Okay, so I am really tired today--it has been one long week....
So there was an insurance glitch and so A did NOT go into rehab on Monday and was at my dinner table Monday night (and Tuesday and Wednesday night...) But thankfully the insurance glitch got straightened out and A left for rehab yesterday and has started the journey towards a new or renewed life. I will have to figure out when I can clean out A's apartment and arrange to move all of A's furniture into storage (in my garage)
The carpet is down in the daycare area of the house as of Wednesday--YAY!!! it has been professional cleaned and has dried, thus ready for the room to be set up as of today. I have been getting the base boards together and need to cut a few to fit, so hopefully tonight I will have the big room's baseboards done after work. And today will be the last day of babysitting outside of my home, as this weekend I should be able to get the daycare area all set up and ready to roll, so the two kids I currently babysit can come here and play. AND I will hopefully be able to be ready for upcoming inspections in the day care licensing process, which will allow me to more than 2 children in addition to my own. You can watch up to two children at any given time in NYS without a license, but need a license to watch more--the license I am applying for will allow me to watch up to 6 kids in addition to my own. If demand is great, I will hire on a co-worker and apply for group family licensing, which allows up to 12 children with two adults. For now I will start with the smaller one, as that is what I have been working on, and I will have a licensed alternate provider and a couple of approved substitutes who will be able to take over if I am running around to appointments with my kids.
Yesterday was a crazy day as Josiah had his Neuropsychological evaluation, which was an hour and a half away, and took 6 hours (9:30am-3:30pm). He spent most of that time working with the psychologist solo, while I had my own forms and paperwork to fill out in the waiting room. He did very well and worked very cooperatively with her. She really was a wonderful person, and made both Josiah and I feel very at ease and comfortable. A genuine, kind human being--so she was very easy to like and Josiah took a liking to her right away. That made things much much easier. So I am hoping that the information that she was able to get yesterday combined with the information I had provider earlier, and the information from the school, as well as her observations from the day she came to observe him at school, will help be enough for her to determine what is going on with him and how best to help him with the behavioral and emotional issues that have been developing and worsening over the past year. I am putting a great deal of hope into Dr. McCabe's lovely hands.
Coming up next week--Josiah sees his pulmonary doctor, Gonzo sees his allergist (on different day, both of whom are nearly 2 hours away--the joys of specialist), and at Josiah's school it is heritage week, so many various activities including a trip to the museum, which I need to figure out a Way to attend or else he can not go. Actually, he really just needs a family member to go with him, so maybe I can ask my father or my nephew Jess--Can you believe it, my little Jessi is 18 years old!! and heading off to college in the Fall!! WOW time flies--and I feel old, I was an adult (19) when Jessi was born and now he is an adult--just amazing to me some days.
I will post later about how the eating life style change is going--lets just say for now that changing habits is a challenging thing, and it takes 21 days to establish a new habit, so it has to be conscious effort during those 21 days to embrace the new lifestyle habit, after that it gets easier. Eventually it becomes second nature an you don't even have to think about it. I need to get more sleep on a regular basis, I think that would go a LONG way to helping me maintain the focus and will to change habits a bit more successfully--I have not given up, just have had a couple of days where old habits have superseded fledgling new habits, but that is for another post later....
Showing posts with label day care. Show all posts
Showing posts with label day care. Show all posts
Friday, June 8, 2012
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Has it really been a whole week!...
Wow!! Has it really been a whole week since I last posted!!
Life has been gloriously busy--The renovations are moving forward at about the pace they have been. The framing is almost completed, the plumbing is coming together, and the electric will be tackled soon. Then the three preliminary inspections can be approved, and we can finish her. That is something I am looking forward to with great relief and appreciation.
I have also completed the Health and Safety Training course required for the day care licensing procedure. I still have my basic routine, developmentally appropriate teaching, and discipline plans still to complete and send in. I have some issues with brevity, and am trying to figure out how to respond to the inquiries in the application packet that both satisfies what I want to say AND fits in the small space they provide for the answers. Aside from that and getting their medical forms to my doctor and the kids doctor to sign off, I just have the floor plan layout and evacuation route plan, which I hesitate to finish until after the framing inspection in case we need to alter anything. So it is mostly just paperwork left. I do need to update my First Aid and CPR certification, but that is a one day course. So there is still a bunch to do, but the end of the tunnel is in sight.
The kids are doing well. Gonzo is going to be Student of the Month in his class (the teacher emailed me yesterday), as he has been having an outstanding month, many Outstanding Day Orange ratings for the month. Josiah has been doing great with school lately. He still has some outbursts but, they seems to be less intense, less frequent, and the teachers have been able to help him turn the corner and come back into a better frame of mind. He also has been doing more academic work, and they have been scribing more for him, which makes a difference.
