End of the Year for Cha-cha

Today was Cha-cha's last day of school for the 2012-2013 School Year.  He had a fantastic teacher who will be retiring in October. She has been great for him and we will miss her.

Getting ready to hand Cha-cha his portfolio.

I thought we were making good time, but we walked in as everyone was already sitting down in their chairs.  Cha-cha froze and wouldn't leave my side, even when his super nice para came over to walk him to his seat.  So I went with him and sat behind him, where he spent most of his time turned around staring at me, grabbing my hand, or looking at the floor.

Singing the See You Later, Alligator Song - I don't even know if he moved his lips.

He refused to do his job - the honor of cutting the last paper chain down to symbolize the last day of school. Something he's been waiting for now for weeks now. Instead, he let his good friend cut it for him. I'm very grateful to the sweet little girl for being his friend.

\

Eating his watermelon. 

He participated in washing his hands, snack (although he sat by himself because there were no more chairs at the table), and two rhythm stick songs, in which he yelled out to his teacher after the first one, "We do other one!" She smiled at him and continued to the second song.

His Self Portrait from September (Left) and June (Right).

So in all, it was very bittersweet.  I'm so proud of our boy for making so much progress, however it was so noticeable today that his anxiety gets the better of him in large, social situations.  It was also noticeable that he's not where the other kids are in terms of his speech and language, especially with his cadence and pronunciation.  He's come a long, long way, but he still has a tough road ahead of him.  Seeing him with his peers showed me how "different" he is than all of them and it's so hard to accept that. I'm grateful for a wonderful parent of a former student of mine and a coworker who took the time to just let me cry and listen to me when I got back to my work.

He will get there; we will just have to take different, longer paths to get there.

As we left his school, Cha-cha asked in his garble, "I get my end of the school year prize tonight?" to which my former student's parent let me know that comment is completely age appropriate, which gave me a chuckle. ;)  

Tonight, when Cha-cha was going to bed, I told him, "Are you happy that today was your last day of school?"

He responded joyfully, "Yeth, now I get to pway width aw my to-oyz." (Yes, now I get to play with all my toys).  Typical 4 year old response, right? ;)

We haven't told him he goes back in 2 weeks for summer school...eeek!

Almost the End of the Year!

Summer is just around the corner - we can taste it!

This is the time that I count down the days and I wake up in the morning praying that the day before was the last day of school.  I really can't complain as I only have 8 1/2 days left, but oh, I can't wait! :)

Cha-cha finishes school this Thursday and his Open House/End of the Year Celebration is on Friday.  He's made a lot of progress since his start on February 27th, but he still has a long way to go.  We met with his teacher and therapists on Wednesday, and they are going to pick him up for more PT as he hasn't made as much progress as we had hoped in that area.  His SLP was happy to say that he has language and it's coming along developmentally, but his articulation due to his apraxia is tough for him (as it will be).  As he adds more words, he drops more and more sounds and endings.  He is able to be understood in most contexts, but it's still very broken.

He continues to be a cuddly and sweet boy.  Lately he has grown attached to his baby, strangely named, Kick.  The other night he told his that the baby's name wasn't named Kick anymore, but we were to call it "Another Kick".  We often hear stories that the baby is sleeping and that we need to keep our voices down, and that the baby needs to be fed, "Rye now!" (right now).

I know his love for babies comes from his big sister - she plays with her Bitty Babies daily, the cute little girls at his at home daycare, and his new cousin who was born this month, Baby R:

(I love how he has his hands out to hold Baby R)

Our Bee-bee is growing up so fast:

Here she is at K-Orientation last June and this week for her "Q and U Wedding" at School.

She is growing anxious for 1st grade and at the same time, she is ready to be done with school.  She is doing so well - reading at an end of 1st grade level and still adding and subtracting numbers in her head.  She is a delight, just don't ask her to clean her room. ;)  She finished her first year of Girl Scout Daisies and her first spring soccer season and she is hooked on both.  She also had the honor of having her painted duck be in the city-wide Art Show:

Both kids and I went on an overnight camping trip up to NH a few weeks ago with the Girl Scouts and had a blast.  I hope that over the summer we can do another camping trip with hubby.

