Menu Plan Monday

It has been awhile since I have last done a "Menu Plan Monday" but since I wrote one up for this week (and for next week as well) I figured, I might as well share it, right? So here goes:

Monday:
D - Spaghetti with meat sauce, green beans, garlic bread and pears

Tuesday:
D - Frozen pizza, peaches

Wednesday:
D - Beef enchiladas, rice, beans, corn

Thursday:
D - Blue and Gold Banquet for Cub Scouts

Friday: (No School)
B - Pancakes, eggs and sausage
L - Homemade mini pizzas
D - Grilled chicken and spinach canneloni

Saturday:
B - Pancakes, eggs and sausage
L - Macaroni and cheese with baked ham
D - Grilled hamburgers and baked fries

Sunday:
B - Pancakes, eggs and sausage
L - Sandwiches and fresh fruit
D - Beef roast with potatoes, carrots, celery and onion, peaches

I am going to link this post up to Org Junkie's Menu Plan Monday this week. Head on over if you'd like and see what other people are planning for their menus.

Koren's Eyes

I put the drops in Koren's eye today, then snapped a picture of it with Hubby's phone (because my camera is MIA and has been for awhile now!) But anyhow, here ya go:

Isn't that odd looking? We love the kid regardless of his pupil size but it is a little bit odd to see him like this now. When Babycake's dad came to pick up Babycakes this afternoon, he saw Koren's eyes and said, "What the heck?" It really caught him off guard.

But the good news is that Koren seems to be doing well with it. He played outside in the shade for awhile, but came inside because the light was a little too much for him to handle. And now he is playing a video game. It seems he i snot quite as blinded by this drop as we thought he would be. Yay! That is GREAT news!

Exciting Change

I had mentioned in my Two Months in No Time Flat post that there were some very exciting new changes going on in our lives.

My husband has made the solid request that I stay at home.

In the course of our 11 year marriage, I have worked or gone to school nearly the whole time, minus end of pregnancy times. Sometimes, I had a "real" out of the home job, sometimes I had an out of the home job, but it was more of a self-employment kind of thing (CNA doing private duty, doing childcare in someone else's home, etc). Other times, it was an in-home job doing self-employment (marketing, sales, home childcare, etc) and then of course, some of it was spent in college. Most of the time, it was a combination of all of the above.

Late last year, I had switched from regular hours at my job as a private duty home health aide to a PRN schedule. But my PRN shifts were not very frequent. Then I got called on to do PRN for another family that I have been with for years and so then I was PRN at two different places. The only problem with this is that either they were both fine and didn't need me, or they both needed me at the same time. It was a real balancing act that was rather stressful for awhile there.

Meanwhile, Hubby had started a new job and was being cross-trained because the store manager (known as the general manager) wants Hubby to be an assistant manager in a certain area. So Hubby was working and getting more and more hours.

We worked hard to try to balance our schedules so that we were the ones home taking care of the children. There were times (some more frequent than others) where the kids would end up needing to spend time over at Hubby's parent's house. Which is fine. We love having them spend time with their grandparents but we also didn't want to rely so much on his parents for childcare.

Then, there came a slow spot in the PRN hours and during this time that I was home more, the children's behaviors and schedules improved, their grades and performance in school improved, the overall care of the house improved, I was able to focus much more on taking care of my home, my husband, my children and make them feel like they were really important, and not just something that I have to check off before rushing off to work. I know it may sound horrible, but sometimes, that's exactly what it felt like, and I'm sure that is what it felt like to them too.

Cephas began reading at or above grade level for the first time in four years, Koren began reading at or above grade level for the first time ever, Jeriah made such improvement that he was released from Special Education. Oralee, well, Oralee hasn't had much marked change but even still, with all of the other changes with the boys, we determined that it was due in large part to the time I was at home, able to focus on them and really help them to succeed.

