The Full Report

I just had to start with this picture because it is so danged cute! This is Baby having fun at our volunteer Respite Night at Friday's Kids here in our area. It is so amazing and my kids LOVE it just as much as we do. Volunteer here.

I am sure you are all looking forward to hearing how the start of school has been here in this household.

Me and school, we have had a love/hate relationship.

I LOVE that my kids are on routine again and have SO much help and activities.

I hate that I have to deal with the meltdowns they have after they get home from school because of the overstimulation and anxiety they have gone through throughout the day.

But, this year, so far, has been different.

With Brother starting Junior High and, frankly, a new life, he seems to be as happy as ever. He does still need his downtime of watching TV for a while afterward or time on his iPod in his room, but, hey, who doesn't? He even unloads the dishwasher everyday after his after-school-snack and TV time without any complaint. (smile) He loves his teacher Mrs. S and she has such a passion for her job, I love it!

It was so cute because Brother has been so excited about getting his own locker. Well, I guess, that since he is in Special Education he doesn't need a locker because they have their own backpack room in the class. He was very insistant that he get a locker so Mrs. S worked out accommodations with the staff to get him a locker and a combination and he is in heaven. He makes sure to pack his notebook, his folder and his FableHaven books 4 and 5 so that he can take them in and out of his locker whenever he has the chance. He is happy as a clam. I wish I could be a fly on the wall watching his eyes pop when he opens his locker everyday like it was the first time every time. Man, I love that kid!

Sister started off the first few days with so much excitement and anticipation I thought she was going to burst into confetti. That's the best way I can explain it, seriously. She was so excited, it was well, it was, just plain exciting!! But then she would get home happy and then immediately break down in my arms or would whine, cry and destroy anything in her path. I wrote in her notebook to put in some more sensory at the end of her day and since then she has been great. Woo hoo!

I was so nervous about Sister being placed in this Autism Unit, but she seems to be thriving so far. It really does seem to be an improvement to have her sensory needs implemented throughout the day without it being an interruption.

Baby even started her own little school-type thing. She has been going to Equine Therapy. It's pretty cool too because it just happens to be on the property right across from where my mom grew up. It is fun to be at a place that I watched so often from across the street at my grandparents. So when we went there today it brought back all those happy memories of my Grandpa Fred.

It is so weird to think that Baby is the only kid that won't have grown up with horses in the back yard. It feels so weird to have to go somewhere else to have her ride a horse. I am so happy with where we are, but I do miss having horses. We all do. So I am so happy that she has this opportunity through her early intervention program.

So to end my report I will say that all is well here... OK, most of it. Let's be realistic. There are videos strewn all around my floor in the basement, blankets cover the toys that are covering the floor next to the videos, crayons and paper look like a modern tablecloth on my kitchen table, sticky substance of different kinds are dotting my counters, Sister found out that flour and water make a great glue and made a large bowl full of it and put it in the sink, legos and books "neatly" line Sister's bedroom floor, 6 zucchini lay waiting on the counter to become part of some zucchini bread but I think they have given up the fight because they're starting to sag... This is real life, right? Or is it just Our Life?

So, let me rephrase the end of my report:
"All is well with the schooling situation so far."

Sounds positive, doesn't it?