The First Day of School

Today was Hutton's first day of first grade. New school, new teachers, new bus driver. He had half-day kindergarten last year, four days a week. This year, six hour days, five days a week. I was nervous about it. Would he be annoying the teacher from the moment he entered, asking her over and over again, "What time is lunch?" and "When are we going to get lunch?" Or would he only ask once and wait patiently until lunchtime?

While Hutton was at school, Harrison and I had lots of fun. Oh wait, no we didn't. We went first to the Department of Licensing to get my driver's license renewed. [Interestingly, this is listed as a "Driver License" online. I guess they didn't want to mess with that apostrophe. Is it one driver's license, or is this every drivers' license? Hmm. Just take out the apostrophe and S!] The renewal process involved taking a number, sitting several minutes, having my vision checked, then taking a new picture, which looks ass-tastic. Why does my hair always have to look like greasy animal pelts when I'm getting my license picture taken? I washed it! Really! Well, maybe it won't look so heinous when the real license arrives in the mail in a week. Yeah, I'm holding my breath on that one.

Next in our morning tour of fun: the vehicle emissions test station. Yes, my car had to be tested in order to renew my (overdue) car registration. (Did I mention my license also was overdue, expiring on my birthday two weeks ago? Whoops!) Hang out in another line, this time in my car. At least this time I got to listen to the radio.

Next up: Another Department of Licensing. This one for the car registration tabs. I didn't want to risk getting pulled over with expired plates, so I stood in yet another line to get new tabs, rather than do the easy thing and mail them a check. While Harrison and I stood in line, a man with a prosthetic leg came in. Can you guess who pointed at the man and said really loudly, "Look, Mommy! Look at that!" Sigh. I told Harrison it's not polite to point at people, though I'm sure I would've been intrigued by a prosthetic leg and pointed at the man when I was four, too.

After all that fun? I took Harrison to McDonald's. No further comment.

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Hutton got off the bus around 3:20, and I asked him about his day. He didn't tell me much, but I opened his backpack and found a wondrous half-sheet of paper. It was a grid, filled with stars. Down one side were listed the activities of the day, and across the top were the proper behaviors expected of Hutton. Every single grid had a star in it! Twenty-eight stars! I high-fived Hutton and told him how happy, proud, excited, etc. I was that he'd earned all of his stars on the first day of school. Of course, that just means he's set the bar very high for himself this year! We'll see.

Harrison gets the day off tomorrow -- he gets to go back to preschool in the morning, instead of running more fun and exciting errands with Mommy.

Autism: The Musical

I'm watching it now on HBO.com. To watch it yourself, free until Sunday on the website, click here.


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Let's see. What's going on around here?

Easter was fun. The boys were excited when I came upstairs to get them Sunday morning and said, "I just saw a rabbit in the driveway! I think it was the Easter Bunny!" Then, they came downstairs to find their eggs. I put jelly beans in Harrison's eggs, and some awesome fruit snack gummi bears I found at Safeway that are corn syrup free(!!) in Hutton's eggs. (The gummi bears were mentioned on an autism list, and I bought two boxes. They're in the baby food section of Safeway, the Safeway O Organics brand, toddler fruit snacks. They look just like real gummi bears, and Hutton, whose diet is gluten, casein and corn-free, among other things, loved them!) I put their eggs in separate rooms so they wouldn't get the wrong ones.

After the boys found their eggs, Hutton went upstairs to tell Hubby that the "Easter Monster" came and put some eggs in the dining room. I don't have any idea where he got "Easter Monster" from, but Hubby and I found it amusing.

Today, there was a message in Hutton's notebook from school. Apparently, another boy in his class scratched him, and it started bleeding. He went to the nurse and got an icepack. Anyway, the teacher wrote that they thought Hutton was instigating things with the boy who scratched him. They were always having to tell Hutton to leave him alone, stop hitting him, etc., until they finally realized it was the other little boy who was poking Hutton first, and Hutton was retaliating, and then it escalated to the other boy scratching Hutton's neck. Thankfully, they moved the other boy so he won't be sitting next to Hutton any more. We'll see. I just think it's interesting that they thought it was Hutton doing the instigating. I saw the other little boy at a birthday party last week, and he was wrestling with another boy there a lot. It was playful and all, but I can see that Hutton would not want to deal with that. He and Harrison wrestle a bit, but Harrison always wants to keep going long after Hutton is feeling "touched out" and needs some space.

