New adventures

This darling kid. This strong willed, big hearted, adventurous son of mine, who sometimes makes me wonder if I can do this mom stuff or not. We all know that some parenting days can just knock you out. They come and go. The next day, you try to pick yourself up out of bed, get on your knees and pray, and look for the sun coming up that gives you strength to try again. You count your blessings that you’re alive to see the sun, and feel the cool, welcoming fall air, and have another day on this earth. You try to talk a little slower to your kiddos, hug them more, and slow down to question their motives of their strange antics before you jump to conclusions.

We recently had Ethan tested through the school district for any autism/aspergers syndrome, and other things they test for. Thankfully, he has no autism in him at all. They said he is one smart kid, and can do things that Autism kids cannot, and there’s nothing to worry about there. They did say he qualified for a special ed pre-kindergarten class, due to an emotional delay/behavior issue stuff.

Even though we are still homeschooling, we felt prompted to go ahead with this class for the rest of the school year.  I want to learn how I can help him at home, and I’m sure he will benefit from this class, too. I met his teacher this week, and she’s just an angel. So kind, patient, and offered some good advice to help at home. She saw Ethan on one of his hard days, and understands a little more.

One neat thing about his little class is that a bus comes to take him to and from home, with only the kids in his class. That’s very convenient for me, but the bummer is that pickup time is 6:30am. I laugh, because before this class, I wanted to get back into early rising again. Well, now I have to get up at 5:30, get breakfast ready, get him up at 6, somehow get him to eat enough to last till 10:30 (no food at class), get him dressed, teeth, hair, hugs and prayer, and get out the door at 6:30. It’s a little rough, but I have no room to talk. So many of my friends have to get up early, and get their kids ready for school. I have great respect for them.

I actually have liked the early rising again. The night before, I soak some oatmeal or flour to make pancakes or oatmeal in the morning. (Soaking helps to make him more full, absorb nutrients, and break down phytic acid which block your body from absorbing the nutrients from the grain, just incase anyone’s wondering:) I put my iphone in the dock, turn on the Mormon channel app, and listen quietly to some great show or music. It’s so peaceful, even though its so gosh darn early!

When Ethan is gone, I get to spend special time with Kevin. We do some school, cook in the kitchen, play with Brooke, put her down for a nap, and play in the garden. It’s been lovely.

Here’s us on the first day!

In the meantime, the garden has been doing splendid.

Massive grape tomato plant, Juliet!

One more thing; this sweet friend. I don’t know what I’ve done in this life to deserve such love and help, but she has literally taken me under my wing and helped me through the whole Ethan testing/special ed class. She continues to pack up her kids, come with me to anything school related for Ethan to support and help me, and has been such an angel. She’s his former sunday school teacher, and has such love for him. She runs her own prechool academy at home, and is simply a genius. Each time I go to her home, I take pictures of all her organization, books, school supplies for ideas at home. I’m such a nerd. I’m so thankful for her kindness she’s shown to me.

Ok, time to tackle the day. I’ve wanted to blog here for awhile, and I accomplished that goal, yea!