Almost to the end of Senior year!

On the Homefront

You know it's been a crazy week when I start with the homefront first.  Our calendar has looked like a mosaic with all of the different colored boxes overlapping and butting up next to each other.  This week the boys have had 3 medical appointments, 2 meetings, an SOL test, and college placement testing.  This is on top of regularly scheduled activities - horseback riding, youth group, and gymnastics practice.  And, my husband had a church meeting squeezed in there.  My husband and I are tired!

Although it was a crazy, busy week, these were all necessary things that were accomplished. That is always a good feeling.  

We have a fairly relaxed weekend ahead of us, so we are looking forward to that.  We are going to a cookout Saturday evening.  We have 2 invitations for Sunday.  Not sure we will make it to both.  S is volunteering all day Monday.  As long as the weather is nice, my husband, J, and I will hang out at the beach during that time.  Looking forward to that!

The Senior

S has had things on the calendar every day this week - Chiropractor, Social Security meeting, College Placement testing, Youth Group, meeting with DBVI Vocational Rehab counselor, and horseback riding.  

With all of the various agency meetings S has had to attend lately, there have been a lot of discussions at home about his future.  They are always interesting conversations as S’s ADD starts to run rampant.  My husband does a good job of summarizing our conversations in his post, Simple problem solving.

This was a week of getting answers and planning the next steps forward. All of the frustration S has felt in the weeks building up to this point is gone as he sees how it all fit together. He got through the wave. Last night was one of the first nights in a LONG time that we didn't have things we needed to get together or discuss or finish something up. He enjoyed that very much.

The big news this week is that S is done with English!!!!  He has one class to finish up for his senior year - German IV.  As he told me yesterday, “You know, I can sit and do that for hours.”  

He hasn't volunteered all month since he has been working hard to cross things off his to-do list. He will be volunteering for 6 hours on Memorial Day.

Tonight we are going to Busch Gardens to partake in the Food and Wine Festival while J is at practice. J figured S could eat his way through the park tonight and make recommendations for when he is able to go. The Food and Wine Festival is S's favorite activity there!

The Sophomore

J had a busy week also.  He started his week with bloodwork for his allergy testing.  He has ended his week with a 730 appointment with the Pediatric Nephrologist for a follow up for his high blood pressure.  My husband took him to the early appointment.

In between his bookend appointments, he had an SOL History test for school.  He has some projects to work on this weekend.  He finished up a project last weekend and is turning it in today (early) for extra credit.

He only had practice for 4 days this week since his coach was just returning from vacation.  J was glad to be back in the gym although he got a nasty rip the first night of practice this week!

What did I write this week?

Graduation is coming - ready or not!

How much did he cost? and other questions  

After this crazy week, you will find me on the couch (and the beach) with chocolate!

Linking up with:

Graduation is coming - ready or not!

My son is a senior.  My son is almost finished with the school year.  My son is going through commencement on June 13.  My son is not excited about this change.  He isn’t doing a countdown to the end of the year.  He may/may not be trying to prolong some of his work to keep the end from happening; however, it’s coming.

As the end of the school year is rapidly approaching, my son is also having to attend to many different transition areas:

*Meeting with Social Security

*Trying to figure out transportation since his pickup point is too far from our house and it isn’t safe to get there (no sidewalks)

*Teleconferences and meeting with his Vocational Rehab counselor to create an Individualized Employment Plan (There is great stress/anxiety involved with this since he doesn’t know exactly what he wants to do when he grows up.  We tell him it is one step at a time.)

*Placement tests at the community college  

The reality for him is that this is going to happen.  He is more accepting of it, but it doesn’t mean he likes it.  He informed me one afternoon that “growing up sucks!”  Whether or not it does, we tell him repeatedly that it is happening.  Embrace it!

All that being said, Monday was a breakthrough moment for him.  Last Friday he had a teleconference with his Voc Rehab counselor to discuss some ideas for his employment plan which will be developed at a meeting on Thursday.  

[On any given day, his plans for the future change.  He has ADD and is always in “think” mode about his options for the future.  We are okay with that, but the counselor needs something to write down on his plan.  My son’s passion is History, and we have discussed many different career paths for a History major.....]

So, he told his counselor he thought he might go with a Business degree which has been "briefly" discussed before.  

Three days later, on Monday morning, he told me that he spent a lot of time thinking about his future over the weekend and he feels strongly about pursuing a career in History.  I told him that he would need to discuss that with his Voc Rehab counselor at their meeting on Thursday.  

“Oh, I already talked to her.”  

“What?”
“I called her this morning and told her my thoughts.  I explained to her that I really want to do something History related.”

Wow!  I told him I was impressed with him taking control of the situation and contacting her.  

Within 30 minutes of the above conversation, he had talked himself into possibly pursuing an Economics degree.  At that point, I told him he can’t call his counselor every time he changes his mind.  He laughed because he knows how frequently he is doing it.  

Graduation is coming.  He is now looking forward to the festivities involved with it, but he still thinks that growing up sucks.  Gotcha!  It’s happening though.

