Conferences

Tonight, I visited with all of the kids’ teachers for Parent/Teacher Conferences.  It’s always nice to hear what the kids are doing in class, and how they are progressing.

Addie’s teacher had great things to say.  Second grade is going well for Ad!  She is quite the little reader, and has improved in math.  She is doing well socially, too, and has lots of friends.  I wasn’t surprised at all to hear any of that.  Addie loves school, and dreads weekends and breaks because she enjoys school that much.

Andrew’s teachers also had good things to report.  He is definitely ready for Kindergarten; my response was, “But is Kindergarten ready for Andrew??” (they politely laughed).  They told me that he is a leader in class, and that the kids look to him (that made me both proud and a little worried; this kid is ornery!). Overall, though, they had nothing but great comments about my youngest kiddo.

Alex’s conference shouldn’t have had any surprises, either.  I meet with his team at school often enough to know how he’s doing.  I always schedule a conference, though, just to touch base in a different setting (his classroom, as opposed to a conference room) and briefly check in.  My plan was to gather all the dates of the third grade standardized testing (he doesn’t participate in these tests, but it’s a great time to set up dentist appointments and the like), and ask about the Pioneer Day event coming up in May.

I was very pleasantly surprised, though, to hear a lovely story of inclusion.  During a group exercise where the students were asked to go to the board to solve a word puzzle, Alex raised his hand for a turn.  He marched up to the board, all by himself (I hear he usually requests a buddy to accompany him), then proceeded to solve the puzzle, correctly, all on his own.  If the look of pride he had wasn’t enough, his classmates all cheered their support for him when he got the answer right, which I’m sure brightened his smile.  His teacher told me that she had to turn her back so they wouldn’t see her cry.  Score one for inclusion, right?!?  I loved hearing this.

Then, though, his aide (this was the first time an aide had ever attended a meeting, by the way…my advocacy at work, yay!) began telling me about a song that Alex sings every day when he washes his hands after using the restroom.  “Something about ‘tight pants'”, she explained, and my jaw hit the table.  You see, Alex caught Mark and I watching the Jimmy Fallon/Will Ferrell skit called “Tight Pants” (which is freaking hysterical…Google it if you haven’t seen it), and because we were laughing so hard, he has memorized it and sings it to make us laugh.  It’s pretty stinking funny to watch him act out the skit. I had no idea he was repeating it at school, though.

Thank goodness for teachers and aides with good senses of humor.  That’s all I can say about that. Goodness.

All in all, it was a pleasant evening of conferences.  I’m fortunate in that all of my kids enjoy school, and have excellent teachers.  It makes evenings like this much easier than I suppose they could be.

And now I have the “Tight Pants” song stuck in my head…again.

Sneeze

Don’t you hate it when you have to sneeze, but it’s just…stuck?  I’ve had that feeling all evening. 

Late

So, Tuesday’s post is a little late.  Like, a whole day late.  But, if you know me, then you know that this is perfectly in line with the way I am; I operate on “Jen Standard Time”.  In my world, everything runs a little behind.

I actually felt like complete crap yesterday, and I decided to invoke the very rare Mommy Sick Day.  I did absolutely nothing (aside from the basic kid responsibilities, of course), and I’m now paying the price because I am way behind. Sometimes, though, you have to take a break before you absolutely fall apart. Although my to-do list is totally out of control by now, I’m hoping to avoid a major bout of illness because I was mindful enough to take a day off.

Regular blogging should resume later today…

Restaurant

Eating out with my family is not for the faint of heart.

Having three children under 10, one of them with special needs, I really can’t expect that they all will sit quietly for an entire meal, especially when we’re out in a fun, loud place.  I would love, love, love it if they would sit, conversing sweetly while we all enjoyed a nice meal, but that will probably not happen for a long time.

This was perfectly evident tonight.

A friend invited us to go out for pizza tonight; Mark bowls on Monday nights, so the timing was perfect. Going out with friends on a Monday night is always more fun than hanging out at home, and as usual, I had absolutely no desire to cook.  I happily accepted the invitation, and we met them at a local restaurant.

The kids were way wound up, because we typically don’t go out on weeknights, and they were excited to see our friends.  They were loud, but a good loud; laughing, and being silly.  I was totally fine with that.  My kids never seem to know when to put the brakes on, though, and it quickly began to deteriorate.

