The kids are supposed to have a period of Daily Physical Activity every day.
In our house….this is also known as my Sanity Time.
With three little boys all vying for my attention, things can get a bit crazy. Especially when it’s only just been half a week that we’ve been back at school. I am strongly trying to convince myself that it will get a whole lot better than it has been this week. Jeremy will remember and settle down into a schedule, rhythm, and routine and Josiah will better understand what is expected of him as a kindergartener and Judah, well, I’m trusting that he will soon realize that he doesn’t need to crawl inside myself in order to feel connected and “seen”.
Throw in a little “sensory overload” and well, there have been one too many meltdowns this last week. But, the ONE TIME that everyone seems to chill-the-heck-out is when we go far a walk and so, this year…..I’m thinking of insituting a strict DPA schedule and sticking to it, rain or shine….of course, it’s been gorgeous so far….ask me how it’s going when it’s nasty and wet!
There are so many opportunities to learn just in our every day lives…..yesterday while we were waiting for our dr office to open after lunch, we sat outside on the steps and found all the different shapes we could find…..circles on the top o the lamp posts. The Triangle at the top of the church which the cross was sitting on. The rectangle of the bricks…..I got Siah’s shapes lesson in for the day and he had no clue that he was “in school”…..I love that. No pressure….just fun!
Here are some of our pictures from our walk today……..
We started recess with a little cupcake snack….
I figured this was as good a time as any for a little sugar rush.
Nature’s Stained Glass
Foraging…
Judah’s upset cause he had to wait to eat the berries
Nature’s Monkey Bar’s and Climbing Apparatus
Imaginary Play
I wonder what he’s thinking in this picture…is he a wolf, a fox, Batman???
Vibrant Color
Judah enters the World of Make Believe
The Art out here is crazy…..Nature’s Sculptures
I often wonder “Where His Path Will Lead”?
What keeps you sane these days? Or centers you? Or helps you to de-stress?
Wasn’t planning on it, but it just turned out that way. Life has been so busy and it doesn’t really show signs of slowing down any time soon.
Today was our first day back at school for all 4 of the bigger kids. Geli’s in Grade 10. Xani’s in Grade 9. Jeremy started Grade 7 and Josiah started Kindergarten. Judah doesn’t want to get left out of anything and so….well, he just joined right in with us. (Forgot to get the girls pics….will have to do it when they get home today….oooops!)
Siah wasn’t exactly thrilled to have his “first day of Kindergarten” picture taken. Just keeping it real, people. Just keeping it real!
Once I let him go back inside and get his DSi…..which is what he wanted. I was able to grab this shot where at least, he is looking in the general direction of the camera and sort of smiling.
As far as first day’s go…..I think today was a pretty good one.
Jeremy did a great job reviewing some of his last years stuff and we ploughed through a ton of stuff with Josiah. I can’t wait for a few months to be able to see how far he’s come. We’ve got a fairly hefty reward incentive thingy with stickers and a goody box and all that jazz going on……in an effort to convince him to “stay focused on the actual activity at hand”, and I’m really hoping that soon we will be able to phase that out or mostly out.
Not surprisingly, Jeremy is quite nervous about what he may or may not remember and so I’m planning on doing a bit of review this week to “prove to him” that he is actually as smart and competent as I say he is.
We did manage to get out for a “Recess” and took a walk along the trails by our house. We picked a(nother) full tray of blackberries to freeze. (Jeremy will eat frozen berries like they are candy and so I’m saving up as many as I can get my hands on.)
We made it to lunch time, made it through lunch and now that the baby is sleeping, we are about to start a section of Arts and Crafts…..I think we are gonna do some leaf rubbings. Jeremy picked some up on our walk……We’ll talk about seasons and the leaves changing colors and falling….and it will all tie into Josiah’s Science Lesson for the day.
I am hoping that I’ll be able to carve out a little more time for myself now that we are back into a “routine”. I am really throwing that word around lightly here, but I’m confident that we will get there…..right? Positive thoughts! Positive thoughts!
How was YOUR summer? I’ll get to mine in the next few posts or so…
How has your September started off? Busy? Regular? Quiet? Slow?
