Malachai is verbal now (meaning we still have days we cannot understand him but they are few and far between and his teacher and classmates have no problem with him and he is no longer frustrated because he can communicate now), and is still in OT and takes Taekwondo (last year it was acro at my daughters dance studio – he was awesome! This is in lieu of PT) but has really come so far. He learned how to tie his shoes this year!

So our pediatrician (normal ped, not a specialized ped) throws out “like Tourette’s” yesterday. Wow. Really? Don’t just throw things like that out there and then gloss over it and move onto the next thing. Which is exactly what he did. So I put it to the back of my mind. Where it percolated. I ignored it. I did. I kept busy.

But then a siren named Google called to me. So I did it. I googled that shit.

And proceeded to GO, did not collect 200$ and freaked out. Because the first sign/symptom is excessive blinking. That I brought up to our ped a year ago. A year ago. I could have been on top of this shit for a year. Not now that it’s gotten to excessive that other people who aren’t his mother are noticing. I am not am alarmist. I don’t go to the doctor for every paper cut and bruise. In fact, I avoid the doctor like the plague,  because if I don’t already have it I don’t want to get it in the waiting room.

We immediately called around and now have to wait all summer to even start figuring this out. We got an appointment with a pediatric orthopedist in late June (for his in-toeing and femurs, which we were told last July are torsioned but only told they don’t do anything until age 14 or older and to get him better shoes from the running store. Which we did, which haven’t helped) and got an appointment with a new neurologist at the end of August.

Yes. The ass-end of August. So I have three more months (four, really) in which to freak out and imagine the worst things possible. Google can kiss my read end, I’m breaking up with it.

So I spoke with the principal for about 30 seconds on my way to a meeting with another teacher this morning and it sounds like M’s teacher spoke with the kids and the P. got a letter and will be looking at it today. She said she would call me once she sees what is going on. I must have misunderstood Mrs. C yesterday afternoon in her usual whirlwind conversationing :/

Spoke to his aide this AM on the way out to the car and she said Mrs. C thought M wanted to tell her about gym and M said no, I want to tell you what happened so she stopped to listen and immediately went to take care of it, leaving the aide with the class. So go Mrs. C! Mrs H, his aide, said the class is usually nice and likes M a lot and he really fits in well – in other words, this is unusual, and it sounded like gym is with another class and the kids were from that class, not his usual group. I guess I’ll find out exactly later today or tomorrow. Mrs. H said she had to try not to cry, and she could see M was very upset (and he is usually pretty even-tempered/nothing upsets this kid kind of temperament).

———————-

Just spoke with Dr. S (the principal) and she spoke with M.  Long story short, it sounds like this was an isolated incident (not on-going), he knows to say something to the teacher if it happens again. The boys were spoken to. M will permanently go with the other class for special. The boy who started it was running like M and said “look, this is how M runs” and the other boys laughed. They told Dr. S that M laughed too, and she explained that sometimes when someone makes fun of you that you laugh too so it doesn’t look like you are upset when really you are. She also asked M if he sometimes teases his brother or sister and he said no (he really doesn’t) and then she asked if they sometimes tease him and he said E doesn’t, but sometimes D does, and she said it was kind of like that, and no it isn’t nice and really made sure he was still comfortable reporting stuff like this in the future. The other teacher had the *entire* class, not just the boys involved, write apology notes this AM for M as a lesson that even if you aren’t actively involved, if you see it you need to report it. Dr. S said she felt like M thought it was a bit much LOL

So, that’s that. Happily anti-climactic and hopefully wont happen again.

He was ganged up on and bullied by four other boys in gym today – they were making fun of how he runs.

He did what he was supposed to do and reported it, and his teacher had a one hour conference with the boys in question, the principal and I think the school resource officer is required to be present at those meetings as well. She let me know, and also let me know that he will now be split into the other half of the class with a different teacher for gym, has been “given” a special table at lunch (I’m unclear if it is for the next two weeks, a privilege once every two weeks, or permanent – I need to talk to her for more than 60 seconds) with three kids he gets to pick, and was told that it doesn’t matter how he runs because he is one of the smartest kids in third grade.

