New Glasses

Today was Matt's first day with glasses. Isn't he adorable? Kindergarten must be tougher than I remember. Matt came home today and took a three hour nap. He was in a much better mood when he woke up. All that learnin' is wearin' 'im out.

First Day of School

School....Yahoooooo!!!!!

School starts Wednesday. I am soooo ready. We have been busy with the last minute details. I get to meet Matt's teacher tomorrow night. We have been praying for her all summer. Speaking of praying... during the HSM2 party Friday night, Matt prayed for salvation. It was one of the most sincere and sweet prayers I've ever heard. You expect to see a change when an adult gets saved, but how much change could there possibly be in a five year old? A LOT!!!! He is so excited. He has been raised on Bible stories so that part is kinda second nature to him except, now he wants to make everything connect. He's not interested in the cute little stories anymore. Now he wants the real meat of the story. Yesterday, he tried to convince me that he shouldn't go to children's church anymore, "Howw am I suppose to wearn if I don't heaw what pweacha is saying?" --(he'll be starting speech this year)

Final Meet of the Season

Here are some photos from today's meet. This was the last one of the summer season. The fall swim season begins Sept. 1. Cam finished with a second, two thirds and a fourth. All of her times improved and she participated in the 100 IM (4th place) for the first time. We are very proud of her. She has worked very very hard.

TGIF

Today has been fun. We went back to school shopping. Neither of them really needed anything but, with all the sales and no tax... we saved a bundle. The last swim meet of the season is tomorrow. I'll post pictures when I get them. I'll type more later...

Confused, depressed, angry, happy, excited, anxious and icky

My emotions have been on a roller coaster all week. School starts in two weeks. I am not ready to send my baby boy off to kindergarten. Yes, he did go to pre-k. But, that was only four hours a day and attendance wasn't mandatory. This, this is a whole new ball game.

It is like he went from a baby to a five year old overnight. Who gave him permission? I'd like to have a word with that person. Cameron is a whole other story. As you may know, for several reasons, we have chosen to home school her. This is not a decision that was made lightly or in haste. There was much prayer and thought put into it. However, I'm tired. I'd like nothing more than to send her to school next year. Jeff has pretty much said, "no" to it. I feel as if I have very little support and being solely responsible for your child's education is a huge responsibility. Our school system, while well meaning, is totally inept and ignorant. They look at her diagnoses and assume she is ESE. Her IQ is above 160 and she is well above grade level. Yet, because she needs needs OT (along with some other therapies), their solution is to treat her as mentally retarded. They refuse to take into account her accomplishments and abilities. I would love to send her to the same private school that Matt goes to. But, Jeff seems to think she is better off at home. So, I suppose I'll respect that decision even if I don't like it. I know that I don't like it for purely selfish reasons. But, like I said before... I'm tired.

What next???

You know it has been a rough day when I am blogging at four in the morning. I have all kinds of thoughts and emotions floating around in my head. I figure if I write it out I'll be able to make sense of it. Cameron went for a new evaluation yesterday. Now, I had scheduled it because I was seeing some things I didn't like. I was seeing some regression in areas that she had already overcame. To make a long story short, she was up to three years behind in some areas. Particularly with her fine motor skills and visual integration. Her brain doesn't always correctly translate what her eyes are seeing. There is a whole detailed list, but I'm not going to bore you with the details. The therapist didn't really say anything we hadn't already heard. She just put it in a way that made it feel more intense. There are so many hurdles we thought we had already cleared. Now we find ourselves back at the beginning, a little older, a bit beat up, and not so confident that we will be able to jump quite as high. Anyway, now I find myself second guessing myself. If she was in school would they be able to do a better job? I don't think so, yet the question does bother me. I've surrounded myself with the homeschooling community. I forget how hostile the environment outside that community can be. Even those friends and family who are supportive of the choice, are often supportive because they love us, not because they understand. We will be starting a new series of testing at Shands in the upcoming months. Please be in prayer for Cameron and the rest of our family. There will be some big decisions to be made as we begin to get more input from the doctors and therapist and as a new school year gets ready to begin.