We also determined that by making a few changes, we would be able to make ends meet on just Hubby's income. Now, there isn't a WHOLE lot of wiggle room, but we have enough for all of our bills and needs, savings, tithing as well as some leftover for fun stuff or to just simply take our family out for dinner (which isn't always cheap when you have a family of six!)

There was still the question, though, of should I continue with some minor part-time PRN hours, just to give us a little bit more wiggle room or savings or whatever. I wanted to make sure that I was also contributing to our household.

And then I got the call. One of the families wanted me to come back to regular hours. So Hubby and I sat down and discussed it. His answer? "No. I don't want you to go back. We don't need the extra money." First of all, NEVER before in our marriage have we been able to say that. We probably could have said that before, but I think our perspective has changed quite a bit recently.

I questioned him, wanting to make sure and listed out the benefits of having the extra money, to which he replied, "Yes, that is all true. But. The extra money won't volunteer in the kids' school. The extra money won't help our children to improve in their grades. The extra money won't give our household that added stability that having you home has had. The extra money won't make coming home each day to you feel quite as good as having you there to greet me does."

And so, the decision was made. I am now a stay-at-home mom. It has been quite the adjustment and I am still working hard to master the whole "stay-at-home" part of the term. :) But it has been wonderful. The best part? To know that what I am doing here has made THAT kind of a difference in not only my children and their schooling and overall demeanor but also in the way my husband now views our home. I think he actually considers it to be more of a sanctuary than he ever has before. It's not always perfect (actually, it never is) and quite often, there are still dishes needing to be done, laundry needing to be done, folded, put away or whatever. There are toys and messes here and there, but it's not about that to him (at least, not right now - it is something that I'm working on getting more attentive to), it's about the feeling of home. I think I'm doing something right at this point though!

Mountain Climbing

No, not a real mountain. I'm talking about the mountain of housework that I have to do today. It has been positively chaotic around here. And well, the house took a back seat and just further added to the chaos. Chaos = "Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome", and no, that is not an original. I just cannot remember where I read that. But it fits. (Maybe it was FlyLady?)

Anyhow, to give you an idea of the chaos that is my house:

• There is a bicycle in my (narrow) hallway. (Done. Moved it out to the back deck.)
• The kids' chore chart board still has March 30th as the date on it. (Done. I just cleared off the whole board. Might try a different chore system, actually.)
• There is a bicycle by my front door. (Done. Moved it out to the back deck.)
• There are two laundry baskets of clean clothes behind my couch.
• There are clothes on hangers on our overflow rod in my entry way that need to be placed into closets.
• There is a LARGE TJ Maxx tote of paper recycling on my dining room table.
• There are four bags of cans on my back porch waiting to be taken to the recycling center.
• There are still baby toys everywhere. (Done. Picked them up and put them all back into their little baskets and back onto their shelf.)
• The playpen is still set up, even though I won't have Babycakes until this weekend (since Oralee has strep, we don't want to take any chances) (Done. Packed it up and put it back in the box.)
• I have tools siting on my favorite wingback chair (and my tool bag is UNDER the chair). (Done. I put the tools into the bag. Bag is still under my chair though. It's tucked away, but conveniently located)
• I haven't seen our breakfast bar in months. (Done. It looks so nice and neat now!)
• My kitchen counters have only about a quarter of their usable space.
• Every flat surface in the house needs to be cleared off and wiped down (minimum). (Hubby's main desk area - not the hutch portion- is done, my table where I sit is done, the cedar chest is done, the little side table is done. I also go the extra desk chair cleared off, the bar stools, the wingback chair, the recliner and the couch finished up.) I still need to do the hutch part of Hubby's desk, the surface part of Hubby's desk (again! - he really doesn't pick up after himself!) :), and the armoire yet.
• There is a mountain of laundry to put through the wash.
• Oh - and I need to get my refrigerator cleared off and cleaned out because we are getting a new (to us) one this evening. (Done. Hubby and his friend went over tonight to pick it up. They brought it back and we got it all set up. I got everything transferred over, but now I have a new problem - I have my old fridge sitting in the middle of my kitchen now! I just can't win some days! I guess that's why there is always tomorrow, right?) 

