Having Fun

We had a better day today! We went back to the science museum, a wildlife museum, and chuck-e-cheese. We also spent some time in our indoor waterpark!

Timothy had a great time today and he didn't have nearly as many meltdowns.

Life is so much better when your children aren't crying!

Having in Rough

Our 6 year old has it pretty rough, guys. Even on vacation, he just really struggles. Perhaps ESPECIALLY on vacation he really struggles.

We had planned to go to the science museum this morning. We got there and 2 school buses were there on a field trip. We got inside and Timothy just lost it--there were too many people and they were wearing the same color shirt he was. He was afraid he would be mistaken for a public school kid. In his defense, there were way too many wild kids running around. However, we stayed there about 3 minutes before we just left. He couldn't do it.

So we went to Chick-fil-A and played on the playground. We went to McDonalds. We explored a park. We went swimming. Still, he didn't have anything positive to say. All day he was weepy and had a sour attitude and it really just makes me want to go back to work. Honestly, I'll deal with a cranky student any day of the week over a hysterical 6 year old.

This evening we were at the playground and some children walked by yet didn't come play. Timothy lost it. He was crying his eyes out because they didn't play and he was telling us how terrible his life is and how he hates us and hates everyone.

Obviously, my child is out of his element. He's overwhelmed. He's tired after a long day. Still, I want to have fun with him! I want to enjoy him!! This is much harder than I imagined.

Vacation

We had a rough start to our vacation yesterday. I had graduation at the college at 10, then we were going to leave for our trip. Things didn't quite work out as planned, though.

 

A new neighbor moved in across the street and he has a very nice Rainbow swingset that he doesn't want (as he has no children). Friday David disassembled the swingset and, since he didn't have time to get it all set up, he just left it all in the back of the truck and backed it against our garage while we're on vacation.

 

We were doing really well. We had everything loaded up on Friday night, ready for us to leave as soon as graduation was over. Well, when I took the van to go to graduation, it wouldn't go into gear. We realized we had problems with the transmission. What a day to have our van die!! We knew it was coming, especially since we had 208,000 miles on it, but we didn't expect it to happen then.

 

David had to quickly unload the whole swingset from his truck so that I could take the truck to work. Then he had to unload the van and load the truck and the 5 of us plus the dog fit into the extended cab of the truck.

 

Timothy was rather hysterical that we were having problems with the van, too. He was melting.

 

When we got about half an hour away, we realized that David had forgotten his tennis shoes. Oh well! We'll buy a new pair.

 

We made the mistake of telling the kids that we'd be going to the zoo today. For four hours we got to listen to Timothy complain about how he doesn't like the zoo. All they have is animals. It smells. It's boring. We were so tired of it, we told him no more saying ANYTHING unless it was positive. He waited a few moments and then said, Ok, I'm positive that we won't have any fun tomorrow.

 

Timothy did end up enjoying the zoo, though. He loved feeding the birds. Samuel, as always, had a great time and Hannah Ruth was so sweet in her stroller. We're having a great time on vacation, even if it didn't quite start like we had planned.

 

Testing, Continued

When we dropped Timothy off for testing YESTERDAY morning, they said that they test generally and if there are any deficits they have to do further testing in that area. They said he would be done around noon.

We got a call at 11:45 to come pick him up for lunch. The lady very nicely said he had tested deficit in EVERY area and they had to do much more extensive testing. He came home, ate lunch, and was back at the school until 3:00. 8:00 to 3:00 is a very, very long day for Timothy to be away from home and sitting at a desk. I was amazed he made it that long.

We got home and let the boys play in the mud. After that, Timothy hopped in the shower. While he was showering, we got a call that they needed to do 2 more tests and can we please bring him back up. So we got him dressed and took him back up for a third time at 3:45. Those tests only took around 20 minutes.

We didn't get anything official, but the lady said that Timothy is a great child and she enjoyed spending time with him. She also said that Timothy is doing well with phonemic awareness but had a deficit in everything else. She said his main problem appears to be visual processing. She said he couldn't differentiate between two objects. If she showed him an object and then turned the page and asked him to point to what he previously saw, he couldn't do it. Visual processing would obviously cause problems with every subject.

