Extended School Year Starts Today

It's a Tuesday morning, but feels like a Monday to me.  Damian, my son with multiple disabilities goes back to school today for his summer program.  I have to say that I am excited that it's not a fight this morning about him not wanting to go.  I have tried to keep talking to him every other day leading up to this day, just to keep him excited about going back.  He will be going to a new class, with new friends, and a new teacher.  The aide will still be the one he had in his previous class.  I hope he enjoys it and has fun.  It has to be nice for him to get out and do something other than sitting here and playing on the iPad.  Here is to hoping he has a great day, and you do as well.

Every day

Seems like this is going to happen every day. Yes D is having a meltdown again. And after a pretty calm day. Where does all the anger come from.  It is as if he hates everyone and anyone that is around him when it happens. I am going to work on calming him down and redirecting this energy as best I can.  Keep me in your thoughts and prayers.

Just another one

So we had two days without much in the way of meltdowns for D.  Then today it happened, yet once again.  He was having a snack, took a drink, and started to choke. His brother reacted to him choking, telling him to slow down. That is what set it off.  Now for the next hour or so I get to deal with him being angry.  If I ever met a genie I would wish for him to not have to deal with these feelings.  I know how hard it is for me to deal with, and I can only imagine what it must feel like for him to go through it.

Early morning

So D is up super early this morning. He was up and ready to go at 6 am.  On a good note he is ready to go to school, let's hope this lasts until the bus comes.  I got home ready and now we are watching Paw Patrol on my computer trying to pass the time.  I called the bus company, hoping they can pick him up earlier today.  Still dont know if they will be here before 8:30 but hoping. 

Today my other son, E, graduates from middle school.  He will officially be in high school.  While I am a little sad he is growing up so much, I am feeling proud.  Proud of him, and proud of me for making it this far.  I'm working on making leis to give him at his graduation.  Leis for graduation is a Pacific islander tradition.  He is part Pacific islander and I want to do that for him.  I am making 4 of them.  The symbolism of the lei for graduation is moving on to the next step in life.  I am making 4, 1 for each year he will have in high school.  I also got a cake and card for him when we come back.  I promise to share a picture later. 

The twins are working on their last week of school online at home.  They will be doing online school next year, but we are switching to a different school. 

Me, I am still working towards my degree.  I have made it through a year and a half of college.  I have also managed to make in on the president's list almost every term.  I am proud of myself.  Even though I'm older, I'm not too old.

I am going to end this for now and hang out with D.  Hope this bus comes soon.

Just Waiting

As is sit here waiting for D's bus to come I am hopeful.  I am hopeful that the bus ride was not too long for him.  I am hopeful that nothing made him mad on the bus.  I am hopeful that he is in a good mood.  I am also hopeful that tomorrow morning will not be such a fight to get him off to school.  My life is full of Hope's.  Hope's for D.

A Day In My Life

My son, D, is 15 now, and has multiple disabilities, including cerebral palsy.  He used to love going to school so much he hated the weekends and vacations.  Now it has become a struggle to get him onto the bus and off to school.  He missed quite a few days due to being sick, and now it has become a trend for him to stay home.  He gets very angry when it's time to go to school, and it is so hard to fight and force him onto the school bus.  

So the morning started with me getting up before everyone, making some coffee, and getting D's medications ready, waking the other kids up for school, and D was still sleeping.  I called to find out what time the bus would be coming, and of course it's going to be a while before the bus gets here to pick him up.  The longer the wait, the worse it gets.  But hey, today he has a new tie, a tie "just for school", a motivation to go to school.  He was excited to show it to his friends, maybe it won't be so bad.  This is just the thoughts I had as I prepared for the morning.

Time to wake D up, he seems to be in an ok mood.  We talked about going to school, wearing his new tie, seeing his friends, and his teacher.  He was ok with the idea, it seemed.  Got him changed and ready to head out of the bedroom and down the stairs to get in his chair for school.  Then it started, "no school tomorrow".   This is what he says, meaning, he does not want to go to school today.  We managed to get down the stairs safely, depending on the excitement of wearing this tie to school.  Got him in his wheelchair for school, he took his meds, although not happy about it.  All this time I can tell he is getting more and more upset and not wanting to go to school.  This time I took at his strategy paper (a paper with strategies to help him manage his feelings).  This was not helping at all.

Now we are outside, D in his wheelchair and me.  I do everything possible to try to entertain him while waiting for the bus.  Of course it isn't working.  We even called the teacher and he talked to her, but still does not want to go.  Bus gets here, and it takes about 15 minutes of fighting with him trying to get him on the ramp and in the bus.  

He is on his way to school now, not happy about it, but on the way at least.  I just wish some things were easier.  Raising a child with special needs is not easy in any way.  There are many challenges to overcome, medically, physically, mentally, and otherwise.  If you too are dealing with being a parent to a special needs child, I wish you the best, you are in my thoughts and prayers.

Another Meltdown Morning

For those of you who may be new or not know me, D is my son who has multiple disabilities.  Lately he has been having a lot of issues with meltdowns and behaviors.  He is on various medications to help with this, but sometimes that just isn't enough.

Take this morning for example.  I went upstairs and he was awake and watching t.v.  I helped him out of the bed, sat there for about 30 minutes scratching his "itchy back" (this is a thing with him).  During this time he is telling me "no school tomorrow", which in his speak means he does not want to go to school today.  After about 45 minutes trying to get him changed and ready we were finally headed down the stairs to the first floor.  He was working up to anger at this point, still very adamant about the fact he did not want to go to school.

We were able to get him into his wheelchair that he uses for school, but he was just getting angrier by the second.  Got him outside, spent about an hour walking up and down the sidewalk with him, talking to him, trying to get him calm and keep him there.  The bus finally came, and still he was saying "no school tomorrow", he did not want to go.  Here is to hoping that once he gets there he has a good day.

It has been a long time!

I just downloaded this app to start blogging about my daily life.  Being that my phone is linked to my email it automatically signed me in to the app.  I guess I had started doing this blog many years ago, and then stopped.  Well here I am, I am back, and I am writing again.

I am currently going to college online.  The twins are doing their school at home online.  Damian is in a special school for kids with special needs. Elijah is in his last year of middle school, and ready for high school.  Needless to say they are growing up way too fast for me.

Over the last year things have be one difficult, especially with Damian.  I will write more about this in the future, but wanted to do a welcome back post once I realized I had been here before.

Now I am going to go and read the posts I made about 9 years ago.  This should be interesting.