How I wish mine was quiet and slow……how I wish!!!!
About a month ago, right in the middle of a whole bunch of really bad appointments regarding Geli’s bones….I decided that I needed a break from everything.
Jeremy had just been doing a section in his Social Studies on the Watershed and the rain cycle and I figured that a trip the Lynn Canyon was EXACTLY what we needed.
I didn’t tell Jeremy that we were “going on a field trip” until it was time to start school. He was SO EXCITED!
We packed up and headed out to North Vancouver. We started our adventure at the Ecology Center.
The large majority of my pictures are blurry because the boys were having SO MUCH FUN and moving so fast that it was tough to get a good (clear) shot in.
They LOVED the hands on exhibits and Jeremy loved how so much of it had to do with what he was learning. While homeschooling is not EASY by any stretch of the imagination, I love that I’m involved with him and his learning. It’s so cool because we were able to pull in aspects of Language Arts, Science and Social Studies into this one field trip. I love that. And he was excited to show me what he knew and how it tied in…..I especially LOVE that HE IS EXCITED about what he is learning. That just about makes up for all the frustrations that we go through.
Siah LOVED the bones. He was enthralled by them.
After we left the Ecology Centre, we walked down to the Suspension Bridge. It had been WAY too long since I had been to the Canyon and it was so good to just escape from everything and to get lost in the beauty of the forest.
Jeremy helped Siah walk across the Suspension Bridge while Judah CLUNG to me for dear life. He really wasn’t sure that he liked the moving, swinging bridge.
We took our time meandering down the trail. We stopped to check out the stumps and to count the rings on a recently falled tree. Jeremy thinks this one had 120+ rings? I didn’t count.
Judah was desperate to get down to the water on the other side of this fence. He was pretty adamant that he should be in the water and not upon the trail.
It was so much fun to have no time frame, nothing pushing us, no schedules to make….we just WERE….
I’m very much a driven person. I try so hard to stay present and in the moment, but so often I am thinking of what needs to happen or what should be happening and I’m so aware of what we aren’t doing and on this day, I was so very aware of us and where we were at mentally and emotionally and I tried so hard to just “BE”….to just be with my boys. To not worry about how long it took us or how many detours we took or what we stopped to look at. The boys were enjoying exploring and running and climbing and I was enjoying them just enjoying everything. There was really nothing that they could do wrong and so we just WERE….
I remember us as kids (my brother’s and sister’s) climbing this rock and it’s fun that my kids now get to experience that as well. I remember how HUGE it seemed to me then and when I look at it now it’s still pretty big….
It was nice to see the boys playing “together” instead of fighting against each other.
We finally made it down to the 30 foot pool. Beautiful, isn’t it? And this picture does nothing to represent the actual beauty of the place. It’s incredible. I grew up doors away from the Canyon…I was so blessed.
We climbed down the rocks and sat by the water and ate our lunch. I love the look on Judah’s face….mine – not so much, but man, is he cute!
Josiah and his celery stick give it two thumbs up…
We hung out for a while, threw some rocks, climbed on the rocks and then slowly started making our way back to the van.
Josiah was much braver, crossing the bridge for the second time……
It was such a nice and so needed escape from everything. We came home feeling slightly recharged and in the middle of all the craziness….that is such a good thing. We are looking forward to our next escape to Lynn Canyon.
Things have been insane around here recently. I have had no time for myself as you may have noticed by the silence over here.
It was not something that I was intentional about but I have felt like my life was on speed.
working on schoolwork
I…..we, have not been in a good place and for the first time since….well, since before the new year and probably WAY before then even…..I feel like I can…..well, I feel like I can almost breathe. I have these moments where I can see that I should be breathing and yet, I feel like I am still holding my breath and I have to remind myself to let go of the breath that I am holding so that I can take another and another and another.
