Stress

Ack! A stressful week, a stressful day.

Sam started school. It's been a huge relief because he LOVES it and has been doing well. What's so stressful then?? A whole new schedule...driving across the city to get him there by 8 a.m....I am SO not a morning person. Though in comparision to Hubby I suppose I AM Miss Sunshine!! The ride and the schedule are going fine, I just constantly feel like I'm in a hurry and missing something. Also, I am REALLY tired because I have been having trouble going to sleep before midnight even though I'm wicked tired. I think I have been having nightmares again which keeps me awake almost involuntarily. A plus though is that I easily get to work earlier.

This AM: home to Canton to drop off Sam, then to Severn to pick up my grandmother for her doctor's appt at my office...took 30 minutes longer because of some backup on 95 and then I got off on Russell St and then I missed the MLK exit, so I got to do a little tour of UM/Lexington Market/Ravenwood etc. Fortunately Hubs came to pick her up.

Work has been another stress. Specifically I have one employee who seems to have short-circuited while I was on vacation and I am trying to rein said employee in without causing further damage, and have other staff seething and I can feel the pressure. to. fix. it. now. Actually when I think about it, I had several other staff who had mini-breakdowns while I was out too, though theirs were more private and didn't piss off anybody...it's nice to be needed, but again, the pressure!!!

Poor little Sammy took all his new school stress this week and put it in his teeth and colon. Specifically, grinding of the teeth at night--NOT a pretty sound---and dueling bouts of the D word and C word. Got an emergency call at work at 6 p.m. to COME HOME NOW, WITH GLYCERIN SUPPOSITORIES. My poor boy was all kinds of impacted, even had a fever, and relief was not granted until about 10 p.m. this evening. Then he was all smiles as he went back to bed.

Up tomorrow: a visit to the developmental pediatrician.

Clothes Make the Man

My boy sure can pick his outfits.

Yesterday: wearing TWO sweatshirts and a pair of sweatpants the entire August day (though it was unseasonably chilly), his father (my own little Scarlett--"I will never be hot again"--did you know that inside a house trailer in Mississippi it gets to 120 degrees? Or was that 7000 degrees?) wondered if there was any way they could be related. Then when undressing for his bath, boy reveals that under the sweatpants is ANOTHER PAIR OF PANTS! This from the boy who normally wears NO pants at least 2/3 of the time.

This AM: Black sleeveless tee with red trim; black underpants with red trim. And a smile.

Miscellany

My BFF Melissa is pregnant!!! Very unexpectedly with #3, her others are 5 and 7. She and her husband are in shock but her kids are very excited, especially Ethan, who LOVES babies and has been pleading for a baby for about two years.

When I said to Sam, "Guess who's having a baby?" his face lit up...but when I said "Auntie Melissa!" it fell a bit, and he said he had hoped it was ME having a baby. I must admit I did have a jealous twinge when I heard the baby news. This prompted general discussion of the topic with Hubby who adamantly opposes any more babies (or dogs or cats) in the household.

We went to Sesame Place this week for an overnight stay. Sam had a fabulous time playing in the water park, and we took a long intertube river ride that involved getting drenched under multiple waterfalls! Unfortunately our second day was rained out. Sam cried a bit when he heard the news but recovered nicely, and we will go back sometime in September to use our remaining tickets.

Had two lovely breakfasts this past week, one with the talkative and very very hot (*see her blog for a complicated explanation of why she is hot*) Cole and another with Christine and Ansu. Ansu is about to move to Ft. Defiance, AZ to work as a Family Nurse Practictioner on a Navajo reservation, so may not get to see her again for a while. Chris and I were planning to go swimming, but that had to be deferred due to a largely sleepness night for the family the prior night. Jackie and the girls joined Sam & me at the pool on another day for lots of fun in the sun.

Can't believe my vacation is almost over....sad. But I have gotten emails from 2 colleagues saying they miss me...and for one that is wholly uncharacteristic and very sweet! Made my day.

Special Ed Road & other stops

Special Ed Road
We attended a Kindergarten party at Sam's new school today, which has made me feel good about the school choice. The teachers were lovely, the kids and parents all seem nice, and the diversity is really something. Kids in every color of the rainbow! And parents with tattoos, which always comforts me for some reason (even though I don't have any...though I am seriously thinking about an eyebrow piercing).

Sam did of course have a meltdown in the middle of the event, and one of the teachers tried to help and was very sweet and gentle. Which brings me to the results of his recent evaluations...officially Sam has been diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder NOS, but the thinking is that he likely has Asperger's. I have been reading a lot about Asperger's; he is not exactly a typical AS kid, but when the subtleties are examined, AS really fits.

Knowing that he has AS is not as upsetting as you might suspect, because I think of it as a tool to understand and help him. I have been trying to teach him some social skills in an academic kind of way, and he seems to respond. He certainly doesn't get the social cues and nuances intuitively. It's like translating a foreign language to him.

Along with (and typical for) AS, Sam also was determined to be very smart. The words "gifted" and "genius" were tossed about. His language and educational assessments were mostly average, which is obviously a discrepancy with his high IQ. Because he is not blatantly below average, the central school office felt he didn't even need an IEP and tried to deny any services! His IEP team was very supportive, however, and fought to get him the IEP. At this point, the services he will get are 30 minutes of counseling per week and 1 hour of reading comprehension support per day. The IEP team all informally agreed that he would be most appropriately placed at Lab School but of course, clinical and professional judgement mean pretty much nothing in the school system, and Sam will have to "fail" in a regular school with minimal supports. Then we can request another IEP, probably add more supports, wait for him to fail again, and do it all over again.

Of course it is POSSIBLE that he will do well and magically all the issues will vanish, but that is not realistic. I am very saddened because I know Sam has been set up to fail, as have his new teachers and school. If I was wealthy, I would just send him to Lab, but that is not a possibility, so we must continue to travel along the Special Ed Road.

Vacation Time!
I'm on vacation until 8/20!

Sam and I went to the mountains of New York (specifically Gabriel Pond in Whiting Hollow) for a few days to visit Hannah and family. We had a lovely time swimming in the lake, eating ice cream, napping in a hammock (me) and playing Harry Potter (Sam).

We plan to take a 2 day trip to Sesame Place sometime next week. Sam has an evaluation scheduled, and for the rest of the time we plan to be in the pool!