Mom, I don't want her anymore.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Out of the loop
I wanted to just check in if anybody wonders what happened to the Gardners. Archer and I have had a challenge going this summer. For one month we have to read as many pages as we can and whoever has read the most by midnight on the last day of the month wins. Loser has to clean all the bathrooms in the house-Archer or loser has to buy a new Lego set (or fork over $20). So far I am out one Lego set. The month of June hit the high mark of about 550 pages. July has already shown to be a huge leap; as of today, Archer is 1300 pages strong. I have come up a respectible second with 1100 but alas, the month is not over yet!
I would like to say how proud we are of Archer, a boy who up until now has not shown much interest in reading. I showed him a copy of Harry Potter that I purchased when he was a baby (never been read). He took the book and just really submersed himself. In the seven months of 2010, Archer has read all of the Harry Potter series. We are impressed! I noticed that about three books in, Archer commented that the books were getting easier to read. I dared to tell him that it could be because he was exercizing his reading muscle and that helps too. Shortly after, another revelation, the vocabulary is quite impressive. What a proud moment for a momma. Not only is my child interested in reading, getting better at reading, enjoying reading, but appreciating the vocabulary. What's next?
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Independence
This may be slightly late but I am still enjoying the memory of this Fourth of July. We had made a plan to have a cook-out with friends, enjoy some fireworks, and maybe have some chat. In my preparations for the meal and evening, I went to Target for some fun items for the children. I wanted to purchase the "Pop-Its" that I loved to pop as a kid. I thought this would be a pre-fireworks extravaganza that might provide enough distraction until the dads were ready for the big guns. I found what I needed at Target and went to check-out. I was told I would need to hand over my ID in order to purchase the Pop-Its. I was surprised that such a seemingly harmless firework would require such documentation but I am not one to buck the system. The clerk entered my ID number to no avail, I was quickly directed to customer service where Timmy had the key to override my purchase of two boxes of nearly illegal fireworks. Timmy did offer an apology for the trouble and thanked my for not going crazy about the hassle. I completed the transaction without further incednt and headed home. I was thinking of Slurpees on the way and decided a detour might be in order when I realized that I was approaching a DUI check point right in the middle of Cheyenne. This is when I began to chuckle. Isn't it interesting on this Independence Day Eve that I am being required to give up my privacy and answer questions as to my whereabouts and activities. Freedom? Is this freedom?
Yes, yes, I believe it is. It did seem silly to me that I had to submit information to purchase fireworks. It was compounded by the fact that I was questioned as to my drinking for the evening but this is America. We are given the choice to drink or not and we are therefore required to live up to the responsibility of those actions. Isn't that exactly the foundation of America, the right to choose? Our founding fathers had the right to choose but they also had to live up to the responsibility of defending those choices. You may worship your god in the way you choose, you just need to fight to the death to do so. You may not want the involvement of England in your government or taxation, you just need to fight to the death to do so. I am so grateful for these freedoms. I am so grateful for the independence I can experience because very brave men and women fight to protect what was set up for us so many years ago by men who showed wisdom and courage. So, as silly as it seemed, I was and am so grateful for the time to reflect on what Independece Day means and for the price that has been and is paid for it.
By the way, we had a great time with our friends, the food was fab, and the fireworks phenom!
Yes, yes, I believe it is. It did seem silly to me that I had to submit information to purchase fireworks. It was compounded by the fact that I was questioned as to my drinking for the evening but this is America. We are given the choice to drink or not and we are therefore required to live up to the responsibility of those actions. Isn't that exactly the foundation of America, the right to choose? Our founding fathers had the right to choose but they also had to live up to the responsibility of defending those choices. You may worship your god in the way you choose, you just need to fight to the death to do so. You may not want the involvement of England in your government or taxation, you just need to fight to the death to do so. I am so grateful for these freedoms. I am so grateful for the independence I can experience because very brave men and women fight to protect what was set up for us so many years ago by men who showed wisdom and courage. So, as silly as it seemed, I was and am so grateful for the time to reflect on what Independece Day means and for the price that has been and is paid for it.
By the way, we had a great time with our friends, the food was fab, and the fireworks phenom!
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Sharing again
I have not written about Emma for sometime but I have been thinking lots about her and a few things that I would like to share. We are currently deciding whether or not to hire a tutor for Emma during the summer. We decided to skip the summer school option offered by the school district for reasons like; it starts at 7AM, her IEP would only be minimally enforced-if at all, it is only for the month of July. In the past I have attempted to turn her over to the summer school program but sometimes a mom just has to go with her gut.