I wanted to have a quarterly conference anyway, so hopefully it will be soon and we can touch on this too. I am a big proponent of kids will be kids and they need to learn to stick up for themselves *but* there is a line between what I consider harmless kid antics and just being mean, and making fun because of a physical or mental disability crosses that line as far as I am concerned. M has some developmental delays that are physical and some that are neurological and aren’t anything he can “fix”, ya know? He totally runs like a “special” kid – I think it’s endearing, but I’m his mom. I was also sad when he finally got a grasp of time and stopped asking if things were “after tomorrow” or “after three tomorrows”. Wouldn’t the world be a better place if we just had yesterday, today and tomorrow? Meh.

So, bullies suck and while I am glad it got resolved quickly and decisively, and I was anticipating it happening sooner rather than later, it still sucks.

The internet is a wonderful thing. This week alone we’ve looked up naked mole rats, Harry Potter costuming, replaced a broken toy, and a handful of other things. We also got a new-to-us kids-sized game table from our local FreeCycle which the kids are loving.

There is something to be said for hanging out with your kids though, even if it’s just watching a movie or eating dinner or some other daily drudge type thing.

So, it probably won’t be another month until you hear from me again, but it wouldn’t surprise me either. I’m having gutters installed today. I’m talking to Dad about replacing the drywall in the front room, laying some new carpet and some other misc. household improvement items. I want to put up some real shelves too – get rid of the bookcase shelves. I just told Michael, if I can’t do the entire room at once, I can do a small part, right? Hey, a million pennies is 100,000 dollars, right? You gotta collect those one at a time.

We had an 8:30 AM appointment, which we arrived promptly on time for. At 9:30 AM we were led into another waiting area to wait on the x-rays to be taken. Around 10 we were taken back for the x-rays. They did Dorian’s first, then took Eshiva to yet another room for hers, and something like 15 minutes later did Malachai’s x-rays.

While they were doing E & M they were cleaning Dorian’s teeth. Michael stayed with Eshiva while they checked over her crown and whatever else they did. They finally took M’s x-rays and led us over to the other side for his cleaning. Dor was wrapping up, and then we waited another 10 – 15 minutes for the assistant to come to M. The entire time there were two assistants standing around doing abso-fucking-lutely nothing. o_O

The gal tries to clean Malachai’s teeth. They only had mint. No one in my house likes mint. Mal and I especially. It burns. It hurts. I don’t have a word for it, but it isn’t comfortable. So I am trying to keep his mouth open so this lady can clean his front teeth at least and he is biting me, but not hard enough to really hurt. I finally gave up.

Dorian has no cavities, he’s a-ok, just gotta come back in 6 months for another cleaning. Oh, did I mention they didn’t fucking clean his teeth? He still had tartar and crap all over them. I am going to see if my dentist will see him. She gets mine squeaky, even with the braces on.

Malachai has a cavity so bad in one of his lower teeth they need to remove it. WHich means they need to remove the same tooth on the other wise. Plus a filling in an adult tooth. Fuck. They don’t do sedation dentistry. They give out a cup of Benedryl (oh, excuse me, a cup of Diphenhydramine – I’m not an idiot doc, it’s fucking Benedryl), which makes my kid bounce off the walls, not relax. He can’t be gassed b/c it screws up his already screwy sensory issues and I refuse to have him papoosed. So I called the ortho, who is amazing. I got the name and number for the dentist she takes her special needs kid to and in a few short weeks I will be shelling out 110$ plus 33$ per x-ray for a consult about having the above work done.

This is the third time they have suggested I pull teeth, by the way. What is going on that the only solution is to pull my kids teeth out?

