1. Meet with school district to start Z's IEP and check out a few autism pre-k strategies classes
2. Tell school district special ed coordinator we want to potty train Z before he starts a class.
3. Get laughed at by school district special ed coordinator for wanting to potty train Z before he starts school.
4. M-HMM YOU GUESSED IT.. PROMPTLY POTTY TRAIN Z, half way anyway. He knows what to do when he gets in there and doesn't mind doing it but he has to be told when it's time to go. It's not perfect but understanding what to do in the bathroom is half the battle so we'll take it. Plus according to the special ed coordinator, it takes months if not a year or two just to train "normal" boys.
5. Try to figure out what that half crying/laughing sound is ......
6. Figure out the sound is my husband who is realizing the amount of $$$ we are now suddenly saving going from 6 diapers a day down to 1 or 2 pull ups!
7. Go visit first classroom and watch as the teacher actually takes the lesson to the kid who is bouncing around the room and when he gets it wrong she says, "Well that was close", walks back grabs something else and takes it to the another kid who is also bouncing around the room. Um... yeah... that's not gonna happen m-kay?
8. Worry that finding a class for Z is not going to be as easy as we thought. He is too advanced for the (musical chairs/I don't really care if they learn anything/I'm just a paid babysitter) classroom we just saw but may not be advanced enough for the other. Do I smell home school in his future?
9. Wonder if it really matters because once he turns 6, if he is not able to mainstream his only option will be home school anyway as far as we're concerned.
10. Send out more emails to the few legislators that actually care about our kids thanking them and hopefully encouraging them to continue to support the newest Autism related bills that have been proposed.
11. Receive email from our Regional Center Coordinator that our tutor who has been with Z from the beginning can suddenly no longer get paid the amount of money she's been making for the last year and a half because she doesn't have a degree (even though the law clearly states that she doesn't have to have one as long as she is under the supervision/tutelage of someone who does)... all because a few people decided to scam the system by "paying" their older children to work for them. THANKS SO MUCH FOR THAT!
12. Actually wonder if this was 10 years ago before my boobs were introduced to gravity if I would have considered working "on the pole" in order to pay for Z's rising therapy costs... nah... well...nah
13. Receive traffic ticket from cop who then wants to chat me up for 10 minutes like we were suddenly the new Lenny and Squiggy.. (sorry young ins... if you don't get the reference, they were best friends, good show called Laverne and Shirley, look it up) I do my best to educate the wasted youth that I like to call the "whatever" generation.
14. Receive notice from Wells Fargo that they are getting rid of free checking and we will now have to pay $5 a month per checking account for the privilege of having them screw up our finances and swarm us with super contrite and may I mention annoying fake chit chat whenever we walk into the building.
14. Husband receives TRIFECTA of traffic tickets from stereotypical she-cop out to take no prisoners.
15. Disinfect the entire house after all 3 of us surviving a nasty 10 day cold, Z dealing with staph and strep.
16. Go to local Autism Fundraiser for the organization that never called me back when we were first trying to figure this whole thing out only to have our son called a "weirdo" by a couple of older girls and then have another child punch and kick the crap out of him in the bounce house because he mistakenly thought Z touched his back when it was actually one of the little girls who accidentally bumped into him.
17. Watch husband impressively keep his cool and take the higher road as he gets his ass handed to him verbally by the mother of said bounce house bully when he tries to explain what actually happened. Her son has Sensory Processing Disorder so we couldn't possibly understand!
18. Take deep breath and use every ounce of restraint I have to not say the words, "Well I can see where he gets it!" Actually feel bad that her poor son will grow up thinking he never has to take any responsibility for his actions in life because he has Sensory Processing Disorder. Also thinking, how lucky she is; I wish that was all our son had to deal with! Here her son is obviously highly intelligent, high functioning, speaking perfectly and our kid can't speak up for himself or defend himself. I shouldn't say Z can't, it's more that he doesn't realize that he needs to because he simply doesn't understand what is happening when someone picks on him.
19. Mental note: Sign Z up for martial arts the second he is able to follow better direction, hopefully in about a year! All of our kids had/have something going on... that's why we were at the event in the first place. Am I being too selfish? I just think it was really irresponsible of her to send her kid into a situation where he is almost certain to get bumped into knowing that his response to being touched is one of violence! I don't even mean irresponsible in the sense that he could hurt other kids; I feel bad because she was setting him up to have a negative experience. We're at an event for Autism, take 2 seconds and talk to the other parents around the bounce house so we can work together to make sure all our kids have a good time, that's all. WE SHOULD BE ON THE SAME TEAM!
Trust me when I say Z is not an angel, he does this thing where he takes his index finger and pokes people in the nose and he also is fascinated by the little bit of skin above people's elbow and will go up to complete strangers and pinch it! We are constantly on guard when we take him out and try to intercept him but are not always successful. The difference is that we are always very apologetic and genuinely feel horrible when it happens; and we would never start screaming at another parent when our child was the one in the wrong.
I have to say the realization that my son could not even be accepted or safe at an event for his own condition was a reality check my husband and I were not prepared for but I guess definitely needed to once again pull us out of our Autism bubble. It's days like that that actually make me GRATEFUL for the Autism because as far as we can tell Z didn't miss a beat; he doesn't know what a "weirdo" is yet so the words can't effect him and while he was confused as to why someone was trying to hurt him; the second the kid was yanked from the bounce house he was right back up smiling and jumping in the middle while his ladies were jumping all around him. Hmmm coincidence? Nope, he is nothing if not an opportunist and I have the strangest feeling he will use his Autism to his advantage every time! THAT'S MY BOY!
20. OK May and June... let's see what you've got, can't wait lol!
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| Z with his two ABA tutors, Brittany and Miranda! |
