Parent Teacher Conferences

Tonight was a fun-filled night of meeting with all our kids teachers. We didn't have any concerns, but of course had that nervousness that there would be "something". Not only was there not one single thing of concern for any child, they have way exceeded all our expectations.

Collin is doing exceptionally well in all areas, especially math. He is such a logical minded kid. I can see math being easy for him.....it was one of my favorite subjects too. I loved it! (I'm a nerd) I see it when he sits down with these lego sets of hundreds of tiny pieces and he concentrates and follows each little step to create these masterpieces. And oh, he is so proud when he completes them.....which seemingly takes no time at all. He could do one after another all day long. Not only is he succeeding educationally, he is so well-behaved and great with his peers. The teacher said there is no reason for concern with anything......"he's such an easy going kid with a great sense of humor." He always has been. He just rolls with whatever happens. I hope he always takes things in stride and keeps that fun loving attitude. His smile just melts me and the kid sure can make me laugh!

I think Mason stunned us the most. When his teacher showed us his skills assessment we both just looked at each other and then at the teacher and back at each other with the look of "Mason?"......"are you sure you don't have his mixed up with someone else?" I guess we don't give the kid enough credit! He knew everything in terms of colors, shapes, numbers (except 1 of them), and could identify the letters they had learned thus far. He could even write his name, without looking at a name tag.....and legible. What makes this most impressive, is that we don't ever really sit down with him and work on this stuff....ok, never.......it's a 3rd child thing. They kind of get left to figure it out. We teach in "passing". His teacher said they thought Haley was the social one of our kids, but they have taken that back after having Mason. Apparently that kid talks even more. I seriously didn't think that was possible. Good thing our elementary school has a couple years to prepare for him.....especially once you hear how Haley has stormed that school.

According to the principle, "Haley walks the halls like she owns the place." At first, my thoughts were "oh dear. I have a snotty little brat that needs to be taken off her throne." But no, she is just so full of life, social with everyone, and beyond confident in herself. I'm ok with that. :) Right now, the only assistance she needs at school is getting on/off the first step of the bus. I LOVE it! The teacher says she is so typical that she doesn't even notice her as being any different in the classroom.....in fact, Haley is the least of her concerns compared to some of the other "typical" students. She's even doing better than many with her fine motor skills. Education wise, she is right on track and already starting to read. She has achieved all her letter identification and sounds for the year. Yes, for the year.....we are just ending the first quarter. And she is starting to write phonetically. She has such a love for learning, especially reading. Collin inspires her and I love her drive to follow him. Every night when we tell him it's time to read, she exclaims that she has to read to.....Mason follows suit and they all snuggle down in the living room with a book. He is such an example for his younger siblings. I couldn't ask for a better leader. Now if Haley & Mason could just take after his ability to know they don't have to talk ALL the time.

I did have one burning question going into Haley's conference....."have there been any issues/questions from the other kids about her having differences." I thought the teacher was going to laugh at me.....actually, I think she did. With Haley's attitude, and social/behavioral skills, kids don't notice anything. She said they just know sometimes she needs help up or down from the floor.....they know when to help and when to not and that's it. Kids amaze me!

I am so blessed to have 3 amazing kids.....so very proud!

A day worth noting

I know I have A LOT of catching up to do on here......and one day I will get to it, I will, promise! BUT, today's events could not be pushed back for a later date. Today the most amazing thing happened out of nowhere. I sat in the Children's Mercy waiting room......just like I do every other week for the past almost 5 years now......but today, I sat and looked up to see my little boy take his first independent steps! I was in awww to see him leave his walker and take those two little miracle steps to me....completely unprompted and on his own. It was beyond describable the joy I felt. I honestly couldn't believe what I just saw. And then he did it again, and again, and again. Things haven't always seemed very clear on what his capabilities would be.....until today. Thank you Lord for the un-describable joy and overwhelming blessings today! (forgive the fact that the video is sideways....phone video and I can't flip it!) Oh well!

I stand corrected, thankfully!