Josiah also had another dentist appointment yesterday, and he did great!! We have one final appointment to fix the last of the issues, and the hardest ones. So next Thursday will be the last treatment in a long nearly 2 year saga of getting his dental work done. Dr. Baim has been incredible with him. I am very pleased with how comfortable she makes him feel.
I also have been doing some cleaning at the apartment, since my lease is technically up on February 15th. I deep cleaned the bathroom the other day, replaced the toilet seat, which I have been meaning to do for a while now, and scrubbed behind and under everything, I even washed the walls and door. So, one room down. I also have been sorting and packing the boys clothes so that the only thing we have to move at the last minute are the sets of clothes they wear to school. If I can get a bunch of packing and sorting done now, then the move in 3 weeks will go much better, especially if we have not gotten the certificate of occupancy by then and the boys have to live with A for a couple of weeks while we finish the house.
Speaking of A, we had a great visit this weekend with A's sister who came for an overnight visit. It was great to see her, and the boys love her dearly. A has been doing okay. One client has left the area though, and so A's caseload dropped, and is a bit worried about making ends meet. Hopefully a couple of people will be added soon, so that that A will not have to worry. A has also been great about taking the kids, though not without some guilt-tripping, it has been a good thing to know the kids are safe and having fun while I am spending many evenings working on the new place for them.
So that is a basic recap of what I have been rolling with over the past week. I am looking forward to a highly productive week/weekend to get as much done as possible on the house. If we can get the preliminary inspections next week, the walls and finishing should come together pretty quickly. I hope to post more than once a week, so hopefully I'll have a short update for you all over the weekend.
Life has been gloriously busy--The renovations are moving forward at about the pace they have been. The framing is almost completed, the plumbing is coming together, and the electric will be tackled soon. Then the three preliminary inspections can be approved, and we can finish her. That is something I am looking forward to with great relief and appreciation.
I have also completed the Health and Safety Training course required for the day care licensing procedure. I still have my basic routine, developmentally appropriate teaching, and discipline plans still to complete and send in. I have some issues with brevity, and am trying to figure out how to respond to the inquiries in the application packet that both satisfies what I want to say AND fits in the small space they provide for the answers. Aside from that and getting their medical forms to my doctor and the kids doctor to sign off, I just have the floor plan layout and evacuation route plan, which I hesitate to finish until after the framing inspection in case we need to alter anything. So it is mostly just paperwork left. I do need to update my First Aid and CPR certification, but that is a one day course. So there is still a bunch to do, but the end of the tunnel is in sight.
The kids are doing well. Gonzo is going to be Student of the Month in his class (the teacher emailed me yesterday), as he has been having an outstanding month, many Outstanding Day Orange ratings for the month. Josiah has been doing great with school lately. He still has some outbursts but, they seems to be less intense, less frequent, and the teachers have been able to help him turn the corner and come back into a better frame of mind. He also has been doing more academic work, and they have been scribing more for him, which makes a difference.
Josiah also had another dentist appointment yesterday, and he did great!! We have one final appointment to fix the last of the issues, and the hardest ones. So next Thursday will be the last treatment in a long nearly 2 year saga of getting his dental work done. Dr. Baim has been incredible with him. I am very pleased with how comfortable she makes him feel.
I also have been doing some cleaning at the apartment, since my lease is technically up on February 15th. I deep cleaned the bathroom the other day, replaced the toilet seat, which I have been meaning to do for a while now, and scrubbed behind and under everything, I even washed the walls and door. So, one room down. I also have been sorting and packing the boys clothes so that the only thing we have to move at the last minute are the sets of clothes they wear to school. If I can get a bunch of packing and sorting done now, then the move in 3 weeks will go much better, especially if we have not gotten the certificate of occupancy by then and the boys have to live with A for a couple of weeks while we finish the house.
Speaking of A, we had a great visit this weekend with A's sister who came for an overnight visit. It was great to see her, and the boys love her dearly. A has been doing okay. One client has left the area though, and so A's caseload dropped, and is a bit worried about making ends meet. Hopefully a couple of people will be added soon, so that that A will not have to worry. A has also been great about taking the kids, though not without some guilt-tripping, it has been a good thing to know the kids are safe and having fun while I am spending many evenings working on the new place for them.
So that is a basic recap of what I have been rolling with over the past week. I am looking forward to a highly productive week/weekend to get as much done as possible on the house. If we can get the preliminary inspections next week, the walls and finishing should come together pretty quickly. I hope to post more than once a week, so hopefully I'll have a short update for you all over the weekend.
Monday, January 2, 2012
A New Year, A New Start
Well, the holiday week certainly kept me busy. Part of that was this little thing called a Kindle that A got for me.....So I have read five books since Christmas (I know that is a bit excessive). I am so excited about how easy it is to get a book. I just need to watch my budget and use the library and free collections more often than buying a new book, or else my basic life will suffer.
