What I did in school today...

Yes, really.. what I did in school today!  


A few days ago, my son's teacher asked if I was available to help out with something this morning.  Of course I said yes because I love being in the classroom with him and his peers.  This week, the story in the reading textbook is about cerebral palsy.  They have been discussing disabilities all week long, including autism.  I arrive this morning with him and she shows me the center I will be working at.  She read them a story about a little boy who has autism and the trip to the park with his sister.  (If I remember the name of the book, I'll share.. lol)  


When she was finished reading, she looked straight at the boy and asked if there was anything he wanted to share.  I silently started to panic for a moment until she said he'd been sharing all week long about autism.  (insert me almost falling over here)  One of his friends said "he had no idea C had autism until this week, but it didn't matter, he's still C and he's my friend".  (again, me almost falling over and wanting to run up to this kid and give him a huge hug!)


She then explained to them that they were going to go to several different centers and learn about what it's like to live with various disabilities.  She had something set up for a speech impediment, deafness, blindness, dyslexia, cerebral palsy and autism.  I got to do one of the centers about autism.  I had to give the students instructions on how to do something and speak in complete gibberish.  I said it normally, softly, loudly, getting more and more frustrated each time and commenting about how I didn't understand why they weren't doing it.  I then drew a picture and they immediately got it.  It was fun watching the light bulb moment for the students.  I answered their questions as best as I could.  They had some tough questions that I couldn't answer, but did as best as I could.  I think it really hit home with them when the teacher said 1 in 88 military kids has autism, because our school is a DODEA school and solely military kids.  


I also got to touch them velcro gloves to teach them about sensory issues.  Everyone hated it, except of course my own child who took the gloves after the lesson and kept touching his arm with it! haha  


We are truly blessed to have this teacher in our lives.  I didn't think we'd ever have another teacher as amazing as this one, after our second grade teacher.  His teacher is truly one of a kind.  As a retired Naval Officer, she runs her classroom with military precision.  This has helped my own child so much throughout the year because he knows up front what the expectations are each day.  But she has fun with the kids and she truly cares about each and every one of them.  She has made every effort possible to form a bond with with C this year and as a result he is once again enjoying school and is thriving in her classroom.  Her incredible patience with him will never be forgotten.   It makes me sad to think the school year is over halfway done and we only have a few months left with her before he's onto middle school.  The world needs more teachers like her without a doubt.  
 

Spontaneous I love you!

This is a common scenario in my household.

me... "I love you kiddo"
kiddo.. "ok"
me.. "what do you say when someone says I love you?"
kiddo.. "ok"
you can see where this is going.. LOL

Recently the kiddo has been tossing out spontaneous "I love you" and I can't even begin to tell you how much it makes me smile!  Even more so, he's tossing them out to the hubby!  Who knows how long this will last with him, but I'm loving it right now!!! <3

Surfer's Healing Virginia Beach!

Yesterday the kiddo was able to participate in Surfer's Healing for the second time.  For those who don't know, here's a little snippet about them from their website.  Surfer's Healing

Surfers Healing was founded by Israel and Danielle Paskowitz.Their son, Isaiah, was diagnosed with autism at age three. Like many autistic children, he often suffered from sensory overload-- simple sensations could overwhelm him. The ocean was the one place where he seemed to find respite.

A former competitive surfer, Israel hit upon an idea--with Isaiah on the front of his surfboard, and Izzy steering from the back, the two spent the day surfing together. Surfing had a profound impact on Isaiah. Israel and Danielle decided they wanted to share this unique therapy with other autistic children. They began to host day camps at the beach where autistic children and their families could be exposed to a completely new experience of surfing.

This was our second time going.  The first time was 2 summers ago.  The kiddo loved it then and loved it even more this time!!!!  Surfer's Healing is an amazingly awesome day at the beach.  First of all, you're surrounded by families who deal with autism on a daily basis.  No one cares if your child is laying in the sand throwing a fit.  No one cares if your child is running into people because he's so excited he's got tunnel vision to the beach and doesn't care who's in his way.  No one cares if your child is screaming his head off because he doesn't want to leave the beach.  NO ONE CARES!  It's all normal to them.  No judgement, no snide remarks, no dirty looks.  That in itself is absolutely awesome considering we deal with all that on a daily basis.

