"I just want to walk and walk and walk!!!"

Those are the words that came out of Diva's mouth this past weekend...on her second day of wearing her AFOs (leg braces). 

My baby girl, who usually hates talking because it makes her so tired and makes her legs hurt, wanted to walk and walk and walk!

It's enough to make a mom cry...with happiness, of course!

There is a down side, we had to buy her new sneakers (ugh, $50!) because she needs the widest ones available.  By the way, I HIGHLY recommend New Balance shoes and a visit to Stride-rite!  They were so helpful!  But sneakers are the only thing we have found to fit her.  Being a lover of shoes, this has been hard on her, but she understands.  At just shy of 6, this little girl understands that she can either wear whatever shoes she wants or she can have her legs not hurt.

AND!!!  She is getting her toe fixed on Friday.  She is excited because the toe hurts her.  I'm anxious, really anxious.  I'm not sure why, it's not like my kids have never had surgery before.

We are STILL at odds with Bubba's school, nothing really came of our meeting and Geek and I are currently in contact with an attorney.

AND, with all this craziness...wrestling season has started!!

Never a dull moment :0)

Here is the pattern Diva picked out

Here she in in her new AFOs

Mainstream schooling...*sigh*

Bubba has an IEP (Individual Education Plan) and is mainstreamed at school, with some modifications.  Basically, that means that he is in a regular education class with some extra in-class support and he gets extra time to take tests.

This keeps him with neurotypical students.  Neurotypical means kids who don't have "issues" with their brain, for example:  autism, seizures, etc

This is a good thing and a bad thing.

It's good because the other kids are usually good role models for how to act.  They help him practice proper social interactions.

It's a bad thing because kids with Aspergers usually can't tell when someone is a friend or a bully (we dealt with this in kindergarten adn 1st grade) or when someone is friendly-teasing.  And it can also leave the non-neurotypical kid feeling like an outcast.

We have been having trouble with Bubba's school over the last week-ish.  We get a feeling that he is being singled out due to his Asperger's, and that the teachers/aides are relying on the other kids side of the story and not even listening to Bubba's.  Kid's with Asperger's are honest to a fault.  They don't understand things like the "little white lie."

I threatened to pull him out of school to home-school him.  I don't want to because this child is going to be smarter than his college graduate mother before too long :0)

Our next option was to look into alternative or private schooling.  There is an autism program run in our county out of a school about half an hour away.  We are going to insist, at the least, that we be permitted to look into the program.

The school keeps insisting that he needs to be with neurotypical kids to "socialize" him.  He started publie school in Pre-K, he is now in 2nd grade.  His friends are the kids he wrestles with because they accept him for who he is.  He has no friends in his class and hasn't since he started school. 

"Socialization" is no longer a good enough reason to keep him in that school.  Especially when I get an e-mail from one of his teachers telling me that the other students "shouldn't have to tolerate" the things he does.  Well, I don't think he should have to tolerate being forced to sit still for hour at a time, or being picked on when the teachers/aides are out of ear-shot.

After he came home with wood chips all over his socks and him telling me that some kids TOOK HIS SHOES out on the playground, I asked him if he told an adult at the school.  He said he did but was told not to "tattle."  So when the kids pick on him, he doesn't say anything anymore.

How freaking sad is that?



We have an appointment on Monday, 10/21.  I'm sure I will have to get pissy a few times.

Don't mess with the cub if you can't handle Mama!