Quarantine 2020 – Entry #4

Today, I did 2 loads of the kids laundry and hung them on the line outside.  I love #firethedryer when I hang clothes on the line.  Sure there’s still cat hair… or my hair on it, but it is better than the dryer most days.

Yesterday I took the Yogibos that the kids have from their rooms and put them in the playroom.  I had given the kids new stuffies (cheap Easter sale) M was sitting on the floor propped up by throw cushions.  They enjoyed sitting there but in the end, I had to remove them today as there was a lot of jumping on them.  Which I suppose is fine but I worry about the bags splitting open, or some kid getting hurt.

I went through my closet and hung up all my leggings, and then went through my drawers and folded everything.  The problem with being home is that you go “oh it’s sale time, I should buy stuff” but then you look and say “but I have so much, I don’t really need new stuff”.  I think it is the boredom talking.  “Retail therapy” can be a let down, especially online.  You order stuff, it comes, you go… “ooo… new stuff!” and then you look at it and go, “that’s it?”  with disappointment.  Last week, I ordered new clothes to replace some, and because some were SOOOO cheap, like 70% off.  A deal I couldn’t pass up.  This is the problem with shopping.  When you have money, things aren’t on sale, or you don’t need anything right now.  Then your kid has a growth spurt, or something breaks and well, you know the rest, not on sale, or you can’t find it ANYwhere.

Yesterday, I also went through my 2 deep freezers and made a list so that I knew what is in it, to plan meals, or buy more of what we don’t need.  I had to buy milk.  Went to Costco in the morning. Got to the parking lot.  Got out of my car.  turned around halfway as the snaked line was past snaked and down half the parking lot.  So I went to Save On and Shoppers (where I found the stuffies on sale).  Went to Costco in the evening as I needed to find summer PJs and school workbooks.  Found what I needed, expect of course the PJs.  Ugh.  I wonder if I can order them online.

To go in the store, I wonder if I, of all people, should wear a mask.  I wear gloves.  I had forgotten that I had them. I had bought a box, when we first got cats, for the purpose of cleaning the kitty litter bins, and never used them.  I also bring a wipe to clean off the cart.  I say, should I? as my twins are immunocompromised.

Today was the first day where there was an “issue” related to the social distancing problem.  L and her dad had been out front as she was on her scooter when a neighbor girl who looks to be about 6 came to play with our daughter.  I felt bad.  I want my daughter to make new friends, but this is not the time eh?  In the end, her mother came after 20 minutes. My husband had gone to the house but it was her grandmother, who spoke no english, looking after her.  Luckily, her brother knew where she was.  He rang the bell a few hours later looking for her again, which makes me wonder.  I said to hubby afterwords, I remember that when we were young that we would wander the neighborhood, but times are different. Shouldn’t someone be supervising her?

I wiped off anything that she might have touched which she was in our yard with bleach.  Of course, I took the opportunity to clean things nearby.  Ugh. So dirty!  I know that I have some spring cleaning projects but it seems like I have more to add to the list.

 

A cat is meowing at me, so I suppose I should see what he wants. (likely to go out AGAIN!)

 

 

 

Quarantine Diary Entry#3

So here we are still.. it’s been a month, I suppose.  Time blurs and it is hard to remember.

days of the week

Anyhow, this is Thursday. The “week” is mostly gone and NOW is when I decided to FINALLY look at the assignments that have been emailed/freshgraded to us.  I have had to print them and put them in separate folders for the twins as they have different teachers and thus, different apps per child for their assignments.

Of course, the day began with being woken from yet another dream that I was at my office (that I retired from 10 years ago!!) to the girl saying “when can I have my tablet?”  No “Good morning mommy!” No cuddling in the bed.  Nope.  “When can I have my iPad/tablet”?  is a refrain in this house, regardless of the child in front of me.

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daughter is currently flipping out because tablet/iPad time is over for the morning. screaming, kicking and yelling that she won’t calm til she gets it back.  *Sigh* She doesn’t tantrum often, but when she does, it surprises a lot of people (BI, consultant, teachers..)

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So I looked at the homework assignments. I know that we don’t have to do them all, or any really, but thought that we should try some.  So I went through the 3 weeks and highlights what should be uploaded to Freshgrade or what quizes needed to be done in readings so that I can keep it straight.  Then I FINALLY remembered to upload an assignment that the boy (M) had done for the 1st week, and then picked an easy math thing for him to do.  Then switched the kid and had L do her readings.   After they had their 15 minutes of work, I let them use the iPad longer.

