sorry

I'm sorry there have been no updates lately. This semester is going to be busy beyond what should be reasonably expected of a person. I'm preparing to take 60 college students on a weekend "camping" retreat. Should be fun.

Will have lots of pictures to post someday. We had a good weekend last weekend in the Dells. Jacob LOVED the waterslides. Allison loved the water, and making her new piggy bank at the pottery painting place. Mom and Dad enjoyed getting out of town for a fun weekend with friends.

The weekend

Before it fades too far into memory - we had a pretty good (albeit cold and rainy) weekend. Saturday the kids had their first swimming lessons of the fall (at the same time at the YMCA!). Jacob did very well for his first non-parent lesson. I think they practiced getting in and out of the water, which Jacob loves to do in that pool.

Allison moved up a group - ok I signed her up for the next group because the group she used to be in had kids who didn't want to put their heads in and after a summer in the backyard, Allison could swim across the pool by herself and retrieve diving sticks off the bottom with no help. I thought she could at least move into the group that learns to kick and glide. She was a little distracted. Can't say it went well.

Saturday afternoon, Brian took Jacob to Toys R Us for a unexciting "Thomas Day." Allison went to the neighbor's birthday party and came home with her hair and nails done, but had a good time and even hit the pinata (twice) but wasn't the one to break it.

Sunday, we bummed around the house until I left to grab a coffee with Jen before our soccer game. Unfortunately with the weather, we did not get to Quarry Quest this year, or the farmer's market on Saturday.

On a positive note - our new housekeeping person started today! She comes every other week. Yay!

Karate!

Since there isn't enough time to go into all of this last week / weekend, we'll go in parts. Part 1 - karate! Again, we really need to get a new camera so I can take pictures more easily. Allison started karate at the YMCA on Wednesday. Knowing Allison, one might wonder why on earth we selected karate. Two reasons - she loves ballet, but the last ballet class went poorly and we ended up with a $52 costume (!!) for a recital that she did not want to go to. Secondly, they advertised its great ability to help kids learn focus and self control. Voila!

The karate class was actually pretty interesting. There were about 10 kids and 4 instructors - good ratio. Also, it was very positive. High fives for doing things correctly, and reminders and instruction for doing things less correctly (like, say, doing a ballet twirl instead of a stand at attention pose). Allison was one of 3 kids who had not done it before. One kid ran crying from the mat. One kid did everything perfectly. And then Allison did well for a little bit and then got distracted. Quite distracted at times, but she was also somewhat engaged.

I think she really liked it, and like I said it was very upbeat (plus all the extra people to help her refocus). The instructor came up to talk with me afterwards and said "My, she has a lot of energy." I said, yes, that's why we are trying this. We had a short conversation which ended with "well, let's try it and see how it goes." So we bought the little belt and outfit ($25) and will be going back this week.

Thoughts on Growing Up

So tonight we got some reflections of what our children think of us. First, Jacob says that in a few years, he's going to start going to work too, just like Dad. (This was after a very cute and totally unprompted "So Mom, how was your school today? And Dad, how was your work?")

Allison then said that when she's a mom, she wants to work (which, by the way, she wants to teach kindergarten). And then Allison comes downstairs tonight wearing just her underwear with one of my bras on, and toting a swiffer sweeper saying "now I'm just like you Mom!"

Where is the camera when you need it!!

For those who pray....

A friend of a friend, though not someone I personally know. Thought I would forward along for those of you who pray. (Their family lives in the Normal area and 7-yr old Annika is waiting on a 3rd liver transplant).

http://moreena.typepad.com/

Sometimes the Powers that Be send along something to put life in perspective.

Sigh...

Well, Friday afternoon 6:30pm and Allison is asleep. We think we've never seen her so exhausted before. Today was a difficult day for her. I think we knew it from the moment she woke up. Her teacher stopped me when I picked her up asking for suggestions - saying that she was very attentive during story time, but was having difficulty during free play and recess times.

I think I was prepared for a little backslide with a new environment, new expectations, new schedule, etc. Hopefully it will be short lived. If not... I don't know. She does get 2 hours of aide time each week, and we've met the aide who is very nice. I hope that will be enough.

What is so frustrating about this whole thing is that it seems that we've talked to a lot of different people and found out that she does 'not' have a lot of different problems. However, no one can say "well, I saw this boy a few years ago with the same issues and here is what worked." Instead, people keep turning back to us saying "well, what should we do?" as if we're keeping some magical behavioral secret to ourselves.

While I would *never* ever wish any medical issues on my children - at least illnesses come with numbers to gauge "sickness" or "wellness." You can take temperatures or blood counts and know whether it is getting worse or better. Behavior seems like this gypsy crystal ball of "well, you can try this for the next 6 months and hopefully you'll see more improvement that you would have if you hadn't done that for 6 months."

Additionally, there is this general sense that all behavior problems are rooted in parental dos and don'ts. A blerb in the parents newletter came home with Jacob (it went to all parents at the daycare) about discipline and it said something like "if you hit, they will hit. If you yell, they will yell." Is there no room for kids to come up with some things on their own? It's not like Allison watches us draw on the walls with sharpies and then mimics it.

Sigh....

Little Girl, Big School

Today was Allison's first day of Kindergarten. To say she was excited would be a mild understatement. She was dressed and ready to go by 7am, and at one point said "Mommy, get me my socks and my shoes, so I can go have fun at kindergarten."



I think it went well. Apparently they sang the ABC song, her favorite thing was recess, and she even had the 2nd graders teach her to jump rope.