I Need a Secretary

Apparently one person can't do it all. And it's not because I'm not trying. I got a call from Holland's charter school saying we never signed up for the statewide Writing assessment. It is Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Luckily Holland's speech session got canceled. We drove over to the school and he had about a 30 minute session. I just felt horrible. He is so not prepared to do the kind of writing they are expecting. I tried to prep him right before we left and he just ended up throwing his pencil and ran off crying. We were very blessed to have a proctor who was very understanding. He has accomodations written into his IEP, so we are spreading out the testing over several days and he is one-on-one with the proctor.

And let's complicate things even more. I drove Romania to school this morning. I wanted to hand-deliver his immunization records. As soon as I walked into the building, the Principal said, "oh, people have been talking about you. They heard you know sign and want you to teach a class." If this doesn't give me a mental breakdown, I don't know what will. How do I answer that? "I'm sorry. I have no time to help you out. I'm busy schooling Holland, driving to doctor appointments, going to swim lessons, meeting for speech, attending a ceramics class. Somewhere in there I manage to feed everyone and wash clothes every now and then." How do I explain to people that I'm overwhelmed and cannot add one more thing without sounding like I'm making excuses? Let me know if you've figured that one out.

It's Elementary My Dear Watson!

Super Hero dad took the boys to a water park this afternoon. We had free passes from our library's summer reading program. I didn't want to take Egypt - it meant me in the water. So I called up my sister and asked if we could come over for a quick swim (her boys and DH were at a father/son camp for three days). Egypt wanted to know who was going to be at her aunt's house. I said that her uncle and the two boys weren't there. She just repeated this and said "oh." Then we pulled up to their house and she saw two cars and said "who drove him?" How in the world did she make that connection? It didn't make sense that his car was in the driveway, but he wasn't. Amazing mind of a 3 1/2 year old!

The Fruits of the Spirit

One of the things I love seeing in my kids is a recognition for what is right, pure and honest. The past few days I've been hearing Egypt say the sweetest things that shows me she is listening. She's often told me that she is obeying when I ask her to do something and a few days ago pointed out that "Jesus wants us to obey." And tonight at dinner she was looking at the kid's menu at the restaurant we were at. She noticed a treasure chest filled with gold coins and exclaimed, "Money for Jesus!" Even little things like this are baby steps in the right direction!

Hip-hip-hooray for Gameboy!

I just may have figured out how to get Holland to cooperate. I've found his "love language". A Nintento Gameboy. We went to an auction at our church a few nights ago and he bid on and won a used Gameboy and two games. He lost the use of it the second day he had it because he snuck it to school. He lost the use of it for one week. He kept asking for grace. I told him I give him grace everyday! I finally decided if he could have outstanding behavior over two days on the weekend, he could earn back the right to play with it. We went out to dinner tonight with a birthday coupon to Red Robin for Holland. He did very well, not getting upset at the littlest thing. And when we got home, he transitioned through 4 different activities flawlessly. I was stunned. Then I asked him to sit for 5 minutes on the toilet (usually if he is going to be sent over the edge, this will do it). He sat down without incident!! I almost fell over. I told him because he did such a good job transitioning and overall for two days, I would let him have the Gameboy back on Sunday. He asked if he could prove he could give it back if I gave it to him while he sat on the toilet. (Hey, guys usually read there anyway, right?) I asked what he would lose if he didn't succeed at that. He thought and then came up with "friends" (playing with them on Sunday). I told him that wasn't big enough. I said he would lose the Gameboy for another day if he didn't give it back without incident. He agreed. And did it! Woo-hoo!!

