So much to catch up on!!

It is hard to believe that it has been over a month since I have posted to my blog. So much has gone on!

I'll start with Jake:

After Jake's "skip day" from school, the rest of the school year got a little crazy. He finished the school year and while I thought I would feel this HUGE sense of relief and overwhelming happiness, it didn't end like that at all. Things got very complicated at the end. I ended up going to the principal and pouring out how our year had gone and how completely unhappy I was about it. The bottom line was that she really had no idea what all had been going on b/c when she asked the teacher how things were going, she would tell the principal "fine." The principal had NO idea why I was living up at the school and that things were NOT fine. From there, the principal arranged a meeting with the school administrator and some of the academic tutoring people (because that is the closest to special ed that they have there, not because Jake has academic issues), a speech therapist whose daughter was in Lydia's preschool class, and the mom of another little boy with autism who she wants to attend this school. The principal wanted me to tell the good and bad of our year. I still don't really understand the unusual list of attendees for this particular meeting except that the principal had in the back of her mind what direction the school was going to go with these types of situations. And, from that meeting she created a committee to develop a resource program at the school for kids who need a little extra tlc. So, I am on that committee and we have been working to develop this program. I've invested a lot of time and energy into it and by the last week of school, I decided to go ahead and try it again next year. So, from there I pushed for his teacher for next year to be identified and I observed 2 of the 3 options for 1st grade. We settled on a teacher and I got to chat with her briefly. She is very nice and seems completely different than Mrs. Problem Kindy Teacher. My plan at that point was for him to do 1/2 day and then homeschool 1/2 day. But, after talking with the teacher, I decided to try full day. That was on Monday of the last 3 days of school.

Then, on Tuesday, after going 1/2 days for months, Jake asked me if he could stay all day because he wanted to do PE with his fabulous PE teacher. I said sure and told him I would double check with him at lunch time to make sure he still wanted to do that. I went to check on him at lunch and he said he wanted to stay. When his classmates found out about that, they all started cheering which caused him to give me the biggest smile. He ended up staying all day and doing GREAT!! The last day was field day and I was up there to help with all of that. That was a hard day for him. It was just too out of the ordinary, crazy, etc for him. But all in all, he DID IT!! We finished the school year and we did it TOGETHER!! I am SO PROUD OF MY LITTLE BOY!! No one cut him any slack this year. No one gave him an inch. He had world's hardest Kindergarten teacher and HE DID IT!!!

Then, our AWESOME summer began. It started out a little stressful as he de-compressed from school, but then once he did....WOWZA! He is so relaxed, happy, energetic, awesome, and wonderful!! He is no longer picking his nails AT ALL and I've had to trim them twice this summer. We have been working a lot on perspective taking using Michele Winner's Social Thinking principals and books, and using the "How Full is Your Bucket for Kids" book. We have also been teaching perspective taking by using movies like Shaun the Sheep and Tom and Jerry and books like Three Little Pigs and Little Red Riding Hood where there is a lot of trickery going on. He is TOTALLY getting it and it has made SUCH a HUGE difference in his behavior to understand that others form opinions about his behavior even when he doesn't realize it and it affects the types of thoughts they have about him. We've also been working on time management skills with his phonics, math, and handwriting worksheets and he is doing awesome staying on task for 20 or so minutes without needing redirection. He is writing in his journal with my help and the journal entries and pictures he draws to go with them are so stinkin' cute. He is reading to me and doing great with that.

In addition to all the stuff we are doing at home, he is doing swimming lessons and learned this week to jump of the diving board without anyone there to catch him, come up, take a breath and start swimming freestyle and he can make it about 1/2 way down the pool (small backyard pool). He is also doing a social skills class for 3 hrs on Mondays and a social conversation class on Tuesdays for 1 hr which he is really enjoying. The speech therapist there (same one that is in the school meetings and on the committee) recommended that we get his IQ tested b/c she felt his IQ is quite high and that his language scores, while within normal range, would be well below his IQ, thus his potential. It is a long story, but not being excited about formal IQ testing for a variety of reasons, I purchased a nonverbal IQ test (which is what she wanted) and did it on him. The score floored me. I expected it to be high but not quite as high as it was.