Today I also tried something new.  I changed the tablet menu options so that only school work apps are available all day, and they have to ask for time to play games.  Currently, they both play minecraft and Battle Cats, but L discovered Tag with Ryan, and plays that from time to time.  This was what the “problem” was as it is new restriction and L, especially, did not care for it.

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It has taken me 6x to sit to write this as I have since made lunch, refereed a few squabbles, and sent hubby out for a walk.  M went in the back yard for all of 10 minutes before returning because “something was flying towards him fast”.  M has a fear of insects as he is worried that they will sting or bite him.  This is likely part of his OCD.

I have now told the twins that they have to wait for 30 minutes until tablet time.  What it will be I’m not sure (games only, or more school work). I’m tired already!  and I haven’t been wearing my phone to track my steps this morning, so now it will beep at me to “walk more”.  I wish I could go back to bed…

on the plus side, I have managed to read and finish 5 books since this quarantine started. Maybe I’ll go read another book instead of a nap 😉

2020 Quarantine – update

Just realized that it has been a month since my last post.  Not like I have been “busy” to write, as I’m on the computer everyday doing geneology stuff, etc, but it is hard to process this all.

So hubby is able to work from home as he is tech support.  I send him off to the local park for a short walk at lunch time so that he gets fresh air and that helps the cabin fever aspect.  I have only been to the store a handful of times for essentials like bread, milk, and fruit/veggies.  We are fortunate (?) to have 2 large freezers that are stocked/overstocked.  I have had to get creative with what foods we eat/put together as a meal.  But yes, this is how I feel since we have been home ALL the time.  I notice that the dishwasher runs more often, I’m forever cleaning the kitchen (but then I didn’t do it all yesterday, so I have more to do today, mostly because I didn’t want to unload the dishwasher.)92399036_3576309325718196_1575336906877566976_o

Last week, I finally got a handle (really?) on the school work thing for my kids.  I have adopted a “whatever they get done is fine” attitude, as I know that this school year is a wash.  Trying to get my kids to do school work is hard at the best of times, but this online/quarantine thing is worse.  Don’t get me wrong, they LOVE their tablets/iPads. They always have, but these school assignments are not their cup of tea.  My son loves the “idea” of Prodigy but they are too hard for him to do at times, and then he freaks out and I have to calm him down. (while I’m trying to do my own stuff, and his sister is complaining about her work.)  Even though they are twins, I did not put them in the same class as I find they distract each other, so their work assignments are different.

I had to wade through all the emails and freshgrade to figure out what I supposed to get my kids to do.  What to download for which kid.  In the end, I had to print stuff out and put them in separate folders labelled for each kid.

If you have read this blog and the background before, you know that my twins have ASD, so they both have a home team and a school team.  I should email the school about the EAs and ask about that.  How, if , whatever….

So it is now 9:30.  On Easter Monday.  This is not a stat day for hubby so he is in his office working.  Kids have decided to assemble the second lego chicken that the Easter Bunny brought yesterday but will soon resume whining for their tablets.  I was woken up at 7 by the boy.  I have since fed cats, let them outside, fed children, refereed at least once, folded and put away laundry in one kid’s room that sat there since last week, stripped all 3 beds and put on fresh sheets, managed to have my rare shower and got dressed.  Laundry is now full of sheets.  Next I have to tackle my kitchen.  I don’t wanna but will need to before lunch as I can’t work like that.  Plus there are probably few clean dishes in the cupboard.  20200413_093714

Daughter has resuming tablet/iPad requests.  Guess I gotta go.  More musings later.

Self-Quarantine – Frustration building

I have not left my house for a week.  Aside from going in the car 2 days ago, putting a cheque in the bank, and going to DQ for ice cream (because I had a SERIOUS case of cabin fever), I have not left the house for days!

My children have gone to their grandparents’ place for the week, as per arranged months ago, due to Spring Break.  So hubby and I have a week to clean, do projects that we haven’t gotten around to, binge TV, and relax.  Hubby has been working from home for the past week.  This is not uncommon for him to work from home.  He is in the tech industry so it works.  There have been days in the past when I need him to pick up a kid while I took the other twin to an appointment. It is just different these days because I don’t say “oh, I’ll just go out to the store for something to do.”