Off to watch the musical. Let's see how it compares to Cats. Just kidding.

I'm Still Here

Hutton and Harrison posing with Mommy. Actually, that's the snowman we made.
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For those of you wondering about my absences of late, I'm still here. I've been a poor blogger this month -- both reading and writing.

Some excuses: My desktop computer died, and I had to get Hubby to get my laptop to work for me in the meantime. (A few years ago, when Hubby started working from home, he had to turn in his old work laptop, and just commandeered mine -- which I didn't use much, but still, it was a gift from my MIL! --to go along with the other three computers he has on his desk. After he started back at a big software company here, he got a new work laptop, but still kept mine. I finally asked for it back, and he gave it to me, but without any way to access the Internet. Uh, thanks, Honey. I don't use the Internet at all! So, when my desktop stopped working, I asked Hubby if I could access the Internet on my laptop, and Hubby set it up so my laptop will hook up to our wireless network again.) Hubby got my laptop working, then, after about a week, he fixed my desktop! Wahoo! I was functioning OK with the laptop, but it took a long time to get used to the keyboard, as I am accustomed to the weird rounded ergonomic one at my desk, and I didn't have access to my Outlook calendar and email contacts on the laptop. I could check email online, but I still felt I was going to forget some world-changing appointment without access to Outlook. Thankfully, that wasn't the case. Phew! But now, I have my laptop downstairs, so I can lounge on the couch looking things up online while the boys watch too much TV, and go upstairs to check email and do serious typing on my desktop. Ah, technology, I love you!

Second excuse: School, or the lack thereof. Last week was Martin Luther King, Jr. day, which I think is a very important holiday to remember. But, it means three days of school for Hutton versus four. Plus, this Monday, there was a teachers' only day at Hutton's school, and it snowed three inches here in addition, so Harrison didn't have school, either. Tuesday school was delayed because of lingering snow, so again, no school for Hutton as morning Kindergarten was canceled, and Harrison doesn't have school on Tuesdays. I don't know why, but just missing two hours of time to myself for a couple of days is enough to throw off my internal workings somehow. Plus, Hutton's home therapist couldn't make it Monday because of the snow (yes, we live in Washington state, where they don't believe in plowing roads or using salt -- at least not in the western half of that state -- in the event of snow. The world grinds to a halt. I still got out on the roads Monday and was fine. If nothing else, there wasn't any traffic, but I was worried about being hit by a driver who wasn't used to driving in snow.) Today, the therapist is sick and can't make it.

The problem with this lack of school and therapy is that I'm not exactly using our time wisely. Sure, we got Hutton's homework done, and played outside in the snow Monday, and went to the library Tuesday, but the rest of the time has been squandered in front of the TV. What's that, boys? You want to watch a fifteenth hour of Sponge Bob? Sure! No, I'm not even pushing the educational TV on them! The boys, to their credit, did manage to play together for some non-TV related activity. I got a package Monday that came in a gigantic box, filled with various packing materials that entertained the boys for several hours.

Anyway, I'm back, and I'm going to try to be better about posting more of this banal crap on at least a twice weekly basis, as well as reading all of your blogs, my blogging friends!

Oh, but I have accomplished a few things this month! I almost finished knitting a sweater, which is frumpy looking as it is too big in the torso, but fits everywhere else. Hmm. I'm sure I can reknit the torso section, but I think it will involve math skills. I'm not good with sweater math: "Using the larger needles, pick up 198 stitches along the upper yoke." Hmm, there are 223 stitches there now. How do I turn 223 into 198, while spacing the stitches evenly around? Agh! My brain hurts! So, if I do decide to reknit the torso, it will probably mean the sweater will not be ready until next year. But, I think the frumpiness is beyond the realm of blocking. (Blocking is when you wash the knit item, then leave it out to dry so that it will dry in the shape you want it to be. It's much easier to block a wool sweater to fit, as it will shrink or stretch a bit, but I don't think cotton/acrylic blends do that very well.)