It has felt like things have been going down hill for a long time, but at the same time, I was trying so SO hard to carry on. Since the New Year and the whole BONE CRAP…..it has felt like things are going faster and faster down hill and that I could no longer even attempt to stand strong against it all. I have felt like I was being crushed under the weight of everything and at the same time…..I couldn’t be crushed because there was too much that still needed to be done; and so, wounded and broken I carried on.
we like to do school, too
At the end of last year we applied for the Disability Tax Credit for Jeremy regarding ADHD. In April we received a bit of money and made the decision to use ALL of it to get some help.
We interviewed a bunch of people and none of them really seemed “just right”. As we continued through the hiring process, I got discouraged. I started to think that maybe I was looking for something that I wasn’t going to find or that maybe I was expecting or hoping for too much. As a last resort, we contacted the church we are attending and asked the Young Adults Pastor if he knew of anyone who wanted or needed a job as a Mother’s Helper. He suggested someone and it turns out that there were two sisters that came for an interview and I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect duo. They are sharing the job and starting last Monday, I have help from 8:30am to 4:30pm and the two women are INCREDIBLE.
Who needs skateboards to play at the skateboard park?
They are sweet and responsible and loving and the best part……..my boys LOVE them. I am SO THANKFUL. This couldn’t have come at a better time because we have 5 of us in counseling right now and between all the appointments that we have been going to….I think I would be completely WIPED!!!!! if I were trying to do this all on my own, and with the two little boys always in tow.
I’m hoping to be able to have a little bit more “me” time. It would be so nice to not feel like I was ALWAYS behind on things, or to not feel like I was never able to catch up or stay on top of anything.
New pink glasses
I feel like I’m trying to catch up right now. I don’t even know if it’s possible and there’s a part of me that wants to just ignore everything in the past and just start fresh moving forward….and in some ways I’m doing that…but it still feels like I’m overwhelmed with everything that I’m carrying. Oh Well, I guess that’s just more for me to hash out in counseling. Fun!
my baby is getting so big
There is So much that I’ve wanted to share. But I’ve just not had the time nor the energy. Hopefully, I’ll have a bit more of both as the days and weeks carry on. I just want to thank each and everyone of you who has prayed for and encouraged and reached out to me and to us. I have had NO energy to “be a friend” to anyone at this point and this journey has felt like such a long and lonely journey and each time someone reaches out, it feels like a hug. Each time someone sends an e-mail, I feel encouraged or picked up. Each time, We get a message letting us know that you’re praying or thinking of us…it gives us a little bit more energy so we can pick ourselves up and carry on. I….WE are so grateful and thankful for everyone who is walking this journey along side us. Please know that although I still feel like I am in Survival Mode and barely scraping by, that I am SO incredibly thankful for each one of you.
There is so much going on and I don’t know where or how to unpack it all. I had a phone chat with our social worker from BC Children’s yesterday and kind of fell apart on her.
I’m tired. I want some help for the kids (and myself if I’m being honest) and “the help” (therapy type help) available, is at BC Children’s….an hour away from here. (We have no extended medical to help cover the expenses for other help and so we’d be paying out of pocket for other help, which we may just have to do…..)
There is a sibling support group that is just about to start, but…..it’s on Thursday afternoon’s for an hour and a half FOR THE NEXT 8 WEEKS.
That’s not really very helpful. If we missed traffic (which would be a miracle – we’d be in traffic for at least one way), we would be driving for 2 hours to go to a meeting for 1.5 hours. And I’m not sure what Geli, I, Siah and Judah would do while the older 3 were in the session. Then we’d be leaving at dinner time (and sitting in that lovely traffic I mentioned) all the while hoping that the baby wouldn’t fall asleep in the van so that he wouldn’t be up until midnight. There would be dinner to figure out and homework to work around and well….it’s just more of a problem than a help…..
I am already running below empty and I can’t fathom adding 8 weeks of that stress into our lives….so where does that leave us………?
Not in a great place, that’s for sure.
I know that we need to get beyond “this time” and that things will look different in a year from now and hopefully things will be easier but I am so tired and worn out, I’m not sure what shape I’ll be in, in a year from now. We’ve been looking forward to “this season changing” for what feels like a very long time and it’s all seeming so very surreal and even unattainable at very low times. We have to believe that things are not always going to be this tough. We are not looking forward to the future as a “magical time of amazing-ness” but we are trying to hold onto HOPE with what little strength we have left, but sometimes, even that feels so very difficult to do.
