it's FALL!!!

So Since moving to New England I have discovered the JOYS of FALL!!! I love love love the colors, I've decided i'm doing my kitchen in "fall" colors.. well the last few years we have had a LATE fall which only means the colors come but they come in late october and only stay a few days then everything falls to the ground and looks DEAD!!! I am happy to report that FALL HAS STARTED EARLY!!! YIPPEE>.. now not everything is yellow and red yet it's pretty much 50/50 right now but it's taking it's sweet time (and by that I mean every few days another tree has turned).. and I'm glad for the slowness.. I can relish in it for as long as it takes for everything to turn before it all FALLS and looks DEAD!!!
so there's my rant on fall..
the fam is doing well, we ALL are battling a cold mixed with allergies (the not so great part of fall, who knew things get irritated when they are dying) and so we ALL are a bit grumpy and tired BUT it's fall and that's something to be happy about..
I did take some pictures but nothing is post worthy YET, but I've got my camera trigger finger ready so stay tuned..
ta ta

Potential

So Yesterday was a DOOSEY of a day... My Student has a stomach bug which we didn't discover until just after lunch.. I had to change him more than once BUT it did at least explain his odd behavior for most of the day. I'm TOTALLY willing to admit I'm hoping to NOT find him on the bus this morning as all the staff including me feel he needs to be free from exploding BM's for 24 hours before returning, BUT most feel he probably WILL be here as planned as the parents don't really have any back plans for his care other than school and his babysitter after school.

I'm trying VERY hard to NOT be judgemental of his parents. It must be (scratch that it IS A) daunting task to take care of this child along with his Kindergarten aged brother with the SAME disorder. let alone figure out how to care for their every need medically or otherwise!

I have been pondering quite a bit about Potential... all the specialist's at school are very guarded when speaking of my student's "Long Term Potential"... no one really wants to be too optimistic for fear of not meeting goals and on the other hand NO ONE will say the opposite either, that where he is now is probably where he will be forever with only the VERY slight increase in abilities.

"they" meaning the people who should know what they are talking about, don't think he'll ever be able to read other than recognizing street signs (stop, go etc) or simple letter recognition, he's not likely to gain much speech, its doubtful he will be able to be fully potty trained; YET I have seen this kid make simple to complex observations, He knows whats going on around him, he DEFINITELY knows when he's being talked about (good OR bad), which makes me wonder if he's truly happy being stuck inside a body that can not sustain or support his mind. don't get me wrong I'm not saying he is Einstein or anything BUT I see a glimmer that if his body could sustain it, the difference could be ASTOUNDING!!! but it seems pointless to wonder because this is the situation he's in NOW... and we can't change it.. He is a happy boy who LOVES trains and balls and running (on his own terms) and he doesn't know any different so I suppose he IS genuinely happy when he's happy and not when he's not... (doesn't sound to different from me actually)

I made a connection this week, My student is in the same grade Lane would have been in... (my student is actually a year older than the other 4th graders so it does help that he's not EXACTLY the same age etc) Now I'm not saying Lane would have been this "hard", at least not in the same ways my student is... Mentally Lane seemed to be fine (all the neurological exams seemed to indicate he had no brain damage etc. etc.), and I'm in NO WAY saying I'm glad he is gone or boy aren't i lucky.. I'm just saying I made a connection... in some ways it's made it easier in some ways not so much... But it has made me realise I'm doing this for a reason.. I NEED to learn something here.. and it's more than how to mop up, cart around, pick up and deal with a difficult beautiful child.. hopefully I'll be able to recognize the lesson as I'm doing all those other things.. I'm pretty optimistic, and if I keep in mind I'm "suppose" to be doing this maybe it will make the hard days more bearable...
I'll keep ya posted
ta ta

thank heavens for 4 day weekends!!

We have had a GREAT 4 day weekend, although technically tomorrow will be the 4th day so I guess maybe it's too soon to sprout such accolades..

We went to the Hopkington State Fair yesterday, it was SOOO fun, the rides were NOTHING like the LA fair so the kids were satisfied with just riding a few, we did the petting zoo, saw all the live stalk and the high light of the day is we ate FRIED TWINKIES and a FRIED SNICKERS BAR... they were actually pretty good.. My fave was the Twinkies and we probably wouldn't have even tried the stickers but Hunter can't have Twinkies due to his wacko allergy to artificial whipped topping.. but it was a GREAT day and I'm so glad we did it!

on another high note BRAD MADE THE A TEAM... no he's not going to jump into a Black van with Mr. T and the rest of "that A Team" he made the Varsity squad of Soccer.. he was pretty convinced he would be on the B team when the coach was calling off the roster because he thought he was reading guys off in alphabetical order.. he was wrong.. he was last on the roster.. Brad ALSO knows he'll need to work VERY hard to keep his spot (the boys were also told they could be "traded" at anytime for a B team player)... He is on cloud nine and even texted ME to tell me before he got home from practice (a sign he was VERY excited for sure.. texting your mom is so not cool!)

So that's whats going on here..

ta ta

first week almost DONE!

So as first weeks go mine was OK.. I have found MANY great qualities in the young boy I am assisting, He is adorable, very happy and VERY stubborn but frankly I think I might get a little stubborn or upset if no one was understanding what I had to say or what I wanted to do.. we are developing our relationship and I think all will be well.. this is definitely ALLOT of work!!!

Today is the last day of the week for me and the kids before our 4 day weekend YEEPIE!!! I have to say before this year I would scoff and wonder why the heck the district would choose to have a 4 day weekend after only being in school for 4 days??? I'm telling you it's for the STAFF!!!!! I can not tell you how HAPPY I am to have a 4 day weekend.. I'm EXHAUSTED!!!!! and I think the kids are too... it will be nice to be able to sleep in and just do a whole lot of NOTHING!!!

So far the dinner's on the calendar was a BUST!!! I don't know why but I think now I'm just going to have a list of dinners that I know we have stuff for and go from there.. BUT the one great thing going for me this first work week was BEN he gets home a few minutes before I do and every day this week I have come home to him CLEANING something.. everyday but yesterday was the KITCHEN!!! (yesterday he was cleaning the DEN) he is TRYING very hard to instill in us ALL that if we clean a little each night, with no one home all day we'll come home to a clean house.. it's a little like beating a dead horse BUT today (the last day of the week mind you!) I have a pretty clean house!!! not perfect but frankly I NEVER have a perfect house so I'm OK with this!!!

so first week down only 40 more to go (I think, didn't do the math on that one!)

Bradley finds out today which team he made, day before yesterday they separated all the boys into 2 groups and then called about 15 boys out, they then told them "here's a team, here's B Team, here are the one's we aren't sure yet" Brad was one of the boys they "weren't sure" they got a grueling practice to "test" them... Brad felt he did pretty good BUT he forgot his water that day and didn't want to tell the coach, he did get some from some friends but felt he would have done so much better if he had water.. it wasn't a REALLY hot day (it was actually pretty cool) so he was never in any danger of heat stroke or anything but I just thought it was funny he's already "cowboy-ing up"...

So we'll let y'all know what happens..
ta ta