I spend my days cleaning my kitchen, avoiding the messy playroom that I need to deep clean, not going outside (although I have a large backyard that needs some serious attention, especially my gardens), watching TV while I use the treadmill (let’s see if the treadmill thing lasts past this quarantine), but mostly I sit at this computer and do genealogy.

When I was pregnant, I was too tired to move.  It was July, hot and humid, and I was huge! I wasn’t working as I had “retired” from my profession the year before and dropped out of my night classes because I was too tired to do my homework, but I still wanted to do something that was productive.  So I decided to revisit my family tree.  (My paternal grandmother and my mother in law share the same maiden name, so I thought to see if there was a connection.  There isn’t but I learned a lot about the family that I married into, and a lot about genealogy research in general.)

My “hobby” is going to cemeteries (wherever I go, even vacations!) and photographing the stones to post on the internet.  So this is what I have been doing.  I have a large collection and I am only working on February 2019 at the moment.  It takes a while because even though I have posted the photos, I like to do the research about the person and find all their family.  I have been using Findagrave, but have recently returned to WikiTree and post my photos on this site as well.  My research “takes me all over the world”, mostly North America, England, Prussia and at times, South Africa or Australia.

But I digress.  In this house, we don’t have cable TV.  We stream or download all content.  This includes news, any television shows, you name it.  I have discovered shows that I would normally never watch (Graham Norton Show), and limit what my kids have access to online.  This can be both a blessing and a source of anguish.  The fact that we are a “social media” family.  This pandemic has been hard.  Yes, hard on everyone globally, I know.  But for me, it is hard because I am sick of the memes, sick of hubby telling me the latest that he has heard from Daily Show, or Seth Meyers about Trump, or mostly US related things.

Today, I realized that what I hate most is the uncertainty of it all.  I have been in my house, self quarantining as directed.  I have immunocompromised twins, who also have autism.  The anxiety of what my children hear, plus my increasing anxiety and cabin fever, is hard to deal with.  I am doing what the government has advised; stay home, clean diligently should you go out, social distancing — and yet I read on local media, that there are still groups of people out there who are not doing their part; crowded beaches, basketball in the park, and this weird Smurf thing.

I have been further stressed by reading about home schooling memes.  Parents saying that they have tried home schooling for an hour, a day, and now have more respect for teachers. Now that schools are shut down indefinitely, there are fears about home schooling, finding resources to keep teaching kids the curriculum, will we loose the year? what about grade 12s who were slated to graduate? How does all of this work? My mother in law suggested that I call the kids’ school today and ask if they have homework.  I told her that no one would be there today.  “Well admin staff will be there.” was her reply.  “No, this is Spring Break.”

I get that other schools are on different schedules but I’m not starting a venture to homeschool when it is supposed to be their break.  My kid balked at writing 2!! sentences in his journal.  (I sigh and roll my eyes at this.) If I can’t even get him to do that, there is NO way I’m going to do a “curriculum”.  (I also know me, and my kids. I considered home schooling for this year when I was unhappy with the school district last year but know that I would have to hire someone else to do it.  I may have post grad education but I am NOT cut out to teach my kids school stuff every day.)

So you, who are reading this (if you are), are probably thinking that these fears are nothing new.  This is all over the news, social media etc.  Probably think this woman is a worry wart.  Usually I am. But I know that while this is a situation that is impossibly huge, that there is only so much I can do.  Yes, it is frustrating when others do not do their part by taking this seriously.  So I have to remind myself of the serenity prayer and trust that things will work out well in the end.

prayer

 

 

Finding balance and cuddles

There is nothing like the cuddle of a cat.  They climb into your lap, demand that you pet them, hold them, and when you do, they close their eyes and purr loudly.

We have 2 cats.  I looked for 6 months after my son requested a cat.  I had lived with cats and dogs, but never owned one before.  I figured since we had twins, let’s get not 1, but 2 cats.  So we got brothers, when they were 6 months old.  They had been taken to the shelter after the previous owner was told either the cat goes, or she would be evicted. So she gave up her cats, much to the anguish of her young children.

I hunted for a long time because I needed to make sure that whatever cat we got would be a good fit for our ASD twins.  My BI is even surprised at how tolerant my cats are.  My kids grab them, squeeze them, hug them and it is only 4 times that I know of that one of the cats has scratched or bitten.  (usually the other cat, not the one in the photo).

