School is Started

School is Started

So we are now almost a month into the first year all 4 kids are in school.  David is doing awesome in headstart.  Knows his letters good, counts great and is almost ready for kindergarten already.  Andy is awesome in Kindergarten and both of them have pretty great teachers it seems.  For the older two it has been an on and off thing this year.  There have been lots of adjustments for all of us since many of the people we are used to working with are no longer with this school.
Xavier has gotten more mean and uses words to hurt and be mean on purpose now.  He is so smart, can do his multiplication and division homework well and reads great.  His computer skills are still just amazing to me.  He is still obsessed with the transformers and driving me batty with it.  He is learning minecraft more.
Martina is struggling more and I often wonder if she can make it in that school at all now.  She runs and screams she fights about everything.  I so worry about what I don't know that is going on.  I am having an amazingly difficult time getting info from the teacher this year.  I am supposed to have a meeting soon, we will see if that gets set up.  Yesterday they finally sent home a communication sheet, but it was just a loose sheet in her backpack that I felt must have been intended for daycare kids or something, and I feel there is no way it told me the truth really.  I filled out the bottom part like I was supposed to though and sent it back.  But it said she took only 3 sensory breaks the whole day and those were to listen to music????? Every time she took sensory breaks before it was to swing and run and things, she needs lots of activity, and I am not convinced she is getting it.
In other news, I am currently truly a SAHM as I have no job at all right now.  Miss the income, but kinda nice to take it slower and just deal with kids and house.
CPS is back on our butts, hopefully I can finish setting up the kids' rooms before they come back.  I have the rest of the house OK I think.
The OT for the kids is going to start coming to see me while they are in school now.  That way she can help me learn how to take better care of them and how to redirect them properly.  I hope it works, I know I need the help.
I am doing fairly well and Andray is doing good.  He wants a new job, and I would like it if it works out, but until then, this one works.
Until next time, I am hopeful things at school work out and that we manage OK with everything.

New Stuff

Well busier now, Xavier and Martina have Speech and OT each week.  Can be a challenge with the other two sometimes.  I think Andy is feeling left out a lot now too.  I wish I could make him understand better what is up with those two and why they do so much and get away with things he doesn't.  He is so smart and does so awesome in school.  I can't wait to see him in kindergarten.  He will do great.  Xavier is doing awesome academically and apparently mostly OK behaviorally in school.  However here at home he is a little terror.  He beats on Martina all the time, of course Martina loves to tease him so I am lost how to deal with that.  He also says horrible things, but I hope I am closer to getting help.  There is a positive behavior specialist coming today to observe Martina and she will help me know how to deal with her.  I hope I finally truly get some help that way.  Otherwise life is good.  We have an inspection in two days so I am panicked about that a bit.  I wish I liked to clean, or at least had a habit of it.  as is I am rushing to get it up to standards, but I WILL maintain it after that one way or another.   I have gotten to talk more to Sarah lately. That is fun.  She is an awesome little lady these days.  I miss my baby girl though sometimes.  She has grown up so much.  I will find out in a couple days if David gets to go to head start or not next year.  We may be over income limit, I hope not though.  How sad is it that I have to hope we are poor enough for my kid to go to school????  Well wish me luck off to clean more.

January 2014 Update

Well been forever since my last post again, gotta work on that.  Alot has happened.  I have not been able to go a week without any yelling yet, but I think I am doing better and actually scream less.  I continue to try, but it is harder than it sounds when the kids are super loud to not yell over them.  I will keep working on that.  Also currently kinda wandering for church right now.  Decided I did not like Xavier and Martina being so isolated and I always kinda felt isolated there myself, so trying a new one.  The one Sunday we went went pretty good.  We will see.  I think the kids may be able to do this here.  I enjoyed it mostly, never easy being in a new place with few to no people you know.  But I am handling it OK.

In other news, Andy is a super star in head start.  He loves it and is like at the head of the class for everything almost.  Can't wait to get hem into kinder next year where they will push him more than they can here.  He is an awesome little man who loves to help and who hates to see anyone unhappy, hurt or sick.

David is mad at me alot of time now, he wants to be in real school so bad, but he heads to head start next year, so until then we hang at home.  He is as advanced as Andy for the academic stuff, just hoping he is emotionally ready fr school then.  He is lots of fun and it is awesome watching all he can do for himself.

Xavier is doing great in school and spends almost half a day in regular class now.  He can read whole books and likes to do so.  He hates that he does not have a computer to play on at home now, and so do I (my computer died and Daddy does NOT like him on his).  He is doing OK with it though.

Martina is getting more difficult I swear and I am so lost with her.  She is never focused, though she can tell you what she wants and usually she gets it just to avoid the meltdown from telling her no.  That girl can be LOUD.  She is supposed to be starting both speech and occupational therapy soon.  The occupational therapist sounds awesome.  They will be coming to our house for that.  The speech therapy will be at a little farm near here, we go there for that.  Xavier should be receiving the same services as well.  We are also supposed to be getting something called Positive behavior services for Martina only.  We will see how that goes.

Anyway just wanted to do a quick update and let everyone know how everything is going.
Thanks.

