Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Time flies

Well, it's already Wednesday and I feel like I haven't had time to enjoy the week so far. Monday I took Liam to preschool and then helped out in Peter's classroom. Both boys had school pics Monday, so look for some cute pics (hopefully) soon. Tuesday I worked in the morning and then took Liam to see the speech therapist for another "test". He will have his IEP next Monday. Then it was time to pick up Peter from school and run a couple of errands. We got home in enough time for Peter to change for football practice and me to load the dishwasher and then we were off to football. We came home and had supper about 8 and then the boys were off to bed. Today I am getting ready to go help out in Liam's classroom and then after that I think that we can just come home and relax a little tonight. Can you believe it??? I don't actually have anything planned for tonight???? Tomorrow we will have football practice again and Friday the boys both have off from school so we might go to Legoland with friends and then that night Peter has football practice again. I love being busy and it actually helps me be more organized and get more done. I must say that I will enjoy one quiet night tonight. Next week CCD will start again, so Peter will be extra busy on Tuesdays, with both CCD and football practice.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Evaluation today

Today I took Liam for an evaluation by the Poway Unified School District Preschool Assessment Team. As expected, they noted that he needs further evaluation for his speech. So in two weeks I take him back again for a half hour assessment where they give him a speech test and then they will write up an IEP and get speech services started for him.
While I was waiting for him to get his assessment another mom came and sat down beside me and asked me what my child was here for. I told her speech, and she told me that she brought her son to be evaluated because...and I quote here..."he's not normal". She went on to tell me that he won't wear tennis shoes and so he can't go to preschool. (Here in beautiful southern CA it is not allowable for kids to wear sandals to school.) She told me that she has been told that he may have Asperbergers and she was really hoping that she brought him to the right place. She wanted to find out what was going on with her son so that she could get him help. I could tell she needed to talk, so I tried to just let her get it out. I told her that I have a little experience with Aspergers and I don't feel that it means there is something "wrong" with a kid. I truly believe that EVERYONE has some sort of disablility and the disability is part of what makes us special. I don't mean to downplay the struggle and grief that families whose children have "diagnosed disabilities", but rather just hate to see any child carry around a label of DISABLED. As if that is the only thing about them that matters. I spent 13 years working in the developmental disability field and I met some of the most truly amazing humans around. They did things despite their disabilities, and taught me how much potential is in every human being.
I hope that the mother I met today gets a diagnosis so that she can get help for her son. Even though I have never met this woman before I wish her the best.

Monday, September 17, 2007

can't...stop...whining....

I am now reduced to very few days of blogging. I guess it's okay, so that I might actually come up with something interesting to say.
I had less than a spectacular weekend. Saturday started off with Peter's football game at 10am. The game did not go well. Actually, it was HORRIBLE. Not only did the team lose 27-8, but Peter did not get much playing time. All week he had been practicing at his usual spot, which is first string defensive right tackle. But on Saturday when they called for the first string defense and Peter went in, the coach sent him back out because he had replaced Peter's starting position. Even that wouldn't have been a big deal if he had just TOLD Peter ahead of time. Peter was upset and pouted for most of the game because he didn't get to play much defense. Then when he finally got to go in for a series he didn't do very well. It's really hard for Peter to not be the the best at everything. It's good for him I know, but it was hard to see him so upset. Peter was not the only kid whose position was changed for the game and the kids seemed a little confused about what they had done "wrong" and why they lost their positions. So I am a bit irritated at the coach right now.
Then there was Nebraska's loss to USC...UGH!!!! That is all I can say about that.
Yesterday was a little better, we just took it easy most of the day. I did help the boys clean their room and that made me feel like some order was being restored to our home.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

New site

Hey all,
Just wanted to let you know that while reading my blogs today I came across a great blog site. You can post annoymously about anything you want. A great way to vent about things that we couldn't always vent about in our own blog because we wouldn't want to hurt someone's feelings. Check it out if you want. It's called Mom's Turn. http://www.moms-turn.net
Hope you enjoy it.