My house is still a wreck. Although I have been working all week in addition to reading, I have also started work (or rather my father has started) on the actual renovating of the new house. The tear down phase is pretty much done, just a couple of damaged ceiling areas to tear down still. The main wall for the boys rooms went up yesterday. I can not help much during this framing, electrical and plumbing stage, as I have minimal knowledge about how to do those three things. It would slow him down too much to be teaching me as we go because I am struggling to pay for two homes at the same time, so finishing as quickly as we can is important. After the framing, electrical and plumbing inspection, then we can put up the sheet rock at which point I can actually be of use. I CAN sheet rock, tape, spackle, paint, and then deal with flooring and molding. Then we can have the final inspection, get our CO and move in. Then I can give this apartment a thorough cleaning, and be done here. I also am looking forward to having a child care area that is separate from the main living and sleeping area of my home. It will be easier to design educational and fulfilling activities for the kids I care for, and will be able to keep my own children's stuff more protected and private, as the child care kids will not have access to their rooms. Here is so small that the kids use the living room/kitchen and the boys bedroom for playing as there is too little room to play and do projects otherwise.
I look forward to us having our own house again, and to getting the day care license process completed, then I make more than $3 an hour because I can have a few kids . Iin NY you can not have more than 2 kids at a time without the license, and in this area many people make minimum wage or barely above it, so can not pay more than $2-3 an hour--and the child care subsidy pays even less than that for people who qualify! Add int hat very few people have full time jobs year round up here, and you can see that making an income babysitting is not easy. Actually making a livable income at all is a challenge. But when I can have 4-5 kids at $2-3 an hour, I can make enough to actually eek out a living for me and the kids.
This week has also see A really step up to the plate with the kids. A has been sober for one month as of Christmas Day, and the changes that I see remind me of the person that I met nearly eight years ago. It is amazing how much addiction can change a person. We have a lot of baggage from the past few years, so I am not sure if our relationship could ever truly heal enough to consider getting back together, but it is good to the person that knew back them again. Of course it is not easy, and healing takes time, but I see A being more responsible with work, with the kids, and with taking care of the things A needs to rather than waiting for others (like me) to do it. Each of the kids spent one night at A's by themselves, and then they have spent 3 nights at A's together. I would love to say that I got to sleep in those days, but alas I still had kids to babysit, so the only day I slept in (to 9:30!! after getting up at my normal 6:30 to let the dog out and back in of course, but went back to bed). It was New Years Day. I went over to A's for New Year's eve, and the kids stayed up to watch the ball drop on TV. This was the first time they stayed up for New Year's Eve. Then I tucked them into their beds at A's house and headed home. Of course I ended up staying up until 2:30am reading, so I did not actually catch up on any sleep, sheesh!!
I am looking fr\orward tom this new year. I have many unfinished or partially finished goals from the last couple of years, and I will continue working on them. The three biggies I hope to continue this year are getting healthier physically, getting healthier spiritually, and getting healthier financially. Three facets of "wealth" in helping to transform my life.
Three primary focuses for the physical aspect: exercising 5 days a week needs to start happening again; eating more vegetables and fruit and less processed carbohydrates, and being more conscientious with food and snack choices (broth or soup for a snack instead of cookies or a bowl of cereal; drinking ample amounts of water; drinking hot tea between meals instead of immediately reaching for something to chew on; chewing gum when I really need the sensation of chewing; planning my meals beforehand so that I know I am eating a well balanced, nutrient dense meal, instead of throwing whatever together at the last minute).
Three primary focuses for the spiritual aspect: meditating at least 15 minutes a day; teaching my children about and living life as a prayer (being aware that everything I do can be an act of prayer--a way of communicating with and connecting to the Divine); and using self-hypnosis to actively work on emotional/mental blockages and to transform negative thinking patterns and habits.
Three primary focuses for the financial aspect: Making a reasonable budget based on actual spending needs and committing to it fully; Getting the day care business underway and being very reasonable with the budget; and putting some time and effort into the two business I have underway--finish my hypnosis training and get certified so I can make and sell some hypnosis MP3 and CD's, and work on my Ambit business, which my brother is law is making a six figure income from after only 2 years of being an independent consultant, so I know the company is honest, the service is good, and it is a great way to help others make money while helping their friends and family save money on electricity. I just need to find the time to put into building my business to bring in more income.
So three focus areas for my continued life transformation of my life. May 2012 bring blessings to you from unexpected places. And may you be open to being transformed!!
