Secret Project REVEALED + Report Cards

 

One of the things I’ve been busy with is this, I can now tell you about it, YAY! I am a 2012 Log Your Memory Design Team member! That means I have some layouts published in this year’s memory logbook! Click on the picture above to find out more! I have two layouts published in the book. I wrote blog posts for Log Your Memory the weeks that my layouts are featured, so I’ll link you up those days. This is a really cool project, you should all check it out! There are two books, one with just the weekly challenge ideas, and one that works like a planner. So you can get them combined or separately. The challenges are different from what you might be used to as well, they really make you think. Any questions, please feel free to ask. I’m all about this project!

Genny and Atha both got their progress reports the last few days. Everybody’s doing great, of course. Next week I’ll have their parent teacher conferences, so I’ll have more info then. We all know already that Gen’s transitioning to the regular PreK classroom after the holidays. OH and I got a book in the mail today. On the day that I blogged about Gen transitioning, I got a really nice comment from Dr. Lucy Jane Miller, who wrote a book called Sensational Kids about Sensory Processing Disorder. I am looking forward to reading this, since her sensory processing issues are among the most troubling. Hopefully I get a window of time to sit down with it.

Anyway. Atha. Some of you may remember how her PreK teacher told me that Atha was the most gifted child she had ever taught. But the principal minimized it, refused to test her. Then, last year her kindergarten teacher kind of put her in her own little program. Atha had independent reading modules she’d do, and she also used to assist in leading lessons from time to time. I think they did some preliminary testing for the gifted program, but Atha has her own agenda, she would much rather spend time creating than testing, and I guess she just was more interested in telling stories than in following instructions. I do think that Atha is gifted. I tested off the charts in some areas, Quinn is definitely gifted, although his desire to do exactly as much as required but no more caused him to artfully work around being identified or tested for his whole elementary school career. I have a theory that Genny is gifted, which is why she is so good at doing some things. I think that if her corpus callosum was intact, we’d be having the same discussions with her teachers that we had with Atha’s preschool teachers.

Now, sometimes I feel like people think I’m being, you know, full of myself when I talk about my gifted kids. But I don’t see it this way. I just see it as an attribute. Like somebody is good at sports, or is tall, or has thick hair. Or likes macaroni and cheese. I see it that way. My dad’s side of the family were all smart (but loony) and my mom is no slouch. I just think that I carry a gene or something. Hopefully I don’t carry that loony gene. Although, chances are…

SO anyway, I’m going to ask about that at the meeting next week. Blah. I’m not really looking forward to the meetings, but you gotta do etc etc.

Speaking of “dumb things I gotta do today,” the girls are bumping and bouncing around upstairs, and they should be in bed. I’d better go attend to bidness.

Where’s Atha?

I took this picture yesterday, and I love it. It’s poignant, and moving. There’s Genny, way off in her own little world, all alone, sucking her thumb… it’s sweet and it’s sad and it’s just a neat photo. I love it.

But where’s Atha?

Poor Atha. She had a great report card. She’s mastered almost everything, making great progress in everything else, smart, sweet, loving, creative, with a strong sense of right and wrong. Yet she’s not the baby, and she doesn’t have “special needs” although, everybody has special needs, right? Nobody’s needs are ordinary, or general, we all need what we need. We are all unique, each with unique needs. Sometimes I feel like Atha gets left in the dust just a bit.

Problem is, it’s not like I have a lot of time to spend individually with the kids. I’d love to do that. When Vince is home, we definitely make a point of that. Before he left, he took Genny to a ball, just the two of them. Then, a couple of weeks later, he took Atha camping. And I suppose Girl Scouts is just Atha’s thing. Still, I think it’s important to celebrate each of our children, because each of them is awesome.

Here’s an example. Last night, when I was saying goodnight to her, I asked Atha if she knew how much I love her. She pretended to think for just a minute, and then she said, “I cannot even estimate that number; it’s too big.”

See? Awesome!

Futile Friday

Or should I say, fecal Friday? I know, gross, gross. But most of the day, Walt was really grouchy because he was constipated, and the he pooped like three little stinky poops. Then he finally pooped a big stinky poop, and he felt much better.
I know you probably didn’t come here to talk about poop. You came here for cute kid pics or something scrapbook-related. I don’t have any of that today.
Let’s talk about poop some more.
You know when you are working on potty training, especially with a special needs kid, and they try to do the ol’ #2 all by themselves? And the whole process involves multiple bathrooms, and their clothes, and a towel? We had that happen today, too.
I was trying to write my final paper about childhood obesity today. Specifically, childhood obesity in the American South and how it relates to public health. But instead I was knee deep in poo.
Then Vince messaged me on Facebook, and he is in pain, says he feels like there’s a knife stabbing him in the knee. I’m a bad wife, because immediately I say, “yeah, okay.” those of you who know Vince get it. He’s a great guy who is a complete baby when it comes to pain. Like, call the waaambulance type crying baby. But this may just be the time that he means it. He seems to really have hurt himself. Says the sick call attendants suspect he may have torn a cruciate ligament. Part of me was like, “oh please, oh please” (again, a bad wife) because I thought that surely if he needed surgery he would have to come home. But, maybe not. That’s why we have Germany, after all.

Anyway, that was today. I’m typing this from bed on my iPad, which is why there are no photos. Also, if this looks weird, that’s why. It’s also why I’m d.u.n. done. Trying to get the kids to sleep so I can hopefully have a full day of paper writing tomorrow.
Wish me luck for a Successful Saturday!