Due to last week's snow when the district delayed school on Monday and cancelled Tuesday, Thanksgiving celebrations were postponed.
On a different note, as I was entering the school, I saw Oldest as he was getting off of the bus and he walked me in a talked to me (as in not grunting, talking to me!). Very cute.
Yesterday, Monday, I went in and helped for Squanto's celebration. Youngest had several stations....with me, he and his friends had to decorate their Thanksgiving Day card and do a 'caveman' writing (Man Go Mountain Tree Deer, all in symbols). Then, another mom helped by having the kids 'hunt' for dinner (ie. throw a spear at a 'turkey', "raccoon", 'beaver" and so on). With his teacher, the kids decorated a 'prayer stick' which they prayed for good crops and planted corn. In the other room, they 'traded' toys/goodies like Squanto and decorated a totem pole (of course, Youngest's told jokes instead of telling story, because that is who he is).
Today, the kids did a Thanksgiving play, complete with three songs and the story of Thanksgiving. They each had to memorize a line. Youngest's was "they did not have enough food in the forest". He did a great job. Then, each child had to stand on a box and read their three things that they are thankful for. Youngest said he was thankful for 'my mom, my house, and my movies'. Yep.
It was so much fun...I got to see Middle Dude and Oldest at school, too today. Usually, I see one or two of them. It was so fun to see all three of them.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
Winter Weather
Well, the winter season has begun. Yesterday, about two inches of snow fell. The good news is that all three boys went outside (the last time we had snow, they did not want to go out or went out for only five minutes) for an extended period of time.
Knowing our district, I was preparing for the worst. Today, knowing our district like I do, even though the snow had melted here, it hadn't on the 'mountain'....well, our version of the mountain. So, school was delayed two hours and a.m. kindergarten cancelled. This was traumatic for me because I was planning on going in to help out with the 'encampment' (trading of goods and such for the Squanto celebration).
Most of the boys did okay with the change of schedule, but Oldest had his moments. He did fine in the beginning and then, his 'internal autism clock' went off ("I have to go to school, I am going to be LATE!"). So, he hugged himself (very proactive of him) and tried to calm down. In the meantime, I emailed his teacher and OT at school and told them about what was happening. Because of the school delay, he was going to miss OT (of course, he knew this because it's a routine thing). He kept saying to me, "I want to see OT Laura!".
OT Laura, being the fabulous OT she is, fit him in to, I think, her lunch hour. Bless her heart. She worked it out with his general education teacher and he was able to go straight to OT this morning. His general education teacher, being the former special education teacher she is, emailed me back (before I knew that OT Laura was fitting him in) and told me to tell him that it was all going to be okay and that teachers are a little 'off', too, today and to just be calm and that they will work together.
Love them. Tonight is another winter storm warning....so, I expect Youngest's Thanksgiving play will be postponed until next Tuesday and I'll go through another morning of Oldest being 'off'. We'll work through it as we always do. The teachers in this district never cease to amaze me at how generous of a spirit they are. We are truly blessed :)
By the way, Oldest had an assignment last Saturday from his special education teacher. He and her looked through the menu of Red Robin and found some new foods he'd like to try. I am not sure he really WANTED to try them, but he was told he had to try something new. So, he tried an onion ring. The first one he nibbled at and then decided he was full (totally fine) and then after the chips/salsa showed up, he decided to try another! He ate the whole thing (minus the onion part, which is fine, neither one of the other boys like that, either). Then, last night, his favorite server, Whitney, emailed him congratulating him on trying something new. She told him how proud she was of him. Whoot. Hopefully, that will encourage him to try something next week!
Knowing our district, I was preparing for the worst. Today, knowing our district like I do, even though the snow had melted here, it hadn't on the 'mountain'....well, our version of the mountain. So, school was delayed two hours and a.m. kindergarten cancelled. This was traumatic for me because I was planning on going in to help out with the 'encampment' (trading of goods and such for the Squanto celebration).
Most of the boys did okay with the change of schedule, but Oldest had his moments. He did fine in the beginning and then, his 'internal autism clock' went off ("I have to go to school, I am going to be LATE!"). So, he hugged himself (very proactive of him) and tried to calm down. In the meantime, I emailed his teacher and OT at school and told them about what was happening. Because of the school delay, he was going to miss OT (of course, he knew this because it's a routine thing). He kept saying to me, "I want to see OT Laura!".