And, I took the boys skiing for a second time last Friday. Hutton had a lesson with Outdoors for All, which does outdoor activities with kids and adults with disabilities. He had two instructors work with him for an hour, and the main instructor told me afterward that Hutton was great at following directions and had good balance. Who knew? So, having someone else teach him is definitely easier. Harrison didn't have as much fun. He got cold, fell on the "magic carpet" lift, got colder still, and ended his hour of skiing crying and fussing. Oh well, one kid had fun! Hutton was smiling afterward and told me he liked going fast. So, we'll have to see if I can convince Harrison to give skiing another try, and get him a personal instructor as well, instead of impatient Mommy.
Some exciting video of Sally running in the snow. Turn the volume off if you don't want to hear my loud, annoying voice.

Personal Service

This morning, as I was lying in bed, trying to wake up, though I'd been up a few times already to get Harrison back in bed at 4:30 a.m. when he woke up saying, "Watch it again!" and with Hutton jumping in bed with me and doing his version of the worm a few times (you remember that old breakdancing move, don't you?) I was trying to gather my thoughts to remember what I needed to do.

Finally got moving and did the first thing -- schedule an appointment tomorrow for the lovely Jetta to have recall maintenance done on her brake light, which happens to be burned out anyway, so I needed to get it done. Then I saw the email messages from the teacher and the ABA consultant about school for Hutton next year. I tracked down the special education director's phone number and left a message that I need to go observe the first grade contained class at Sunrise* Elementary. Yes, now that it's the LAST WEEK of school. I love being frazzled, really. But we just had Hutton's IEP, and then re-evaluation last week, so I didn't know what everyone else thought would be best for Hutton until last Wednesday, then Thursday was the big field trip, and Friday we had his ABA session. Oh well. I'll get it figured out.

Another email just read came in, from our insurance company, telling me that Hutton's coverage for ABA was set until September, then we'd need an update. OK. The last line was the one that really got me: "I hope Sutton is doing well~!" Hmm. Did you not notice that his name was Hutton one sentence previous? Do you think we have one of those kids whose name gets changed around as often as possible, to keep him on his toes? Good idea! Better go get Barrison a snack. Hey! I like it!


*Sunrise -- I'm feeling weird about this school, that I know nothing about, because of a cat, of all things. My in-laws have lots of cats. They had a few, then after Hubby's grandmother passed away, his parents went to clean out her house and there were lots of cats, thanks to the fact that her "intact" kitty had just had a litter.
One of these kittens, Sunrise, has Kitty CP or something that caused him to have no motor skills in his hind limbs, so the poor thing lives in the back bathroom with a gate up to keep him inside. He has lots of uncontrollable twitches and drags himself along on his front paws. I just feel bad every time I see this cat. He's a beautiful gray cat with yellow eyes, but doesn't get to the litter box well, and...it's just not the best situation for a cat, let's say. And every time I hear the word, "Sunrise" this is what I think of. If "Sutton" ends up in Sunrise Elementary....well, we'll see!

More Random Stuff and School Meetings

Yesterday, Harrison and I went to the postal annex at the mall while Hutton was doing speech therapy so I could mail a package. We were waiting in line, and some older, late 50s "gentleman" with greasy gray hair and a Hawaiian shirt was talking on his cell phone, leaning on the counter by the line. He was talking loudly enough that anyone in the vicinity could hear. I didn't really pay attention until he started talking about hooking up with the Southwest flight attendant from Missouri. "Yeah, she's 65, and wow, what a crazy lady! Afterwards, she said, 'Whew! I needed that.' And I said, 'Yeah, me, too, baby!" Apparently whether they'd be able to meet up again in Reno was in question. Man, I sure hope it works out for the guy. It really sounds like they made a love connection. Another customer finished paying, and looked at me and said, "I'm sorry you had to hear that," as he looked at Harrison. I smiled and nodded, but really, Harrison wasn't listening and wouldn't have known just what the IT was. The old greasy guy really was proud of himself and probably wanted everyone to know -- he's still got it, baby!