I have five and a half hours until the boys all get home and even still, with all of the little tiny extra things that I have to get done, I am honestly not sure that it is going to happen. I am going to work my tail off trying to get it all done though, let me assure you! I hope to be able to come back here later and add in a (Done) behind each and every item on this list. Probably won't be able to do it for EVERY one of them, but for some of them, I should be able to.

A Sight For Sore Eyes

Yes, I am sure that this could be said of me lately, what with all of the running around and babysitting and craziness and all of that going on and me just trying to keep up with it all. Sigh. I wish this post were about me actually. But it isn't. It's about my day on Monday.

If you remember in this post I was talking about Oralee's doctor's appointment and the fact that they did the quick strep which came back negative. Guess who got a call at noon yesterday and was told that the cultured strep test came back positive? Oh yeah. That was me. So I had the pleasure of calling the school to have them pull her from class after telling them on Monday that she was cleared to go back to school. Yeah, total fail. That really upsets me. It makes me look like I don't know what I am doing as a parent (and you know, quite honestly, there are times when that is ABSOLUTELY true!)

So I walked up to the school (because Hubby left my keys at his mom's house on Monday when he was over there with the kids while she and I went to that Pampered Chef party) and called Hubby at the same time to ask him to drive over to the school so that Oralee doesn't have to walk home.

I get there to pick her up and she is distraught. I mean ABSOLUTELY distraught. Why? Because she will miss out on "Plan-Do-Review", the highlight of the Kindergarten day. Basically it is a play time where they get to Plan which area they are going to play in, then they get to Do it and then afterwards, they Review it with the teacher. And I made her miss out on it by having her pulled from class. Whoops.

I try to make it better for her by taking her out for lunch. She had already eaten, but I hadn't yet, so she had a strawberry shake with extra strawberries (because the bartender loves her - we went to Hubby's work, a neighborhood bar and grill) and fries while I ate my lunch. I think it made up for missing Plan Do Review just a little bit. At least, she didn't say anything more about it.

Wow, that was a bit of a side note. That wasn't even what this blog post is about. It's about Koren actually. You see, Koren has bad vision. As in really really bad vision. He wears glasses and in his good eye, his vision is 20/70. In his bad eye, it is 20/200. That is WITH correction. Without correction, it is more like 20/200 and 20/400. In essence, he is legally blind in one eye.

We have tried a few different things to improve his eyesight. Patching his good eye to make his bad eye work harder didn't really work very well because he would cheat and look through the corner. His optometrist intentionally wrote a stronger prescription for his glasses on the good side to make it a little bit blurry so that his other eye would have to work even harder. Neither option really helped much.

We went to see the pediatric opthamologist and his recommendation was one of three things (really there is a fourth option but it is connected to one of the other options.

• Patch the good eye. We have done this before. It didn't work well, so he doesn't really want to repeat this option again.
• Put dilation drops in Koren's good eye. It's a long-lasting drop that we would give to him on Saturday and Sunday and it would last the whole week. Basically, it would make his good eye dilate for the whole week and his bad eye would need to work harder to compensate for it. Koren can't cheat and see around it. The only problem is that there are side effects to doing this. Right now, we do not know what the child can actually see but he seems to be doing fairly well compensating on his own. I mean, he is now reading at grade level and everything. His grades and work ethic are outstanding. If we do this, he may not be able to see anything. He may not be able to see to read, might not be able to do his own work, he will likely have headaches and he will have sun sensitivity. He may have depth perception issues which could include off-balance, light headedness, nausea and even vomiting. But he might not have all of this, or most likely just some of this. The doctor said that most likely only his vision directly in front of him about two feet (roughly the length of his arm) would be affected. He should still be able to see from a distance. The doctor would want to re-evaluate him in three months to see the difference if any.
• Use the dilation drops and remove the lens from his glasses on the good side. This is so that the good eye has NO additional help at all. Same side effects as the second option.
• Give Koren an oral prescription. It is still in the study phase and it is not something that the doctor does lightly. He actually consults with another doctor and together they determine if the drug is the right option for the patient. It is a last-ditch effort for patients with a significant difference between their vision in each eye.