My house is still a wreck. Although I have been working all week in addition to reading, I have also started work (or rather my father has started) on the actual renovating of the new house. The tear down phase is pretty much done, just a couple of damaged ceiling areas to tear down still. The main wall for the boys rooms went up yesterday. I can not help much during this framing, electrical and plumbing stage, as I have minimal knowledge about how to do those three things. It would slow him down too much to be teaching me as we go because I am struggling to pay for two homes at the same time, so finishing as quickly as we can is important. After the framing, electrical and plumbing inspection, then we can put up the sheet rock at which point I can actually be of use. I CAN sheet rock, tape, spackle, paint, and then deal with flooring and molding. Then we can have the final inspection, get our CO and move in. Then I can give this apartment a thorough cleaning, and be done here. I also am looking forward to having a child care area that is separate from the main living and sleeping area of my home. It will be easier to design educational and fulfilling activities for the kids I care for, and will be able to keep my own children's stuff more protected and private, as the child care kids will not have access to their rooms. Here is so small that the kids use the living room/kitchen and the boys bedroom for playing as there is too little room to play and do projects otherwise.
I look forward to us having our own house again, and to getting the day care license process completed, then I make more than $3 an hour because I can have a few kids . Iin NY you can not have more than 2 kids at a time without the license, and in this area many people make minimum wage or barely above it, so can not pay more than $2-3 an hour--and the child care subsidy pays even less than that for people who qualify! Add int hat very few people have full time jobs year round up here, and you can see that making an income babysitting is not easy. Actually making a livable income at all is a challenge. But when I can have 4-5 kids at $2-3 an hour, I can make enough to actually eek out a living for me and the kids.
This week has also see A really step up to the plate with the kids. A has been sober for one month as of Christmas Day, and the changes that I see remind me of the person that I met nearly eight years ago. It is amazing how much addiction can change a person. We have a lot of baggage from the past few years, so I am not sure if our relationship could ever truly heal enough to consider getting back together, but it is good to the person that knew back them again. Of course it is not easy, and healing takes time, but I see A being more responsible with work, with the kids, and with taking care of the things A needs to rather than waiting for others (like me) to do it. Each of the kids spent one night at A's by themselves, and then they have spent 3 nights at A's together. I would love to say that I got to sleep in those days, but alas I still had kids to babysit, so the only day I slept in (to 9:30!! after getting up at my normal 6:30 to let the dog out and back in of course, but went back to bed). It was New Years Day. I went over to A's for New Year's eve, and the kids stayed up to watch the ball drop on TV. This was the first time they stayed up for New Year's Eve. Then I tucked them into their beds at A's house and headed home. Of course I ended up staying up until 2:30am reading, so I did not actually catch up on any sleep, sheesh!!
I am looking fr\orward tom this new year. I have many unfinished or partially finished goals from the last couple of years, and I will continue working on them. The three biggies I hope to continue this year are getting healthier physically, getting healthier spiritually, and getting healthier financially. Three facets of "wealth" in helping to transform my life.
Three primary focuses for the physical aspect: exercising 5 days a week needs to start happening again; eating more vegetables and fruit and less processed carbohydrates, and being more conscientious with food and snack choices (broth or soup for a snack instead of cookies or a bowl of cereal; drinking ample amounts of water; drinking hot tea between meals instead of immediately reaching for something to chew on; chewing gum when I really need the sensation of chewing; planning my meals beforehand so that I know I am eating a well balanced, nutrient dense meal, instead of throwing whatever together at the last minute).
Three primary focuses for the spiritual aspect: meditating at least 15 minutes a day; teaching my children about and living life as a prayer (being aware that everything I do can be an act of prayer--a way of communicating with and connecting to the Divine); and using self-hypnosis to actively work on emotional/mental blockages and to transform negative thinking patterns and habits.
Three primary focuses for the financial aspect: Making a reasonable budget based on actual spending needs and committing to it fully; Getting the day care business underway and being very reasonable with the budget; and putting some time and effort into the two business I have underway--finish my hypnosis training and get certified so I can make and sell some hypnosis MP3 and CD's, and work on my Ambit business, which my brother is law is making a six figure income from after only 2 years of being an independent consultant, so I know the company is honest, the service is good, and it is a great way to help others make money while helping their friends and family save money on electricity. I just need to find the time to put into building my business to bring in more income.
So three focus areas for my continued life transformation of my life. May 2012 bring blessings to you from unexpected places. And may you be open to being transformed!!
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
life is BUSY.....
So, life is busy....So I have not taken the time to blog, though it is cathartic. Lately I have been going non-stop.
The renovations of what will become our new house/family child care center have been painfully slow, mainly becasue we have not been abel to start them yet. The permit process, which I had talked with the building code guy prior to signign the lease papers did not tell me what I neede to know (which is a common problem with him from what I hear, a man who likes to toy with his authority in ways that just make life harder for those tryign to do a project. damn nepotism in a small town makes it difficult to have him removed, I have heard that there have been multiple attempts with signed petitions, but alas, he is who I have to deal with). So, anyway, I am not well versed in NYS residential code, so I have no choice but to deal with a rude and intentionally difficult man. And slowly but surely I am getting closer and closer to getting the darn building permit. then the real fun begins....As it stands, I believe that I will not be finishing until late January at this rate, which is okay, it just means paying for two places for a month longer than I had planned.