OT Laura, being the fabulous OT she is, fit him in to, I think, her lunch hour. Bless her heart. She worked it out with his general education teacher and he was able to go straight to OT this morning. His general education teacher, being the former special education teacher she is, emailed me back (before I knew that OT Laura was fitting him in) and told me to tell him that it was all going to be okay and that teachers are a little 'off', too, today and to just be calm and that they will work together.
Love them. Tonight is another winter storm warning....so, I expect Youngest's Thanksgiving play will be postponed until next Tuesday and I'll go through another morning of Oldest being 'off'. We'll work through it as we always do. The teachers in this district never cease to amaze me at how generous of a spirit they are. We are truly blessed :)
By the way, Oldest had an assignment last Saturday from his special education teacher. He and her looked through the menu of Red Robin and found some new foods he'd like to try. I am not sure he really WANTED to try them, but he was told he had to try something new. So, he tried an onion ring. The first one he nibbled at and then decided he was full (totally fine) and then after the chips/salsa showed up, he decided to try another! He ate the whole thing (minus the onion part, which is fine, neither one of the other boys like that, either). Then, last night, his favorite server, Whitney, emailed him congratulating him on trying something new. She told him how proud she was of him. Whoot. Hopefully, that will encourage him to try something next week!
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Mini-Olympics
Last Friday was the mini-olympics for the 3rd, 4th and 5th graders. Each classroom represented a "country". Oldest's class was China and Middle Dude's was Austria. Each class made a flag and cheered for their classmates. The kids had to qualify for the mini-olympics by being the top in their class in several competitions: sit ups, push ups, stair-stepping, rope climb (they had to climb up and down as many times as they could), the shuttle run and the bar hang.
Middle dude qualified by being the best in his class in the push ups. He said he wasn't necessarily the 'best' in his class, but other kids qualified in two events and other kids didn't want to do it, so he qualified by doing 12 push ups.
He got to sit up in the front of the school with his class and then when it was push-up time, he had to do as many push-ups as he could. He did a personal best of 22 push-ups. He got a medal for participation.
Oldest did a good job of sitting with his class (even knowing I was there). So, it was all good!
Middle dude qualified by being the best in his class in the push ups. He said he wasn't necessarily the 'best' in his class, but other kids qualified in two events and other kids didn't want to do it, so he qualified by doing 12 push ups.
He got to sit up in the front of the school with his class and then when it was push-up time, he had to do as many push-ups as he could. He did a personal best of 22 push-ups. He got a medal for participation.
Oldest did a good job of sitting with his class (even knowing I was there). So, it was all good!
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Whacky Wednesday
Today was one of those whacky Wednesday. Some good things and some bad things...not really anything in between....
My Oldest dude had to be a part of a play on bullying...he played the part of a student who was to tell the P.E. teacher about the bullying. He had to drop two books on cue and tell the P.E. teacher. He did everything perfectly and made his para-professional cry (love it when it happens). Goes to show you that he can do things.
My Youngest dude had an eventful day, too. He got the two elemetary school t-shirts that we ordered back in September. He promptly took off his t-shirt and put on one and then took that off an put on another. He is so excited to be at the same school as his brothers. He also had an eye doctor's appointment and his vision from February has gone from 20-70 to 20-25. We are still patching (we don't do it everyday, but we do do it 4-5 times a week for a couple of hours). Not as much as we should, but we are doing it.
Middle dude is going through the tweenies. I am hoping this will pass soon. He's just very negative and yells at me. I love him to pieces, but the tweenies are testing me.
We also got to go see "The Reptile Man". Now, Youngest dude wants to be a reptile man when he grows up. He was super excited. He was chosen after he said, "I am desperation" and he got to touch a snake. He was supposed to have a snake around his neck, but he didn't want that. Oldest got to be one of seven who held a banana snake. He did a fabulous job holding that snake.
My Oldest dude had to be a part of a play on bullying...he played the part of a student who was to tell the P.E. teacher about the bullying. He had to drop two books on cue and tell the P.E. teacher. He did everything perfectly and made his para-professional cry (love it when it happens). Goes to show you that he can do things.
My Youngest dude had an eventful day, too. He got the two elemetary school t-shirts that we ordered back in September. He promptly took off his t-shirt and put on one and then took that off an put on another. He is so excited to be at the same school as his brothers. He also had an eye doctor's appointment and his vision from February has gone from 20-70 to 20-25. We are still patching (we don't do it everyday, but we do do it 4-5 times a week for a couple of hours). Not as much as we should, but we are doing it.
Middle dude is going through the tweenies. I am hoping this will pass soon. He's just very negative and yells at me. I love him to pieces, but the tweenies are testing me.
