Friday, May 23, 2008

Two Cool Aquisitions

1. As we were driving to the park last weekend we saw a punching bag for sale in a neighbor's drive way. It is the type that has a heavy base and an adjustable punching surface. I bought it for $40 and made my boys very happy.

2. Wiifit arrived yesterday. Its receiving rave reviews from all users so far. Al was awake before me this morning and I made coffee while he told me how he'd run for 30 minutes and unlocked a new balance game!

As today is grey and cloudy Im sure we will all get some use out of both today.

Friday, May 16, 2008

Should I be so tired?

After lunch we started school, as usual. UNLIKE usual, people were fairly co-operative. The boys each did
a phonics exercise
a plural word exercize
a spelling exercize
math
pattern blocks
I read to them, which is both history and lit for today

They both will read on their own at some point or else they already have done.
I am wiped out.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Fix this up

translates roughly to pass the buck

just fyi

Its taking the Aetna man a long time to read the comments

in our file.

I guess maybe he is as confused as I am at the discrepancy between "covered at 85%" and claim denied!

He has returned! Victorious? We shall see.

He claims he may get this claim "fixed up" for me. Oh Lord, I hope so. Do you suppose "fixed up" could mean PAID FOR like they SAID they would?

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Diagnosis

He does not have:
ADD with or without the H
Bipolar Disorder
GAD
Aspergers
clinical depression


The dr claimed he has normal self esteem, which directly conflicts with the psychologist who knows him better. So we'll ignore that and focus for a moment on what he does have,

ODD

Lovely. But unsurprising. The articles I have read assure me that I'll feel better about this if I remember it is a disability and he isn't choosing to be like this.

Suuuuuure. That will help immensely. That and the 5 pm beer.



He also has dyslexia.

What? BUT he is a great reader! How can that be?

I'll tell you how. When you read at a 9th grade level and spell at a 2nd grade level? That is called lack of phonemic awareness.

How has he made up for the lack of phonemic awareness? Because he has an outrageous memory. He has stored thousands of words in his pea brained little head for easy recall.

This helps explain why reading is tiring for him and he prefers books on tape. (He does read, because who can wait for books like Harry Potter 7 to be available on audio?)

All in all I feel like crap about the whole thing. It was really expensive. The insurance company has already denied about 800$ worth of claims on it. And worst of all, there isn't a pill for ODD. Though I think valium may be pretty effective actually. I'll let you know if it helps me deal. *snort*

Some people hear ODD and think, eh that is just shitty parenting.

When in fact, its just a crappy personality trait (argumentative) which my kid has got to learn how to regulate. And because there is a maturity deficit in kids with ODD he'll take longer to figure out how to regulate. But the neuropsych thought he was both smart enough and open enough to the idea of his behavior being disruptive that he would benefit from counselling.

There goes the college fund.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

I just sent my kids outside

to clean out my car.


This is why it is very different when you have a child of 11 than if your children are 5 and under.

Other tasks my kids do and I no longer participate in:
unloading groceries
unloading the dishwasher

occassionally the do a little bit of laundry (switching from washer to dryer.)

I can see the end of the drudgery tunnel.

However,. in many ways drudgery is easier than the tasks that come with preteens.

Our Schedule, for Fern

This should be very instructive. It should also take me out of the running for mother of the year.

8ish-get up and make coffee. stumble to computer. ignore children where ever they may be until sugar from International Delight hits bloodstream.

9ish- toss easy breakfast their way- lean pockets breakfast pockets. mmmmm

10ish- holler at children that we wont be sitting around all day damn it

11ish- start school

12ish- make lunch and consider putting head in oven with frozen pizza. Curse electric oven.

1ish- continue school. Make Brenna watch tv in hopes she'll a nap

2ish- Start counting down til 5 when I can drink a beer

3ish- send desperately evile children outside. Hope the neighbors get home and that they'll all play there. Make not of time and reassure myself that there is a beer in the fridge.

4ish- check my evile mommy site and realise I forgot to thaw meat for dinner. Contemplate the relative nutritional merits of canned soup or toaster waffles.

5ish- BEER TIME. Just one. Light. Sam Adams is preferred.

And after that the husband is home and I deflect all games of sorry, memory and all reading of books. Because I wouldnt want to deprive him of the opportunity to bond with his children.

MY day is free of all butt wiping. Well, I mean other people's butts. And fern, let that give you hope. For someday soon, you will wipe no butt but your own too.

Friday, May 09, 2008

There is nothing more refreshing than

a night out with a couple homeschooling girlfriends.

Man, I really needed that.

It helps that my friends are both hilarious and sweet.

And that there was chocolate and coffee.

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

just one more week

until we find out what is wrong with my 1o year old. Im both chomping at the bit and completely avoidant, if that makes any sense.

I think the basics we are looking for/ at are ADD, anxiety/depression, Aspergers, or asshole. The thing that makes me sick to consider is childhood onset bipolar disorder. Im hoping whatever the dx is that it comes with a magical mystery pill to solve all our problems.

In other news, Im seriously considering whether or not I wish to continue homeschooling. I never wanted to do it in the first place, but unfortunately public education is so unbelievably garbagey that we fell into it. There are real draw backs to homeschooling. Unfortunately there are much greater drawbacks to school. I paraphrase some surfer guy I heard on the radio

"Some people are like, go to school! But don't let your kids swim with the fucking sharks! That's deadly! My parents were like swim with sharks! but dont let your kids go to fucking school! That is deadly."

Still, my happiness and sanity deserve some consideration. While Im certain there isnt anything in the world more worthwhile than what Im doing, after 3 moves in 4 years and living for almost 11 with someone who is so demanding and persistant, I feel like I would like to retire. To a desert island. With margaritas and daiquiris. And silence.

By 7 pm I am so tired of people speaking that I cringe when my dh opens his mouth. By 9 Im so tired of the noise and detritus of children and my dh that I am homicidal.

And by 10 Im so exhausted and sick of me that I go to bed.

And when I wake up at 7 I am no where near ready to do it again.

Sunday, May 04, 2008

Here's what I learned this weekend

Baseball is NOT my favorite. Its just NOT. In fact I am not a fan. Especially not with high winds and cold temps. Soccer is more interesting and therefor it distracts from the foul weather. Baseball is a total snooze- especially when your team of midgets is competing against a steroid enhanced group of 7 yo the likes of which I have never seen.

Since they scored 22 runs the first game we had it coming, I guess. But my kid struck out at his one at bat and he was not ok with that. There were tears (for just a split second). I dont care what Tom Hanks says, there IS INDEED crying in baseball. And not just on the sidelines, where I was shivering and cursing.

That the mercy rule applies to wind battered parents- thank you Jesus.

Thursday, May 01, 2008

Don't Mess With ME, weather!

Its sunny and beautiful right now.

But there is a good chance of thunderstorms tonight at baseball practice time.

And it is supposed to rain all weekend.