Halloween Town Boston

We took the kids to Halloween Town Boston yesterday. It was fun, even if it was a little overwhelming for Julia. She had fun, but in her own way, which was, you know different from how the other kids enjoyed it. The kids got all kinds of goodies, candy included. Anyway, I took pictures!

She wanted something scary. This worked. I left the red eye in for effect, which also worked.

Emily wanted candy corn eyes.

That's Dan Zanes of Playhouse Disney fame. Katherine and Julia particularly enjoyed listening to him sing and dance.

As you can tell, Julia was totally thrilled with the whole event. As for Ryun, this picture was the result of my calling his name and just snapping the picture.

The kids got to draw on a zip car. Very cool! Here is Emily's art work.

Julia wanted nothing to do with face painting when the girls got theirs done earlier in the day, free. In typical Julia style she decided as we were getting ready to leave that she did want her face painted after all. The original place was all the way at the other end of the building, and the last time we had been by, the line was miles long. So, I gave in and paid $10 which seemed like a bit much. Honestly though, at that point I may have given them my life savings for her to Julia to get her face painted. When she wants to participate in something, you just can't let the opportunity pass her by. She sat perfectly still the whole time and as you can see, the tiger face she picked out came out great! Turns out the face painter was from Art on The Spot, a local art studio here in Middleboro, just down the street a ways from us.

We took the kids to diner at Friendly's on the way home, which, as is usually the case at Friendly's, was a huge hit.

Cranberry Walnut Muffins

I made those last night with all three kids helping. Julia told Ryun her official job was the "dumper." That was the easiest part for her...letting her "dump" the pre-poured ingredients in to the bowl for mixing. Emily and Katherine helped with that too, and helped with the getting everything set up to bake (measuring cups, ingredients mixer, bowls etc). All three girls lined the cupcake pans with baking cups. Emily and I enjoyed them for breakfast this morning. They were delicious. Katherine doesn't like walnuts so she opted out, and Julia tried a bite and said, "Mom, I can't eat this because it has thingies in it." I assume the thingies were the walnuts, which she liked when I gave her a few while we were making the muffins. She seems to still have some level of difficulty with foods that contain "mixed textures." I am going to try and make a batch without walnuts so they can enjoy some too.

I need to look up my "cranberry Chicken" recipe so I can make that for dinner either tonight or Sunday. Even Ryun, who doesn't like cranberries likes that.

Emily...

...recently started counseling, at her request. She's very open about this so I don't feel like I am betraying her confidence by telling y'all that.

Anyway, she had her first appointment the other day. You know, the one that involves your hand going numb from filling out all of the paper work and sharing your entire life history? Yeah that one.

Anyway, I went in with her for her first appointment. When the counselor asked Emily what made her decide she wanted to come, she said, "Well, I have anger management issues. For example, when something small happens that I don't like, I go in to full dramatic mode.

Full dramatic mode...she is too funny. There were a couple of other things she said that had me and the counselor thinking she was quite in tune with how she feels. I think she's really going to like this whole thing.

And in the "how can this be possible?" department we have...

...Emily going to her first ever school dance tomorrow night.

HOLY CRAP.

Cute Pictures Of Emily

Autumn

Parent-Teacher Conferences:Emily

They went the same as they do every year. Something like this, just for reference:

"Emily is a very bright young lady. She participates well, is eager to learn, is very helpful, asks a lot of questions and is a pleasure to have in class. The only concern I have for her is her lack of organization."

Her World Geography teacher added the following statement (which made me want to...well...hug him, if such a thing were appropriate):

"The only concern I have for Emily is her organization. She'll come to class sometimes and not have what she needs, but, she has a "B" so obviously it can't be affecting her that much."

Finally someone who gets it. Maybe she could e getting an "A" if she were more organized but a "B"? Is not bad. More importantly, if she is content with it than it should matter that she could be doing this or that.

FYI

Adventures In Education has been updated.

Accommodations

This wasn't the post I had been thinking of writing over the past couple of days, but I guess I have to go with what is current, right?

Emily forgot her math homework in her locker...again. This makes five homework assignments that she has actually done, and somehow misplaced or otherwise didn't turn in, in math alone. I have a whole post on why I think homework should be outlawed, but for now, it is what it is, and she needs to be not only doing it, but turning it in as well.

Here's my issue. I think it absolutely stinks that she did her homework, and because she did something a little absentminded by leaving it in her locker, she is not going to get full credit for it. Apparently, if she turns it in today she will get what she referred to as an "effort grade" but it will not be held in as high esteem as if she had turned it in today.