Our summer will be a busy one - Cha-cha will be at morning summer school and he will continue with 2 sessions of private speech a week.  We have a trip this month to go to the big hospital in the city to see Cha-cha's Developmental Pedi for a continuing follow up.  I signed him up for some preschool game afternoons through the rec department, so we will see how those go.  Bee-bee will go to some rec department morning camps with an art camp in the afternoon one day a week.  I'm still trying to figure out how to fit in swim lessons for the both of them, but I'm hoping we can make something work.  My parents have moved to a coastal town with property on the waterfront, so we tend to take full advantage of that. ;)  I foresee a lot of Thursday night trips up to see them so we can get an early morning start on Friday's to the beach.  We also have a big cruise coming up with my In Laws and a trip to NYC to see my best friend and her family.  It will definitely be a full, but fun summer! :)



Back to Work...

The end of summer is a tough time for me - anxiety starts to creep up around the beginning of August as the back to school sale signs come out (this year, they started around the 4th of July).  I am blessed to have a job as a teacher - in this area of the US, it can be pretty hard to find work as an elementary school teacher - I really like my job, I love working with kids and I love seeing children grow and learn...however I'm doing that with someone else's child and not my own kiddos.

My dream job would be to be paid the same salary and work part time teaching - it's just not possible for us to live with out my salary.  Living where we do - close to a major city with an expensive housing market, and living within 2 miles of our jobs, we are very fortunate.  However, going back to work is nerve wracking after having two wonderful months off of "work" with my children (because even though my 7-3:30 job is over, my job is a mother is never over).  Every fall it's hard.  Hubby always comments that my worst two months are September and June.  It's true, the stress level is high, trying to coordinate schedules and child care is crazy - and I can pretty much guarantee that both children will come down with some weird illness within 3 weeks of school (two years ago, it was the first day of school) and require me to take a sick day.

I think what makes this year different is having a child go off to Kindergarten.  Luckily, her teacher is a parent of two former students I had the pleasure of having.  This parent is a wonderful mother, so I know Bee-bee is in very good hands.  I know that she will be just fine there - my biggest fear is that her creativity will be stifled.  She is a naive child in the sense she has been sheltered from  Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel - she's pretty much been a PBS kid.  Seeing commercials for cleaning products on Animal Planet intrigues her and she begs me to buy them so our house will sparkle and shine.  I commented to hubby the other day that I fear our house has more technology than the school she's going to.  He was kind to point out that since we do have the tech in the house, she will be fine.  During our visit in June, they had 1980s Letter People on the wall and no active school website or blog.  Despite these setbacks, they still produce children who are successful, so they have to be doing something right...right?

Another fear of going back to work, and I know I've discussed it on here before, is Little Man - seeing his progress, I fear him regressing.  I think that last week, he managed to get through the three days with just gestures and signs.  I doubt he actually said a word all day long.  One of his teachers commented that he got angry with her and he did a fantastic job signing go, no and then help - all words he has "sounds" for.  I gently reminded that he can use sounds and should be prompted to use them.  His sleep has already been messed with - he's napping at school anywhere from 45 minutes to 90 minutes.  This summer, he barely napped - which meant he was in bed by 7pm...now even putting him to bed at 7:30pm, he's rocking it out in his toddler bed until well after 10pm. 

(One of our 10:30 rock out sessions)

Even though I miss my children greatly when I'm at work, the time goes by very fast and I work with wonderful kids who challenge and teach me.  Working with my students helps me be a better parent, just as my own two children teach me to be a better teacher.  For example, before this summer, SPD was just something I read about on IEPs or was talked about in conversations with specialists and examples of strategies were given to me to use in the classroom.  I had no idea that there was SPD with an underresponsive subtype.  I spent a lot of my summer reading about kids with Apraxia and SPD, as well as other neurological impairments - having a child with special needs has pushed me to learn more about the subject.

So as I head back to set up my classroom tomorrow, I have many mixed feelings - I'm excited about my new grade level, new grade level teammates, and brand new school.  I'm excited about hosting a student teacher in my classroom.  I'm excited about building a classroom community with new students from other schools.  I'm excited that my Big Girl is excited about Kindergarten and learning.  I'm excited that Little Man is getting social interaction with language-rich peer role models...at the same time, I'm sad that someone else gets to experience my kids for 6+ hours a day...I know it's important for our children to grow wings and be part of a "village" so they learn and grow - but it's hard not being there to see it happen first hand.  At least I have my late afternoons, evenings, weekends and vacations to saviour my children - for that I am truly grateful. :)

Here's to a wonderful summer - we laughed, we played, we learned, we created...we frolicked at the beach, played at nature's playgrounds, and saw friends and family.  Here's to a great school year - may it be productive, enlightening, educational, and fun!