You would probably believe me that a full cup of chocolate milk spilled all over everything, and that someone hit their head on the side of the table.  You might also believe that one of the kids insisted on calling his brother a “smart ass”, more than a few times.  You would probably giggle if you read that one of the kids may have had an accident, then announced to the restaurant that he did, in fact, pee his pants.  You would probably bust out in full-on laughter if I told you that one of the kids dropped his pants, in the middle of the dining room, for all the world to see his junk.  Would you believe, though, that my kids are responsible for all of these stunts?  All of those things, and more, happened tonight during the same meal.


Faaaaaantastic.


Miraculously, we made it through dinner, pretty much in one piece, and without getting kicked out of the place.  Even more surprising was that our dinner companions did not try to sneak out while I was busy juggling shenanigans.  Yes, kids will be kids, but wow. Tonight pushed those boundaries.

Dining out with my family is always an adventure.  Hopefully, our friends will be brave enough to join us again.  Maybe next time we’ll order take out.  😉

Blank

I’ve been on a roll with this blogging project; I haven’t missed a day yet, and we’re almost through the first two months of 2014.  As I sit here tonight, though, I can’t think of anything to write.

It’s not like we don’t have anything going on.  We have yet another meeting with Alex’s team tomorrow morning, we have crazy busy schedules this week, Girl Scout cookies have arrived (and I’ll be spending all evening tomorrow sorting them), the weather warmed up and then got cold again, and a bunch of crap happened around the world.  Surely, of all that, I could come up with something to write.  One would think so, anyway.

I think all of my energy is either focused on, or drained because of, this meeting tomorrow.  I really am not sure what to expect.  It will be interesting to see what plays out, and then we’ll meet again in a few weeks to discuss Al’s IEP for next year (blah).  I will be relieved to sit down at work tomorrow, because that will mean that the meeting is over, even though the rest of the loooooong day will lay ahead of me.  I am actually looking forward to 9pm tomorrow night.

It’s crazy to look forward to Monday’s bedtime already, when I haven’t even made it upstairs for bed tonight. That’s exactly how I feel, though.  Maybe it’s not even meeting anxiety; perhaps it’s just the winter blues.  It could be something entirely different all together.  I might just need some ice cream to get through these blahs.  Ice cream always makes one feel better, no?

I think I will wander off toward the kitchen to test that theory.  Enjoy your evening!

Date

Mark and I were able to get out for the evening, without the kids; a rare occasion, for sure!  Tonight, we had a sitter for the kids, and we ventured out of our normal five mile radius to enjoy dinner and some time out with friends.

I made the mistake of wearing a new pair of shoes tonight; super cute ballet flats, with a sparkly bow on the toe.  Of course, I should have known better than to try out a new pair of shoes, knowing that we might be walking a bit, especially after a long winter in my fluffy socks.  But, the warm-ish springlike weather convinced me to break out the new shoes.  About ten minutes into our date, my feet were crying out in pain; it got so bad that I eventually just stepped on the back of the shoes and created a mule-style slip-on.  This worked well enough for me to make it back to the car without Mark carrying me, so we were both happy with that result.  Ha!

Despite my painful foot situation, we had a great time out.  We tried out two places that we’ve never been, which is always fun.  It’s always difficult to go wrong, though, when drinks and good company are involved.

We had the sitter booked until 10pm, and made it home at 9:58pm (we’re old pros by now!), and found that Andrew was asleep, Ad was on her way to bed, and Al was still ready to party. All typical.  Ad went on to bed fairly easily, and Al is still hanging on (it doesn’t help that America’s Funniest Home Videos is on all the stinking time!).  I’ll get him to bed soon so I can have a few quiet moments before I drift off to sleep.

After such a long, crazy week, we really needed this break.  It was a lovely Saturday evening, indeed.

Gate

Having a dog in a busy house doesn’t bring about dramatic change. It’s already loud and messy; what’s one more creature running around?

Underestimated

Giving Hearts

I’m a proud mom; my kids are always doing things that are “Facebook worthy”, and I post about them a lot. I have to see all their meltdowns, moments of defiance, and hear them whine and complain, so when they do something other than those things, I want everyone to know about it.  They are funny, thoughtful little creatures, and I like to share about them.  Hey, whatever gets a tired mom through the day, right?