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So while I was holding this cat, I thought, how is it? that these cats are like babies/children (as they will be 2 in November) and yet I treat them differently than the children that I gave birth to.  Let me explain.  When the cat wants a cuddle, it is a wonderful break.  But I suppose the difference is that when I’m done, or he is done, I am rarely left wishing that it was longer.  When my kid (one of them is clingier than the other) wants a hug, it is usually “not a good time”; I’m at my computer “working”, or they are supposed to be in bed (or doing something that I asked them to and this is a stall tactic).

Why are there days when it seems easier to love the cat than it is to love my ASD children?  I suppose it is because while we know that for both the kid and the cat that we will tell them what to do and they will ignore you, we expect it from the cat and allow it, but not for the child.  My hubby has often said (when we were first dating/married, and may deny saying it) that he prefers computers to people, because you tell it what to do (code) and it is supposed to do it.  When it doesn’t, you fix the code.  People are unpredictable.  So he will get more easily annoyed (and loud) when my kids do not comply with what we have asked of them.  I have had to remember, for myself, a) what was I like at this age b) ASD kids don’t process things the way that NT kids do c) the twins are separate people who don’t process things the same way the other does.  So perhaps I am more gentle with my kids at times than I should be, and harder with them at other times.  Oh, it’s a hard balance but I’m working on it.

 

Life with COVID-19 and ASD

So the self-quarantine and emergency measures have continued.  I think that the adults are more stressed than the children of the house.  This is not to say that the twins haven’t been worried about the CoronaVirus.  Both have asked questions like “when is this virus thing over?” and similar questions.  But for the most part, this is a normal spring break.  We were not planning to send my children to ABA Spring Break camp.  My BI runs social groups in small numbers and takes them to various locations where she can control the interactions etc.  But some other parents have panicked and so session was cancelled yesterday. I don’t think that there will be any outings (to parks or BI’s house) even though respite services are considered essential.

I just got back from my first outing since Saturday.  I didn’t even try to go to Superstore.  They never have milk when I go, or it is expired in the case.  I went to Costco again.  This time, there is a line outside (again) but this time I was not at the BACK of the store like Saturday, instead, I was on the side of the store.  They let you in as groups. I assume they are maintaining a maximum number of people in the store.  It was nice to shop with less people.  BUT people are still thoughtless.  Stopping in the middle of the aisle or blocking with their carts.

I was one of the rare shoppers who did not have a paper product in their cart.  The toilet paper and paper towel was lining the main aisles and other areas, with a limit of 1 of each sanitizing items – towel, paper, lysol, sanitizer, etc – per person.  I just wanted milk and produce.  Produce still didn’t look the best.  But I think that this has made me a more conscious shopper.  I did buy some things that I never buy (like deli meat and flour) but I was thinking ahead to meal planning.

Anna, the cashier, explained some of the measures that they have been doing.  Every day, the cashiers alternate lanes.  Today they are at the even numbers, yesterday it was odd.  And I assume major sanitizing that evening.  She said that it is nice because the cashier doesn’t have to worry about too many people behind her.  Also she mentioned that often people try to cut in with their carts and it is a hazard (the carts bang into the cashier as they try to squeeze past).  Anna and I also remarked on how it is calmer to shop there with less people in the store.  I almost wish it could be like that all the time!

Luckily, my children are still going to grandparents for a week, so this reduces the stress of meal planning with my picky texturally sensitive eaters.

Now if I can just stay away from all the craze on social media to not fuel my anxiety…

Life with Autism

Ever have those days when you think you are finally turning the corner?  Finally getting the hang of things?  Life has calmed for a bit and then, autism rears its ugly head.  Or maybe it is just parenthood, I don’t know, these are my first and only children.

Lately, our son has had issues at night.  Specifically, bedtime. Yes, I know that every child tries to delay the inevitable, going to sleep; heck, I’m sure I had a few antics up my sleeve at that age.  There are times when I can’t tell is autism and what is normal childhood issues.  My son has OCD as well as autism. This manifests itself in a rigid resistance to change.  (I suggested that we go on a fun trip, maybe to Disneyland.  He replied no, because 1. he has to get in an airplane, 2. it would take so long to get there 3. “I don’t like costumes and I would hide behind my mom.” [This last one is a funny statement, because he was speaking to me…. about hiding behind me.] So even though his twin sister would love the experience, and try to squish the life out of all the characters, this is a trip for the wishlist.)