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Today I had the follow up to Hutton's re-evaluation meeting at school. There was a bunch of different testing done to make sure Hutton still applied for special services at school. Hmm, he has Autism, talks at about the same level as his 3 year old brother, and has gross and fine motor delays. I wonder.

So, I headed to the school, where the school psychologist led the meeting. Things were going well (or at least, not unexpectedly; Hutton was still delayed in verbal, gross and fine motor skills) until she pulled out the psychological test results, including Hutton's IQ. I grabbed a tissue as my eyes started watering in preparation for what I was going to hear. The psychologist looked at me and said, "Don't worry. We're not going to tell you any bad news!" Yeah, right. I don't think being told your child is below average IQ is exactly good news, do you? She kept repeating that some of the reason the testing doesn't go well is because of Hutton's autism, but that really doesn't make it all better to see the bell curve and all of your son's stats lying on the "wrong" side of the chart. I know that Hutton is smart in his own way, and have faith he'll excel, or at least be proficient in math and science in time, but still, seeing that thin yellow section of the curve where he resides is painful.

The psychologist did have one good point I hadn't thought about. Discussing placement for next year, she said that repeating Transition Kindergarten, which strangely enough, the teacher I dislike wants Hutton to do, based on his youth (he's the youngest in the class) and "immaturity", might not be the best idea. As the psychologist put it, most of Hutton's problems in school are not related to immaturity but to his disability. Autism. That's why he doesn't stay on task and get things done quickly. That's why he is easily distracted, hates disruptions to routine and loud places in the school. I really appreciated that the psychologist pointed that out in the meeting with the teacher, who always focuses on how immature Hutton is, sitting beside me to hear it. I just don't understand why this teacher, who seems to really not like Hutton at all, wants him to repeat the class. Her class. She's the only TK teacher in the school, and they are not going to bus Hutton to another town to be in a different TK class. Just a little bit odd. So, whereas last week I was resolved that repeating TK was the only option for next year, now I'm looking at the other option -- a first grade contained class. (Contained is an all special ed class, as opposed to a general education class.) There's only one week of school left. I guess I better get on it!

School Meeting

We had a meeting a Hutton's school this morning about his "re-evaluation." They do these every three years in the special ed world, apparently, to make sure a child still qualifies for services (read: do they have to spend $).

I waited in the office for a few minutes, reading the "prepositional houses" a class of sixth graders had made, while they set up in the conference room. One of Hutton's aides came through the office and told me how adorable Hutton is, even though he "Loves Mrs. X [the other aide] and always wants to be with her, not me!" Still, I love hearing how adorable my child is. Then I walked into the conference room, where a small table was set up, with name tags all around marking places.

His occupational therapist, speech therapist, and the school nurse were there, and the school psychologist led the meeting. I sat at the place marked "PARENT!" Hutton's teacher wasn't there yet. (We heard about her child vomiting at 7:45 when she arrived a few minutes later.)

I don't really know why the nurse was there. Then again, the school psychologist asked if Hutton was on any medications, so the nurse was probably going to let us know how they could help keep him drugged at school. I told the psychologist he wasn't on any drugs, just a special diet and supplements.

Psych: "So...nothing for ADD, or anxiety?"
PARENT!: "No."
Psych: "Hmmm. OK."

Yes, apparently the "Autism expert" (read that with heavy sarcasm) school psychologist thinks we should be drugging Hutton to help with his "anxiety and ADD." I, on the other hand, consider those part of his Autism, which we're treating biomedically. You know, going to the cause of the symptoms, rather than just masking them with drugs. Oh well, as long as Autism is a "mental" disability, covered under the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association (DMS-IV), I guess school psychologists will be involved.