So, we are going with option two, per the doctor's recommendation. I'm nervous about it. But I really don't know what else to do. I mean, we could just let him continue on as he is and not try to improve his vision in that eye at all. As it is right now, Koren will never be able to even drive a car. I know that it isn't the end of the world, but that is a significant thing to consider.

I stopped in after the appointment to talk to his classroom teacher about it and then to talk to the School Coordinator about it. I tried earlier this year to get Koren some assistance from the school with his vision but to no avail. Of course, now the school is tripping all over themselves to try and accommodate him. I guess that there is a vision team for the district and the school is going to make contact with them to have them come out and assess Koren's needs and see how they can help him. We may end up with a 504 plan, which is basically a plan of accommodations for Koren to help him succeed in school. Or he may end up going onto an IEP, based on their assessment. Who knows?

We have a long road ahead of us and I have no idea what it looks like. I'm more than a little bit nervous about this. It just seems like there is a lot of stuff on my plate right now. Cephas and his behavioral/social issues, Koren and his vision issues, Oralee (well, she really doesn't have anything major going on, strep throat isn't that big of a deal) and then Jeriah and the whole preschool vs. kindergarten debate for next year. We'll just have to wait and see what happens and pray that we are making the right decisions for all of our kids.

Follow-Up Post

to the Super Busy-ness post that I wrote the other day. Gail and I were talking in the comments section of that post about the whole school situation with Jeriah and I had typed up a VERY lengthy response to her and then Jeriah bumped the laptop, my thumb hit something and it went "kapoof" because "poof" doesn't adequately convey my feelings about losing such a lengthy reply.

So I told her that I would type it up again as a blog post since it was sufficiently long enough to be a post in itself! So here goes!

Gail said (and I quote): "Wow. You have a lot on your plate. I pray that the Lord gives you direction. To go from an IEP into a neurotypical classroom is a big deal. To deal with a possible diagnosis of Aspberger's can be either devastating or a relief. Bless you in your journey!"

It is a big thing to go from an IEP to a neurotypical classroom. A very big deal indeed! There are some major factors to consider both for and against having him enroll in Kindergarten this fall.

Against:

• He has his social challenges. He may not fit in well with the classroom's expectations of a nuerotypical student.
• By continuing to have him in Preschool as a peer model, he would have another year to develop those skills to behave more neurotypically, like the other students. (I think I made that word up.)
• Most parents (according to the Services Coordinator at the school) who start their kid earlier in school end up wishing that they had waited a year for their child to develop more socially. She has never heard a parent say that they wish they had started their child early. (I set her straight on that one. More about that following the "For:" section.)
• It's Full Day Kindergarten. He still naps nearly every day. On the way home from school on the bus.
• He would be one of the very youngest in the Kindergarten classroom.

For:

• He is on grade level with the Kindergarten students where they are right now. If I wanted to drop him in Kindergarten, he has the academic knowledge to keep up with them right now.
• If we wait another year, he could well be at a mid-1st grade level when he starts Kindergarten. I am afraid that if he is too far ahead of the curriculum, he will be bored and more likely to have behavioral issues out of sheer boredom. It is very difficult to have a child placed in higher level material in our school system. Or as I like to say, "No Child Left Behind (and No Student Achieving Ahead of the Others)". Wrong? Maybe. But it is my opinion.
• There is no guarantee that he will develop those skills with another year of Preschool.
• He is a very regimented and routine child. I strongly believe that if he were to go into Kindergarten, he would learn the routine and the expectations and would thrive.
• He is my youngest child. Having him home in the mornings is one of the main reasons why I am not volunteering in the school during the morning hours. If he is at school, I am free to go into the school to help him during the day as well. I currently do that with other students in the afternoon in second grade. (I'm a volunteer "interventionist" for reading and math.)
• He would be one of the oldest in the Preschool classroom.
• I have practiced with him on the lunch room routine. My kids eat breakfast at school, so I started sticking around and letting Jeriah eat with the rest of them. Within a week's time (five days of practicing this routine once each day), he was capable of (on his own!) going into the lunch room, putting his coat on a chair, lining up (and having appropriate line behaviors), getting his milk, choosing what he wants for breakfast (in a timely manner), carrying his tray to the check-out lady, giving her his name so she could ring it in to his account, taking his tray over to another table to pick up a spoon, napkin and straw, then carrying his tray to the table where he placed his coat. Once at the table, he raises his hand for the teacher to come by and open his cereal for him (as do most of the current Kindergartners and even some first graders) and he can open his own milk container. He can pour his own milk on his cereal and then eat in the allotted time frame that they are given. He is able to take his tray up when he is finished, dump his milk and cereal bowl in the "wet" bucket, drop his silverware in the silverware bucket, dump his trash into the trash can and then take his empty tray over to the window. It seems like such a routine thing to go through a cafeteria line, but there are actually quite a few steps involved and for a neuroatypical child, remembering all of those steps and being able to follow through can be overwhelming, especially when you add in the bustle and noise of a hundred other children. Yet, he does extremely well at it all. I think that the same would be true in the classroom.
• He wants to go to Kindergarten.

So, you see, there are factors to consider on both sides, and while it may look like I have decided for Kindergarten, I am still not 100% sure about it. I'd say I'm probably about 75% sure about it at this point.

Now, as to the part I mentioned above about regretting a child not starting early. I regret not having Cephas tested to enter Kindergarten at four. I just didn't know it was an option. When he started Academy (the K4 class at his private preschool), he was on the same academic level as most beginning Kindergartners. He was beginning to read, knew his numbers, shapes, colors. He had already had a year of preschool at age three, so he was used to work time, lining up, following rules, cooperating with others, separation from family during the day, etc.

But we didn't. We enrolled him in Academy because he was four and a child had to be five by October 15th to enroll in Kindergarten. Cephas wouldn't turn five until January. All was fine and dandy that whole year.

Then he enrolled in Kindergarten. And by the beginning of the Kindergarten year, he was reading on a first grade level, he had figured out not only addition and subtraction, but had mastered multiplication by 2's, 3's, 4's and 5's by simply playing with the numbers in his mind.

We were riding in the car one day and he told me, "Mom! If you have two and then you have two more, then it's four and then two more is six. Then eight and then ten." And I told him that yes, he was right. He thought about it a little bit and then said, "So, if I have two of something and you have two of something and Koren has two of something and Grandma has two and Grandpa has two, then that makes ten!" Again, I confirmed he was correct and told him, "That's right. If there are five people who each have a set of two items, that makes ten items total." He thought about that a little bit longer and then applied the same concept to three items, then to four items, then to five items, so on and so forth until he was satisfied with his new knowledge.

Then he began skip-counting by two until he reached one hundred. Then he did it by threes, then by fours and then by fives. So before my son had ever even started Kindergarten, he knew 1x1 up to 1x100, 2x1 up to 2x50, 3x1 up to 3x34 (because 3x33 didn't get to 100 and he wanted to get to 100), 4x1 up to 4x25, and 5x1 up to 5x20. He KNEW it, had it memorized.

So he was advanced. By a lot. I tried to inform his teacher but got the "Oh, every parent thinks their child is the smartest child in the world" attitude about it. So I decided to let her discover it for herself. She quickly did. But she didn't do anything to try to help him keep advancing. Kindergarten is a leveling grade. The kids who need to catch up to grade level are the ones that get the most effort put into them. The ones that already know the information get to help the teachers and be a good peer model.