Often after he has been put in bed, we will hear from the top of the stairs, one of the following; “I’m scared”, “I was thinking of places that I love that we don’t go to anymore” (with tears), “I thought of something creepy”, “I thought of something scary”.  His father gets more aggravated by this than I do.  Our response is “what would you like us to do? it’s your brain.”  He usually just wants a hug, which is fine.  But then he starts to talk, and then it is 10 or 15 minutes later.  Or he wants someone to come with him and rub his back.  This is hard for me because of a number of things;  He is my little boy (yes he is 8, but he won’t be soon.) and he will only be little once.  I recall the memes about “cherishing the moments”  because they will soon be gone, or is it you want them to remember you and their childhood well, and then I feel conflicted.  Do I “coddle” him in this or do I draw the hard line and send him off?  He has to learn to deal with this himself as I will not be around forever.

So my ABA home team says to ignore and send to bed, but the mother in me says to be gentle with him.  Don’t want to scar him for life, especially given his anxieties. *sigh

These “I’m scared” or “I’m thinking of..” moments have been happening more regularly these past weeks.  Is it just because, as the school principal mentioned in a meeting yesterday, that this is the time when a lot of kids unravel, or is there some other stressor that I need to look for?  The fact that he has anxieties (associated with the OCD) doesn’t help.  I have read in a lot of my facebook groups about some ASD children needing medications for their anxieties, to help them process, or sleep.  I hope it doesn’t come to that because neither of them will barely take something for a cough, let alone a daily dose of anything.

Last week, my child was sobbing in my arms because he was afraid of becoming an adult because he didn’t want to leave our home.  In fact, my birthday card from him said just that. And ONLY that.  “I love you and I never want to leave our home.” I had to console him and tell him that we aren’t planning on making him leave.  Some people want to leave and do so at age 18, which for him is another 10 years.  I didn’t leave my parents house (FINALLY! as my father would put it, after my coming and going from schools) until I was 28 and moved here to BC where I have been ever since.  So that is another 20 years.  You might feel differently in 10 or 20 years, but you are welcome to stay here as long as you need.

Such big thoughts from a little man.

 

 

I measure every Grief I meet ..

I have been reading a bit since the start of the year and have finished book #3 of 4 that I picked up from the bookstore.  The last book was called “The Two-Family House”, a debut novel by Lynda Cohen Loigman.  I won’t do a review here but wanted to talk about a passage that I found in the book on page 183.  In this scene, an older aunt is talking to a eight year old girl. (from a poem by Emily Dickinson)page61-1024px-Emily_Dickinson_Poems_-_third_series_(1896).djvu

“… I found a special poem that helped me feel better. … I don’t remember all of it, but the first part goes like this.”  Aunt Faye cleared her throat and closed her eyes.  “I measure every Grief I meet, with analytic eyes — I wonder if it weighs like Mine — or has an easier size.” 

“I don’t understand.” (eight year old)

“It is difficult to understand, isn’t it? Of course everyone has their own ideas, but I think it means that everyone has some sadness in life. Maybe someone they love is sick or died, or maybe someone they love did not love them back.  Maybe they don’t have enough money for something they really need. For me it was that I couldn’t have a baby. But for another person the grief could be something different. Something they wish they did or something they wish they didn’t do.

We always think our own grief is the worst — worse than everybody else’s.  But the truth is, we never know for sure what the people around us are feeling.  I have had some bad things happen, but then a lot of wonderful things happened to me too.  An awful thing happened to you yesterday. But you mustn’t let it ruin the happiness that lies ahead for you, dear.” 

This passage stuck with me as a reminder that as individuals, it can be hard to share what is in our head/heart.  Grief is not just related to death, but also to loss.  Death is hard for a lot of people to focus on because it is the final loss. Once someone is dead, there is no coming back, no replay, no next time.  What we have done or said is how it is and we can’t change our relationship with that person.  The impact that they made in our life is still there, but it is missing from our world now and we can’t get it back. 

Grief also comes from considering the losses of life; the loss of hope, a dream, a change of plan.  When one is ill, we consider all the things that we cannot do or how life has changed “from before”. Physically we are not able to do things, must change our eating habits (diabetes, heart conditions, etc), and our lifestyle must change.  The same can be said of parenting.  When my babies were born, it was the greatest joy.  When I was told that my newborn daughter had a lifethreatening heart condition and she needed risky surgery, I was terrified.  When they told me that not one, but BOTH of my twins had autism, I mourned.  My grief focused on the loss of a dream.  Now some parts of the parenting dream had to change. The stigma of them being “different” meant that there were/are likely some things that they will not achieve.  Can they join a team and play sports?  Can they become a star athlete? a president?  a successful worker?  I had to let some dreams die.  I had to let the dream that I could go to parent groups and relax, and be an average soccer mom.  