We also got to go see "The Reptile Man". Now, Youngest dude wants to be a reptile man when he grows up. He was super excited. He was chosen after he said, "I am desperation" and he got to touch a snake. He was supposed to have a snake around his neck, but he didn't want that. Oldest got to be one of seven who held a banana snake. He did a fabulous job holding that snake.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Conference Week
On Monday, I had a conference with Youngest's teacher. It went really well. He is reading where he should be, his math is a little behind (not major behind, only because she is having trouble testing him because he claims he is 'tired') and the writing is progressing (he's on an IEP for fine motor). She said he has lots of friends and enjoys kindergarten.
I was a bit more skeptical for Oldest's conference. His teacher wanted him to lead the meeting (seriously, as in 'lead' the meeting, following a plan of information that he worked on and 'lead' the meeting). Oldest has autism, his medications wear off at 3:15, we couldn't get a sitter on the days she could meet. Are you sensing how this would go? All of us would have to go.
However, I was pleasantly surprised. Oldest said his favorite subject was Math (he doesn't really like Math and he's not really good at Math). He wrote the subject that he is not good at is Writing (because it is hard...which is so true, it IS hard for him...he has motor planning issues like Youngest). He said that one of his goals was to read a harder book with Mom. That is something we can totally work on...he read to me part of a book this week that is difficult. I feel like there is so much more in there (now that we got the medication thing under control) that we still need to find out about him. He also had to grade himself. He gave himself low scores on things such as paying attention and finishing his homework. These are things that I am sure he does, but I could see his thought process. All in all, his teacher is so pleased with his progress.
Yesterday, he had to give a presentation with a group of peers and he, evidently, did an amazing job. I was worried because on Tuesday, he was struggling with his paragraph on Aztec clothing and then, Wednesday morning, when he woke up, he walked into the hallway and he started reciting it. Go figure. I said to The Hub, "that's his Aztec report" (in a very tired way, it was 5:30 in the morning!).
I was a bit more skeptical for Oldest's conference. His teacher wanted him to lead the meeting (seriously, as in 'lead' the meeting, following a plan of information that he worked on and 'lead' the meeting). Oldest has autism, his medications wear off at 3:15, we couldn't get a sitter on the days she could meet. Are you sensing how this would go? All of us would have to go.
However, I was pleasantly surprised. Oldest said his favorite subject was Math (he doesn't really like Math and he's not really good at Math). He wrote the subject that he is not good at is Writing (because it is hard...which is so true, it IS hard for him...he has motor planning issues like Youngest). He said that one of his goals was to read a harder book with Mom. That is something we can totally work on...he read to me part of a book this week that is difficult. I feel like there is so much more in there (now that we got the medication thing under control) that we still need to find out about him. He also had to grade himself. He gave himself low scores on things such as paying attention and finishing his homework. These are things that I am sure he does, but I could see his thought process. All in all, his teacher is so pleased with his progress.
Yesterday, he had to give a presentation with a group of peers and he, evidently, did an amazing job. I was worried because on Tuesday, he was struggling with his paragraph on Aztec clothing and then, Wednesday morning, when he woke up, he walked into the hallway and he started reciting it. Go figure. I said to The Hub, "that's his Aztec report" (in a very tired way, it was 5:30 in the morning!).
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Misc "Catch Up" Part Deux
So, as I mentioned earlier, my Youngest son asked the priest on Sunday if we could cancel church....well, I forgot to mention that he was fussy all during Mass. The priest said to The Hub on the way out, "I guess you are allergic to priests".
Today, I opened the box of goodies from my favorite bath store. It was full of fun Christmas-y bath items (hand soap figurals, plug ins, etc) and I asked the two younger boys to 'decorate' the bathrooms....which they did happily. I let one of them take the plug ins and the other take the decorative soap figurals. Christmas is coming!
Finally, Oldest was struggling with the information for his presentation on the Aztecs (he had to talk about the clothing that they wore). I was a little concerned. However, at 5:30 this morning (which is his usual wake up time), he walked down the hall and gave his whole presentation. Obviously, I didn't need to be concerned. His teacher wrote me a note that he did a fabulous job today on his presentation. Yey!
Today, I opened the box of goodies from my favorite bath store. It was full of fun Christmas-y bath items (hand soap figurals, plug ins, etc) and I asked the two younger boys to 'decorate' the bathrooms....which they did happily. I let one of them take the plug ins and the other take the decorative soap figurals. Christmas is coming!