The Last Weeks of Summer

We've been busy with summer winding down...I figured I'd post some pics of what we've been up to...

T.G.I.Friday!

Long, long week...Thankfully, it's ended on a positive note, but it's been a long one!

We spent last weekend launching Operation Room Switch - Beebee (Little Man's name for his big sister) is being moved into the office, Little Man is moving into Beebee's old room, and the office is being moved into the nursery off of our bedroom (along with becoming a closet).  It is time, however we have accumulated waaaaay too much crap - way too much.  We are blessed to have so many people who love and adore our children, who love to buy them stuff or give them stuff.  Hubby has made many trips to the Salvation Army drop off and we still could get a dumpster.  The downfall of having a small cape for a house, is that we don't have much of a staging area to hold the contents of the room while it's being cleaned and painted.  Thankfully, I have a very patient father who has helped us out with the painting process and a very patient husband to help me with moving stuff.  Oh, have I mentioned that I also went back to work this week to unpack into a brand new classroom?  Yes, Operation Room Switch should have happened earlier in the summer...poor planning on my part.

Anyway, I chose orange and yellow for Little Man's room, while Beebee picked a lovely pink and purple for her walls:

We are slowly getting there and tonight BeeBee is spending her first night in her room (that still needs decorations and organizing):

Mean while, tonight is Little Man's last night in his cribby - tomorrow we will be moving him to his big boy bed in his new room.  I think he understands what we're doing, but since he can't verbalize it, it's hard to know exactly what he knows of his "new room" and "new bed."  I was thinking of making a sticker chart for him for staying in his bed and having him earn a small fish tank in his room.  I don't know how much he can understand about that, but I'm curious if it will work.

We had a good week over all - Beebee got to spend two nights with Nana-bee so Little Man had some uninterrupted therapy times and I could get some unpacking done of at work and organizing done at home.  He worked really hard in therapy this week and starts his outside therapy tomorrow.  Here are some additional highlights of the week:

Buddy-Dog got upset that Little Man fell asleep and couldn't play.

Little man with his Big Dog and broom - some of his favorite things.

Beebee at the "tavern" after Daddy's soccer game, explaining to one of Daddy's single teammates all about how to be a mommy to a Bitty Baby...I'm sure he was thrilled.

My old school being torn down...it's a little sad, but I'm super excited for my new room and my new teaching team! :)

And my loves tonight...I've been feeling cruddy and I ended up canceling going out tonight to stay home and rest...these three made me smile tons though. :)

We have a busy week coming up - new therapist for Little Man, more unpacking and setting up at work, Little Man's 6 month Early Intervention evaluation, IFSP meeting, daycare meeting for Little Man, and continuing to set up the new bedrooms.  Happy last week of Summer Vacation! :)

Fantastic Friday...yeah, right!

So things are just going wonderfully...if you think this, then keep on drinking.

This week hasn't been so "Fantastic"...granted, we're all safe, healthy, and somewhat sane...but little things have added up to be more of a "Frustrating" Friday.

My anxiety is creeping up...going back to work always stirs things up...moving into a brand new building, changing grade levels, and not being able to go in early to set up my classroom will definitely set it off.  Thankfully from my trusty sidekick of sleeping pills, I've been able to get three nights of awesome sleep.  I hope that the construction on the new building will finish soon so I can get in and set up.

Big girl is doing well - she had a good week, however she will tell you that we didn't do anything fun.  She is suffering from typical 5 1/2 year old ready to go back to school syndrome. ;)  This is from the same girl, who on Sunday, swung on a trapeze.  Yup, hubby's idea and she loved it.  Something tells me that she may request trapeze lessons instead of dance lessons this fall.

Not a great picture, but yes, that is Big Girl swinging on the Trapeze!

