September Family Update

Once again, it's been a whole month and I've completely lost track of time. I almost went all of September without a post...for shame for shame. But here I am, better late then never - and I give you the ol' family update -
Zac comes home almost every night from work with hilarious stories of the elderly and their colorful pasts. His job right now is driving a wheelchair van...carting people from hospitals and retirement homes back and forth. When he first got this job it seemed like such a *step down* from the highly esteemed firefighter position...but I think as time has passed (even though he is still trying hard to get on a fire department) he is finding real contentment with helping others and being a type of comfort and security for these older people. Some of them have, quite literally, lost their mind - and Zac is such a gracious person that I think he really really helps them and makes them feel comfortable at an uncomfortable time.
We are still waiting to here from a fire department, hopefully in the next month. Right now he is ranked really well...so it just kind of depends on how many guys they choose to hire this fall. He is enjoying working out (he transformed our garage into a little workout space) and I think that just generally...things are looking up. :)
Me- nothing new...pass.
Brayden has been - himself. I thought he was doing great in school and figured that no news was good news until yesterday. I met with his special ed teacher because she wanted to give me a "head's up" before my 7:15 A.M. (yes....you read that right....7 in the morning) meeting with the special ed department this Friday. They have been re evaluating Brady because on his IEP from Georgia it stated that Brady's Aspergers does not hinder him in his education...just socially. Colorado state law is that if it doesn't hinder your testing scores, you don't qualify for special ed. Imagine my anxiety.....
Anyways, so they have been evaluating him and she says that he does qualify for special ed but they are going to write down that he has a physical disability instead of whatever the other one would be because of his ADHD. She said that his ADHD is extremely severe and that he is having a very hard time testing at school. When she is one on one with him, helping him a long and helping him to focus...he does okay. In a classroom setting...not so much. She also told me that she had a chance to evaluate him in a classroom setting and that he was extremely hyper in there, couldn't sit still...would roll on the floor from time to time and would make monkey noises. That was just so encouraging to say the least. When she asked his homeroom teacher if this was normal behavior for Brady she told the special ed teacher that he is always like that and even mutters out curse words!!! And they both said that it was like when he would say curse words he wasn't even talking to anyone or looking at anyone...and they both kind of said it was more like a kids with turrets. Fantastic.
Anyways, so I didn't know that any of that was going on...I haven't had one e mail. I'm guessing that since he is in special ed they just kind of ignore that behavior or try to help him with it or show him the correct behavior but don't want to daily be writing the parents. I guess I get it...I mean it WOULD bother me, at the same time I would have like to have known some of those things so I could have been helping him here at home. I'll be bringing that up in my meeting Friday. I was also told that there will be a specialist there at the meeting who would like to discuss medication with me - my little mother's brain has been spinning.
Today Zac and I talked pretty extensively about the pros and cons from our standpoint with medication and we have both decided to order this alternative homeopathy stuff for him to take, as well as add some supplements and change up his diet a bit. We are also cutting out his video game time for week days and instead we are going to try and have him do workouts (which he loves to do) and long bubble baths and stuff like that. We ordered a 90 day supply which will take us through this semester....if we see improvement we will keep it up, if not - then we will start discussing medication...right now I'm not a fan.
Trinity is doing very well with her learning. I finally had a breakthrough with her and reading. Know what it took? A princess sight word book. I know I know, I'm genius.
Last night she had her first sleepover with her friend Sophie - I can't tell you how much happiness it brought me knowing that she has made a friend GOOD enough to spend the night. One of the things I have hated the most about leaving Georgia is that Trinity had to leave her little friends that she loved so much, that she had known since she was born. When we moved here I had to teach her how to introduce herself and how to meet new people...she of course is good at that being a social butterfly - but it was still different. She told me about 2 months ago that she doesn't understand why we moved to this "stupid place" and left all of her buddies. For some parents I guess that kind of honesty would shock them but with Trin, if she expressed that much sadness or anger about something...I know it's serious. So, I just held her and talked about it...and let the word *stupid* fly - that wasn't what it was about. Since she has met Sophie that conversation has never come up again - and she loves getting letters in the mail from her little friend Lulu.

Tristan has an appointment with Child Find (a service through the Colorado school system that helps identify children with special needs) on September 28th. My sweet Aubrey took a vacation day to be able to come watch Finn and Trinity so I can take Tristan to the assessment. Aubrey has been such a huge blessing to me and Zac - she only lives about 5 minutes from our house now so I get to see her at least once a week. Anyways, I'm not sure what the assessment entails...I'm not really nervous about it for now...just anxious to get the ball rolling.

I really don't believe that Tristan has Aspergers. He doesn't ever have meltdowns and even though he is extremely fixated on things he isn't obsessive. I do believe he has some sensory issues and I'm pretty sure he is on the spectrum. He and Finn have been playing more together lately and I'm noticing that Tristan is beginning to interact a lot more with others...and I've noticed more eye contact. The thing that bothers me the most though is that for at least a couple of house a day, he seems to be totally out of reality. So, we're gonna get it checked it.

Finn is growing like a weed and is so animated and just a joy. He says "mama" and "uh oh" ...Finn has a ton of common sense. He can just figure things out and he imitates the other kids constantly...sometimes good sometimes not so good. :) Finn right now is just a pure delight and I wish he would just stay this age for a long long long time.

And, that's about all I have to say for the moment. Some of you have wondered where I've been...and the answer is - "at home." I've been trying to uncomplicated my life a bit and just focus on my home...thus my no facebook account. :) I will be blogging a lot more now...it's the fall you know? I'm about to start having a lot of inside time. :)