It is Thursday. Our busiest day of the week.
A sick child changes everything.
Instead of spending the day with our homeschool friends, swimming lessons and gymnastics, we are huddled on the couch watching tv shows with our sick supplies nearby us.
Here is hoping that this nice little bug moves quickly through our family or leaves after only infecting one.
I have a million ideas floating through my head. Okay. Maybe not a million but a lot. One of the things I’ve learned about myself through the Slice of Life challenge is that I have a lot more creativity in my head than I think.
I know that sounds funny coming from someone who is a freelance writer and editor. I have to use my creativity with words all the time – especially this week as I am working on a (paid) 1,700 word article under deadline.
Yet, I’m used to working with clients who give me a topic to research and write. A list of contacts. A main idea of the article. The start of questions to ask and answers needed.
This blog challenge has reminded me that my own thoughts are worthy of my words and creativity. And even if no one else reads them, they are worthy of my energy.
And now I must focus that energy as I have a million thoughts swirling through my head. Okay. Maybe not a million. Just a lot!
“Oh, you have two boys with Irish names. How cute,” the lady said to me.
“You really need to have a little girl. Caitlin would be a beautiful Irish name for a girl,” she continued.
I cringed and laughed it off.
“No, I am fine with my boys,” I nicely replied.
“Well you must try,” she said with a smile and a glimmer in her eye.
Outside, I was laughing. Inside, I was thinking “if only you knew.”
If only she knew I really had three boys with Irish names.
If only she knew I buried my firstborn son who only lived about four hours. We learned about his rare trisomy while I was pregnant.
If only she knew the dread I felt while pregnant with my two boys. All our baby planning was put on hold as we waited for each level-two ultrasound to tell us that I was carrying a healthy baby.
If only she knew that social workers visited me in the hospital after each son was born. “We read your records. Do you need to talk about your first son?”
If only she knew that my third son’s port wine stain on his face was the cause of alarm after he was born. Thankfully he is fine, but there was quite some concern about his brain tissue development when he was first born.
If only she knew the number of appointments with specialists my third son has endured. Eye doctor. Dermatologist. Plastic surgeon. Eleven laser treatments.
If only she knew how thankful I was for two healthy boys.
If only she knew the agonizing decision process it took for my husband and I to decide we were done having children.
If only she knew that I dread any questions about how many children I plan to have, when I am having the next one or when I am having a girl.
If only she knew that I am asked these questions all too often.
If only she knew that if she presses me hard enough, I will tell her why there are only two boys.
If only she knew I would give almost anything to have my Aidan back with me.
If only she knew that I have to go to my son’s grave site for my three boys to be together.
If only she knew that my family will never quite feel complete.
If only she knew. But she doesn’t.
I simply laugh her comments off instead of telling her my life story. I don’t want “the look.” I don’t want to make her feel bad for asking. I don’t want to cry.
If only she knew.
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My son Aidan would have been nine this past December. You can click to my blog post on his birthday here.
Also, occasionally I will go into my story with random people. I quickly consider a lot of factors as to whether to go into such detail with someone.
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Today I don’t have a witty post. I don’t have a deep and insightful post.
Today I simply post that it is FIELD TRIP DAY in our homeschool life. Off to a science museum we go with some of our homeschool friends.
Who knows what wonders we will discover.
Who knows what inspiration I will find for tomorrow’s post.
She is the Mercedes Mom. That is what I call her. I guess she could call me the Honda Mom. How sad that I am identifying her by the car she drives. You see, I don’t know her name.
She and I spend an hour together each week. We both walk into the gymnasium. We glance at each other and say hi as we find our separate seats on the metal bleachers.
She pulls out her Kindle. I pull out my magazine or my blackberry.
My young son asks her young son to play.
She and I exchange smiles.
We continue reading in our own worlds.
My older son and her older son follow the instructions for their p.e.-type class.
The little girls who think they “own the place” cause a bit of trouble in the bleacher area. Mercedes Mom and I glance at each other. We each shake our heads and roll our eyes.