Hello, it has been too long since my last post.  So much has happened.  School is out for the summer. None of my kids are able to go during summer either.  This is both a blessing and not.  It means they are smart and learned what they needed to, it also means that they will be at the daycare all day everyday.  Xavier is so hard to control and to entertain that this is a difficult time.  He is doing so great though.  a little less time spent spinning there I think.  Also he is talking to me and to some of the school kids and other teachers a bit now.  He can use full sentences and ask and answer questions now.  He loves to read and write, and is good at it.  Martina continues to be mostly a mystery to me.  She just seems weird a lot of the time.  She sat on the bus licking her hand for like five minutes yesterday, I just don't get things like that.  (though at least it was her hand and not a strangers or her brothers she was licking)

Well been awhile since my last post. Almost impossible to believe that my little girl is going to be 6 tomorrow.  I still am so lost with her.  She is officially autistic, but I think there is more to know.  I just can't find a doctor that takes her insurance that can tell me what.  She is a sweet girl, cries when you do and says "I'm sorry" a lot.  She loves animals, but is so difficult to let play with real ones as she can be very rough with them.  The kids have dentist appointments the end of the month, that should be fun.

The most important news here though is a challenge i have for myself.  I set it for one week at a time.  To go for one week without ever yelling at the kids.  This can be very very hard.  So far I have made it a day or so, but not a week.  Today I figured out several things that usually make me yell, so hopeful this will help make me not do so.  I love my kids and hate that I scare them.  I will look and sound pretty silly soon probably.  But I will not yell at them.  I will not have to feel like climbing under a rock after screaming at a child.  I will be happier and quieter and so will my children ( at least I really hope they will be quieter).  I've got this I can do this.

Freedom

Well i did it finally, I got a babysitter and went out with my husband sans kids.  It has been probably a year since I last did that.  We went to see the movie Hunger Games.  It was great, and so nice to be able to just watch the show instead of trying to watch four kids to make sure they are watching the show.  I love my kids, but I so needed a real break from them for a bit.  It is better for them if I do that and I intend to ensure doing it a bit more in the future I think.  I woke up this morning with the kids already awake and for once in a great while I did not feel like trying to imagine them back to sleep for a few hours just to get a bit of peace.  They are playing nicely in their room, I can hear them and looked a moment a go to ensure they were all there, so I am taking a moment to write this.  I have learned several times if I can't hear them, WORRY!  I am tired as we went to a show that did not get us home til one in the morning, but so worth it.  Now off to start a weekend of fun and cleaning.

Hello all

Introducing the family.

These are my four kids.  They are Martina, Xavier, Andy, and David.  With daddy Andray and mommy Amy, we get AMADAX.  This was almost a year ago at Easter.  We are a fairly typical family except we have four kids five and under and two of them are on the autism spectrum.  This can make things kind of interesting to get things done.  Daddy works at a call center M-F and I work at the daycare center the kids attend.  It has been a true God send to have this job.  I get to work and see my babies.  The youngest just had his second birthday and I have not missed any important things because of working since i was right there to be called to the room each time he attempted to walk for his first steps, and was told, and attempted repeat of each new word.  It has been great.  Also this daycare has dealt so well with my oldest two (Xavier and Martina) who are on the autism spectrum and require a lot of extra help and guidance. 

 

This is Xavier, he is five and a half and on the autism spectrum.  He is very smart, loves electronics and trains.  he can operate almost any electronic device you hand him.  He love Thomas the train engine and all things about any train.  He is in special needs kindergarten, has been talking for only about a18 months.  Still cannot carry on a conversation and can barely answer any question that is not a yes or no.  However he has made tremendous advancements in those 18 months or so.  I am so proud of him and He causes such headaches sometimes.

 

This is Martina she is four and a half, and on the autism spectrum.  She is my princess as she is the only girl in the family.  She is sweet, loves baby dolls and race cars.  She is hard to decipher. She has a lot more sensory issues than her brother, and is a bit harder to train to do anything.  She has recently almost gotten the potty training thing  down.  She is loving and sweet and likes to be the center of the attention of all adults. 

 

This is Andy, he is a bit over three.  He is sweet loving and playful.  He loves to talk and to play with everyone.  He likes cars, trains and dogs.  He is a great brother and likes to take care of everyone.  He is learning fast and growing everyday it seems.  He is also very very sensitive and cries about almost everything right now, diving me a bit crazy.

 

This is David (he's grown some since this pic) he is just turned two.  He is my little angel baby.  He was always the best baby you could possibly ask for and is still a great little guy.  He slept through the night from about three months old and  has always been easy to entertain.  He loves almost any toy and loves to watch TV, thankfully mostly educational things.  He knows his letters, phonic sounds and shapes.  He is working on colors still.  He loves to play outside and to run and climb.  He is my baby and is growing up way too fast.

Their Daddy is Andray.  He does very well with them and is so very smart and loves electronics, video games and  the kids.  I can get so frustrated when he does not help as much as I would like at home, but I know he tries.  He works teaching people how to build websites to make money off them, you can see some of his work by going to World of Fantasy Game.  He does great at it.  He also designs a lot of different products and sells them online.  He is still working on that aspect some, but is doing well.  We have kinda hectic lives, but we have fun, lots of love to see us through.