The mommy monitor

I think I've finally figured out a way to "watch" Holland without him knowing and without him escaping from his room. Let's see. So far I've: put a hook lock on his door. He ripped that off. Tried a sensor door alarm. The door jam isn't flat, so the beam doesn't connect. Changed doorknobs to a push knob lock on the outside. It took him a couple months, but he finally figured out how to pick the lock. The first few months, he would get out of bed and knock on the door if he had to use the bathroom. Seemed very polite and orderly. He went from polite and orderly to sneaky and methodical. He used a pencil to poke in the hole and unlock it. I've even had him sleep next to me on the floor. I never hear him get up - it's like he's some sneaky snake (Tom T. Hall)

So I went out and bought a baby monitor. Yup. Paid 60 bucks for a digital monitor (this way the neighbors can't hear all the great stuff I have to say in the middle of the night!) The tricky part was finding a place that wouldn't be discovered. If he realizes that I'm listening to him at night he'd probably take apart the baby monitor or hide his unit. I stashed it underneath a bookshelf right next to his bed. Now I just have to keep the parent unit camouflaged so he doesn't try to plug it into anything. Maybe a bell to hang above his door so I can hear that, too.

I'm thinking about shopping for a publisher. I'm sure someone out there could use a few pointers on how to keep tabs on an impulsive bipolar kid.

Jingle Bell

To keep track of Holland, we've had to install a lock on his door. Oh, I know, I know. Not safe. But what's worse? Having him leave the house in the middle of the night? (not kidding - he went over to my neighbor's house at 3 in the morning. They kept bringing him back, but he kept returning. X-box, you know. They finally kept him the last time and then called me at 6.30). So, I think a little lock is a good trade off for knowing where he's at. Well, the little smart-aleck figured out how to pick the lock. He found some small screwdriver and jiggled the knob from inside and has been able to open it. So, last night I was trying to figure out how to be able to hear him when he jiggled the knob. I found a Christmas jingle bell and hooked it between his door and his brother's. At 5.30 this morning "jingle jingle". I went down the hall. His light was on and he was trying to maneuver that knob. I told him through the door to get back to bed. He wasn't happy and after another go at it, he finally did go back to bed. He's very persistent and can have a one-track mind sometimes. It's like he develops tunnel vision for whatever he's working on and even if you tell him it won't work, he still has to try it out for himself. He's working on a tunnel in the backyard....

More downloads

Holland owes me $6. When I was checking my calendar on my Sidekick, I saw an icon for Sonic the Hedgehog. Apparently that night he stashed my pager, he downloaded a game. Dumb thing cost me $6. I was able to delete it, but still have to pay for it. So far he's managed to download 2 ringtones and a game. Don't you ever wonder how your kids find time to do the things they do? Where am I when these things happen? It's not like I'm visiting a neighbor when this happens. I'M HERE.

The Science Museum Experience

Today I took my two youngest to a science museum in our area. I had planned to meet a friend from a homeschooling co-op, but she had an ear infection and her daughter had "junk" coming out of her nose. We're rescheduling.
But I had already told mine we were going, so on we trooped. For anyone with more than one kid, you know how taxing it can be to watch two kids who want to go in different directions. One wants to play in the ball area and the other wants to play in the sand. Unfortunately, these two activities aren't even on the same floor. When we got to the second activity, my son was already getting bored. But he roamed around the younger kid area and found something to crawl in and some fake acorns. Actually, he found "someone else's" acorns. He walked up to a little boy (probably around 2) who had a bunch of these rubber acorns stashed in this fake tree stump. Now you have to understand, these kinds of places are like open territory for any object, inanimate or otherwise. Just because you're playing with it, doesn't mean that someone else won't come along and claim it. Which is no big deal to me. I've seen enough interaction among my own three to know that nothing is sacred and everything must be shared. So, when my son took several of them, the little boy's father said (mostly for my benefit, I'm sure), "I agree, he should have asked you to use your acorns". I had to just laugh in my head. Obviously this guy was only parenting ONE kid. Otherwise he would have realized the insanity of his comment. Since when does anything belong to one kid. Even if you gave it to one child, you can bet that all the others (and even some neighbor friends, if you're lucky) will lay claim to it at least once.

I kind of felt sorry for the guy. Even after his kid socked my daughter in the arm for doing the same thing my kid did to his. I didn't even say anything. Just directed her to something else. But how sad that his son may never know the joy of sharing with a sibling. It's not easy raising kids. But I would hope that we're all sane enough to know that kids are a work in progress. That's why they're the kids and we're the parents. (I am reminded of this when my oldest yells at me and calls me 'bossy'. "Hey, just doin' my job").

All in all, it was successful. No one came home bleeding and we didn't leave with anyone screaming. Score one for mom!