She asked if we were considering sending him to school and said he'd definitely qualify for special ed.

I'm actually more hopeful than discouraged. Yes, it's terrible to hear my child is deficit in everything. However, I really feel like someone is listening to us, like someone is going to help us find out what's going on and how we fix it. We really want to fix it.

I'm also encouraged for another reason. A month or so ago, I talked to a friend who had a child with dyslexia. They're doing vision therapy and the boy's reading improved 6 grade levels in 1 year of therapy (he's a teenager). I called and made the appointment in late April and they were scheduling out until late May. This is really a blessing, because I didn't have any real REASON to suspect vision issues, but I didn't know what else to do and it had helped my friend's son. So if his main problem is visual processing, we've already got an appointment at a vision therapist that's in network for our insurance in just a couple weeks!! I am so glad something told me to make that appointment.

We'll have a meeting to get all the results when we come back for vacation. For now, I'm going to leave all my worries behind me and enjoy my children on vacation for the next two weeks!

Testing

The public school called yesterday evening to see if we could do Timothy's testing for learning disabilities this morning. He goes in an hour and they will call us when he gets done.

I'm very hopeful that this will give us more insight into Timothy's struggles. I just want to understand him better. I do want him to have a label so that I can go pick up a good on that label and know what to do to better help him learn!!

I don't know if we will get the results today, but I sure hope so.

Star Wars Day

We celebrated Star Wars Day on May 4th (May the Fourth be with you). We started the day with tie-fighter toast, then we colored Star Wars pictures. We made light sabers out of pretzel rods and ate a delicious Star Wars cake.

Timothy loves our "parties" that we have and we love seeing him excited about them. In a few more years, he may not care anymore. He's really growing up!

Wordless Wednesday

Oh, Hannah

Hannah Ruth went for her well-visit yesterday. While we were there, the doctor did a finger prick to re-check her iron and it was STILL low.

Now, this makes no sense. I've been weaning the last 2 weeks and she's been getting more and more formula. Formula is full of iron. We also just recently, within the last month, started giving her baby cereal for the first time. Baby cereal is full of iron. In addition, she gets 200% DV of iron each day as a supplement. There is NO reason for her to be low in iron.

We had to go for more extensive bloodwork yesterday and are waiting to hear back about what it all means.

In the meantime, though, didn't the doctor realize that I was done worrying about Hannah Ruth and had moved on to another child? He can't be making me worry about that girl again!

Practicing Sight Words

Here's one way we've been reviewing this week's sight words from Ready2Read.

Story of the World

We decided to start doing a more intense history study. We bought Story of the World and have been so pleased!! We just finished Chapter 3 this afternoon and the boys enjoyed it tremendously.

There's a book that tells the story. The chapters are short and can easily be read in fifteen minutes. We purchased the audio and I enjoy the voice of the storyteller. There's also a corresponding activity guide and test booklet. We have the activity guide but we didn't buy the test booklet.

This is not history from a Biblical worldview. It started with ancient nomads, then it told how people started farming and settled at the fertile crescent. It was really interesting to learn about upper and lower Egypt and why the pharaoh wears both red and white in the hat (look it up! It's interesting!).

We typically play the audio CD and the boys are allowed to play quietly while they listen to it. They normally choose blocks. Then, there's usually a coloring page or an activity to go with it.

The first chapter was all about what history is and how historians are able to study the past. It talked about archaeologists and how they find artifacts and draw conclusions about the settlers who used them. One activity from the corresponding guidebook encouraged us to bury "artifacts" and let the boys search for them and draw conclusions about the people who lived there and what they ate. (We buried a fishing lure so the boys concluded their diet must have a lot of fish in it)

The second chapter was about nomads and how people used to forage for food. It encouraged us to go for a walk and see what we'd be able to forage in our natural habitat.

If you're looking for a comprehensive history program, I like this one. It's recommended by The Well-Trained Mind. I don't believe anyone should have to follow WTM exactly or worry about doing everything that's prescribed, but this resource is actually really good. Hands-on, interesting, and easy.