I did get the main furnace working finally, and then had the town turn the water on, only to get sprayed with water as the pressure came up to full and revealed a couple of cracked pipes, so the water is off at the main valve coming into the house until those can be done. I am not familiar with doing plumbing and was trying to have my father talk me through it, but he said it is best just to let him do it when he has a chance to get in there. As the work can't start in earnest until the building permit is in (repairs can be done without it), my dad feels it is fine to wait on fixing the water. I'd like to have the water on though so we have the bathroom if we need it while we are working. So it is just slow going at the moment.
The process far the day care is also going slow, as the application required a floor plan and an outdoor area diagram, and until I know what those are definitely going to be, i can't submit the application. I will be taking my First Aid and CPR certification course in a couple of weeks, and then the 16 hours of training required for the licensing in Mid-December. So that is moving forward slowly.
As I have my computer back, I am trying to get back into my freelance writing work. I was able do a couple of articles today which if approved will be over $40, which will be nice. If I could make that each day in addition to the babysitting, I might feel more financially stable. It is just a matter of hit or miss with assignments, so I never know when I will be able to get them. And the higher paying ones are scrutinized more thoroughly, so there is a great chance of having to redo them or having them be rejected. But it is something at least, which is good.
School has been improving for Josiah. We modified the way his teacher tracks his behavior, and it has made a world of difference. Before she used the green light, yellow light red light system, which may work fine for children who are typical and on track developmentally. But for Josiah (and in my opinion for any child) is was not appropriate as there was no way to recover from poor behavior. So if Josiah got upset and had a tantrum at 8:30am, he was on a red light for the rest of the day, a message telling him that he was bad and there was no way to fix it. Which just kept him upset for the whole day, made him feel ashamed and self conscious (as it is posted on the wall for all the kids to comment on). He now has a Frog Chart with 12 faces on it, and as he goes throughout the day he gets a happy face for appropriate behavior and meeting expectations and a sad face for inappropriate acting out/rule breaking. He has made a complete 180, as he is now able to bring himself back around, and know that one bad moment does not mean he has to feel punished and ashamed all day. He has had almost all great days since the second day after this change took place. Yes he still has rough moments once in a while, but his aide says that he is working hard at self soothing, breathing, and getting himself back on track. He is even doing his actual work there. I think a big part of the difficulty is that they have never worked with any child with real special needs. So it has taken a lot of adjustment on every one's part to understand how to work with a child with multiple challenges--physical and the developmental delays in social, emotional, and behavioral aspects that come with that. So overall, there has been dramatic improvement in his school experience, and he seems much more content. Last week we also started him on alternative PE as they are getting into many things that are impossible for him (like skipping, hopping, jumping rope, tumbling) so he is having 1-on-1 PE with the PE teacher and he is loving it. She is able to tailor his PE to his needs and to working on skills like catching and throwing, kicking (which is extremely difficult for him), right now he is maneuvering his wheelchair to kick down bowling pins, which is great for both improved use and control of his legs, AND for him becoming more independent in his wheelchair use.
Well, it is now 11:40pm and as my alarm goes off at 6:15am (and I seem to never get to bed before midnight) I had best end this post so I can get a few things done before I go to bed. I have been working hard at keeping the house less cluttered, as it makes life more peaceful, so i have something I want to do before I turn in for the night so we can wake up to a neater and tidier house (not really neat and tidy but better than the perpetual chaos it seemed before--it helps that A's stuff is finally out of here and in A's apartment).
Anyway, signing off for now....
The renovations of what will become our new house/family child care center have been painfully slow, mainly becasue we have not been abel to start them yet. The permit process, which I had talked with the building code guy prior to signign the lease papers did not tell me what I neede to know (which is a common problem with him from what I hear, a man who likes to toy with his authority in ways that just make life harder for those tryign to do a project. damn nepotism in a small town makes it difficult to have him removed, I have heard that there have been multiple attempts with signed petitions, but alas, he is who I have to deal with). So, anyway, I am not well versed in NYS residential code, so I have no choice but to deal with a rude and intentionally difficult man. And slowly but surely I am getting closer and closer to getting the darn building permit. then the real fun begins....As it stands, I believe that I will not be finishing until late January at this rate, which is okay, it just means paying for two places for a month longer than I had planned.
I did get the main furnace working finally, and then had the town turn the water on, only to get sprayed with water as the pressure came up to full and revealed a couple of cracked pipes, so the water is off at the main valve coming into the house until those can be done. I am not familiar with doing plumbing and was trying to have my father talk me through it, but he said it is best just to let him do it when he has a chance to get in there. As the work can't start in earnest until the building permit is in (repairs can be done without it), my dad feels it is fine to wait on fixing the water. I'd like to have the water on though so we have the bathroom if we need it while we are working. So it is just slow going at the moment.