The real "experts", the therapists and I, made it a little clearer that most of Hutton's issues were sensory -- he doesn't like the computer lab when all of the computers are on at once, or the library as they are too loud. He doesn't like when lighting is not working. He must smell everything given to him, and if it smells good (as apparently, crayons, glue, and play-doh do) he will then taste it.

Fortunately, his teacher was in better form than she's been in the past, too. She referred to Hutton as a "smart cookie" at one point when discussing his academic performance, which she ranked on a Kindergarten or higher level. Everyone in the room (except the "PARENT!" of course) talked about how young Hutton is. (OH MY GOD! A 5 YEAR OLD! IN KINDERGARTEN! IMAGINE THAT!) This led me to believe that I really could have had him in preschool another year, but I'm one of those stupid parents who doesn't fight for what they think is best for their child.

Anyway, the gist of the meeting is that I have to get some forms signed by a doctor to prove Hutton still has Autism so they can continue giving him the therapies he needs which are written in his IEP. (Read: They need the form signed to get their $) Because apparently, in the World of Special Ed, kids lose their Autism diagnoses all the time. Wouldn't that be great if it were actually true?

I live for the day when I can go a re-evaluation meeting and actually have them reclassify Hutton as ineligible for services due to his losing his diagnosis.

Weekly Catch-Up

Let's see.
The other day on Allie's blog, Allie said in her comment about my comment that I should post about this, so here it is:

On Tuesday, I saw this article about mutilated stingrays being found on Australian beaches, as "payback" for the death of beloved Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin. I didn't get around to posting about it, then saw Allie's post on Wednesday. So below is my contribution to the whole "let's get even with the stingrays" idea.

Many people do not know this, but I have heard that the stingrays had been planning this attack on Steve Irwin for YEARS! That's right. Stingrays have been anti-Steve ever since they were alerted to his existence by saltwater crocodiles. As soon as the stingrays found out about Steve's whole "conservation" gimmick and his extensive use of the exclamation, "Crikey!", they realized this goes against everything they as stingrays believe. (I don't want to get into the whole thing, but if you read the Stingray Manifesto, you can find out what the stingrays believe.) So, with the help of some saltwater crocodiles, a select group of stingrays made their way to caves in Afghanistan, where they lived and trained with Osama Bin Laden. As you can see, the stingrays are terrorists, and this stingray backlash is totally deserved.

However, it has also come to my attention that sea turtles are also evil, and attempting to take over the world. Along with the saltwater crocodile, they have the whole reptilian ability to live in water and on land, and are therefore set for TOTAL WORLD DOMINATION. Unlike the crocodiles, the sea turtles have managed to fool many into thinking they are peaceful creatures, which only helps their cause, as their human pawns help conserve their nesting grounds and try to prevent their destruction. But, as you can see, we must end the terrorism of the seas, and if we have to kill everything in the ocean, so be it. Though the stingrays killed Steve Irwin, we mustn't get distracted just killing them. No, we must make this an all out war on terrorism, and go after the sea turtles, too. If we allow the sea turtles to continue their rapid reproduction, they will fan out to spread the hatred. Whales and porpoises are bound to be next to jump on board the terrorism bandwagon, and if the penguins and adorable baby seals get wind of this...oh, I can only imagine what would happen!

Remember Steve Irwin, and do your part to stop the cycle of terror.

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Doo da doo...

Today, as I was helping Hutton with his homework, (thank God it's only a weekly thing!) I lost my patience at least a dozen times. I will NEVER, I repeat, NEVER homeschool my children because we'd all be in bad shape. Before Hutton, I once thought I could have been a teacher. I was a camp counselor one summer, and realized that the 11 and 12-year-old boys were fine, if immature. The girls, on the other hand, were BITCHES. I was never a bitch until I became an adult, so I was a bit surprised by how bitchy those adolescent girls could be! I watched a Dateline last night on the subject of mean girls. I'm feeling a bit relieved I have boys!

