emotions. Later that night my emotions started to go nuts again. It started with a movie. Sort of made me want to cry. OK not to bad. Well then I said I was going to be and asked Arion to kiss me good night. I try this all the time, but you know, he's big now and kissing your mom is not cool. He usually just turns his cheek so I can kiss his cheek or gives me a quick kiss on the cheek. Last night he kissed me on the mouth. Not sure if he meant to. Well that started it. I started to have tears run down my face. He's such a good kid. I have three great kids. Yeah for the next ten minutes I just sat in my bed with tear and couldn't stop. Jim probably thought I was crazy. He just doesn't understand this menopause stuff very well.



By the way. The pose the boys are in is just another thing Arion has taught Brandon. Cute except it's hard to get anything but this pose when they are together.

To Sleep, To Dream, To Get Brandon Out of My Bed

God I'm tried. Brandon is back to sneaking into bed with us every night. He says he's having bad dreams, but I'm not always sure. Just think he wakes up some times and comes in. Sometimes I can tell is he scared. Oh well, eventually he will stop, right?? This weekend really is not what it was supposed to be. We were supposed to go to the beach. Well the hurricane took care of that. Jim tried to let me sleep yesterday. He even locked me in the room so the kids couldn't get to me. Well it was a good try, until Brandon found it. He just yelled at the door "Mommy, the door is locked. Mommy, why you lock the door? Mommy, open door, it's locked". Nice try.

After shopping for a good portion of the day, we came home to a dead microwave. Damn thing is only 2-3 years old. Now we have to wait till Wednesday to get another because we spent most of the money that we would need to buy a new one. Guess that's how it goes. Now I'm trying to decide if I should be good and go to church or stay home. Guess I'll go. I'm up now anyway. God I'm tired.