Our social worker asked me what things I could take off my plate so that I wasn’t so overwhelmed and to be honest…..I have no idea. I’m already doing the least amount of housekeeping that I can and still have us be functional. And that right there…..is so tough to deal with. I like a clean, neat and tidy house. I feel like I’m drowning….not even like I’m treading water anymore, but that I’m sinking deeper and deeper under. I have no time or energy to keep on top of all that it takes to keep our family running smoothly and my “coping mechanism” is to “fill another box” with the crap that gets piled up on my counters and then take it down to my bedroom.
It’s definitely not a cool way to deal with things. I think I have 6 boxes downstairs with “crap” that needs to be sorted through. It’s all I can do to stay on top of my laundry and well….besides the fact that I have the worlds smallest laundry room and 7 people’s clothes and towels and linen won’t fit in it…..we just need the clothes to wear. The boys only have about 3 pairs of pants each and depending on how messy they are we could plow through 2 or even all 3 of them in a day. NOT COOL, boys! NOT cool!
Obviously we have to eat and trying to feed a family of 7 economically, while eating a gluten and dairy free diet….well, it’s extremely challenging and sometimes I just wish that we didn’t have to eat.
A significant portion of my time is spent homeschooling Jeremy and breaking up fights and squabbles between the two little boys. A few people have asked me if that’s something that I should off load and just send him back to school. Maybe even a different or new one……to me, this is not even an option. For the first time in his life, Jeremy is EXCELLING in school. He hasn’t gotten a mark that’s been less than an “A” for 2 months now. He feels smarter. He’s ACTUALLY retaining the information that he’s processing. If he doesn’t LOVE school, he at the very least enjoys it, now. As much prep work as it is for me…..and let me tell you, teaching ONE CHILD has a significant amount of prep work and time spent overseeing what he is doing…(I can’t fathom teaching 30+ kids with more than one of them with Learning Differences or other social issues)…..this is something that I believe is CRITICAL right now. I firmly believe with all my heart that Jeremy is learning valuable LIFE SKILLS that will impact him for the rest of his life. To cut this time short, would be devastating, in my opinion. Even moving him to a new school…..he doesn’t “YET” have the skills needed to make a change, and I believe that he would end up in the same position that he was in….behind, feeling stupid and bullied……
So basically, I get up in the morning…….. I sort of teach school. I try to care for my little boys. I attempt to feed and clothe the family. I clean, and it is an extremely loose interpretation of the word, the house and then it’s bedtime…..
For “ME” time….I “try” to work out 3 times a week and while that’s a good thing…I feel like it’s an hour and a half of hellish torture that I enjoy once it’s finished.
Regardless……something has to change, I’m at a breaking point….I’ve been thinking about getting someone in to help out for a few hours a week….maybe twice a week….to help with the little boys and maybe some housework….I dunno….I’m not sure where to find someone, or how exactly to go about it all, but I have been thinking about it….so….that’s a start, right?
Jon and I are missing each other….it’s been so long since we’ve had any time to just “be” together and that’s tough. Even our evenings are crazy. The boys have been particularly needy over the past couple of weeks and haven’t been settling until after 9pm even though we’re starting the bedtime routine at 7:30pm….I dunno if they’ve been feeding off the extra stress……or what the issue is? Whatever it is….it’s not cool!
We did, however, get the chance to get away as a family. Last weekend, we were able to go to a cabin down at Birch Bay for two nights and it was a wonderful time away. It wasn’t so much of a rest….as it was a change. A chance to get away from the house and feeling a need to clean and tidy. The kids played. Nothing “could” or “had” to be done….probably the biggest downfall was that we wanted to pick up a few clothes while we were down there, but again…..shopping (or pretty much doing anything) with 5 kids is…..um…..interesting…..and we didn’t get done what we had hoped and that left some of the family feeling like they were disappointed. We should have just gone down and not hoped to pick up a few things….that would have at least not set us up to fail…..
that’s Jeremy in the bottom left of the picture
I have a TON of pics from our time away and I’ll share some of them in the next post. It really was a beautiful place and right on the beach…….like RIGHT ON the beach. The smell of the air, the sound of the waves, the seagulls crying…….it was amazing. Truly, truly amazing. I love the beach. It really is a “Happy” place for me. We are SO THANKFUL to the family that made it possible for us to get away. It was INCREDIBLE! SO, SO INCREDIBLE!