Yesterday, I was so proud of Addie that I couldn’t even express to her how amazing she is.  She arrived home from school, so excited to tell me all about a new project she and her friend decided to share with their friends.  “Mommy, you know how kids think that special needs kids are weird and different,” she began (and yes, we later had a chat about how important it is to use person-first language…nobody gets a pass on that!). “Ok,” I answered, wondering where she was going with this.  “Well, my friend and I decided that we need to help get these kids more included at school, so we went around asking our friends if they want to help us. We’re also going to raise money for DSACO (the Down Syndrome Association of Central Ohio), Miracle League, and Special Olympics.”

I just stood there, in awe of this little seven year old girl who has realized something that some adults still can’t grasp: inclusion is important, and necessary.

I felt emotions ranging from pride, admiration, love, and back to pride again.  I listened to her go on and on about how her friends want to join Team Alex and come to the Buddy Walk, and how kids are just walking up to them and asking if they can make a donation.  She has absolutely no idea what kind of impact she and her friend are having on their peers.  They are teaching, by example, that everyone should be treated equally because we are all the same, and their peers are listening.

Two second grade girls are trying to change the world, or at least their world, by creating a more inclusive environment for kids at their school.  They have named their project Giving Hearts, and so far they’ve collected a little over $20, which they have decided to split among three organizations.  I’m still in awe.

Of course, I took to Facebook to share how great my kid is; not bragging, mind you, but truly sharing because I am just so impressed by the love Addie has for her brother, and the desire she has to see him being treated just like any other kid at their school.  What makes this even more remarkable is that he can be a complete jerk to her, several times a day, and she is still willing to do this for him.

After reading my post on Facebook, someone commented that Addie is her mother’s child, and I was reminded once again that the kids are listening.  We’ve never sat down with Addie and Andrew and told them that their role is to spread our mission of inclusion.  She just gets it.  The girl can’t remember to put her shoes away or put her dishes in the sink, but she is hearing the most important lessons.  Beyond that, she is sharing these things, completely unprompted by her parents, with her peers.

I can’t wait to see what these girls can do with their Giving Hearts project.  When we open up registration for Team Alex 2014 on World Down Syndrome Day (March 21st), the Giving Hearts donation will be among the first to be posted on the Columbus Buddy Walk site.  Who knows what else they can accomplish?!

The kids are listening.  They may leave their dishes and shoes all over the house, but they are most definitely hearing the important stuff.  I’ll gladly take the messy house if it comes with a kid with such a giving heart.

Laughter

I don’t know why, but I’ve always found that jumping out and scaring the daylights out of someone is very, very funny.  It’s so immature, but one of my favorite things to do is hide around the corner and wait for my husband, or one of the kids, to go walking by so I can surprise them.  The reactions are priceless, and then I just laugh and laugh.

It makes me giggle right now, thinking of all the times I’ve scared the crap out of my husband; he’s the most fun to get, because he typically has a big reaction.  The kids are just as fun, but then they immediately want revenge, and we spend the rest of the day hiding in closets to scare each other.

Alex’s new favorite show is America’s Funniest Home Videos, and we watch it every night. Tonight there was a segment where someone was scared while they were sleeping.  So. Stinking. Funny.  It reminded me of the time when Mark was startled awake by a chirping smoke alarm; he thought that Alex (a baby at the time) was in distress, and he shot straight up in the air out of bed and pulled the Fred Flintstone running-in-place bit.  When he finally took off, he hit his toe on the foot board, fell, and then ran into the door before making it out to Al’s room to check on him.  After I quit laughing at him, we discovered he had really hurt himself; turned out, he broke his toe when he hit it on the bed.  (Seriously, I am so evil, because I almost pee myself just remembering this!)  If only I’d known that would all happen…we could have recorded it and cashed in on AFV!!

Of course, Mark would like everyone to know about the numerous times I’ve woken up, thinking that we were either being attacked by bombs or that spiders were crawling on me.  Funny, but definitely no where near as funny as the broken toe.  (Sorry, babe.)

I also find it funny when people fall down (after making sure that they are ok, of course!).  I might have serious issues.  I still giggle when I think of Mark testing out Alex’s new scooter last summer, crashing it at the end of our driveway, and landing on his shoulder in the grass by the mailbox.  I really laugh when I consider how funny it was when I fell down the steps on the first night of Hanukkah back in November; I was carrying an armload of presents, which all flew up into the air as I landed on my ass on the bottom step.

Maybe I just need to set up surveillance cameras so we can catch one of these falls.  We are pretty clumsy. Bigger picture: I guess we should be thankful to have some moments of humor in our crazy, busy lives. Laughter is supposedly the best medicine, right?