Little Man is doing ok - this week's therapy sessions were sort of duds.  We are realizing that 8am sessions aren't good for him and our other session was a meeting of his SLP, Developmental Specialist and an OT to figure out an action plan to help him.  There were some ideas tossed around, many of which we are already doing at home.  Something I'm not too excited about is the change over from his Developmental Specialist being his contact person to the SLP.  I had to open my mouth and assert myself more by telling the SLP that she needs to push him more - he is way more capable of producing sounds with the Dev. Spec. than he is the SLP.  I feel bad telling someone how to do their job, but as a teacher, I know this - if you don't set a level of expectations, the student will not rise to the occasion.  If the bar is set low, you will get low; set the bar high, and you will be amazed.

I spent 3 hours of my "free" time this week on the phone trying to get outside speech services for little man.  No one has after school times, and if you want them, then you're on a waiting list that is 6 months long.  No thank you.  We finally were able to get him in with a clinical fellow who is working under a SLP who specializes in Apraxia - not exactly what I wanted for him, but since he will be followed by the specialist as well, it was the best option.  The good thing is that they have Saturday appointments, so I won't be rushing around another night after work for therapy.

Other than that, we did have a good day at the beach the other day - Little Man even got into the water and enjoyed the waves.  Yesterday we visited my mom up at her beach house and we swam in the pool, went for a hike and played at the rock playground. 

Big Girl relaxing after swimming in the pool.

Rock Playground

Nana-Bee playing in the Rock Playground

This morning was tough - an hour and a half of non-stop crying, whining, whimpering or hysteria from Little Man - simply because we couldn't understand what he wanted.  Hubby gave him his iced tea (decaff) in a sippy and it became a nightmare - sippy was throw into the sink, new sippy came out and then was thrown.  Hubby held LM up to each cabinet to see what it was that he wanted, then he settled on eating Starbursts for breakfast.  I took the bag away and gave him 3 - then those were thrown.  Curious George came on, cries for it to go off ensued, hugs were demanded, then I was pushed away.  Cries for Daddy as he went off to work, hugs demanded again.  I put Curious George on again and despite cries for it to be turned off (by both kids), it has stayed on and entertained LM (who is now watching and eating trail mix the chocolate bits out of the trail mix for breakfast).  Thank goodness, we have some sanity for a little while. ;)

Fantastic Friday *a day late

We had a good week, super busy, but good!

We spent last weekend getting much needed errands and things done around the house. We decided to have a yard sale on Sunday, as we have a ton of kid crap that we need to get rid of...I'm actually excited for that! Sunday we went to the zoo and the kids had fun walking around and seeing the animals...little man even sat still for us to sit and watch the Birds of Prey show and he seemed to enjoy it.

Big Girl's Accomplishments- This week, Big Girl went to a 4 day cheer camp through our city's rec department. She loved it last year, and I think she did enjoy herself this year, but she was disappointed that she wasn't chosen to be a "flyer" (the girl on top of a stunt). She was chosen to be the holder...I had to break it to her that at 5.5 years old and 49 inches, she most likely never be a flyer because she is so tall. Don't get me wrong, she is a very slender girl, but she has extremely long legs and torso and is typically a head taller than her peers. So after a few tears, she went back to camp and held her head high and did a fantasic job holding the stunt...her partner and her held the other girl the highest out of all the groups. And after all that, big girl then showed me her "award" she was given...



Yup, Most Dedicated!

Little Man's Accomplishments- little man worked hard in therapy this week, he even got so mad/frustrated at one point he yelled at his therapist, "more pull!" when she went to put the stretchy ball away. Nana-Bee came over to watch the end of his session and was very impressed with how hard he is working...then after his last session for the week, Nana-Bee took little man for his first overnight up to the beach house she is staying at for the summer. It was a big deal for all of us. Of course he did wonderful, however he didn't go to sleep until 11:30pm...but he was content, played with his play dough, trucks, and enjoyed the long hikes on the trails near the house. Big Girl and I went up the next day and he was exhausted, but very happy. My mom said for the most part she could understand what he wanted/needed by his gesturing and pointing and a few vocalizations. He learned to say "Nah-nah" and she said that he would say it constantly if he needed or wanted her. :) When we got there, we swam at the pool, Little Man took a nap and after dinner we went for a walk in the trails and climbed a few trees...






