Summer School Lite

Summer school starts this morning for James. I am sorry to hear his teacher from the past 2 years will not be leading the session. She was organized and energetic. After managing restless and active regular K-1 classrooms, she could keep a class of special needs children grades K-5 under control and yet engage them in work.

This year we've lost Mondays. The session runs Tuesday-Friday, mornings only. I would be unhappy, except I know who is teaching the session. I am looking at this as Keeping Up A School Routine. I am about excited for this as James is, which is not much.

I will get a preview of his Services Coordinator for the next 2 years. I think she likes what she does, but I also am of the opinion that James is a different person from who she thinks he is. So, it's also an opportunity to try and introduce her to that more able person and hope for a better connection.

I am putting this in the back of my head in the hope that I will get some ideas for something helpful I can input into the classroom over the next 4 weeks, instead of just complaining or fretting. Some good ideas come out that way.

The Autism Ticket

I saw this today and immediately my brain went to Autism ... more specifically finding out one day that you are now an Autism Parent, on a ride for life.

My next thought was "No, I didn't 'buy' that ticket, I was kinda handed the ticket." But that's not quite true.

James' Dad and I both knew we were definitely in the older edge of prospective parenthood. I've even been called his grandma (yeah, not fun for the ego). We both knew the increased chances of birth defects and other issues if we decided to try for kids. We agreed to accept whatever came along.

So yeah, I guess I did buy that ticket after all.

And the ride? Heart breaking. Lonely. Disappointing. Hard. Thrilling. Exciting. It's given me a new and deeper understanding of the meaning of love, and appreciation that the Little Things in Life often produce some of the best good news you could ever hope to find.

Not the ride experience I would have chosen, but it's part of our lives and I do not want a refund.

Wordless Wednesday: Baseball for All

A big, heart-felt thank you to George Lawson, The Rotary Club of Healdsburg Sunrise, and the Wonder League, for bringing us all the joy of playing ball with others and having fun together, regardless of one's abilities.

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Wordless Wednesday: Off Year

For the first time in over 10 years, our cherry tree has zero cherries. The drought and cold were tough, and when combines with a damp and chilly blossom time the tree conserved its resources and concentrated on survival.

So this year, we have our memories, and hope for a better season next year.

It's disappointing, but sometimes there's a reason for an off year.


               remembering on ... Wordless Wednesday

Who Needs an Alarm Clock?

Between the neighbours who gun their cars at 5:00am, and their cars' noisy engines, which in turn wake James, I will never need an alarm clock again.

Fortunately, I have had a constant presence of cats in my life. Over time, they trained me to early morning wakings and corrected my habit of sleeping in.

Even more fortunately, James wakes up happy. He is infectiously gleeful, almost instantaneously upon waking. There are worse ways to start the day.

Open House Whirlwind

End of year is a crush of activities and events for the kids and their schools. Visiting James' classroom was a treat.It was fun to see projects I'd seen part way through completion and some surprises.

James is sitting at his aide's table, pretending to be her.

I loved the sea/tide pool theme. It matched the play they'd recently put on. The blue file cards contain wishes the kids wrote down for their world. Awesome!

The play! James was a lobster (left, or stage right)

Picasso project

Bowling Party for the Win

I finally did something I'd wanted to for years: throw a real birthday party for James. OK, I am almost 5 months late, but this year I did it and I am so glad I did.

Chronic issues: A birthday that lands 10 days into the new year, after everyone is wiped out (on so many levels) from the holidays; autism; winter bugs making the rounds; financially drained after holidays and big sister's birthday; weather that confounds outdoor (and less expensive) parties.

This year, however, James has had an awesome group of classmates and really expanded socially. Even with finances and other things stressed to the max in our lives, now was the year to do it. During end-of-year inventory sales, I purchased party items (plates, napkins, cups, and a fabulous collection of party bag toys) for an 8-kid party with a theme James would love: Angry Birds. I figured I'd wait for some nice Spring weather or find an reasonably-priced indoor solution.

Then life happened.

Then it was April and the end of the school year approached. Then I got sick. Somewhere in that mix, I realized our local Bowling Alley was my answer.

I seized Back-to-School Night as an opportunity to grill some parents of James' classmates about best weekend potential for a party. Surprisingly, Memorial Weekend was the response. I took a my lunch break from work and made out the invites, with the help of a freshly purchased yearbook (which is James' new treasured item) and popped them into the student folders that go home each week. On my way back to work, I stopped off at the alley and reserved the earliest block of time on Saturday for the party and find out the particulars.

I'll post later more detail about James' party. The most important thing to share is: it was a success. About half the kids invited were able to come. The fact that people trickled in was not a big deal because ... the kids already there were bowling, which James enjoyed a lot.

Because the lanes were booked for a party over a period of time, shoe rentals were included and the kids could just keep on playing as many games as they wanted. The noise level was down because it was so early in the day and we had pizza ready and drinks available from the cafe by the time the kids were ready for their first break.

Setup-clean-up were super easy. The staff at the bowling alley were very helpful. And it was so much less than booking a party elsewhere. So my stress levels were very low on many counts.

The kids loved it. All of them. Including the birthday boy. Especially the birthday boy. Which is how it should be.