I am torn about this. Part of me thinks that this might teach her something, and help on the road to better organization, but, the other part of me recognizes that this type of thing is a true disability for her and that she should not be excluded from getting the grade she deserves for doing the work. I am quite sure she could have an accommodation added to her 504 Plan that allowed her to have her homework in by the end of the day and still get full credit. I just don't know, in the long run, if that would be a good thing or not.

Here's the other piece that bothers me. Emily got her first progress report the other day. She has all B's and one C in math. A c? Is not a bad grade. It's average. The point is, and I will be elaborating on this further in a future post, if a C is a grade that not only can she get at her current level of organization/disorganization, but one that she is satisfied with, than that should be all that matters. There seems to be this underlying pressure in the world to do better, be more, get more, and it's wrong. If she's happy with a C, then that should be good enough.

I had already made my decision...

...regardless so none of this really influences me anyway, but last night?

Based solely on demeanor and body language, tone of voice, and inflection...taking what was actually said and the politics of the whole thing right out of the picture?

McCain was a sarcastic, snobby, angry and rude jerk.

And Obama kicked some serious butt.

And frankly, in my opinion, Obama kicked some serious butt when you put the political part of it right back on the landscape.

Teaching Self Confidence

I have been thinking about this a lot lately, especially in how it relates to some of Julia's concerns, but also, in how it relates to my parenting skills in general.

I have been wondering of late how much this is behind some of the concerns Julia has socially, that is, lack of self confidence. I had an impromptu, but rather in depth discussion with her teacher the other day about how Julia was doing. It's funny because her teacher basically mirrored my thoughts exactly when it comes to Julia's "diagnosis." She has many of the same symptoms someone with high functioning autism might have...sensory concerns, low muscle tone, poor balance and coordination, language concerns, and social "deficits," but, most of the time, she doesn't seem autistic. Rather, she seems cautious and unsure, to the point that it may be affecting all of the above, but especially the social skills area.

Anyway the point? I have no idea how to teach this to a 4 year old, beyond, complimenting her on a job well done when she tries something that she otherwise may not have, and perhaps presenting her with opportunities to problem solve. I am not big on forcing her in to uncomfortable situations because I know this will only breed fear not abolish it.

Believe me, it hasn't escaped me that the very reason I may be having a tough time with this, is because of my own issues around self confidence. How do you teach someone something you barely know anything about yourself?

May I just say...

...that it is appalling how much it would/will cost me to go back to school, even just to finish a two year degree I have already started. Appalling to the point of, "if I decide to go finish my degree, we will never be able to afford to send our own kids to college, because in seven years, we will still be paying for me to have gone, and even if we aren't, we still might not be able to afford it."

I looked it up online, using a college that happens to have a campus right down the street and it would cost me...$11,000! Just to finish a degree I have already started!

It was a wake up call for sure. And, pretty much the determining factor in why I am not going to go back.

Holy crap.

Poison Oak?

On Wednesday night, Emily went up to her room to do homework. She came down about a half of an hour or so later and complained that her face was itchy. It looked like hives to me, which wouldn't be an uncommon thing for her (she is allergic to almost every environmental thing you could be allergic to and has had reactions randomly before). We were out of Benedryl (DOH!) but she had just taken her nightly dose of Claritin so that would have helped regardless.

Anyway, the next morning, the "hives" were still there, and looked even slightly worse, but also more like acne in a way than hives. It would be a little weird for her to go up to her room with a clear face, then in a half hour's time, come down with five or six pimples, all concentrated on the same spot of her face. On Friday morning, they were still there, and she made a trip to the nurse at school who said it looked like poison oak. This would make a little more sense to me if she had actually been outside on Wednesday, beyond going in and out of our house and the school building. I guess it's possible that she was exposed on another day and the rash didn't occur until Wednesday. This is what it looks like:






It seems to have stayed the same over the weekend as far as how it looks. I am debating bringing her to the doctor if it doesn't improve at all. if it is in fact poison oak, the doctor would probably put her on a steroid to get rid of it.

Check It

This is someone I went to high school with. As you can see, he is amazingly talented, and a Red Sox Fan at that. His work has been officially licensed by MLB, and was commissioned by Dunkin Donuts over the summer.

Anyway, check it out!

Receieved Via Email

Not sure if the math checks out, but it's funny just the same.