The process far the day care is also going slow, as the application required a floor plan and an outdoor area diagram, and until I know what those are definitely going to be, i can't submit the application. I will be taking my First Aid and CPR certification course in a couple of weeks, and then the 16 hours of training required for the licensing in Mid-December. So that is moving forward slowly.
As I have my computer back, I am trying to get back into my freelance writing work. I was able do a couple of articles today which if approved will be over $40, which will be nice. If I could make that each day in addition to the babysitting, I might feel more financially stable. It is just a matter of hit or miss with assignments, so I never know when I will be able to get them. And the higher paying ones are scrutinized more thoroughly, so there is a great chance of having to redo them or having them be rejected. But it is something at least, which is good.
School has been improving for Josiah. We modified the way his teacher tracks his behavior, and it has made a world of difference. Before she used the green light, yellow light red light system, which may work fine for children who are typical and on track developmentally. But for Josiah (and in my opinion for any child) is was not appropriate as there was no way to recover from poor behavior. So if Josiah got upset and had a tantrum at 8:30am, he was on a red light for the rest of the day, a message telling him that he was bad and there was no way to fix it. Which just kept him upset for the whole day, made him feel ashamed and self conscious (as it is posted on the wall for all the kids to comment on). He now has a Frog Chart with 12 faces on it, and as he goes throughout the day he gets a happy face for appropriate behavior and meeting expectations and a sad face for inappropriate acting out/rule breaking. He has made a complete 180, as he is now able to bring himself back around, and know that one bad moment does not mean he has to feel punished and ashamed all day. He has had almost all great days since the second day after this change took place. Yes he still has rough moments once in a while, but his aide says that he is working hard at self soothing, breathing, and getting himself back on track. He is even doing his actual work there. I think a big part of the difficulty is that they have never worked with any child with real special needs. So it has taken a lot of adjustment on every one's part to understand how to work with a child with multiple challenges--physical and the developmental delays in social, emotional, and behavioral aspects that come with that. So overall, there has been dramatic improvement in his school experience, and he seems much more content. Last week we also started him on alternative PE as they are getting into many things that are impossible for him (like skipping, hopping, jumping rope, tumbling) so he is having 1-on-1 PE with the PE teacher and he is loving it. She is able to tailor his PE to his needs and to working on skills like catching and throwing, kicking (which is extremely difficult for him), right now he is maneuvering his wheelchair to kick down bowling pins, which is great for both improved use and control of his legs, AND for him becoming more independent in his wheelchair use.
Well, it is now 11:40pm and as my alarm goes off at 6:15am (and I seem to never get to bed before midnight) I had best end this post so I can get a few things done before I go to bed. I have been working hard at keeping the house less cluttered, as it makes life more peaceful, so i have something I want to do before I turn in for the night so we can wake up to a neater and tidier house (not really neat and tidy but better than the perpetual chaos it seemed before--it helps that A's stuff is finally out of here and in A's apartment).
Anyway, signing off for now....
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
A quick update ....
HI All,
As it has been so long since I made a full post, and I am still on an ailing computer, I wanted to try again to make a quick update of a variety of my life areas.
The kids:
School for Gonzalo is going very well this year. His behavior has been much better than in previous years and he is learning well. School for Josiah is still up and down, he has his good days and he has his bad days, some REALLY good and some REALLY bad!). I believe his teacher is trying and I also believe that she truly is a teacher that ca not think outside the box, so this is a struggle for her as much as it is for him. Luckily his assistant (surprisingly) CAN think outside the box, as does the spec ed teacher, principle, and CSE chair. So while still a struggle, he is moving in a positive direction. By November I think we will be on an even keel.
The other big thinks going on for Josiah have just been with his medical/physical special needs. He did not get his dental surgery last month because he had a nasty cold and could not go under anesthesia. And since they book months in advance who knows when he will get in again. His hydrocephalus has been on our minds, as his CT scan last year raised some eyebrows with his neurosurgeon, but as he is not presenting any symptoms, it has just been a process of getting a second opinion from a doctor who is more familiar with pediatric hydrocephalus, and that took a while. We saw him in June (or was it May or even April!) and he wanted to do an MRI to see how the fluid was moving through the brain to see if it is coming in faster than it is going out, which would cause it to build up slowly over time. As it was 60-90 minute MRI he had to be sedated. Luckily he has not had a cold lately and we had the sedated MRI scan yesterday. The doctor should get the results later this week and we will hopefully know something within the next couple of weeks. Hopefully fluid is coming and going at the same rate and he will not need another brain surgery or a shunt. The ventricolostomy will hopefully continue to work as it had done early on.
Other issues with Josiah lately--his hips are rotating in too much and his neurodevelopmental doc thinks that he should have hip surgery. We are scheduling an appointment for him to see his orthopedic surgeon to see if he agrees or if her thinks it is not necessary. There is the visit with the eye doctor which we missed because I wrote it down wrong on the calendar and did not check phone messages for a couple of days (which I do let go way too often, I really need to start checking phone messages daily). So I missed the reminder call which said the 3rd and my calendar said the 6th. So we have to reschedule that one. Overall though even with some potential problems beginning to show, Josiah has been pretty healthy this school year, and seems to be weathering the change of schools well health wise.
