Appointments

As promised the clinic called in the allotted time frame for an appt. with the specialist for the little man.  We see him next week.  So we are moving right along on that front.
I have two messages on my machine from Mom's place. Seems her primary care physician wants Mom to take a fall prevention class.  I ignored the first message and then got another one.  This time someone actually talked to Mom's doctor.  I'm feeling like this person does not have much of a clue and has not spoken to my mother in awhile.  My mom is beyond learning new things.  She would not remember anything from this class. 
Odds are though that she and I will have to take the class.  I can't be called irresponsible if I do what is asked.  But I have to say it is the most ridiculous waste of our time right now.  Even the receptionist was laughing a bit about it when I tried to return the call earlier.  Maybe I do like I did when they wanted her to take the bone density test after she broke her arm.  I questioned it...because she didn't break her arm. Anyway....

Conferences

It is that time of the year.  I had both of my conferences this afternoon.  Started with the little man and I was apprehensive.  Anymore anytime the phone rings I expect it to be the school telling me what he did wrong that day.  And he does wrong.  He still has a problem maintaining control of his hands and keeping them to himself.
We have dealt with CPS coming, cops coming and all those things entail.  I have had a neighbor suggest he go to the 49th Street Academy.  I had to look that up and it is really hard to discern what it is, but it can't be a good place.  It may be a necessary place, but not a nice place.  And so my nerves are a bit shredded.
I mentioned the academy to his teacher, who knew nothing about it.  She did tell me we were no where near even looking at any other placement for the little man.  She came across as she didn't even think it was ever an option.  She told me about his check in, check out plan with Mr. Jones and that is working so far.....but it is the first week of it.  There is a whole group of people paying attention though.  She explained to me how she tries to head anything off in the classroom and pointed out some things that help.  I am going to utilize some of her strategies.
Then on to the good.  He is where he should be in some subjects and ahead in others.  She is going to give him some harder math and let him know how good that makes him compared to the average student.  Education wise he is going great, just like last year.  And so we just keep moving forward and I felt greatly relieved.

Then I met with the little woman's teacher.  The little woman is doing so much better this year all around.  She is spot on in reading and math and as of right now will not be doing math academy  or have any reading interventions.  It's like it all started clicking for her this summer.  She is still a little hyper, but sometimes she just has to turn her desk around to settle down.  She is a great addition to her class.  I got to read some of her writings.  Funny how she would save homeless people with the money from her money tree.  Guess we still need to talk more about that and sign flyers who only want the money for their addictions.  But that is all right.  She has more empathy and compassion in her little finger than I do in my whole body.  And it is good for her to teach me.
We talked about the little woman seeing the therapist.  Seems there is some right hand left hand going on.  According to her teacher, no one ever told her the little woman was suppose to meet with the therapist.  So hopefully now that will work the way it is suppose to.  Anxiety is a hard thing to deal with and the little woman needs that help the therapist can give her.

So overall the conferences were positive and I walked away with a happy heart.

His Turn

So the little woman and I were not feeling great on Friday.  Mine lasted all weekend while hers was a day.  Today was the little man's turn.  We woke up to him barfing over the side of the bed.  Naturally I was hoping it was a fluke, but it was not.  He headed to the bathroom and informed me that his butt threw up. Great.
I called in to work and took the day off.  We did two quick errands where he didn't need to get out of the car and back to the couch. 
Tomorrow will be a new day and hopefully a better day for the little man.

Tonsils

The little man had his appt. with the pediatrician this morning.  He is healthy and in a growth spurt...as if I didn't know that. Since the beginning of Sept. he has gained another two pounds and grew an inch.   So then I commented on the sleep apnea and the doc took one look inside his mouth.  Said he was giving us a referral to the ENT specialist.  The little man has huge tonsils that have been infected at some point and made them already crypted.  Add that to the sleep apnea and we are most likely looking at removal.
And I am happy.  I am sure there is a correlation between sleep deprivation and behavior.  Not that I expect surgery to cure all that ails him.  But I think good sleep will go a long way towards making things better all around.
So far this is going along smoothly and rather quickly.  Got to like that.  We are suppose to have a call this week to set up an appt. with the ENT specialist.  And here is hoping that if he has to have them removed that the surgery is much easier on him than it was on his dad.

Cake and Ice Cream

We did the family cake and ice cream thing.  The little woman wanted to know if Uncle Pat liked chocolate ice cream.  He said he did, but.....you have to have vanilla ice cream with birthday cake.  So we got vanilla and mint chocolate chip.  The cake was small and must have been just the right size because after Grammy had her third piece it was all gone. 
The little woman got a VR headset.  I'm a little technology challenged and was having quite a time making it work.  Well not the headset, but the app on my phone.  I'm still working on it.  I think I need a different app. 

Leaves Anyone

I decided to take the kids to the park to wear off a little energy and maybe start the day different.  The work crew were there and just finishing up making these big big piles of leaves.  I saw a couple other kids play in a pile and then my two joined.  They are just too tempting and wonderful.  So they played for a good half an hour in the leaves.  Moving leaving, throwing leaves, jumping in leaves and covering each other up in leaves.
I was standing there with another woman when this little girl came up with her dog.  They both looked like they wanted to play but the little girl told us no because we are not suppose to.  Well then.  It's a park.  We did not mess up the piles much.  And there is no rule that says we couldn't.  I'm sure her parents told her no.  They are much more considerate than I am.  My two got this great experience of fun.  And it took a little bit of energy to do all they did. 
After two hours we left the park and the work crew had come back and were vacuuming up the leaves.  They did their part and we did ours.  There is a lot to say for play and we thank them for the pile of leaves they made just for us.  ;p

Spot It

The little man had a great day at school.  The little woman played sick.  I knew when we woke up that someone would be staying home.  I had plans to go see "Bohemian Rhapsody" in the afternoon and I just knew it would be one of those messed up plans. 
Turned out all right because I started feeling like crap and so did she.  So we had a quiet afternoon.  And then the little man came home.  I had decided that he needed some supervision...he had made a lady in a car mad the day before because he wouldn't get out of her way....she called the cops.  So I'm watching them play and shooting hoops turned into chase the ball or something.  The ball went up under another neighbors truck and when he came down the little man and a girl both went for it.  Well he got it, but he did push her out of the way to get it.  Not in anger....just stupid kid stuff.  Well her grandma got mad and called the cops.  I got two afternoons where I got to listen to what the officers tell me.  Makes you feel like an abject failure at first and then you dial it back and go wait......today was just kids playing and someone got a little hurt.  And when the cop left and the two moms of the kids playing sat down on the sidewalk and talked with the little man....that went over a little better with all of us.  I don't know what to do about the grandma.  The cops used to come all the time for the stupid stuff her grandsons did.  I would think she might have learned that it is stupid to call the cops for stupid stuff, but I think she learned a different lesson.  And in the mean time......
After dinner the little woman was playing with the little man and I do not know what transpired, but she did the run away trick.  Almost had her convinced to come back in once.  But no.  Then I got a phone call from Renee who told me the little woman was there.  I left her there for another 15 minutes and then we walked over and got her.  They were in the middle of playing a game called "Spot It".  And it was simple and quick and cool.  When they were done they played another round with the little man and every one was calm.  Renee then calmly asked him not to piss people off in the middle of the road because the woman the day before was a parent of one of her students.  And he agreed.  Once home we ordered that game because it is one we can all play and not cheat at.