I will be on the couch with chocolate observing my son as he is getting ready to graduate...and wondering when that little 4 year old boy who came into our lives 14 years ago grew up.

End of the Year Craziness

The Senior

S has had a busy week.  He is working diligently to finish up his last two courses, English and German IV.

It has also been a busy week of working on his to-do list.  He has made contact with various agencies and offices.  He is working hard to coordinate accommodations for his placement tests at the college.  His Vocational Rehab counselor at DBVI was happy to hear from him.  An appointment has been scheduled to meet with her.  He has one week that already has 4 appointments scheduled.  He’s not excited about that; however, they will be done.

S still struggles with the challenge of not knowing what he is going to do when he grows up. We have tried explaining to him, along with the help of other adults in his life, that it is okay to not know exactly.  People change their minds as they are exposed to other opportunities.  He has been told that he needs to move forward.  Indecision can’t stop you from doing something. I think he’s getting it, but the challenge is real.  

S had a chiropractic appointment on Monday (she was an adult who gave guidance referencing the above topic).  This morning he had horseback riding.  He isn’t volunteering again this weekend.  Still trying to give him time to wrap some things up.

The Sophomore

J had a busy week at school.  They are gearing up for exams.  He has his AP History exam next week and a Chemistry SOL (VA’s standardized tests) the next day.

J had a doctor’s appointment Monday morning for a very swollen lymph node behind his ear (visible across the room).  They realized while we were there that he needed another immunization.  They could do it that day or come back as a walk-in.  We have tried the walk-in option before.  It’s not as simple as they make it sound.  He said, “I’m here.  I will do it today.”

J had 14 hours of practice this week.  He stayed home Monday night.  His text to me after school had a poop emoji and the phrase “I feel like I’m dying.” His allergies are really bad, and he can’t take a lot of medications to help with them because of his high blood pressure.  The doctor thinks that is what caused his lymph node to be so swollen; however, she measured it and recorded it. It fell into the monitor category. It is much smaller now.  

J spent time creating t-shirts for a family reunion we will be attending this summer while we are in Minnesota.  My mother-in-law’s family is having a reunion.  There are 9 kids in her family. We worked it so S’s graduation party would be around the same time.  My husband hasn’t seen many of his cousins in 20+ years.  He would like to see them.  Each sibling’s family was designated a color to wear.  J said he would design a shirt for our group to wear.  We placed the bulk order this weekend, so I guess we better remember to bring them with us.

On the Homefront

We were able to get a lot done on our to-do list last weekend only to continue adding things.  I need longer paper.  

I ended up having the flu Saturday night.  Yeah!  That wasn’t fun. Thank goodness I was the only one who had it.  Unfortunately, that meant we couldn’t preview our family pictures on Sunday.  We are doing that this weekend.

We are continuing to work on our to-do list.  The calendar is filling up quickly with J’s exam schedule and S’s appointments.

J and I have been working on S’s photo boards for his graduation party.  Since we are taking the party on the road, everything needs to be done before we get there.  We want to enjoy our time in Minnesota without having to do additional tasks that could have been done already (like the photo boards).  It has been a lot of fun going through the pictures.

This weekend we are going to keep working on our list.  For Mother’s Day, we are going to enjoy time together.  We are grilling for supper that night.  The men in my house are good cooks.  I am very thankful for that!

What did I write this week?

We spoke “Bulgarish”.

High Blood Pressure Awareness Month

Happy Mother’s Day!  I will be on the couch with chocolate enjoying my family.

Linking up with:

Get Through the Wave

My son, S, is rapidly approaching graduation.  He’s not excited about graduating because real life is on the other side of that milestone.  For a young adult who has multiple disabilities, he has a few more things on his to-do list than other young adults.  He has been a little stressed about “life”.  We spend a lot of time talking to him about this.

The past few months have been busy for S.  He has been arranging transportation for himself through Paratransit.  He is applying for SSI.  He has had to establish himself as a client with the Department of Blind/Visually Impaired Vocational Rehab.  He needs to coordinate with DARS since he is now a client of DBVI also.  These are just the service related pieces he is working to put in place.

He has college things he needs to do also.  He has applied to college.  He has completed the FAFSA.  He needs to finish his College Algebra course and apply for ACE credit for that.  He needs to take his placement tests at the college, so he can register for classes.

These are all things we have been working on all year.  We didn’t just start doing them.  We have known they needed to be done.  To my 18 year old son, it is all just a little overwhelming.

Yesterday, he was talking to me about how much there is to do yet.  I explained to him that the hard stuff is over.  He didn’t believe me.  We talked about how much he has already done.

*Transportation has been applied for and approved. We just need to figure out how it is going to work.

*He has filled out the application for SSI and gathered supporting documentation.  He needs to make an appointment and go to the Social Security office.  I told him once he gets the final word from them then he can plan accordingly.

*He has already established himself as a client with DBVI.  Now, it’s just a matter of doing an employment plan and staying in touch with them.

*He just needs to stay in touch with DARS according to the plan he has established with them.

I told him it is like trying to get through a wave.  It is hard work, but it is nice on the other side. You can enjoy the water for a little bit.  We are beach people; he understands that.    