Our boys get a little loud. We both tell them to make sure to quiet down. They start running on the bleachers. “Stop and find a place to sit,” we both caution.
Mercedes Mom and I seem to be very similar except for the one comment she made a few weeks ago.
“I detest this hour,” she said in her frazzled voice.
I cringed. I know frazzled. I often feel frazzled, but I actually enjoy this hour. I enjoy watching my son thrive in his class. I enjoy watching for his thumbs up signal. I enjoy watching my younger son as he meets new friends and makes sure he brings enough “good guys and bad guys” action figures for his friends waiting on the bleachers. I enjoy sitting with a magazine or my phone and just being in the moment.
Detest is not the word I would have chosen. Maybe we aren’t that similar. Maybe she has a much deeper story behind her word choice.
Maybe this week I will ask her name.
If you are a woman, you know exactly what I am talking about when I say the word “pad.” If you are a man, you are probably cringing at the word and thinking, “oh no.”
Have you ever just stopped and noticed all the choices us women have when it comes to our feminine hygiene. Thin. Overnight. Super absorbant. Ultra thin. Wings. No wings. Always. Kotex. Carefree.
If you are like me, you don’t stop and notice all the different packages. Instead you look for the package you recognize and throw it in your cart without giving any of the other options a chance.
Usually I have a nice stockpile stored under my bathroom sink. Come on, how many of us have been at a friend’s house to only realize we deseperately need a pad? We try to stay calm yet quickly and quietly open bathroom closets and doors in our host’s bathroom in hopes of finding that neatly wrapped little square we need. I know I’m not the only one. 😉
I had that same alarm awhile ago. Ironically, I wasn’t at a friend’s house. I was in my own bathroom. Instead of finding a package of squares looking back at me, I found only a couple. A couple?!? How did I only have a couple? How did I let this happen? I really didn’t want to run to the store with my two sons just to get pads. My husband would willingly stop for me, but I really didn’t want to put that burden on him.
It was then that I was instantly taken back to when I cleaned out my purse at a friend’s house. I remember joking with her that I must have been expecting to use a lot of pads that month. I felt like the magician who continually pulls out the different colored handkerchiefs that are tied together. You think his handkerchief trick will never end. That is how I felt cleaning out the pads from my purse that day.
I chuckled at that memory and instantly thought of checking some of the other places pads could be hiding, I mean stored, throughout my house. I started my search. Office desks drawer – check. The downstairs bathroom – check. The “random” drawer in the kitchen – check. The glove box in my van – check. The “random” bags sitting in my office – check. I was too excited to find the pads to question my thought process behind storing the pads in these funny places.
I had hit the goldmine of pads stored throughout my house!
Where is the goofiest place you have stored pads?
It is funny how sounds can trigger memories.
I heard a motorcycle roar down the road. It was a Harley. I can clearly recognize the rumbling noise. I was transported back to my childhood of riding on a Harley behind my dad. Memories take me back even further to when my sister and I would sit side-by-side in the Harley’s sidecar. We would make faces at my brother tucked in the nose of the sidecar. He started riding at six weeks old. I haven’t been on a motorcycle in over 20 years, but the sound quickly transports me back in time.
I heard a church bell ring. The simple ding dong took me back to that little Lutheran church in the country we attended with my grandparents for many years. I remember listening to that bell ring to start and end the service. I can see my grandma leaning over and telling me to be quiet during church. I can taste the cherry cough drops she used to share with us during church. They always tasted like candy. The simple little church with the simple little bell.
What sounds transport you back in time?
Cade was determined to get in on the action too. 🙂
My google calendar email did not say “you have no events scheduled today.”
It’s a Thursday. I know our days are full without even looking at my email or my calendar.
Ready. Set. Go.
Our morning will be spent at a homeschool co-op that meets weekly for eight weeks in the fall and in the spring. One of the best investments of time and energy in our homeschool life!