When we turned Archer over to the school district, we didn't have any hesitation about what would go on. We were confident that he would hang with the best of them, get good grades, and become a productive citizen. When it was time to turn Emma over to the district at the age of 3, it was with great hesitation. Is three too little? Will she get enough attention? Will she be loved and embraced? Fortunately we had a great teacher named Tammy Ward. Tammy did love our Emma and celebrated her accomplishments and looked for the good things that were happening. Rob and I made a choice to keep Emma with Tammy for a second year instead of sending her to the teacher that would push academics and handwriting and other skills. We thought we made the best choice for our child. We became confused on our way. We were concerned about the lack in progress we were seeing in Emma. We found an advocate. We found a bulldog of an advocate. This former Mother of the Year (really, she won an award) gave us such an amount of courage, confidence, direction, and help we couldn't believe we had suffered through painfully long IEP's without her. When we informed the school that we would be bringing our advocate, her name brings such clout that the area Regent attended every IEP we had until last year when Emma was in first grade. We had to fight for things that were and are never offered because it is a fight and the district doesn't volunteer the options. Our advocate came up with an extra session of preschool for Emma to attend to try to make up for the developmental skills she would be missing by not going with the teacher that worked on the academics. I had never heard of the district having district paid programs in day-care facilities! I had no idea that there were options outside of go to the school building and come home. We fought for our child in a way that was scary and ridiculous. Have you ever had to dig your heels in about getting homework assigned for your 4 year old? We have. (Our intent was to see what she was doing at school and follow up at home, not crack the whip and force it out of her.) Have you ever left the room during an IEP for a huddle about how the game is played? (The sadness that I have over it all being a game to be played is too immense to cover here)Have you ever cried in front of 11 people because you had so many emotions ontop of the fact that you couldn't get what your child needed? Fighting the district SUCKS! Fighting with an advocate helps.
I still carry guilt over what happened with Emma's preschool teacher. I feel terrible that after Emma's last year of preschool her teacher stopped teaching. My heart aches at the thought that we had anything to do with the fact that she felt she was done. We are forever grateful for all that we learned and all that was done for Emma by Tammy. It is truly unfortunate that we had to fight the district so hard to get what we thought our child needed.
Looking back now, Rob and I both know that much of our fight was out of the fear that Emma would never catch up to her peers. I think we lived in the world of "if only" If only we had more time to work on hand writing. If only she had fewer distractions. If only she had homework for us to work on with her. If only there were fewer students. If only she had her own aide. THEN she would catch up and be normal. If only........
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When we turned Archer over to the school district, we didn't have any hesitation about what would go on. We were confident that he would hang with the best of them, get good grades, and become a productive citizen. When it was time to turn Emma over to the district at the age of 3, it was with great hesitation. Is three too little? Will she get enough attention? Will she be loved and embraced? Fortunately we had a great teacher named Tammy Ward. Tammy did love our Emma and celebrated her accomplishments and looked for the good things that were happening. Rob and I made a choice to keep Emma with Tammy for a second year instead of sending her to the teacher that would push academics and handwriting and other skills. We thought we made the best choice for our child. We became confused on our way. We were concerned about the lack in progress we were seeing in Emma. We found an advocate. We found a bulldog of an advocate. This former Mother of the Year (really, she won an award) gave us such an amount of courage, confidence, direction, and help we couldn't believe we had suffered through painfully long IEP's without her. When we informed the school that we would be bringing our advocate, her name brings such clout that the area Regent attended every IEP we had until last year when Emma was in first grade. We had to fight for things that were and are never offered because it is a fight and the district doesn't volunteer the options. Our advocate came up with an extra session of preschool for Emma to attend to try to make up for the developmental skills she would be missing by not going with the teacher that worked on the academics. I had never heard of the district having district paid programs in day-care facilities! I had no idea that there were options outside of go to the school building and come home. We fought for our child in a way that was scary and ridiculous. Have you ever had to dig your heels in about getting homework assigned for your 4 year old? We have. (Our intent was to see what she was doing at school and follow up at home, not crack the whip and force it out of her.) Have you ever left the room during an IEP for a huddle about how the game is played? (The sadness that I have over it all being a game to be played is too immense to cover here)Have you ever cried in front of 11 people because you had so many emotions ontop of the fact that you couldn't get what your child needed? Fighting the district SUCKS! Fighting with an advocate helps.
I still carry guilt over what happened with Emma's preschool teacher. I feel terrible that after Emma's last year of preschool her teacher stopped teaching. My heart aches at the thought that we had anything to do with the fact that she felt she was done. We are forever grateful for all that we learned and all that was done for Emma by Tammy. It is truly unfortunate that we had to fight the district so hard to get what we thought our child needed.
Looking back now, Rob and I both know that much of our fight was out of the fear that Emma would never catch up to her peers. I think we lived in the world of "if only" If only we had more time to work on hand writing. If only she had fewer distractions. If only she had homework for us to work on with her. If only there were fewer students. If only she had her own aide. THEN she would catch up and be normal. If only........
.JPG)
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
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