I may not be on the couch with chocolate if I can find a way to get everything done at the beach.

A thank you to my son, J, for his awesome beach photos.

(Get it?  It’s a huge thank you.)

Gymnastics, Horse Show, Break

On the Homefront

I am mixing my format up this week!  I figured that I should explain how crazy busy last weekend was in order to wrap everything up for the week.

Friday night we headed up to northern Virginia for J’s state gymnastics meet on Saturday.  We slept in Saturday and headed over to the Udvar Hazy Center which is an annex of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Center.  My husband, J, and I have been there before. S had not.  He loved it!  For my history loving son, there isn’t anything much more exciting than seeing World War II aircraft.

After a late lunch at Saladworks, we headed out for J’s meet.  He had a great meet!  After the meet, we ran to Starbucks and then ordered pizza.  We ate at 11:15 that evening.  Sunday morning we were up because we needed to be back for S’s horse show.  I was able to get his time slot changed from 11:15 to 2:00.  That was wonderful.  We could leave a little bit later.  It allowed us time to stop at Quantico for Jamba Juice.  It’s the little things in life that make us happy.  

We arrived an hour ahead of time for the horse show which gave us time to visit with other families and staff at the arena.  The weather was very nice for the show.

That brings us to Monday.  We were all quite tired on Monday.  It was a fairly routine week which was nice other than my husband coming home sick from work on Wednesday.

This weekend will be more relaxing than last weekend.  Thank goodness!  

The Senior

S was not excited about having to go up to northern Virginia with us; however, he had a great time at the Udvar Hazy Center.  He is ready to go back for a longer visit.  He enjoyed looking into the restoration hangar area.

He rode well at his horse show.  He has come a long way since he started riding out there. One of his former instructors was there to watch, so that was nice.  His side walker was able to be there since they switched his time to the later slot, so he was quite happy about that.

This week for school S finished his research paper!!!  He continued to work on College Algebra, History, daily journal writing, editing, and German IV.  He is almost done with the book, Without You, There is No Us.  He is on a 2 week break right now.  I’m sure he will be keep busy watching History videos and sleeping.

S has been busy finishing up some of the life paperwork things he needed to do.  He filled out his application for transportation on Sunday.  He also needed his doctor and ophthalmologist to fill out some papers for the application process.  He received an email Wednesday evening saying it had been processed and approved! Amazing!  Now, we just need to figure out how it all works.

He looked at some Career Interest websites since he will need to create his plan for employment with Vocational Rehab.  He gathered some documents together for his SSI application. He's getting quite annoyed with all of the processes and paperwork.  I understand, but it all needs to be done.  It was encouraging to hear back so quickly on his transportation paperwork.

S had a chiropractor appointment on Monday. He will start going every 2 weeks instead of every week. He has horseback riding this morning and will volunteer 4 hours on Saturday.

The Sophomore

I have to start J’s section off with an update on his state meet.  If you will allow one very proud mother to gush a little, stay with me.  He had the best meet of his season!  He improved his score in 4 of the 6 events and his All Around score.  He took 9th on floor, 11th All Around, and 1st on Parallel Bars!  This mother may or may not have been screaming, hooting, and hollering quite a bit!  He qualified for the Regional meet which will be next month.

Thanks to my husband for taking pictures and video taping the events.  My job is to text scores to family, friends, and our coach’s wife.

In addition to his exciting weekend, J had AP History homework to complete.  He had a Driver’s Ed test, an AP History test, and a Chemistry test this week.  He has an AP History project due on Monday and a Spanish project due on Tuesday, so he will be busy this weekend.  Can you tell the end of the quarter is coming? I promised Starbucks as a treat.  He has one week left of school before he is on break.

This week J had 17.5 hours of practice.  He is working on some new skills to include at the next meet.

What did I write this week?

California School Experiences

Save the Best for Last:  My Son’s View on Having CP

Therapy with Games

Linking up with:

Transitioning with DARS Part 2

After receiving notification that S qualified for the Vocational Rehab Program, he had to meet with his counselor again to create an Individualized Plan for Employment.  

He had to tell his counselor his educational plans and what he wanted to study.  He had to tell her what kind of job he wanted (Military Analyst) and where he thought he would be employed (Federal Government).

We have talked about this at home, and he is having some difficulty accepting that he is in this phase of life - college, job, moving out, becoming financially independent.  It has become more real this past year as some of his friends graduated, and he listens to their stories.

This was a good meeting.  Also, his counselor went over his responsibilities to achieve his goals (attending appointments, taking his medication, attending class, achieving a good GPA, etc).  This makes it all very real to him, and he knows that he is responsible for achieving his goals.  As I told him, we are all here to help him but we can’t do it for him.  It is up to him.

I will continue to support him in his endeavors while I am on the couch with chocolate.

[Side note:  Since this time, S has talked about some other career ideas.  If he changes his mind, he needs to meet with his counselor to make sure that everyone at DARS is on the same path as he is to help him achieve his goals.  Right now, he is in the information gathering phase and praying about different options.]