By the end of Kindergarten, Cephas was wholly unchallenged and had grown bored with the whole process. He didn't have to try at school and while we continued a process called "After Schooling" (advancing through activities and interests after school) he just didn't really care much for school. In the middle of first grade, the academics caught up to where he was, but he had already stopped trying in school. By the end of first grade, he was no longer even at grade level for reading. It was such a struggle to get him to try in school. From that point on, until this year (in fifth grade), he has not been reading at grade level. He is now thankfully.

But I really feel that all of this could have been avoided by simply having him tested to enter Kindergarten early. I really and truly believe that. And if there is a chance that I am right about it, why wouldn't I want to do the same for Jeriah? Therefore, the dilemma.

Cephas is the child that we think may end up with an Aspberger's Syndrome diagnosis. He has had an issue with social skills since Kindergarten but we have always been able to somewhat manage them. Now, that just really isn't the case anymore.

To have him diagnosed with Aspberger's would honestly be a huge relief. Then we would know that, yes, this is why he does this or that or whatever. And more importantly, he would know that was why as well. If not Aspberger's, then maybe we could just gain additional coping strategies for him and for us as well. It is devastating to him right now. He tries so hard but he has such a lack of impulse control (always has, actually) and just cannot seem to do/remember/follow through on a myriad of other things that his classmates seem to have no problem with.

On Friday, when I talked to Cephas' teacher and gave her the questionnaire from the behavioral psychologist's office, she took it with a smile and said, "I know exactly what this is and yes, I would be most happy to fill this out for you. When do you need it back?" That tells me something as well.

Well, that ended up being a bit more lengthy than my reply to Gail's comment but not by much. What do you think? What would you do if the decision about Jeriah's classroom next year was your decision to make? Don't worry, our decision is not based on your comment but maybe you have a viewpoint that we haven't considered.

Pick Up

Today on Rachel's blog, she was talking about our schedules being thrown off and to just jump back in and pick up right where we left off. Wherever that may be. That sounds like a WONDERFUL thing for today! I have gotten so far off track with my schedule lately, that everything is just out of order.

Today is a busy one anyhow. I had one kid with a doctor's appointment this morning. Oralee has been complaining of a sore throat all weekend and today, I took her in to see the doctor to rule out strep, which the quick strep test has done, so she is back at school now. We will have to wait and see what the cultured sample turns up, but for now, we're calling it a virus.

Later today, Koren and Jeriah both have eye appointments with the pediatric opthamologist. Their appointments are an hour apart. And yes, those are back-to-back appointments. Across town. Just like Oralee's appointment this morning was. Which means that we will get done just in time to get the other kids from school.

Then tonight, I have a Pampered Chef party to go to. It's being held by Hubby's cousin. I don't really need anything but I'll go along anyhow. I like the food. Free food is even better! Meanwhile, Hubby and his friend will hang out at his mom's house, watching the kids and playing a new video game that is in beta testing right now. Yes, my Hubby is a beta tester. I'm so proud.

So, my hope is that between the boys' eye appointment this afternoon and the time that we leave for the other side of town to go to Hubby's mom's house and for me to go to the Pampered Chef party, I will be able to accomplish SOMETHING semi-domestic around here.

My goal:

• Clean up the dining room to presentable form.
• Clean the kitchen. All dishes washed/dried/put away. Counters and stove top all cleared. Trash out.
• Living room picked up. All toys put away. All miscellaneous items that end up in here replaced to their proper homes.
• Den area picked up. All trash taken out of this room, the toys put away, the baby stuff put away, the floor picked up, the desk and table surfaces cleared off.
• Laundry. Two loads. A girl can dream right?

That's my goal for today. This evening after the party, I also hope to put the finishing touches on Jeriah's Family Literacy Portfolio. I NEED to find my camera though so that I can upload all the pictures and have those to go along with the book. Okay, so I don't HAVE to have the pictures, but I really enjoy having them in there as well. It was due, oh, on Friday, I believe. My bad. I will strive to get it done by this Friday.