Second of all, the water is the kiddo's favorite place to be.  The ocean has such an amazing effect on him.  He wants to stay in the water all day long whenever we go to the beach and begs to go to the beach often.  (This is not doable normally because we moved from the beach 2 years ago)  He loves just standing in the waves and letting them batter him.  He loves the push and pull of the waves.  He loves the sand under his feet and even the bright sun doesn't bother him when he's in the ocean.  He was not happy at all when we had to leave the beach yesterday to begin our what should have been 3 hour drive home.

Back to the actual event itself.  We arrived at the beach around 930 am.  Later than I wanted, but we did have to pack the car up after our stay at my sister's house before we could head to the beach.  We got signed in, got our goodie bag and tshirts for the whole family.  The minute our toes touched the sand, he was ready to be in the water.  He had a 1030 surf time, so we dumped our stuff off and left my Mom in the shade and headed to the water.  Immediately he was in.  Wave after wave toppled him and he could have cared less.  I let him play for about 20 minutes before heading back to my mom.  We checked out a few of the booths they had set up and then it was time for him to go surf.  (after of course he started freaking out because I was being too slow and they were going to call his surf time soon... and all I did was smile and laugh and say goodbye to the person I was talking to.. no apologies necessary!)

We go get him suited up in his life jacket and wait for his surfer to come get him.  Out he goes into the water.  His surfer (whose name I did not get, but wish I did!) was awesome.  He was very aggressive with the waves, just going for it, not waiting around.. LOL  The kiddo had the most amazing time ever.  He caught 5 waves I think.  He got to do the paddling out for most of the waves, which was absolutely amazing to me.  He has such low muscle tone in his trunk and arms, and seeing him paddle the surfboard out while his surfer was standing on it was simply awesome.  My mom, sister, sister's best friend and I all cheered for him the whole time he was out there.  They totally wiped out a few times, but the kiddo didn't care one bit.  When he got out of the water he said "I got sand in my mouth one time, but I didn't care" HAHA!

As soon as he finished surfing, he wanted to go back in the water.  So my sister and her bff took him back in the water for some more time in the water.  He got to play some more and then it was lunch time.  Back in the water again after eating.  Then it was time to leave.  Of course he didn't like that too much, but it was the last day of our vacation trip to Va Beach and we needed to get home to celebrate the hubby's birthday, since he couldn't join us on the trip.  We reminded the kiddo that he had souvenir money to spend and he happily stopped complaining about leaving and off we went.

All in all it was an absolutely amazing day.  I wish we'd gotten a chance to meet Izzy Paskowitz because he is just an amazing person with such a huge heart.  I wish I'd gotten the name of our surfer.  I wish we could have stayed at the beach all day.  I loved watching all the kids surfing.  I loved seeing the joy on a child's face when moments ago he'd been terrified of heading into the water.  I loved seeing families hold their breaths as their child was carried out into the water and then moments later burst into cheers when their child was surfing a wave.  I loved being somewhere that having autism is the norm and no is judged.  


Here are some pics from our day yesterday...


Enjoying the water before surfing...


getting suited up to surf!


Almost his turn!


waiting for a wave to come..






Surfer boy!!! :-)


paddling out


high fives with his Aunt afterwards!


The kiddo with his surfer. :)


one happy boy!!!!

Happy Ash Wednesday!

26 more days to go.. ;-)

So I made good on my Lenten promise today.  I went for two walks.  Figured since tomorrow it is supposed to be rainy, I'd take another walk tonight.  For some reason, new fluffy dog, only seems to want to poop on the school property which makes me laugh.  Don't worry, I'm a responsible pet owner and picked up his poop.  I also decided that I'm going to do some form of cleaning everyday too.  Today I did some dishes and laundry.  I know it's not much, but I've been slacking in the housework department.  So my Lenten promise is to try not to be so lazy.  No clue what the hubby and kid are giving up, neither can seem to make up their minds.  Honestly, I'd like to see them give up video games, but both scoffed at the idea of course.  I told the kid he could join me on my cleaning promise, but of course he scoffed at that too.  Right now I'd take him just doing homework without a fight.  Would that work?  Giving up fighting over homework for Lent?  Sure would make my life a lot more peaceful.  :-)

28 and 27.. missed a day already!

Whoops!  Missed a day already.  See, I'm no good at this blogging stuff!