And, then the re-thinking of the school decision began. I have this DARLING little boy, who needs a boost with perspective taking and socially, and who I knew was bright, but has a very high IQ. Can school really meet his needs? We've made so much progress in a MONTH. He totally gets academics. I taught him to tell time to the 5 minutes in about 20 seconds the other day. Now, he already could tell to the 15 mins, so I wasn't starting at ground zero, but still! And, I suspect that when it comes to creative writing and stuff like that, he may have a bit of a harder time than very concrete concepts. But, he is one of those tell him ONCE and he KNOWS it kind of kids. Case in point...he went to Lydia's dance recital last Sat. night. He has been singing 3 of the songs from it since then with exactly the right tune. He had never heard those songs before. And, he remembers some of the dance moves. Crazy! School just seems like the wrong balance for Jake. 7 hrs a day on academics and crowd control, 2 20 min recesses and 1 30 min lunch to do your "social" stuff. He needs more social, less academic instruction time, and learning to be a part of a class in smaller doses (like in a homeschool art class or something), and a NAP 3-4 times a week! (He still naps that often and will sleep for 1-3 hrs!)

Then, today we went out with my friend, Wendy and her 3 kiddos. Her son was in one of the other kindy classes last year. Wendy has decided to homeschool and her reasons are very similar to mine. So, now I'm back at leaning toward homeschooling. And, while I am considering which way would be best I'm thinking about what it is that Jake needs a resource program for? He needs someone to appreciate him for him...quirks and all. He needs someone to gently remind him and inspire him to stay on task when his mind wanders. He needs someone to love him, not be down on him all the time, be a cheerleader for him, and treat him as a valuable person. He needs someone to watch over him and make sure he isn't getting manipulated by the kids on the playground as he can be an easy target. But, does that really require a resource program and their version of an IEP? Oh, not to mention an extra 2K a year above regular tuition? I don't know. I'm thinking not, but maybe there are benefits that I'm not thinking of tonight.

And that is where we are with Jake, a.k.a. "The Mayor." He asked me what a mayor was the other day after Rabbit declared himself the mayor of the hundred acre wood. I told him it was someone who was in charge of a city. He got so excited and said, "I want to be the mayor when I grow up!!" So, later he and Lydia were playing with the Little Tykes mailboxes (we have 2 b/c they love to play like they each have a mailbox at their house) and Jake told me that there was a postcard for me and it said, "Dear Mom, Thanks for making us have so much fun and for making us so happy, especially the mayor who is in charge of the postcards. Love, Jake."

OMG, I LOVE LOVE LOVE my little boy!!!

On to the Chinese Princess:

Lydia ended her preschool year uneventfully. She learned to swing on her own by pumping her legs near the end of the year and can sit and swing forever it seems. She transitioned right into summer easily and is doing swimming lessons also. She can't touch so she has to hang out on the steps and she refuses to put her face in. Today, when her teacher told her to put her face in she said, "no" and then when it was time to jump off the board, she hid over beside the steps thinking no one would notice. HA HA!! No go, sister! She jumped in 5 times with me standing right next to her.

Lydia is Jake's best buddy and they play together SO WELL. I am so blessed to have two children who love each other so much and get along so well. She is now calling him "The Mayor."

She had her first dance recital last weekend. She danced to Baby Love and was so stinking cute! She had so much fun and did great. She really loved being up on stage. The weekend prior to recital she danced at "Downtown Days" in our city. I'm so excited that she enjoys dancing as I danced for 15 years. However, I am not all that pleased with her dance school b/c of some inappropriate dance moves, costumes, and song choices for some of the other classes, so we will be changing schools. She will start at her new dance school the second week of July.

Lydia will be doing pre-K next year. If I decide to homeschool Jake she will still do pre-K b/c Jake and I will need some time to get some things done and we will be more efficient without her here. Pre-K is just the right balance of play and academics for my taste and I love that balance for my children. So, I am fine with that. If we decide to homeschool Jake, she will be homeschooled after pre-K though. I think her personality suits homeschooling too, but overall she is a much more flexible child for us and I think she would thrive in any given situation. I will watch her closely, however, because I want to make sure I am meeting her needs in an optimal fashion as well. I can't imagine separating these two and doing two different things for them though. With Lydia in 3 mornings a week of pre-K, they will still have a lot of time together. One step at a time, I guess.

Lydia is also my napper. I have been very lucky to be able to have them both nap at the same time for years. That way I get a nap too or I get to sit and relax or I get stuff done.

As for Craig and I, Craig is very busy at work. Summer is the busiest time for an orthodontic practice. We are in the middle of a re-decorating project inside the house and landscaping projects outside. We have had almost the whole house painted and will be getting new carpet soon. We are just saving our pennies so that we have plenty left over after paying for the new carpet. Then comes new family room furniture. I sold our couch and coffee table in our recent garage sale and Sarah (my sis) is taking our chair and ottoman. These projects will likely drag into the fall but it is all fun!

I have been so happy to have my children out of school and at home with me. We have been having so much fun and I just love being surrounded by my babies all the time. What a blessing!!