Let's Hear it for the Boy(s)

Its not my favorite way of posting, but due to the absolute craziness of life right now, I'm just going to post a few updates. Forgive me!

Shark Boy did indeed lose his first tooth last Friday. And promptly swallowed it. (It was snack time at school.) His teacher and I assured him that he could write a note to the Tooth Fairy explaining what had happened and that he would still receive a reward for his lost (literally) tooth. He was content with that and thrilled when the Tooth Fairy did indeed come through as we said she would.

We had discovered that our months-old camera was broken just days before, thus I have no photos of this monumental occasion...yet. Thank goodness for the Office Depot Protection Plan. (Our electronics seem to have my tendency towards accidents. Go figure.) Hopefully we'll have a replacement soon.

My foot continues to be a real pain. (Sorry. Couldn't resist.) It seemed to improve quickly, but I think I did too much on it too soon, so I've been back on the crutches for the last two days. Phooey. It has been extremely frustrating. Few things bother me more than feeling helpless, so its taken a lot of creativity and energy on my part to keep my attitude positive. (I think the only one more frustrated than I would be our poor puppy. I'm usually the one who walks her or at least keeps her moving throughout the day.) I did my grocery shopping with an electric scooter today. I'm all about humiliation, let me tell you! Nothing quite like trucking around on a scooter, passing little old ladies with walkers on the cereal aisle. I just couldn't figure out how else to do it -- can't push a grocery cart when you have to use your hands to move your crutches. And then there's the clingy 3 year-old.... He got to ride on my lap. It made his day.

Going back to the nearly 6 year-old: He has "stayed on green" for, gosh, two and a half weeks now. We are so thrilled. HE is so thrilled. Its all about the power of prayer, I assure you. That little guy has come SO far in the last year, its unbelievable.

I never posted an update regarding his IEP meeting. I sat down to do it multiple times, but never could find the motivation to go into it. It ended up not being an IEP meeting at all. It was what they call a Functional Behavior Assessment. Its what they usually do with kids who are exhibiting problem behavior (ie being bad) in an attempt to get them to stop said behavior or else certain agreed upon consequences would take place. We were not told that it would be a FBA. We were told that we would be revising his IEP. But I digress. Let me just summarize by saying that the gal in charge of his IEP is going to be a challenge with which to work. She basically announced to all present at the meeting that she felt our son was acting out to get attention. In other words, he's a brat. And she continued with that attitude throughout the meeting. This is a woman supposedly trained in special education services. I am convinced that she was more concerned about his behavior than his teacher and find it interesting that most of his issues occur(ed) while under the former's watch. All such behaviors were reported to me by this gal, with never a word from the teacher. But again, I digress! (See, this is why I avoided posting on it for so long. Its very complicated and almost seems moot because he IS doing so well right now.) On a more positive note, his teacher and the school psychologist seemed to actually be familiar with the needs of children with autism and I think we had a productive discussion with them in terms of ideas to try with our son to help things work more successfully for all involved. AND his teacher reported that he has been doing very well in terms of his actual academic, individual work time. What mama wouldn't be thrilled to hear that??

While in bragging mode, I cannot forget to mention my uber-talented hubby, who spent the weekend taking part in a whirlwind international book tour with a group of fellow young adult, fantasy fiction writers. Okay, so they only went to Canada, but these days it requires a passport, so travelling to Canada almost seems exotic. Almost. They also hit a couple locations around our state. For the curious, you can view video clips of their tour here.

Also, I would be remiss if I forgot to mention the crazy news over at our adoption blog, again.

And so, my brief update has blossomed into an multi-paragraphed monologue. All that's missing is a thesis statement. Sorry!

**Photos from a fundraising event held by my father-in-law at, of all places, a chocolate factory. How cool is that?!