Retirement Plan

If you had purchased $1000.00 of Nortel stock one year ago, it would now be worth $49.00.

With Enron, you would have $16.50 left of the original $1000.

With WorldCom, you would have less than $5.00 left.

If you had purchased $1000.00 of Delta Air Lines stock you would have $49.00 left.

If you had purchased United Airlines, you would have nothing left.

But, if you had purchased $1000.00 worth of beer one year ago, drank all the beer, then turned in the cans for recycling, you would have $214.00.


Based on the above, the best current investment advice is to drink heavily and recycle. This is called the 401-Keg Plan.

FYI

Snapshots By Sharon has been updated with some recent fall pictures I have taken.

PTA

I ran my first meeting last night. I think it went well, and for once, I wasn't nervous about speaking in front of people. More than likely, I wasn't nervous because I am so comfortable in the "PTA scene." Running a meeting is pretty easy to begin with, but it was good to get one under my belt, nonetheless.

I am always nervous before speaking, sometimes almost "panic-like" nervous. You'd never know on the outside, or as an observer, but, right up until the moment where I actually start speaking, my stomach is generally doing flip flops. When all is said and done, I usually end up wondering why I was so nervous to begin with. Anyway, last night's PTA meeting was a refreshing change from the norm in that regard.

My decision...

...regarding who to vote for has been made.

Anyone who knows how I feel about educational funding, NCLB, and standardized tests as the only measure of a graduating student's worthiness, knows who I am voting for.

That is all.

Financial Crisis: My Take

I was going to get in a long draw out thing about this but really? This article says it all, and quite nicely I might add.

It would also help if things weren't so darn expensive to begin with, making it a bit easier to have cash in hand to buy what we want or need. I am just as guilty as the next person, living beyond my means at various points in my life.

Honestly? I think a lot of the problems in this country and others would be helped by everyone just...slowing down a little. Not going back, just slowing down. There's a big difference between the two.

Scary Story For Today

Earlier this morning, while I was getting Julia ready to head out, I called her in to do her hair. I turned the hairdryer on and held it in one hand, then looked away to grab the brush that was sitting on the edge of the sink with the other hand. In the two seconds it took me to do this, Julia said, "Ooh, I want to see the fire too!" I was wondering what she was talking about so I turned the mouth of the hair dryer up toward my face to look, and saw orange flames shooting around inside. I immediately turned it off and unplugged it, but not before the smoke detector that sits right outside the bathroom starting beeping from the intense heat.

Needless to say, I need a new hairdryer. Also, Julia and I are having bad hair days, which might be scarier than the thing catching fire.

Emily...

...has a way of making even a school paper on current events humorous.

The project was for the student to conduct an interview with a parent regarding a current world event. We had to find a newspaper article about the subject, and then write a paper, summarizing my point of view, the news article, and then offering her own point of view.

So she conducted the interview in a very formal manner and at the end said, "Thank you very much Sharon. This has been a very interesting discussion. I look forward to talking with you again in the future."

Happy Birthday...

...to me! I am officially in my last year of what I would call my "early thirties," so, yeah, I am getting old.

Today should be a nice one, spent with the immediate and extended family. We're heading out this afternoon to Ryun's uncle's house for pumpkin picking, hayrides, a bonfire, and fireworks.

We will be enjoying a turkey dinner at my parents house tomorrow, with my sisters and nephew.

Anyway, Happy Birthday to me!

Anyone want...

...a four year old? Look she's already boxed up to go, and she's a Patriots fan! What more could you want?

Blogging Machine

Adventures In Education has been updated, twice, since I last linked from here.

Suffering the Consequences

This growing up thing? It's hard. Hard on the control-freak parent who is trying to let go a little and give her daughter a bit more choice in life, but has a hard time when said daughter makes a choice that in the long run might not be the best one. It's hard on the parent who hates to sit by and watch the child suffer the consequences of a choice they made. It's hard on the parent who has this unexplained urge just to fix everything so that her daughter won't have to suffer at all, even though the parent knows deep down that by fixing everything the child will never learn and from her own mistakes/triumphs in life.

Undoubtedly, it's hard on the child who has to make these choices, be they good or bad, in order to learn from whatever may come as a result of these choices.