Ah….the baby’s been asleep for a while and I’m doubting that he will sleep long enough for me to finish a post. I should have…..well…no, I shouldn’t have anything.
I’m trying to not guilt myself into doing or not doing things and the fact of the matter is….I ate my baked potatoe while I leisurely browsed through my reader and anything else that caught my eye….yah, basically I wasted time, but…..IT WAS MY DOWN TIME and I’m trying my hardest to be okay with that.
Siah and the baby have been sick with a cough and runny nose. They are doing okay….but Jon and I…we are tired. Siah sleeps through the night, but hacks and hacks and hacks away. Judah on the other hand. He’s been up a minimum of 3 times a night crying and coughing and sounding Oh! So! Pitiful! He’s currently sleeping open mouthed on my couch and keeps coughing and coughing and I keep thinking that he’s going to wake up but he’s not…..which is amazing.
We’ve had a pretty strict schedule for the past two weeks and he’s actually been taking naps in the afternoon. I’d say that 4 out of 7 days a week, he’s sleeping for at least an hour just after lunch. I kind of “force” him to stay awake until after lunchtime. He’s usually a miserable mess by that time, but….it ends up with a little quiet time for all of us which is so nice.
We’ve been rocking through schoolwork in the mornings and finishing the “focused” stuff by lunchtime. After lunch we do arts or PE or if there was something that we didn’t get finished in the morning we finish that up.
We’ve been really working hard on multiplication. Its so foundational and something that Jeremy really struggles with. In the past, he’s HATED Math but this past week I asked him how he felt Math was going and he said it was, “Fun-ish?”
Although he had sort of a question to his answer…..it was still better than HATE!
Have you ever heard of this or seen anything like this? I’ve never ever seen anything like this. I’m well aware that there are patterns in Math, but I had no issues just memorizing the times tables and so I never needed anything like this. Jeremy is a completely different story.
The pictures and tables and patterns make so much more sense to him. He can make the tables up all by himself right now and even after 2 weeks, I can see that he is more confident in his math skills and as a result…..his self esteem is better. He’s not feeling so stupid.
This is where I get so frustrated. He’s not a stupid kid. He just has a different way of learning but when you end up SO FAR BEHIND the other kids because you haven’t mastered a concept yet but the class needs to move on to the next topic….and then its time to move on again and you still haven’t mastered the original concept……it’s no wonder you’d end up feeling stupid.
There are a few things that are really important to me over the next little while. I want Jeremy to WANT to learn. I want him to equate learning with fun! It is fun to discover new things and I want him to see life like that. I want to get beyond this current mindset that learning is something that you HAVE TO DO and IT SUCKS! I want him to learn how to type. His writing is atrocious and as soon as he learns how to type…we’ll deal with a few issues. His writing is illegible, most of the time. He HATES writing, printing…anything like that. And….once you learn how to type, you should be able to actually type faster than you can print. So, typing is important to me. Another big one for me is writing. I don’t mean printing but actually being able to get your thoughts out onto paper or the screen in such a way that it’s clear and concise and expresses feeling and emotion and get across the facts that are needed.
Currently, he pretty much HATES anything that I’ve listed as important…..which is mostly everything. But, I’m finding that between being able to explain why each thing is important and how it relates to him and his life goals, is making a difference. We are also working through an ADHD workbook that helps him to think through different scenarios and allows him to process them outside of the the pressure that an immediate situation brings.
On top of the stuff that we are doing “in house”….he’s also signed up for a Musical Theater class that he stressed over for close to 2 weeks, which when I peeked in on him in the class on Monday….his smile was bigger than his face and he was having a BLAST! There is also a Homeschooling PE Class and a Lego Robotics class that he’s taking as well. He’s excited about all of them, now that he’s done the first theater class….