Anyway, I am a horrible teacher. All Hutton had to do was fill in a worksheet on the lowercase letter a, involving tracing the letter, then freehanding 3 of them. The tracing was fine. The freehand was not. "Hutton, you have to stay below the dotted line. It's a lowercase letter. No, don't go that way, circle around the other way. Around and down. Around and down. AROUND AND DOWN! Stay BELOW THE DOTTED LINE! SWEET JESUS, SAVE ME FROM THIS HELL!" Yeah, if I were a teacher, I'd be fired pretty quickly.

That said, there is definitely a problem with our schools, and I'm obviously not going to be of any help fixing the problem. Our kids really aren't learning in school. Let me give you another example.

This afternoon, I went to the local Jo-Ann store to return the suckiest knitting needles ever. (The other night, while watching a movie, I decided to knit so I wouldn't just waste time watching a movie. I like to multi-task, see. So, as soon as I picked up these bargain needles, they broke. The little plastic cord came off the needle part on one side, then on the other. I had not even started knitting yet. Jeez. I attempted to knit with them, replacing the cord every two seconds, then finally gave up.) So, since these were defective needles, I assumed I could return them to the store without a receipt. They were Jo-Ann brand, after all.

I head to the store. There is no one at the front counter, so I look around for a few minutes until a teenage girl appears and asks me if she can help me. I tell her I'd like to return the needles, as they were broken, but I don't have a receipt. She immediately looks like a deer in the headlights, and calls for back-up. The old biddy who comes to take over tells me that she can only give me a replacement of the same item since I don't have a receipt. I tell her since the needles are defective, I'd rather have a store credit so I can buy some better quality needles. She then tells me that I'll have to accept 40% off of the original purchase price as my credit, since that's store policy. (Jo-Ann routinely mails out 40% off store coupons, so I guess they assume anyone who shops there will have only paid 60% of the retail price.) I'm fine with that. These were really cheap needles anyway. You get what you pay for, right? So, Old Biddy leaves, and Teenage Girl is left to give me a store credit for 40% off of the original price.

TG: "Oh gosh, I hate math! 40% off of x. Hmm."
Me, doing the math in my head: "Well, 10% of x is y, so if you multiply that by 4..."
TG, getting calculator: "Uh, 40% of x..."
Me: "Multiply x by .40. Then subtract that from x."
TG: "Multiply by..." Puzzled look. "Ok, that's y." [No, it's not y, but hey, if you're going to manage to mess up a simple equation while using a calculator, and it's in my favor by 50 cents, I'm going to take it and just call it a stupidity tax.]

Finally, I get my very small store credit on a Jo-Ann Gift Card, then go off to find some better needles.

I return to the counter, along with 3 other customers. Again, nobody is at the counter to help. I yell, "HELLO!" a few times to get TG back up to front.

So, what did I learn from this? The teenage girl really does hate math, and as such is not really cut out to work at a store that doesn't do everything by computer. Also, that when you buy crappy merchandise, the store guarantee on the package is worth pretty much nothing. Or maybe it's 40% off of nothing. So, what would that be? I never got a reply to the email complaint I sent to Jo-Ann.com Wednesday night, either. Again, you get what you pay for, right?

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Last thing:

Driving in my car, before the trip to Jo-Ann, I was listening to NPR. There was news headline that caught my ear: "Fire managers say the Flick Creek fire burned another 275 acres yesterday and has now covered nearly 12 square miles. The fire was started July 26th by a woman burning her diary."

WTF? 12 square miles?! That's a huge f'ing fire. And a woman started it BURNING HER DIARY?!! What, did she go out to the driest field she could find, spread kerosene around, and throw the biggest f'ing diary in the world on top, then torch it? What exactly was in this diary that she had to burn it, anyway? Did she admit to horrible crimes? Hmm, maybe she wrote:

Dear Diary,

I hate Brad! He's a jerk!

Update: Nevermind! We're back together! Ignore all that stuff I wrote before about Brad.

Oh, also, I'm about to go out and commit arson. I'm going to start a big old fire. You know, there aren't enough out of control wild fires here in Central Washington. There's a big one in Southeastern Washington, but I really want to have the record HERE! But what should I burn? I just don't know.