I will teach a comic book writing class with a wonderful assistant, Pamela, who can be found over at “would, could, should.” I will then assist in her comic book art class. It has been a great combination of our writing and art backgrounds! 🙂 Kory will learn about geography and culture through a missionaries class, the middle ages through a history class and then run wild with a p.e. class. Oh wait, I think he runs wild first and then calms down for classes. Cade will learn about stories and crafts, run wild in a p.e. class and learn about geography and culture through a missionaries class.
And the best part – we will be surrounded by other homeschool families and friends who have become our extended homeschool family. They just “get” those homeschool, and sometimes those non-homeschool, parts of our lives! 🙂
After a quick lunch, we will go straight to swimming lessons for the boys. A brief stop at home and then gymnastics for Kory, who is in a beginner boys gymnastic class.
Then we will come home. Maybe we will get in vision therapy homework. Maybe we will get in reading a story. Most likely we will just crash!
Do you remember when you started to read? Did it come easy? Was it hard? Do you remember those “stupid” timed reading tests in school? You know the ones where you had to see how many words you could read in a minute or so. I vividly remember being tested on that in first grade. I remember our elementary school principal sitting next to us individually with a timer. Ready. Set. Go. Read.
(I also have some great first grade memories of getting sick at school. LOL!)
Anyway, back to Kory.
Kory has struggled with reading since mid-first grade when the words got bigger and the sentences got longer. His initial timed reading “test” at the end of first grade wasn’t that great. Since we homeschool through a virtual charter school, Kory gets to be a part of these types of tests and assessments. We worked with him over the summer to try to improve the score. His timed reading tests at the beginning of second grade showed he was still behind on his reading level. Of course, as a homeschool mom, you wonder, “Is it me? Am I teaching him properly.”
Kory’s “real” teacher has been wonderful through all this figuring out of Kory’s reading. She has been his teacher since Kindergarten. One of the things she did after his fall testing was get him access to an online reading program called Reading Eggs to help increase his reading. He has loved this online reading program, and will frequently play it over the weekend. “This doesn’t count as school, right!?” he will ask. 😉
In the fall, we also had Kory’s eyes checked at our eye doctor. His testing showed that medically his eyes were fine. No glasses. Yet the testing also showed he was behind level with his focus and tracking. The recommendation: vision therapy testing to confirm the results. Because of schedules and such, we weren’t able to have his vision therapy testing done until February.
In January, Kory had his mid-school year testing for reading. While his scores increased greatly, his hard work and online programs weren’t enough. Sigh. He was still behind where he should have been with his reading. Yes – I know every child progresses differently when reading – but this was more than just different progressions.
I’ll admit, I wasn’t sure about vision therapy. I mean, have you heard of it?! 🙂 I started to research and found it very fascinating about vision therapy. What I found most fascinating was the “checklist” of items. Once I saw this checklist, I started to realize how things and actions we saw at home were directly related to his reading progression.
We went ahead with the vision therapy testing, and the results showed that indeed his eye tracking and focus were not at the right levels. Thankfully, the testing also showed where he is way beyond expected levels for certain aspects. Since I don’t have the report in front of me, I can’t remember those. 🙂 We actually got a really nice document from the eye doctor with the “technical” wording and testing levels. All of it very fascinating. All of it backed up things we notice at home. All of it backed up his virtual school testing results.
And that is how we got to vision therapy twice a week for the next six months. A total of 48 sessions. And there will be four days of 20 minutes worth of vision therapy homework each week – all documented. All with the eye doctor re-testing Kory at three intervals within the 48 sessions. All with the goal of re-training these eye muscles of Kory’s to work properly.
We just finished Kory’s first two sessions. I’m impressed. Impressed with the eye doctor’s office. Impressed with Kory and his “mommy, it was just like playing a bunch of games.” Impressed with Cade’s patience to play in the lobby’s toy area. Impressed with the tokens each of the boys get when we leave to “spend” in the little toy vending machine. Yes, Cade needs to get a token too, the lady at the front desk told me.
I’m excited to see the progress of how we can make Kory a better and stronger reader for life!