I am already seeing little changes in so many areas and then….in others, not so much. It’s tough. I have to keep remembering that I’m working with a kid who has a learning disability and that he’s not going to just magically change. But, if I look over all at the big picture….I still think we’ve made the right decision for right now.
It’s tough. It’s oh so crazy busy and I have to be on top of everything ALL THE TIME or else CHAOS REIGNS.
Wednesday was a ROUGH day. I tried to take a video of him, but they didn’t turn out. We forgot to give him his meds first thing – don’t ask how we possibly forgot that, but we did – and he was a vibrating mess until 10:30….at that point, he felt so upset about himself that the rest of the day was pretty much wrecked. We did manage to get his school work done, but it did require some creative effort on my part. We managed to get through the entire day with only one bout of crying – his not mine….in case you were wondering.
In contrast, Thursday was probably the BEST day and he FLEW through his work with excellence….it was pretty incredible.
So, we have ups and we have downs. I continue to encourage him that he’s learning and having fun and that there is NOTHING WRONG with getting an answer wrong…it’s only an opportunity. An opportunity to learn and that’s what life is all about, isn’t it?
I’m hoping to instill a LOVE TO LEARN mentality along with the ever important LEARN TO LOVE mentality that I believe should guide our lives.
It’s in process….we are all in process, aren’t we? And that’s such a good thing…can you imagine being stuck where you are at right now….forever….no growth….I can’t!
The days this week have moved by so unbelievably slow (in the moment) and yet I blink and it’s lunchtime and then I blink again and it’s dinner time….followed by bedtime and then we do it all again.
It’s not easy juggling the 11 year old student with the 4 year old child and the 1 year old toddler BUT…..amazingly, there is less stress overall. My days certainly feel stressful when Jeremy is upset because he doesn’t understand something and then Siah started whining about wanting to play on the Wii and then Jeremy gets frustrated and yells at Siah for bothering him and during it all the baby is clinging off of me wanting……something, anything……in those moments – I breathe. And then I breathe again.
Settle everyone down, get a new activity for Siah to do, pick up the baby and try to talk Jeremy away from the ledge that he’s figuratively perched himself on.
It’s…..well, fun is very definitely the wrong word, but it’s…..it’s…..well, it’s never dull. Busy….i think busy is the right word.
We start off our mornings eating breakfast together and reading through a kids devotional story.
And in the middle of all the chaos, I’m okay. Tired…no, EXHAUSTED; often stressed about being able to really get through to Jeremy, sometimes worried that I will not have enough time or energy to focus on the other kids; I worry about being able to continue this beyond this week and yet….I believe that aspects of this will change and evolve. Somethings will be easier and some things, we will just let go of as we find a rhythm, a groove! All of us are learning right now. From the oldest to the youngest….we are all on this journey together and overall, I’m okay with it.
Our house feels more peaceful….less stressful. I asked Jeremy how he felt this first week was going and he shrugged. then I asked him if he felt more stressed, less stressed or about the same amount of stress as he had wile at school and he instantly replied with “less stress”.
So, That’s a good thing, I think!
I must find “me” time in the middle of all of this. Being “ON” all day is tiring and I’m definitely going to need to be very aware and careful to take care of myself.
Judah is sleeping right now and the boys are watching a movie while they finish lunch! Things are more or less quiet and I’m going to just sit and enjoy a cup of tea….until the baby wakes up…..which I hope isn’t for a while, but honestly I don’t have much hope for that.
Thanks for all your encouraging comments. I appreciate each and every one of them and each and every one of you!
It looks very calm and peaceful and for one second it is….and then chaos erupts as we learn to work together. It will come. I am certain that we will all learn to work with, beside and together, but until then…..it’s interesting, to say the least.
We have decided to homeschool Jeremy for the time being.
There are so many factors that went into this decision and it was not a decision that was made lightly.
I feel somewhat conflicted about this decision and yet I believe that it has the potential to be the best thing for Jeremy.
We are going to be working with him on a bunch of foundational stuff. Not just math, reading and science….but we are working on keyboarding skills, organizational skills, typing skills, social skills and so much more.