And as we were walking, little man held my hand and I took this:



I hope he always wants to hold my hand!

Have a great week!

Fantastic Friday #2

A look at the positive things from our week!

On Saturday, we celebrated my dad's 65th birthday with a pig roast...Little Man's comment as soon as he saw the pig turning - "Uh-oh!"  It was 95 degrees out and our kids enjoyed playing on the slip and slide - here are a few pics my aunt took (and I had fun editing them in instagram):

 The only picture I know of with just my dad and my siblings.  I remember one from Easter in 1st grade, but I think it was just the girls in that one.  My mom even had t-shirts made up with my dad's picture for the occasion!

 Slip and slide fun!

 My Little Man

 Her new smile was a big hit!

 I love her eyes in this one!

He loved the whipped cream frosting on the cake!

My mom, being an artist and an art teacher, invited the kids and I to the Museum of Fine Arts with a former teacher of hers.  I was a little leery of taking both kids there - Big Girl has gone on many occasions - her first visit being when she was about 15 months old - I think she is one of the few 15 month olds who could point out who Napoleon was in a picture and say his name. ;)  I have to say, both kids behaved wonderfully - it was one of those days when I had to say to myself, "See, you're doing an awesome job!  Look how well they are behaving!"  I did resort to the stroller with Little Man and I let him out for periods of time when he wouldn't be able to destroy million dollar glass pieces, but he was very content and even napped towards the end of our visit.  Big Girl talked nonstop, which is no surprise.  My mom's friend found her hysterical and couldn't believe how one 5 1/2 year old could talk about art for almost 2 1/2 hours.  I have to say, I was pretty impressed too.

Talking art with Nana

Big girl had a big accomplishment - she saved up her $90 to get the new Bitty Baby Backpack kit.  I made a deal with her - I had told her that I wouldn't spend another dime in that store and if she wanted something, she had to pay for it herself.  Well, when I saw that it was only another $28 to get the doll included and knowing how much she plays with her "Ava" doll - I told her that I would get her a new doll.  On Wednesday after therapy, we drove 30 minutes away to our nearest American Girl Store and purchased "Jewel."  Big Girl will tell you that she came out of her belly - she even went as far as to have Little Man kiss her belly before going on our adventure.  According to the happy mother, "Jewel" weighed in at 6 lbs and has been nursing and sleeping like a champ.

Hanging with Buddy - Buddy loves him so much and often seeks Little Man out for cuddles

Little Man is growing more and more sure of himself as the summer progresses.  He really seems to be coming out of his shell more and more.  I just hope and pray that it continues when school starts.  He's been actively working with his therapists when they come to the house and he's making more sound noises than ever.  It rained a lot over the nights and on Monday during a walk when it was starting to drizzle, he noticed the puddles and then immediately pointed to the sky and urging me to look with him.  It was almost like he wanted to say, "I get it!  Rain falls from the sky and makes puddles!"  For the rest of the week, whenever he saw a puddle, he'd stop, point to the puddle and then to the sky and make noise and then I would verbalize it for him.  Tonight when hubby and I were putting him to bed, we were using the Peekaboo Barn app and when we came to the goat, he pointed at himself and said "Me!" and pointed to me and the goat again.  I said to him, "Did we see the goats today?" (we went to a farm) and he started nodding his head and pointing to the goat and himself.

He was loving the play dough this week!

Something I enjoyed watching this week is the way our two kids interact with each other.  Big Girl is definitely a help around here in helping Little Man learn new things.  I spent 15 minutes trying to get him to use his new motorized toothbrush (for sensory therapy reasons) and Big Girl just walked right in there and within a minute, she had him using it in his own mouth.  She never forgets to prompt him to say her name or to use words that we know he knows.  She congratulates every single milestone he does - she is his biggest cheerleader.  This week, she said to me, "Mom, I don't know if I should be learning my kindergarten stuff or speech pathology stuff to help Little Man.  What do you think is more important?"  I told her that everyone appreciates her help - however learning her K stuff was more important right now.

Shaving cream car wash!

So it has been a good week...next week we are even busier - Cheer Camp for Big Girl and Little Man will have his first overnight by himself up at the beach with my mom.  I'm a little nervous for him to go without one of us or Big Girl - but I know it will be good for him and my mom to spend time together.  :)