The income/housing issues:
I am working on the LONG process of getting registered as a NYS childcare provider to do family home day care (up to six kids). As I am doing this I continue to babysit the two year old and her brother after school. I also have another family that has asked me to babysit occasionally for their 3 year old and 9 month old. I told them that I had to work it so that I only had a maximum of two kids at any one time until I am licensed (state law--as an unregistered provider I can only watch two kids at a time on a regular basis in addition to my own). So it is a bit of schedule juggling but should be a good start.
However I have noticed that my neighbors, who are retired and older, are not so happy with all the kids running around, as we share the porch and yard in our duplex. So I have been looking into other housing for a while now. It is slim pickings up here. But I have been talking to a woman whose son is in Josiah's class and who I grew up with (she was a couple years ahead of me in school so we did not know each other well). She has been trying to sell a large building that used to be her family's laundromat. It has been on the market for quite a while and has not sold. She is willing to do a rent to own and allow me to convert it to a residential home with the intent to do daycare. So that is in the works. I need to make sure that my investment and hard work of converting it from commercial into residential (which will not be a problem, I have already talked to the zoning/building code man from the town-I'll just need building permits and such to renovate it), the contract needs to protect my investment and be written in a way that does not screw either of us in this endeavour. Thank God (literally) that A's niece is a lawyer and her husband a contract lawyer. Even though A and I are separated, the family still is open to helping. So, if the contract goes through well, I will begin renovating the inside and maybe even have it done by Christmas (as long as I have enough tie to work on it on a regular basis).
Health wise:
For me, weight loss is still a struggle. I do well for a few days with being careful about what I eat, watching my blood sugar (ice cream is VERY bad for blood sugar, so is boxes cereal). But then life gets stressful or busy or something else is going on and I turn my attention to that and fall back to my bad eating habits for a few days. Then I push forward again on developing new habits, and well it is a cycle. I think overall, that cycle is moving towards better and better eating patterns when I look at the overall picture, but I really need a solid month of really focusing on changing my eating habits themselves, so that I fall back on good habit and not on the ones that are so ingrained that there is a rut there. Two steps forward, one step back is still forward motion as a whole.
Other stuff:
My car is ailing and need work (tires, brakes, steering, etc...) AND i have the money right now to get it all done--so YIPPEE!! I take the car to the shop tomorrow and hopefully he will be able to get the parts in and have the time to fix her within the next week. I am guessing it will cost nearly a grand, but as I bought the car for $400 last February and she was worth so much more, it is worth putting that much money into her.
My chick are growing big. They were hatched on September twenty seventh (my two button does not work) and have been growing well since they arrived by ail at a day or two old. They are nearly two weeks old and have gotten their wing feathers. they are still in a big b ox here at the apartment, but will soon be moving over to my father's property. I have to build a new chicken coop as his is not is great repair. So i think that will be a project fro the4 coming weekend as they are getting to be a bit too big for the box. In a couple of months the extra roosters will become dinner (not something I look forward to, it is hard for me to eat animals I love, but I can not keep them, they will fight each other to death as they get older and territorial, only one or two will be kept with the hens. Then in 4-6 months I should have a bunch of fresh eggs daily. It will be wonderful. I have wanted to have chickens for so long. As a kid, my chore was caring for our chickens, and they were my friends. I loved having chickens and caring for them. I have always wanted to have a flock of chickens, and now I have them. Maybe when I move into the new house I can bring the chicken coop over there, which would be great.
Well, I should end now. I will write more soon, and when I get my computer back should be able to do short posts daily again rather than these intermittent postings.
Hope you are all well and enjoying autumn--my favorite and most productive time of the year.
As it has been so long since I made a full post, and I am still on an ailing computer, I wanted to try again to make a quick update of a variety of my life areas.
The kids:
School for Gonzalo is going very well this year. His behavior has been much better than in previous years and he is learning well. School for Josiah is still up and down, he has his good days and he has his bad days, some REALLY good and some REALLY bad!). I believe his teacher is trying and I also believe that she truly is a teacher that ca not think outside the box, so this is a struggle for her as much as it is for him. Luckily his assistant (surprisingly) CAN think outside the box, as does the spec ed teacher, principle, and CSE chair. So while still a struggle, he is moving in a positive direction. By November I think we will be on an even keel.
