A Week, Briefly (5/3/21)

Rats!  Rats!  Rats!

Both Brother and Beowulf are having behavioral flare-ups at the same time.  And Ladybug is extra sassy-mouthed and argumentative.  

 

It's tough around here.

Stuff is getting broken.  People are getting hurt.  Most of us are experiencing PTSD symptoms.  We're generally exhausted, unfocused, and wary.

The good news is that our babies bring out the best in all of the kids, so the babies have been completely safe and a blessing to us all.  (I'm extra-intensely aware of the babies and watching for any sign that we need to stop providing care to them.  I question it every day.)

 

Other good news is that all I have to do is take Beowulf off his stimulant, and his dangerous behaviors will stop.  We'll just be left with his usual hard-to-manage behaviors until we can talk to his psychiatrist and start a new med.

Ladybug's bad attitude could be a PTSD reaction, and when the boys settle down, she might settle down.  (Or it could be hormones and last for the next 8 years!)

Brother is the big concern.  Even if the solution is as simple as raising his med to a new therapeutic level because he's growing and changing, it will take some weeks to know if that works.  And if it doesn't, then we're facing months of figuring things out.

It's hard not to panic.

 

We do have many blessings in our days--not the least of which are the babies who continue to bring out the best in all of us.  I give the babies credit for keeping our level of chaos, anger, and danger lower than it might be without them.

 

We're still trucking along with our short school days and long play days.  Baymax convinced me that starting Math 1 would be wiser than doing extra reading, and he is very happy to get out his new math book and supplies each day.  We paused his Primary Phonics work to play The Reading Game (we found it when we tidied up our game closet).  He has completed the games and reading for the first two books and is working on the games for the second book. 

A week or so ago, I purchased a second-hand copy of Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons for Lola.  We'd worked with it a year ago when I borrowed it from the library for as long as I could, but when it had to go back and we turned to other reading resources, all of her progress stopped.  She is on lesson 20 or so right now (still reviewing what she'd learned and forgotten), and she's thriving!  She's making steady progress through the lessons, and I hope she might be reading comfortably at the end of the summer.

Lola aced her math assessment, too!

 

Ladybug has reached a math impasse.  She's supposed to be learning her times tables and working on 3 digit addition and subtraction with carrying and borrowing as needed.

It is too much.

Individually, she could probably work on them with success, but when she has to look at the signs and remember what to do, she breaks down.  She will use addition and subtraction in the same math problem.  She will mix up addition and multiplication.  She will get 100% of the problems she works alone wrong.  It's just too much.

I considered just stopping math; it is May, and our school year usually stops around this time.  

But remembering how she forgot everything last summer made me rethink that.

Instead, we're putting her Rod and Staff work away, and we're switching to Math Lessons for a Living Education.  I checked out the placement tests, and I could see that she needs to review the skills taught in Level 2.  I've purchased the regular book and the practice book, and I hope that the fact that some of the lessons will be really easy will rebuild her confidence and help cement skills that will prepare her to face the harder lessons.

She will do math lessons all through the summer and just continue them into the next school year.

Playing Uno with his therapists and other kids to practice being a good winner/loser

 

ABA therapy is down to 6 hours a week, and this means we do not have therapy on Wednesdays.  To mitigate the sadness of 1 day less each week with Mr. S--, I took the crew to the park.  Our first park day in I don't know how long!

Trying to creep very close to the geese

Succeeding in getting very, very close to a goose!

Watching fish in the pond

Examining a fish up close thanks to the kindness of this young man who was fishing.  He and his two friends were so sweet to my kids.  They shared their delight with us and absolutely made our day!

Determined to touch the bottom of the pond

More searching for fish

Nature Angel and Little Princess work valiantly on school work while entertaining babies!

Our garden is not as lovely nor as bountiful as it was last year.  However, the fact that we left some of our lettuces to go to seed last fall has resulted in lots of lettuce in our garden this spring!  We've had home grown salads twice so far, and the kids are happy, happy to harvest and prepare our salads for eating.

We're still reading at meal times.

We also watched more Jane Austen movies--2 versions of Emma.  No one will ever successfully replace Gwyneth Paltrow as Emma in my mind, but the BBC version actually did a better job of showing Emma's growth in character.  And the BBC's Harriet Smith matched the Harriet Smith of the book.

I wish to all mothers--not just today but all days--that the joys and growth will outweigh the sorrows and fears.  Most of you who read this are in my thoughts and prayers.  Our virtual connection means much to me!