We got a new dog yesterday.  His name is Rocky, although I'd like to change it to Stitch to go with our other dog Lilo.. however Rocky seems to stick with him.  Actually Romeo would be even better because he loves women!  Anyway, he's a Chorkie (Yokie and Chihuahua mix) and he's absolutely beautiful.  I'm totally in love with him.  Lilo doesn't care for him and he doesn't care for Lilo, but we're working on getting them to get along.  It's slow going, but I was expecting that.  He follows me around all day long and stays right next to me.  Right now he's laying on the floor by my feet while I'm at the computer. 

Aside from the dog excitement, more drama with the kid. :-( Got sent to the principals office again today for threatening to hit someone.  The someone he threatened apparently pushed him.  Found out tonight that this particular person and three others are really mean to him all the time.  That makes me so sad.  I just don't know what to do with him.  I'm proud of him for not hitting this kid, but at the same time, it irritates me that this kid didn't get in trouble for pushing him, he got in trouble for saying he was going to hit the kid.  Really?  That seems fair. 

Lent starts tomorrow.  I've decided instead of giving something up, I'm making myself take walks at least 5 days out of the week. I guess technically I'm giving up being lazy, right?  I need to find some yummy vegetarian recipes to use during Lent also.  The hubby doesn't like fish, so there's only so many meatless meals I can make that he'll eat.  Luckily I've got some clam chowder in the cupboard for the kiddo for lunch tomorrow.. and we're having breakfast for dinner tomorrow.. beyond that, I need some meatless ideas!

Off to use the google power now..

29 Days!

Ha!  I didn't forget.  Not today at least.. it's still early.  Sitting here at work again today.  It's so quiet in here, I expect it to be that way all day long due to the pouring rain outside.  Wish I could say I had something to do other than sitting here on my netbook.  I already scrubbed down every flat surface in here and baked cookies.

Hopefully the kiddo will have a good day at home with the hubby today. Everything is such a battle with him these days, especially where the hubby is concerned.  Tomorrow I will be trying once again to find him a new therapist who is closer to our home.  Damn gas prices right now, I can't afford to go to the one we were going to anymore because he was 20 miles away.  In a gas guzzling vehicle, that's a lot of gas!  So tomorrow I will hopefully get a hold of the community counseling place in our town.  I didn't want to have to use them, small town and all, but my last resort has arrived.. thank you Libya or whoever is to blame for the sudden rise in gas prices!

In other news, it seems the rain has stopped.  Hopefully we'll get some people in here now.  It is way too quiet!!!!

30 Days?

I am such a slacker in the blogging department.  I'm going to challenge myself to 30 days of blogging!  I wonder if I can actually remember to write something everyday?  Anyone care to join me???

Soooo let's start with today.  I'm sitting here bored off my mind at work.  Generally it's pretty fun at work, but it's kinda quiet today.  Annoying sailor guy (ASG for short) is here and I'm trying to look busy so he won't come talk to me.  Cruel I know, but I already watched some stupid W.O.W. video on You tube that I just *had to see* at his insistence.  Usually he sits and talks about everything that is of no interest to me.  Yeah I'm mean.. but sheesh.. he goes on and on.  And usually it happens when I'm trying to do something.  I love my job and for the most part I love all the sailors who come in here, but some of them just get on my last damn nerve!  ASG is definitely one of them.  Some of the other ones who come in here are awesome.  I wish they weren't students.. I could see myself being friends with a lot of them, but unfortunately outside of my job, I can't hang with them thanks to my hubby's job.  Sometimes that can be a little frustrating.

In other news.. we are ABA therapistless again!  We had hired another one, but she's gone MIA since December.  I'm quite fed up and irritated with the company who keeps doing this to us.  The kiddo is doing alright, but we're entering into tweendom now and he's turning into a crabby kid with a nasty mouth.  At this point in time I'm scared we're going to have to hospitalize him in the near future.  I want him on meds but am scared to try any again..  He's constantly getting in trouble in school, to the point where apparently 7 parents have complained about it to the principal.  I constantly hear from my friend whose daughter in his class about how horrible he is everyday.  I'm on the school nonstop to keep me informed and to see what they are doing about things.  He can't sit still and keep his hands to himself.  Makes me feel like a horrible parent when I hear my 9 year old can't control himself any better than a 3 year old can.  Then I get the pleasure of listening to a friend lecture me about putting him on meds again or maybe I just need to hit him.. that'll stop his behavior.  Yeah, cause I want my kid to be terrified of me like other kids are of their parents.  Anyhoo.. yeah things are a barrel of fun around here.

Guess I have a lot to say.  Should be easy for me to keep this up for 29 more days, right?????