Eshiva needs a crown replaced, because it fell off. Yes. You read that right. It fell off. How did it fall off? I have no idea. My bet is that it wasn’t on well to begin with. She also has three cavities. The soonest we could get in for that work? December 27. Yep. But I should feel free to call back, every couple of weeks to see if there is an opening.

I will be calling the insurance to find another dentist, but thanks for the overwhelming lack of help.

I grabbed my purse to use the restroom and apparently I have walked out of that office enough times that the first thing the counter gal asked was if there was a problem.

Maybe if they didn’t treat us like we don’t have a clue and treated my kids with some respect and acted like they could handle special needs I wouldn’t have to storm out so much. Hell, today I’d have settled for being seen on time.

Dad & Sara took Michael up to Stetson this morning to move him in. They left around 4AM, arrived around 8AM, saw the shuttle launch around 7:20AM, and Michael phoned me around 10AM and told me he was moved in and Dad & Sara had left. Super condensed, yes, but accurate.

Sara is bummed she isn’t moving on, but she can’t see that she is. Just because you are going to a local school and living at home doesn’t mean you aren’t moving on with life. It means you are moving on in a different direction than your twin because you are a different person. Next semester after she gets straight A’s she might apply to UF and move out too, or she might stick out her two years and finish her AA and get guaranteed acceptance into any Fl state school.

I posted to PMs that I cannot believe I have two kids in college. Mine, but not mine. I remember taking them to 8th grade and signing them up for 9th grade and I feel like it was yesterday. I remember getting the call that they were born.

My bio kidlets are in K, 3 & 4 this year. Where does the time go? I feel like I have stood still in many ways myself. I’ve been in my own holding pattern for the last eleven or so years. Maybe it’s time for me to break out too. Dance class, acro class, guitar lessons… I might need to dig out some time for myself to do something.

My brother and sister are awesome. They purchased seasonal Universal tickets for the entire family. We drove up Sunday morning. That went pretty smoothly. Kids we OK, our stuff was packed and we got out the door and on the road by about 8:30. Rock!

We arrived around noon, parked and took our vouchers to customer service at Islands of Adventure to turn in for actual tickets. While we were there I asked for the medical assistance card and was given a red “fast pass” type card. I smiled, said thank you and went on my way.

We did a couple of things in Seuss Landing, wandered through Lost Continent and actually strolled right into Harry Potter. We did not realize how much we lucked out, more on that later. We got on line for the new ride, and since we had to do the child swap we were able to avoid the locker queue and get right on line. The line moved pretty quick. The talking painting were amazing. I am guessing they were flat screens with some sort of overlay to make it look like it was painted. Very very well done. The 3D Harry/Ron/Hermione were very well done, if not a bit rushed and then we were able to board the ride/get in the child swap area. Here is where it started to suck.

Michael, Eshiva & I went to child swap and Dad, Michael, Sara, Dorian & Malachai went to get on the ride. Within two minutes Michael was back in the child swap looking very grumpy. He was too big to fit in the seat. Not too fat mind you. Too tall. My 6’1″ not unusually tall husband was too big for the shoulder harness to lock properly. What a bitch, considering the *only* reason we did Universal and not Disney was for the Harry Potter area. I went on the ride with my brother and we split for other things. The Butter Beer was all right, tasted like a liquid Butterscotch Krimpet. The stores were cute, or what we saw of them anyway.

Then the skies opened up and we hightailed it from the back of the park to the front and left. We were soaked through. We checked into the hotel, got dried and changed and went to dinner. Michael phoned Universal and complained about the ride and was basically told “we’re sorry but there is nothing we can do for you”. No surprise, but it didn’t make anyone feel better.