Today, I knowingly let Emily suffer whatever consequences may come as a result of her not turning in her reading log. She knew all week that it was supposed to be home, here for us fill out together, and, despite my constant reminders to her to bring it home, she still forgot it. I felt bad about it, so suggested that we do our own reading log, since we knew what the questions on it were, and, even though it would not be on the "official reading log paper", I am sure it will still count. The thing is, while I think it is important that she remember her "stuff," she actually has a problem with this kind of thing, more so than the usual kid. Sometimes, I need to cut her a little slack. Anyway, she refused to make up our own, and said outright, "I'll just get a zero." Me? I let it go at that. The hope is that when she gets a zero, or gets her report card she will see that her grade is a direct reflection of what she does or doesn't do all year,and that if her grade is lower than it may have otherwise been, she will make the connection. If I am being honest though? I don't have high hopes for this happening. Consequences have little effect on Emily, generally speaking any way. While the event is actually occurring (using this example when she gets her report card) she will be upset by it for that moment in time, but it will more than likely do little to deter the forgetting of the reading log in the future.

So, I guess we will just wait and see what happens, and hope for the best.

Organizing Ideas

Acronyms. Emily seems to respond quite well to them and said as much while doing a recent math assignment on order of operations. She said, "PEMDAS...Please excuse my dear Aunt Sally" but really it means, "Parenthesis, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, Subtraction, just so you know, Mom."

So...I need to think of a good acronym or two for things such as, "Don't forget your homework" and "Remember to bring everything home that you need" and "English class starts at 8:03 not 8:10."

I am being a little silly here, but really? I think this type of thing might work. I bet this is something I could find on line...like an acronym creator or something.

I am having a hard time coming up with other ideas. I already have the typical ones in place...a set time and place for homework, reminders before she leaves to turn her homework in that she has done at home, chatting with her about her day, and being involved with the school (as much as possible in middle school at least). Does anyone else have any thoughts?

Julia

I love having a blog. It's such a great medium for soliciting different ideas, viewpoints, and suggestions, especially when you have something potentially wrong and you are looking for possible solutions or thoughts as to what it could be.

Julia has been "off" for for the past month or so. By off I mean, wetting the bed every night (after previously having been dry for months), yawning periodically throughout the day and even falling asleep on the bus a couple of times, suddenly refusing to eat most times (even with the old tried and true yogurt as a backup), complaining that her mouth hurts (which as been anywhere from her throat which looks normal and healthy to her teeth, which also look normal and healthy, and also only when she eats or brushes her teeth), been unusually uncooperative and just generally not herself. With an exception of the bed wetting which has been every night, none of this has been every day, just enough to be noticeably not her usual demeanor and behavior.

A couple of thoughts had crossed my mind regarding what could be going on, especially since she doesn't appear to be sick per se (no fever, rash or other outward signs of illness). The first possibility which seems most likely to me is that she is adjusting to going back to school, starting dance, having her sisters gone from her for most of the day, and just the "summer is over and it's back to real life now" mentality. It seems like kind of a long adjustment period, given that this has been going on for a month now, but, it's not unusual for Julia to be a little slower to come around than one might expect.

The biggest concern for me right now is the eating. Besides the part about it being annoying that I cook food and she refuses to eat it (even if it is her favorite things ever like corn and rice)I am worried about the nutrition little, and the fact that she is now even refusing yogurt. Even back when she was having OT for her oral sensory issues, yogurt (and other softer type foods like jello and apple sauce) always worked well, just to get her to eat something. I am planning on re introducing her to mouth brushing (which is a technique in which you use a special oral brush that you rub on the inside of her cheeks, her tongue and the roof of her mouth). I am also going to go back to "waking her mouth up" by starting her off before a meal eating something really cold like a Popsicle or really spicy food like salsa. Both of these things are meant to "alert" her mouth to the fact that there is food in it, and reduce oral sensitivity in general. So, we'll see how it goes.

Other than that, I am not sure what to think about what is going on. A period of adjustment seems like the most likely culprit, but I am open to any thoughts any one might want to share.

New Phone

This is my new phone. I love it!

It has a memory card that stores the pictures, comes right out of the phone, slips in to an adapter, and fits right in to the slot on my computer to upload. The picture quality is excellent...much better than on my other phone.



I also love that it is a walkman! I tried that out the other day and listened to Cat Country in the office while I was working. I have a USB cord so I can upload my own play lists off of my computer as well.

Having nothing to do with the actual quality of the phone, I like that it's a slide. The keys are orange which is a little different but cool. There are many features I have yet to explore (like specific light effects I can assign to calls coming in) but so far, I am highly impressed.