Yes, there are moments of panic when I wonder what the heck I am doing, but somewhere deep inside of me under all the noise of the fear and dread that I might be messing my child up is this still small voice that says that we are doing the exact right thing for Jeremy at this moment in time.
And when I choose to listen to that voice….I have peace.
And so I’m going with the peace.
I figure that we will work through today. And there is a good possibility that tomorrow might look very different from today or….today might work SMASHINGLY and we will carry on with the plan from today.
I don’t know.
I don’t know if we are going to do this for the rest of this year, or for grade 7 too. Will we continue on for Grade 8 or will he join the public school system for High School?
I don’t know. At this point we are just working day by day and will see how this works for us. We have a goal…..
We want Jeremy to be the MOST SUCCESSFUL person that he can be. We want him to be well rounded and a contributing member of society.
Yes, he has things that our society deems are limitations, but I believe with everything in me that Jeremy has every capability of being a HUGE SUCCESS! We believe that he has the ability to learn all the skill necessary to be able to accomplish any dream that he has. He may need some coaching and he may need some creative help, but I believe in him.
We are working on foundational stuff that will help to set him up in an incredible way for if and when it’s time for him to go back to public school….
At this point, we are taking things day by day…….although I’m nervous about it all, I’m also very excited.
I’m looking forward to seeing Jeremy grow and become the amazing man that he is destined to be.
Not sure what the deal is, but the baby hasn’t slept well in the past three nights and this means that mommy and daddy haven’t slept well in the past three nights. I’m feeling SO INCREDIBLY DRAGGY this morning.
It doesn’t help that both Jeremy and Josiah sound like they’ve swallowed a family of seals and are hacking and coughing up both lungs.
I just want to crawl back in to bed, but I’ve got to run to the store and pick up some Mullein – it s a herb that is FABULOUS for soothing the respiratory tract and works WONDERS on coughs.
And I’ve also got to mail out a few packages of product for Simple Choices.
My Mom agreed to come and watch my barking seals while I ran around and so as soon as she gets here, I’m off.
I hope you have a good day.
Have you checked out the Simple Choices Products? And check out the $10 off coupon code……MERRY10……when you buy $20 or more of product.
Thank you for your comments and e-mails and Facebook messages.
We have appreciated each and everyone. It’s great to have so many different perspectives and to hear different ones experiences.
We haven’t made a decision either way. I’m so conflicted but in the mean time…
The school has gone to bat for Jeremy and is showing through their actions just how much they care for him. The Vice Principal called me yesterday and asked if I was okay with her talking with his class about respect and if I was okay with her using Jeremy as an example. I said that it would be okay. I figured that if it got worse….then we’d pull him. If it gets amazing better, then YAH!
She called me this morning and talked about what steps the school is taking. They did talk with the class about respect and about harm….about not harming other people with words or actions. They also spoke with a few other classes (some of the children bothering Jeremy are in other classes) about the Quebec Teen who was bullied. I really hope that the outcome is compassion as opposed to derision.
The school really seems to be taking this whole situation seriously. I have to admit to a whole bunch of guilt in not dealing with this before now…this is the third year that Jeremy has been complaining about the same group of kids. Obviously Geli was the highest priority last year, but still…..
The Vice Principal mentioned that Jeremy seems less stressed today than he did yesterday (we ran into her when we went past the school to pick up some of his work) or the day before and this is a good thing.
He slept so good last night and actually slept in this morning. I really do think that the day off really helped to calm him down. He hadn’t been able to get to sleep and was waking up earlier and earlier stressing about school.
On top of him calling home stressed about being bullied, he’s also been calling home saying that his meds aren’t working or wondering if he forgot to take him meds….Yesterday he had no problems focusing when it was necessary. I actually think that the stress of everything was causing him to be so distracted and was hindering him from being able to focus. So far, I’ve had no calls home and I’m expecting him home in about an hour. The no calls home is a very good thing.
I don’t think that this situation has magically resolved itself, but I do hope that we are headed in the right direction.
And my baby just woke up and so I’m off…. have a great rest of the day!