Fast forward through a craptastic dinner to Monday morning. We went to the old park after breakfast. We walked right onto Twister, tried to use the medical pass at Disaster and were surprised to find out it gave us a return time for 25 minutes later. Not a huge problem except what am I supposed to do for 25 minutes? The man working disaster did call over to Jaws to see if the wait was short enough for us to ride it and come back to disaster, but it was a 60 minute wait at Jaws. If we didn’t go back to Disaster we could not use the medical pass anywhere else (it has to be validated at the last ride to mark it down before you can use it again). I got pissy at this point and walked across the park to The Simpsons ride. Michael took Dorian and Michael on The Men in Black ride, and we got on a 60 minute line. I explained to Malachai as best I could that it was an hour wait and his card wouldn’t work. He said ok so I said ok. Eshiva, Malachai & I got on a hot, slow moving line. We made it 25 minutes before we wound up back-tracking out because he was done waiting in line (this was after 10 – 15 minutes of coercion to wait it out). We met up with the rest of our group, saw a magic show, bought some stuff, saw the Horror Make Up Show and I stopped at guest servic es on the way out.

I explained what happened and explained that I wasn’t asking for a skip the line card, but that I expected better treatment. Had we gone to Disney I would have gotten a red Guest Assistance Card that let us into the fast pass line instead of the regular line. At Universal I refuse to pay, what, 20$ per person per day to bribe them to let me into the fast pass line, especially when I have a party of 8! I said that two years ago we were given complimentary fast pass tickets, they were attached to his seasonal pass and we picked them up when we went to the park. She said they no longer do that, blah blah blah but she was awesome and did attach 6 complimentary fast passes to my name along with a medical card. I just have to present my ID and the confirmation number to guest services and they will give me the passes. I said thank you and left in a much better mood.

Tuesday morning we went back to IofA, picked up my passes and had a much better day. We were able to do quite a few rides, get soaking wet on Popeye, eat at Mythos (yum!) and get out of dodge and home by bedtime

Lesson learned? Go to Disney, they have more to do, are more accommodating when needed and I like it there better. EPCOT has the food & wine festival, the garden festival, there are more “special” things going on during the year that do not cost extra. Universal has extras, but they are all “in addition to” not “included with.” No thanks.

Last night I put all of our monthly bills and expenses for each pay period from now until January 6 down on paper. I proceeded to flip my shit and look into shutting things off. I then realized I don’t have much to shut off and looked into other things to do.

I’m calling AT&T today to see about dropping our plan down a level. If it won’t cause my contract to reset it will save me 20$ plus taxes a month. I looked into turning our DSL down, but it would only save 5$ and cut our speeds in half and isn’t worth it to me. I looked into turning off the house line, which would save me 13$ but would make my DSL go up 10$. Not worth it. We’re locked into DirecTV for another however long, which is no big in and of itself. We pay that and not rent, so…. we win. I’m running out of options here.

The last guitar payment is in September. The last fridge payment is in October. We owe camp 390$ by mid-August. Mrs. P’s starts in August and is a partial payment that month but is 185$ on the first starting in September. Then 520$ in recital fees by the end of October.

I need to start selling myself, or at least my wares, to make ends meet!

I’m thinking of selling my snack bags and other small, easy to sew items on Etsy.

All this and I’m still spending it like it’s water. I picked up some chore cards (Etsy, of course) for the kids. I decided it’s time for them to get weekly allowance (and not Bank of Mom allowance, but real cash allowance) and gosh darn it, they’re going to earn it! I got this set, and this set, and this set, and two of this set. I did not get the personal growth set or the blank set or the reward set. There are enough in the other sets that don’t apply to our home that I can flip them over and make my own. I’m also making my own board to hang them on. Why Jenn, why not make your own cards too? Easy. These already have cute clip art on them, are laminated, ready to go, and every other time I’ve tried to make my own they go ignored. Don’t worry. The kids paid for these themselves and will have to replace the money out of their own pockets too.

I’ll let you all know how it goes once they arrive and get implemented.

Yesterday was the first real day of summer vacay for us – all school classes are over, recitals are completed, graduations are finished. Yesterday brought us speech therapy (every Monday and Tuesday morning until the end of summer, when the schedule changes back to after school), yard work, the gas station, the bank, gifted testing, lunch, the library, visiting some friends, guitar class and dinner at 8!