So as you know, going to Seattle was what we thought to be one of the best things we could do for our kiddos.......although I hate to admit, there was a moment of skepticism after-the-fact. We knew Mason needed his knee surgery now, to get that leg straightened and give him his best chance at balancing out and walking. It was so very flexed (90 degrees) that I knew in my mind that the doctor would have to, at a minimum, lengthen the hamstrings, and then possibly a joint capsule release as well. He came out of surgery and told us he relocated the kneecap, aligned the muscles of the quad and surrounding the kneecap to hold it in place, but nothing else. His knee was still flexed. In that moment, I felt my heart sink and felt suddenly nauseated. "What in the world just happened? We came out here for a reason and we are still at square one?" He tells us that he feels it will straighten out with stretching only in a dynamic brace and wants us to give it a year. I feel even worse now.....thinking we've made a bad choice and gotten nowhere. Now it's going to be another year of the same battle and yet another surgery.....why didn't they just do it now? Here's why: The doctor was right! It's only been 6 weeks since we started the stretching and Mason's leg is about 10-15 degrees from being perfectly straight, which is next to nothing. It is amazing!!!! I am even more amazed with the doctor! I have no doubt that we will gain that last 10-15 degrees within the next couple of weeks. It straightens each week effortlessly. So now, his right leg is so straight that we've gone from needing a lift on that leg to now needing a lift on the left leg. Go figure! LOL!

Wait......what?

Haley, so very excitedly, says to me: "Mommy, when I get bigger, I'm going to go to kindergarten! Right Mommy?!!?!"......."yep, you sure are!".....

Mason, very excited as well, follows with "Mommy, when I get bigger, I'm going to".....it falls silent and suddenly there is concern in his voice....."wait, Mommy, what am I going to do?".........all I can do is laugh.

Here or There?

It's 9:30 Thursday night and my girl goes in for surgery in St. Louis in the morning. The problem is, I'm laying here in a hospital in Kansas City with Mason. For those of you geographically challenged.....we're on opposite sides of the state! Do you have any clue as to how hard it is being HERE when I want to be THERE, but I'm needed HERE too!!!

It's not Mason's fault though.....poor little guy just wants to go home to his own bed (can't blame him on that one!) He started getting sick yesterday afternoon and just kept throwing up today. He still acted OK, puny, but making tears & a couple wet diapers. I decided we should take him in just for good measure, get him back on his feet before leaving for St. Louis....nothing a little IV fluids wouldn't kick in an hour or two. Yeah right! His count should have been between 24-36.........12. 12 was Mason's count. Waaaayyyy too low to even think about releasing to go back home & recouperate. Go figure! So HERE I am!

Undoubtedly one of the hardest decisions to make is which child to be with. One is very poorly sick and the other having surgery. I think if Haley was younger, it might have been a little easier. But now, she's at the age where she knows & understands what is going on and she is going to know I'm not THERE! I pray she doesn't ever think I chose Mason over her.....I chose the situation. I'm a mess, cry at the drop of a hat, and completely exhausted. I didn't figure I was in any shape to be driving her & I across state, go thru surgery, and come back. Then there's Mason who also understands who is and isn't with him and he wanted mommy!

I know daddy is perfectly capable of taking Haley and getting thru surgery on his own....we've only done it a million times. But it's heartwrenching not to be there for her! So why not cancel & reschedule? Well, there's a thought.....but why would I do that? For my own selfish reasons of wanting to be there for her when I know she'll be just fine with daddy (and papa is going too)? The fact that the doctor specially worked her in so that she could recover from this hand in time to get the other hand done in time to not ruin her whole summer before she starts KINDERGARTEN? The timing is all based on what's best for her.....so she can rehab and be ready for school. So I'll sit here and work on kicking my guilt of not being with her and hope she knows how badly I wish I could be in two places at once. I love my tough little girl.....I know she'll do great! Mamma on the other hand......we'll see.

Therapy on the swing

Very proud of Mason.....this was a first for him!

Who's knocking?

At 3 am I was awoken to what I finally realized was someone knocking. The knock was coming from inside the house though......sounded like from Mason's room. This would be impossible though. Mason just got released for weight bearing this week and is just barely starting to get around & tolerate things. We put him to bed in both leg braces, one locked out for stretching, a towel wrapped between his legs to continue helping with hip abduction per the doctor, and a hand splint on one hand. It would seem logical to me that it would be physically impossible for this child to crawl out of his toddler bed and make it across his room to the door. So my next thought is that Haley has ventured into his room.....nope, she's sound asleep in her bed. The knocking continues and then I hear Mason, "Mommy!" I open the door and there he sits. I think to myself "Seriously? What could possibly motivate you enough to go thru all this effort at this hour?"........so I ask Mason, "What do you need?" and he replies "a kleenex." Really? Who knew a kleenex could be so motivating?