The main point of this passage was We always think our own grief is the worst — worse than everybody else’s.  But the truth is, we never know for sure what the people around us are feeling. As a person, we can be self-focused, or inner focused and lose perspective.  The fact that something happened a certain way has affected me this way, or the fact that something didn’t happen can affect me a different way.  

When death occurs, people often don’t know what to say. When I was working in healthcare, my speciality was grief related to chronic loss. (Geriatrics, dementia, and renal diseases)  I was often asked to give talks about grief.  I remember being asked about what to say or do.  I responded with “I’ll tell you what not to say, don’t say (platitudes. I hate the platitudes) “it was his/her time”, “they are better off now”, “they are at peace, no longer suffering from their illness”…. and especially, don’t say “I know how you feel.”  Yes, your dad died and my dad died, so I know what it is like to lose a father,  or yes, our children both have a heart condition, or both have autism, so we can share our experience, but I will NEVER know what is like for you, and you will never know what is it like for me.  The relationship that I had with my father is likely quite different than the one that you had with yours.  The impact of their life and now death will be felt differently.  

The fact that we may share the experience of raising special needs children means that we understand some things that others do not, but I can still never know what it is like to be you, raising that child, and vice versa.  I think that as long as we are open to sharing and hearing what the other person is telling us about their experience, that is where we can be together in the experience.  That is how we support and tend to each other.  When we become so wrapped up in our experience that we let it dictate our view; narrow our focus and thus shut people out, that can be a problem.  The support that we reached out for will not necessarily be there because we are not able to hear the other people, to accept what they have to offer.  Granted, there are times when we will not be able to “hear” what someone else has to offer, (like when the crisis first hits) but over time, this is something that we should strive for.  Supprting each other in our lives but never assuming that we fully understand what it is really like for that person.

Okay.  Enough preaching.  I’m off to go do parenting.

New Year!

New Year! New possibilities!  New resolve!  Let’s see how things go.

I haven’t posted in a while as I have been busy being mom, doing geneology and access to this is on the “other” computer.

So the twins have been in grade three and seem to be doing well, for the most part.  I have joined the PAC (something I said I would never do because I don’t. have. time!) and it has helped me to get to know more about the school, politics and meet other moms.  All of which are good.

My son has a pending bronchoscopy as he seems to get croup whenever he gets a cold, and my daughter will have a heart cath to stretch her stent so that we can get her to grow a bit more before we put in a larger valve replacement.  They just got back from a week with the grandparents and I used that time to rest, and clean out parts of the house that we normally don’t look at.  Convenient or coincidentally where we store a lot of holiday decor.  Made hubby clean out and sort a lot of electronic related things and we gave about 5 bags worth to the recyling centre, as well as bedding, etc.

Daughter still has food issues and was even off of her favorite; apple sauce.  Why? Because she had found a piece of apple peel in a fruit cup and swore off the lot.  It took a while to coax her around to eating them again.  We still have meltowns about Kraft Dinner and she is a declared vegetarian (who won’t eat much fruit and no veggies).  *sigh

We went to some holiday outings; saw lights, saw Santa, had photos etc.

There have been a few bumps in the road here and there but overall, smooth sailing.

We shall see what 2020 brings.  Federal autism issues, provincial funding model changes, possible World War 3 (Trump), and continued battle of the bulge.

Connecting the pieces … still a work in progress

Last week was parent/teacher interviews.  School has only been in session for 4 weeks with the children being in their assigned classes for 3 of those. So it is a bit early for a “this is how your child is doing, let’s fix this” and more of a “let me tell you what you need to know about my child to help them succeed” chat.

One thing that the teacher told us is that “we (the teacher and EA) are starting to figure her out”.  The example that she gave was about my daughter’s creativity.  L loves art.  I mean LOOVVEES art.  The teacher told us that L made a ghost and the other kids in the class were impressed and started to copy her.  When it was pointed out to L, she didn’t connect.  They told her “Look!  Look what you started! They all made what you made.”

It wasn’t until they took one student to her with their ghost and said “I liked what you made and I made one too.  How did I do?”  that L started to get it.  But she is still working on connecting the pieces and connecting to the other children.  It is interesting to see this piece and to have words to explain what her father and I knew about her.

(She used the empty apple sauce container from her lunch as the “form” for her ghost.)

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