Malachai was tested for gifted yesterday morning, and the school psychologist (who has observed him briefly but I guess never worked one on one with him) said she sees why he has/needs an aide in class. I am kind of relieved to tell the truth, because at his IEP we were having a hard time explaining that yes, he does great in class… because h has an aide! She also said that while he definitely passed the testing, he would have done much better if he could have stayed focused and on task. So, my all over the place son passed the gifted testing even without an aide to redirect him to stay on task. He continues to baffle me, but in a good way. Perhaps he will build that time machine when he grows up… right after he is done being a stuntman for the newest summer blockbuster action flick. Having a “special needs” child who doesn’t “show” or “present”  as being special needs is a challenge in and of itself. We had some friends over, one of who works with autistic kids every day and he said if we hadn’t told him, he never would have known about Mal. That makes me so happy on the one hand, but on the other hand, it does make it more difficult for us on his bad days when he absolutely presents with all of his symptoms, and usually all at once. So hearing how well he is doing, and how far he will go just makes me smile all over.

Dorian finished his first guitar book yesterday as well. Apparently he has quarter notes down (um, all he plays is “Turning Japanese” so duh he has his quarter notes down!) and played some new songs yesterday. Maybe we’ll get something besides Iron Man and Turning Japanese now. One can only hope. I think he said they did a Beach Boys song and a Beatles song.

Eshiva had her recital on Saturday. No pics, as they were supposed to be prohibited (which didn’t keep an ton of asshole parents from taking bright ass flash photos of their kids on stage, grrrr) but we’ll get a video sometime soon (it was rolled into the cost of the recital fee). E did a beautiful job. In fact, the entire recital was awesome. One of the groups did a shortened version of “Oh Industry” (I love this and have never seen a bad performance of it), and another did “Hard Knock Life”, really the entire thing was great. The babies were cute, the middle range of kids were trying their best and the older girls were all amazing. All but the littlest did the finale. They did “Thriller”! Very cute.

We all hit the library yesterday. Esh had a one hour book reading thing and made a couple of book marks. The boys picked out books to check out. Dor got WWII books and a couple of novels (Time Warp Trio and Lucy’s Ghost I Think), Mal got GooseBumps and one other, Esh got an awesome book about different phoenixes, a baby book about tickling a duck and one other. I’m pretty stoked about being at the library twice a week. The kids signed up for a summer reading program where they get prizes and I told them we’ll keep track of what books they read and we’ll get them a prize at the end of the summer too. The boys go today for a craft class. I think today is an aquarium.

Camp starts next week, Wed – Fri for them, so I’m hoping to pick up some work. I’ve got a logo in the works, and a site that I am waiting on some info for, but nothing else on the horizon right now. It might be the perfect time to start tattooing again. I have some ideas for my lower legs now, so it might work out well.

I was busy remembering stuff yesterday and I want to remember it here too, so bear with me please.

Oh, funny. My mom used to call me Jenniter. Don’t ask. So, the kids were playing janitor today (don’t ask) and I hear Eshiva in the background and I swear I heard Jenniter, not janitor, and it reminded me of mom. So I am telling Michael about this and I say she used to call me Jenniter in the drum, and I have no idea. …He says no! There was a liquid draino type product called janitor in a drum. So yah, my mom called me a cleaning product (which is funny in an ironic kind of way if you think about it) and I suspect I have a new (old) nickname lol Now that I think about it, when I call Gram she still calls me Jenniter too. Funny stuff.

One of moms friends sent me this:
When mom was in Israel she wrote profound poem that I often quote.
“be patient
Peace will come
And when it does
It will be like
A tidal wave upon humanity”

I want to do that One Step on my leg and I am thinking about incorporating this, but I see it as pictures not as words… like a traditional peace dove flying over a horizon with a big wave washing up on the shore, but the shore will be something to symbolize humanity, not an actual shore. I need to think about it for a while. I just see the two ideas tying together really well.