Monday, September 10, 2007

Rembering 9/11

Tomorrow will mark the 6th anniversary of 9/11. I am still to this day horrified by what the terrorists did. I am not living my life in fear of what may come, but I am aware that this country that I love is in danger. I think that too many people have forgotten the feelings that they had on that day. Living in California is like living in a whole other country. Because the attacks happened in New York, people here seem to be very removed from the whole fear and anger that people on the East coast and even in the Midwest felt that day.
I will always remember that I was at work and Michael was in the cubicle next to me. All of the sudden Michael poked his head over his cubicle and told me that he had just heard that a plane hit the world trade center. I turned on my radio as did several other people in the office and we were listening to reports when the second plane hit the tower. We all went to the break room and turned on the television and saw the media showing the second plane hitting the building. We all knew at that point that it was a terrorist attack. I called Ben and woke him up and told him to turn on the tv because 2 planes had crashed into the trade center. He thought I was joking at first. I left my office and drove to one of the workshops to visit clients and there was literally NO traffic on the streets. It was very eerie. When I got almost to the workshop I saw a man dressed in fatigues driving toward downtown to the National Guard station. I made my visit and headed back to the office. It was hard to concentrate that day not knowing what was going to happen next. Then came word that the pentagon had been hit and there was at least one plane still unaccounted for. All other planes had been landed safely. We all waited to hear reports of where that last plane was. When we heard that it crashed in a field there was almost a sense of relief, because at least another building hadn't been hit. Now, all the planes were down, but were there more terrorists on some of the planes that landed that were now going to carry out some other horrible act. Also, there was concern over whether the president would be coming to Omaha, since there is a safe bunker there for him. If the terrorists knew about that, would they come to Nebraska? I wanted to go home, but I had meetings that night and when I finally got home at 7p that night I hugged my child and my husband and sat entranced in the images of the day. I never want to forget that feeling, because it keeps me aware that the United States is no longer completely safe from terrorists.
A family friend had a daughter who died in the trade center that day. So in rememberance of her and all the other people who died that day I wanted to say that I have not forgotten.

catching up

What a great weekend this was!!! On Saturday, Peter's football team won their game 33-14. Winning sure feels good. Peter did a great job and made 2 sacks and 4 tackles, and recovered a fumble. This last week the coach decided to have Peter play BOTH offense and defense, so he played quite a bit. He really seems to enjoy football. He looks so tough and grown up in his uniform. I will try to post some pics soon. Sunday we had football pictures, and we tried to get a "buddy" picture of Liam and Peter together, but Liam decided that he didn't want his picture taken and refused to smile nicely...so we are going to have some interesting pictures. Oh well...gotta love em.
Liam has been sick for the past week. I took him to preschool on Wednesday and towards the end he told me his head hurt and he went and curled up on a pillow. Then when the group was having circle time he didn't want to stand up. He told the teacher his head hurt, but she didn't understand him so he stood up. When I looked over at him he was VERY pale and was holding his stomach. I walked over to the circle and I was talking to him. The assistant teacher came over and asked what was wrong and I told her that he wasn't feeling good. Since there was only 5 minutes left in class, we went ahead and left. I drove over to Peter's friends house to pick up Peter and Liam slept a little. When we were on our way home Liam woke up and started crying and when I asked him what was wrong he opened his mouth to talk and instead threw up all over the car. I took him home and put him to bed. On Friday he still had a fever and a cough, so I took him to the doctor and he has bronchitis. So, the doctor gave him some antibiotics and sent us home. Today he will be going back to preschool, but he still has a terrible cough.

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

weekend

Yesterday we went to Del Mar to the horse races again. It will be our last time for this year as the season ends on Wednesday. I did pretty good and even came home with some money. The boys really enjoy watching the horses.
Saturday Peter had his first tackle football game. He did pretty good and had 4 tackles, one of which was for a loss. But his team still lost 28-0. So it was a pretty disappointing first game. In the afternoon we watched the Nebraska game and then watched the Kansas State game.
Sunday I got up early and went to the gym and then relaxed most of the day. Ben and Peter went to the beach and Liam and I stayed home and went swimming in the pool and took a nap. Sunday evening we had some friends over and the adults played CLUE while the kids played various games. We had a really good time and it was nice to have some other adults to talk with.