The other big thinks going on for Josiah have just been with his medical/physical special needs. He did not get his dental surgery last month because he had a nasty cold and could not go under anesthesia. And since they book months in advance who knows when he will get in again. His hydrocephalus has been on our minds, as his CT scan last year raised some eyebrows with his neurosurgeon, but as he is not presenting any symptoms, it has just been a process of getting a second opinion from a doctor who is more familiar with pediatric hydrocephalus, and that took a while. We saw him in June (or was it May or even April!) and he wanted to do an MRI to see how the fluid was moving through the brain to see if it is coming in faster than it is going out, which would cause it to build up slowly over time. As it was 60-90 minute MRI he had to be sedated. Luckily he has not had a cold lately and we had the sedated MRI scan yesterday. The doctor should get the results later this week and we will hopefully know something within the next couple of weeks. Hopefully fluid is coming and going at the same rate and he will not need another brain surgery or a shunt. The ventricolostomy will hopefully continue to work as it had done early on.
Other issues with Josiah lately--his hips are rotating in too much and his neurodevelopmental doc thinks that he should have hip surgery. We are scheduling an appointment for him to see his orthopedic surgeon to see if he agrees or if her thinks it is not necessary. There is the visit with the eye doctor which we missed because I wrote it down wrong on the calendar and did not check phone messages for a couple of days (which I do let go way too often, I really need to start checking phone messages daily). So I missed the reminder call which said the 3rd and my calendar said the 6th. So we have to reschedule that one. Overall though even with some potential problems beginning to show, Josiah has been pretty healthy this school year, and seems to be weathering the change of schools well health wise.
The income/housing issues:
I am working on the LONG process of getting registered as a NYS childcare provider to do family home day care (up to six kids). As I am doing this I continue to babysit the two year old and her brother after school. I also have another family that has asked me to babysit occasionally for their 3 year old and 9 month old. I told them that I had to work it so that I only had a maximum of two kids at any one time until I am licensed (state law--as an unregistered provider I can only watch two kids at a time on a regular basis in addition to my own). So it is a bit of schedule juggling but should be a good start.
However I have noticed that my neighbors, who are retired and older, are not so happy with all the kids running around, as we share the porch and yard in our duplex. So I have been looking into other housing for a while now. It is slim pickings up here. But I have been talking to a woman whose son is in Josiah's class and who I grew up with (she was a couple years ahead of me in school so we did not know each other well). She has been trying to sell a large building that used to be her family's laundromat. It has been on the market for quite a while and has not sold. She is willing to do a rent to own and allow me to convert it to a residential home with the intent to do daycare. So that is in the works. I need to make sure that my investment and hard work of converting it from commercial into residential (which will not be a problem, I have already talked to the zoning/building code man from the town-I'll just need building permits and such to renovate it), the contract needs to protect my investment and be written in a way that does not screw either of us in this endeavour. Thank God (literally) that A's niece is a lawyer and her husband a contract lawyer. Even though A and I are separated, the family still is open to helping. So, if the contract goes through well, I will begin renovating the inside and maybe even have it done by Christmas (as long as I have enough tie to work on it on a regular basis).
Health wise:
For me, weight loss is still a struggle. I do well for a few days with being careful about what I eat, watching my blood sugar (ice cream is VERY bad for blood sugar, so is boxes cereal). But then life gets stressful or busy or something else is going on and I turn my attention to that and fall back to my bad eating habits for a few days. Then I push forward again on developing new habits, and well it is a cycle. I think overall, that cycle is moving towards better and better eating patterns when I look at the overall picture, but I really need a solid month of really focusing on changing my eating habits themselves, so that I fall back on good habit and not on the ones that are so ingrained that there is a rut there. Two steps forward, one step back is still forward motion as a whole.
Other stuff:
My car is ailing and need work (tires, brakes, steering, etc...) AND i have the money right now to get it all done--so YIPPEE!! I take the car to the shop tomorrow and hopefully he will be able to get the parts in and have the time to fix her within the next week. I am guessing it will cost nearly a grand, but as I bought the car for $400 last February and she was worth so much more, it is worth putting that much money into her.
My chick are growing big. They were hatched on September twenty seventh (my two button does not work) and have been growing well since they arrived by ail at a day or two old. They are nearly two weeks old and have gotten their wing feathers. they are still in a big b ox here at the apartment, but will soon be moving over to my father's property. I have to build a new chicken coop as his is not is great repair. So i think that will be a project fro the4 coming weekend as they are getting to be a bit too big for the box. In a couple of months the extra roosters will become dinner (not something I look forward to, it is hard for me to eat animals I love, but I can not keep them, they will fight each other to death as they get older and territorial, only one or two will be kept with the hens. Then in 4-6 months I should have a bunch of fresh eggs daily. It will be wonderful. I have wanted to have chickens for so long. As a kid, my chore was caring for our chickens, and they were my friends. I loved having chickens and caring for them. I have always wanted to have a flock of chickens, and now I have them. Maybe when I move into the new house I can bring the chicken coop over there, which would be great.
Well, I should end now. I will write more soon, and when I get my computer back should be able to do short posts daily again rather than these intermittent postings.
Hope you are all well and enjoying autumn--my favorite and most productive time of the year.
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