Wrap Up Before School Starts

Wow! I cannot believe that this is the last Friday before school starts. I have a couple of children who are in denial about this fact. It has, once again, been a busy week. Obviously, life is normal at our house. We wouldn't have it any other way. School: S has been working a little bit on his College Algebra. He is plugging away on Brave Writer. He received his acceptance information from Hadley School for the Blind. We are waiting on his initial acceptance packet to arrive from there, so he can complete the high school entrance assignment in order to start his course "The Human Eye 1". He will be "full on" next week for his senior year! Appointments: This week consisted of 4 appointments. J went to the Orthodontist. He has had his braces on for 25 months, and there is no end in sight right now. He is still waiting on a tooth to fully come in. It has started (he's almost 16). Three of the appointments were for my husband. He went to the Chiropractor, Dentist, and Orthopedics. He is having shoulder surgery, and it was finally scheduled. He will be having that on October 29. We have been discussing the day-to-day realities of his surgery (clothing, limitations, recovery time, driving, etc.). I'm trying to explain to him that he won't be wearing dress pants, tucking his shirt in, and doing a belt with his arm in a sling. I'm not offering up my black yoga pants that were my main staple of clothing when I had a broken arm. I told him he needs to get to Target to buy himself some running pants. At least he won't have to worry about having to hook his bra. Practice: J had 18 hours of gymnastics practice again. Found out this week that he will continue with 5 days/week during the school year. He will be switching from Saturdays to Tuesdays. It will be 17.5 hrs/week instead of 18 hours. It is going to be a change at our house since Tuesdays were family night. Volunteering: S volunteered for 10 hours at the Casemate Museum. He will be volunteering on Labor Day for 4 hours since we aren't going away for the weekend. Driving: J has been getting more practice time. He has driven home from practice and to church. He also drove on the freeway. There are some crazy drivers around here. It is a different experience learning to drive here than it was for my husband and I learning to drive in rural Minnesota with our 1 set of stoplights in town. Fun times: This past Saturday I received a facebook message from friends that said, "We are in Williamsburg until Tuesday and saw how close you are. Are you free?" Oh my word! YES!!! We were stationed in Germany with this family with a follow-on assignment to Fort Rucker. We haven't seen them in 14 years. They came over for supper on Sunday evening, and we had such a fun time. It was great to catch up, talk about our Germany experiences, and share stories of who we have run into over the years. Looking forward to seeing them more often since they are now stationed in northern Virginia. Randomness: I received a text from my sister telling me that my nephew dislocated his knee the other night while dancing. I think he might be getting a "Dancing for Dummies" book for Christmas. We had a Gymnastics parents' meeting the other night. We realized that we are the "experienced" parents now. One of the younger boy's moms was asking us for advice on how to treat rips. We shared the secrets we know that have helped J. S received his time slot for horseback riding for the fall. He has an 8:30 slot on Friday mornings. That means we will be leaving our house at 7:30. He is excited about the Friday slot. If he works diligently during the week, he shouldn't have much schoolwork to finish when he gets home. That is one big reason he likes the Friday slots. Thursday night my husband and I had our Budget/writing date night. We completed our budget. Then, I was blogging while he finished writing notes to the kids who will be in his Sunday School class this year. This will be his fifth year teaching the Sr. High kids. He loves it!
As I roll into this last weekend of summer, I have realized that there are some new songs on the radio that I have enjoyed singing along with while driving (I have plenty of road time under my belt). Thursday morning while driving S to his volunteering, I heard all three. His response was, "Oh great! Sing along time with Mary!" That's right!! My Favorite Top 3 Sing Along Songs for Summer 2014: "Rude" by Magic "All About that Bass" by Meghan Trainor "Stay With Me" by Sam Smith
Labor Day weekend: This will be a relaxed, working weekend. S is volunteering at least 6 hours. He just put in for an additional shift.  

J does not have practice on Saturday which means we are having crepes for breakfast. My husband is an awesome cook!  

We have a yard project that needs to be finished before my husband has surgery, so we will be working on that. 

The upstairs bathroom is going to be painted also. If I hadn't purchased the new shower curtain 2 months ago, it probably still wouldn't get done. The whole project has become a "If you give a mouse a cookie" type project. If we are replacing the shower curtain and painting, we might as well replace ______. It was a two cart trip to Lowes.  

We are also going to a cook out at a friend's house. After all this excitement, I am going to try to find time to relax on the couch with chocolate!

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Tell Us a Little About Your Son

Every time we have moved or every time we have had to see a new doctor or the start of every new school year or...you get the picture...we are asked to tell this person or people a little about S.  That is easier said than done.  There isn't a little to tell about him.  There is a lot to tell.  The individual parts don't do him justice.

I will attempt to tell you "a little about S".

1.  He has Cerebral Palsy-Spastic Diplegia.  

a.  His CP impacts his legs primarily.  He used a walker when he was younger.  He walks with crutches now and uses a single crutch around our house.  He uses a wheelchair for longer distances. He had Botox injections for his legs when he was in the second and third grades.  He has also had muscle release surgery on both legs - heel cords, adductors, and hamstrings.  

b.  His fine motor skills are also impacted with the right side being impacted more than the left.  He has functional handwriting - words, numbers, signature.  His primary mode of writing is through word processing.  He types - slowly.  He also uses some speech recognition software.  

c.  His speech is also impacted a little bit by his CP.  His speech is breathy, sometimes he stutters, and sometimes he locks up and is unable to speak.  

d.  He had PT, OT, and Speech for a number of years.  He is currently not doing any outside therapy.

2.  He has Attention Deficit Disorder.  

3.  He has some vision issues which include nystagmus.  He may actually get a label of Low Vision, but we haven't had that conversation yet.  His accommodations for his CP have always covered any accommodations we might need for his vision.  He had muscle release surgery on both eyes when he was in the first grade.

4.  He has scoliosis.  He has been monitored by his Orthopedic Surgeon for a few years now.  There has been no treatment for this.

5.  He was treated for a number of years for Growth Hormone Deficiency.  He decided last year he was done with that.  The Pediatric Endocrinologist continues to follow him.

6.  He is allergic to Penicillin.  We found that out the one time we had to take him to the doctor for being sick.  He is extremely healthy!

7.  He is very smart.  He loves history and foreign languages and tolerates other subjects.

8.  He is a Christian.

9.  He doesn't like being called disabled.

10.  He loves rock music from the 80's.

11.  He turns 18 in December and will graduate in 2015 which is why we are working hard on transitioning him to adulthood.  

All of this listed above is why we always tell people, you have to meet him.  He is more than just a bunch of medical labels.  He is a whole package.

I will be on the couch with chocolate as I contemplate what else I could tell you about S.

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