Swinging Into Summer

James is two weeks into his summer, and already he's been on a road trip of 1,100 miles, gotten a stomach bug, and finished his first week of summer school. He's been showing the stress, but holding it together so well. I am proud of him.

I could tell that he was getting anxious over the end of Kindergarten. There was bedwetting almost very night (after staying dry for about 2 months) and it was harder to keep him on-task. He really started testing by trying to wander away. During this time I was filling out a behaviour form that a consultant needed and realized that a lot of the acting up (e.g., getting into things and breaking them, making messes, etc.) on James' part was a result of his being bored. The toys that used to focus or interest him just weren't cutting it. Still searching for the Next Things ...

The day after the last day of school, I started cleaning our van and packing for our week-long trip to parts down south. James might have been a little excited/anxious about that. Hard to tell. He did ask a few questions and I tried to plot our trip for him on the calendar, because his class has been studying the days of the week. I packed lots of changes for my laundry-creating guy. I brought some books and a pad of paper/box of crayons. I figured we'd be on the go most of the time and we were.

At 5:30 am I put the kids in the loaded van and off we drove. I figured they'd nap for a bit, but nope -- I had chirpy kiddos with me on the road. They were very good travelers through the rain, detours, burst of hot sun, and more rain. We visited family, with lunch at Grandma & Grandpa's and afternoon/dinner with cousins. In between, we visited a mall and played with the stairs and fountain.

We finally rolled into the motel parking lot at 10:30pm, just as James announced "Mommy, I gon' be sick." Whoosh! Opened the doors to let in the fresh air (and a little rain). Calamity avoided.

Rested the next day, and discovered the pretty motel pool was not heated -- yikes! Still, it was fun splashing for half an hour. The afternoon was spent at the beach, followed by pizza dinner with two of our favourite aunties. The two exciting days at Disneyland ... the beginning of constipation central. I continued to spike his milks with Miralax.

Then we took a slow drive up to visit with friends near San Luis Obispo. Luckily we had a wonderful place to stay, because James finally passed the BMs but then lay on the sofa the rest of our stay. Gas, six-year molars pushing through, *and* gastroenteritis. My poor guy! He was a trooper, playing with the stairs and chatting a bit with our friends. I was so happy that I'd learned my lesson from a previous trip and packed the essential OTC meds from home so I could start getting him what he needed ASAP. I felt guilty about him getting sick, but each time we go on the road, the problems change and seem to get less drastic. And he loves going on the trips.

I kept him home a couple of days and then off to summer school. Wow. Some familiar faces with students and teacher, but no one where James was used to seeing them. Also, the school was at a new campus for James, and it is LOUD. I can tell it's stressful for him because he clings a bit at morning drop-off and cried when he saw me again the first two days at pick-up. More on the school later. More learning and growing for us.

Friday Morning Wonder

We got an early start this morning, taking James to summer school across town. Good thing we were early, look what we saw:


We got closer:


Hot diggity! It was the warm up for the annual Hot Air Balloon Festival!

(I think this one is a flying chicken fish, but it's really called "Sushi")

We pulled over and went "Woah!!!" as they flew right over our car in the parking lot:








We had to get closer. James was literally jumping up and down with delight, flapping his hands and yelling "Look at *that*, Mommy!":












James' favourite one:



Aaaaand one followed us over to his school, where it thrilled the kids by almost landing in the parking lot and then the school roof:



These are my favourite times with the kids. Starting out on a normal summer day and running across something wonderful, random, and exciting.

Magic Marker Monday: Colourful Gratitude

Well, that was quick! May zipped out the door so quickly, with end of school things to tie up, summer school to set up, and trips to finalize. I vowed I wouldn't do it, but I did: Made the thank you cards for the kids' teachers THE last day of class. Hey, at least I got the Starbucks cards in advance this year!

I have this big Perfection Roadblock that I set up and deal with by ... procrastinating until there is only time to barely get the job done. Gah.

I've gone fancy with blockprint cards & watercolours, but this year so far, I am still a fan of the coloured construction paper cutouts.

My daughter produced these for her teacher:


and whipped this one out for James' O.T. (she loved playing with the letter stamp/markers):



I really enjoyed the ones for the Speech Therapist and her aide -- just the other day she'd taken time to tell me how excited she was to see all the progress he'd made over the year. She also shared that she wished she could make one of her special version books of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, because James adored it:




James' aide got a special heart made by his sister:


and James helped write some of the card, including his name:



For his teacher, James wanted an animal, harkening back to Ag Days and the classroom's theme of "Mary's Lambs" -- he chose a chick (possibly still on that Chicka Chicka theme):



Using the simple materials makes this project fun, not a Perfection Headache. The kids get to see that they can personalize their Thank Yous while they play with pens, paper, and glue. This is a good thing, because we just came back from a week on the road, and I think we have another half dozen Thank Yous to go!

For more great masterpieces or to share some of your own, visit 5 Minutes for Special Needs for more Magic Marker Monday.


  

Not Surprised

I read an NPR news report about a study in South Korea that found the incidence of Autism in school children was significantly higher than anticipated.