Finally, Oldest was struggling with the information for his presentation on the Aztecs (he had to talk about the clothing that they wore). I was a little concerned. However, at 5:30 this morning (which is his usual wake up time), he walked down the hall and gave his whole presentation. Obviously, I didn't need to be concerned. His teacher wrote me a note that he did a fabulous job today on his presentation. Yey!
Monday, November 8, 2010
The First Amendment Discussion at 6:20 a.m.
So, this morning (a Monday morning) started out very boring. I did get up a little early, which was good because I was busily unloading the dishwasher and watching "The Today Show" online when my Middle Guy came over to me and asked me, "Mom, can I bring my Bible to school to read?" Yesterday, he got this great Bible, the Adventure Bible. On a side note, it is really well done for kids. It has little 'activities' for kids, great explanations, etc. He got it from my church (all 3rd graders get one before their First Communion year). Since yesterday, he has been reading the Bible, from the beginning, starting with Genesis. So, the discussion on the First Amendment began....
Him:"Can I bring the Bible to school?"
Me:"No, you can't bring the Bible to school".
Him:"Why?"
Me: "Well, I'll go to jail" (this is what I tell them when they tell me they don't want to go to school, it could apply here, I could go to jail if someone complained....)
Him:"Why?"
Me:"Well, you can't bring something from Church to school".
Him:"Why? I just want to read it when I would be reading a book".
Me:"Well, there is a rule and you can't bring something from church to a school".
Him:"Why?"
Me:"Well, the Bible is a book like from the church and school is like the state and there is a rule that you can't bring something from church to school".
Him:"Why?"
Me:"There is a rule called the First Amendment and the Bible is something from Church and the school is like the state and there is a separation of church and state".
Him:"Okay. Maybe, I can bring the school to my church and then I can bring my Bible to school".
Who knew I was such a Constitutional scholar at 6:20 a.m. on a Monday?
On a side note, this afternoon, I told Youngest, he could only have one bag of chips (when he brought the second bag and popped it and I said no, he got naked...I had to change his pants because he had Cheetos on his pants, but he stripped down to his undies after his tantrum). What getting naked has to do with chips, I don't know. Maybe, today I am living in the Twilight Zone.
Him:"Can I bring the Bible to school?"
Me:"No, you can't bring the Bible to school".
Him:"Why?"
Me: "Well, I'll go to jail" (this is what I tell them when they tell me they don't want to go to school, it could apply here, I could go to jail if someone complained....)
Him:"Why?"
Me:"Well, you can't bring something from Church to school".
Him:"Why? I just want to read it when I would be reading a book".
Me:"Well, there is a rule and you can't bring something from church to a school".
Him:"Why?"
Me:"Well, the Bible is a book like from the church and school is like the state and there is a rule that you can't bring something from church to school".
Him:"Why?"
Me:"There is a rule called the First Amendment and the Bible is something from Church and the school is like the state and there is a separation of church and state".
Him:"Okay. Maybe, I can bring the school to my church and then I can bring my Bible to school".
Who knew I was such a Constitutional scholar at 6:20 a.m. on a Monday?
On a side note, this afternoon, I told Youngest, he could only have one bag of chips (when he brought the second bag and popped it and I said no, he got naked...I had to change his pants because he had Cheetos on his pants, but he stripped down to his undies after his tantrum). What getting naked has to do with chips, I don't know. Maybe, today I am living in the Twilight Zone.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Misc 'Catch Up"
So, I found out which 'girlfriend' my Youngest son was with on Friday. He was with Anna M., a girl in his class. Evidently, he sat next to her very politely during the movie. Three-quarters of the way through the movie, the PTA gave out free popcorn because there was projection problems. So, Youngest told me afterwards that he helped Anna, 'get more popcorn" and did so in a polite manner. He and Anna walked over to the popcorn window and politely asked for more popcorn.
This last weekend, I went to Portland for the annual MOMS Club Luncheon. I had a good time with friends and as usual, laughed so hard my belly hurt.
Today, The Hub took the boys to the Catholic church for Mass. Evidently, on the way into Mass, he walked up the priest and said, "Can we cancel Church today?". Um, no.
This last weekend, I went to Portland for the annual MOMS Club Luncheon. I had a good time with friends and as usual, laughed so hard my belly hurt.
Today, The Hub took the boys to the Catholic church for Mass. Evidently, on the way into Mass, he walked up the priest and said, "Can we cancel Church today?". Um, no.
Friday, November 5, 2010
My boys, the heartbreakers part two
Tonight was "Movie Night" at the school. The Hub and the boys went to it. My Youngest is, evidently, sitting next to one of his 'many' girlfriends. Of course because he has several of them.
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