Am I surprised? No. First, I have become used to looking at things through Autism glasses. Second, when we were filling out questionnaires for James during his diagnostic period, I noticed that there were many questions that I marked "no" for my son, but "yes" for my daughter. She had started to walk and talk by her first birthday, can do multiplication, addition, and subtraction correctly in her head, makes up stories, reads at least a grade level ahead, and asks complex questions about art, science, and life. She is very loving and affectionate and does not act out in school. She plays well with others.

She is also extremely sensitive. I could tell you tales about years of crying fits because socks have "strings" that hurt her so much she would refuse to go to school in the mornings. Tags on clothes? Ditto. Thank goodness for seamless socks and tagless shirts. She's started 2nd grade and just a couple months ago I got her to wear pants with zips and a snap. First time ever for that one.

Noises and smells seemed to overpower her, although she handles them much more "normally" now. She is still a picky eater. It took 3 years of swim lessons before she got her head wet. That means from ages 3-7, washing her hair was akin to waterboarding, in her experience.

People have asked if I had considered getting her tested for being on the spectrum. My answer so far is no, because I do not see what services she could get that could help her. This might change, but for right now, we're good. Enough.

It makes me wonder how many other children are out there, with special needs, who are undiagnosed, yet managing to cope so far on their own ...

Special Exposure/Wordless Weds: Horsing Around

James has been very shy around animals. A brush of the down-soft tail of our fluffy cat made him cry "Ouch!" He gives large distances between himself and ducks, bunnies, and sheep. He is afraid of dogs, although he is working hard to overcome that.

Imagine how nice it was to see him so happy and confident around a miniature "horse":

 

I have heard so many good things about the therapy horses. I hope we will get to try their real counterparts sometime soon.

Although I suspect the admiring, encourage team had something to do with James enjoying his time with the horse:

For more great images or to join in the fun, Visit Special Exposure Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Special Needs.


and ... Wordless Wednesday

Magic Marker Monday: Saying "Thank You"

Last month, I decided it was time for James to send a thank you card to his godmother, for a nifty little personalized license plate she sent him for his beloved bike. Because he loves riding, steering, and pretending to drive anything with a motor, I thought a personalized card might be nice. Also, it gave James a focus for about 15 minutes.

Here he is, holding his card. He helped me pick out the colours and glued down some of the shapes, once I'd cut them out. Elmer's Glue, scissors, and a pad of coloured construction paper = awesomeness. I had to watch the pens like a hawk because James is still wanting to write on any surface that sits still for 10 seconds.

He wrote "THANKS, ❤ JAMES" inside with just a little help. Then he covered it with marker kisses. I broke down and bought the markers with alphabet letter stamps on one end and symbols on the other. They are so totally fun to play with.

For more great masterpieces or to share some of your own, visit 5 Minutes for Special Needs for more Magic Marker Monday.


 

Oh My Stinkin' Heck

I've been keeping my head down lately. Things have been hitting me nonstop. I'm not completely organized, so I am constantly checking and double-checking the ever-growing piles and stacks of paperwork, scribbled messages, calendars (office and kitchen), and email account (about 1900 messages in just the "In" box). Heck, even if I was organized, it wouldn't help too much, because things keep getting switched on me, or I find out something else that needs jumping on, STAT.

On the heels of the last round of the flu with James' sister came state testing for her. April was not only Autism Awareness month and our second Autism Speaks walk, it was the start of signups for summer programs. After one summer of leaving things too late, I obsessively plan for the day the Summer Program Schedule come out and sign the kids up online before the offices open the following Monday. Somewhere in there, James started waking up six times a night, one of which was to tell me that he'd pulled out his loose tooth. I am waiting to do the Tooth Fairy thing because shortly after that, he swallowed a nickle and a penny right in front of me, before I could stop him. Heck, maybe the Tooth Fairy will bring him an IOU or coupon for Funky Monkey tickets and save me some worry.

Then that Easter thing, with egg hunts, helping the bunny deliver after midnight, mailing cards, and making food to share at a family gathering. Followed by getting IEP revisions pushed through for James so he could go to summer school. Not that anyone at the school pointed out he needed this, I spent *several weeks* playing phone tag with his services coordinator, asking how summer school worked and how to get James signed up for it. I had to insist. I had to follow that up with several office visits around the system to shepherd the paperwork through the system. I truly do understand that the state is bleeding the schools dry, but bite me, James needs summer school.

If I hadn't been so obsessive about planning summer programs, I'd have been too late to get his IEP amended for an extended school year and thus he'd have missed out on a month of summer school, speech, and O/T. This reminded me that I needed to investigate classes and teachers for the next year. Still working on that one, as well as trying to have James' aide work with him in first grade.

With all this fun going on has been Teacher Appreciation week, PTA volunteering, an Art Docent session, daily Yard Duty shifts, and Other Schtuff (the parts where I get to work in the garden are rather fun). It can take me 3 days to get to a shower, four hours to clean a countertop, and six weeks to return a phone call. The Christmas books finally went out to the in-laws just before Easter. Oh, and my husband wants me to fix the showerhead in our bathroom and prepare for a Yard Sale. Actually, now is a great time to do it, because the we have a brand-new water heater. The old one sprung a leak the night before Easter. Which also means that I had to re-arranged and start cleaning out the garage to accommodate that little surprise project.

I tell you, the fun just never ends. And this is just what I can write about in 30 minutes. There's a lot more going on, and most of it's complicated.