CHANGES!

I am a very, very bad blogger. I am perhaps a worse teacher, since I am blogging instead of reading the research papers that, no matter how much I want them to, will not grade themselves. But things are happening around here, and I feel like writing about them. So here goes.

Nikki is driving! She got her license on January 9 and has rapidly embraced the freedom that transportation brings. Also wonderful is that she is now caring for Caleb in the mornings, getting him up and taking him to school before taking herself to her school. This arrangement enables him to sleep an extra hour in the morning, which is such a blessing. Also, because of this, we were able to move him to a different after-school program. Instead of being told to sit down and be quiet, he gets to run and play for two hours until we get home. It's also saving us over $400 a month. Generally, when things seem too good to be true they are. We're hoping that's not the case here!

Since Nikki began driving, both cars have been in for service to the tune of $500 (totally unrelated to her driving). Also unrelated to Nikki, Scott was t-boned by an out-of-control teen driver while sitting at a stoplight yesterday in the van (Nikki's primary ride). It was not the accident I was expecting in the van, but I am grateful that it was not Nikki!! I generally pray in the morning and then feel good about her getting herself around, but tonight was an exception. It's raining hard in San Diego, and she drove herself to her play tonight. I started feeling really nervous, so I texted her and told her that I would drive her to the after-play Denny's feast. She informed me that she had nearly hit a pedestrian who was walking around in dark clothing in the rain. She didn't see him until it was almost too late, and she was still shaking thirty minutes later. I guess mother's intuition is real. Regardless, she will be coming home and I will be doing the driving in the rain tonight.

Caleb had a rocky start to the school year again. He struggled in math. A lot. We were concerned. We modified his assignments, I bought additional resources, and we felt frustrated a lot. Even so, we knew he would eventually get it. Then he forgot to wear his hearing aids for a week, and magically everything clicked. Although he had struggled with adding and subtracting single digits all fall, adding and subtracting double-digits, even re-grouping, was a piece of cake for him. We just got a progress update based on a standards-based test, and he scored proficient in reading, but ADVANCED in math. I will never understand how this boy's brain works, but I'm finding it easier not to panic when he gets off to a rocky start.

So here we are, finishing semester one, beginning semester two, and looking forward to more new developments. Change? Bring it on!

Legal. Again.

Tomorrow I start my 21st year teaching at Crawford. I am now not only long-past-legal in human years, but also in teaching years. And this year, I'm feeling it.

I had a sad back-to-school in Fall 2009. My kids I'd had for four years had graduated, we had lost half of the CHAMPs staff, and my husband had joined them in moving to another school. I cried on the way to school. But in the end, it was a great year. Emma came to stay with us, Scott's new job gave him more time at home. In the end, it was fine.

This year, CHAMPs is gone. Not just staff, but the actual school. We are now back to being one big Crawford with two "learning centers", each comprised of half of the remnants of each of the four small schools. Instead of starting tomorrow with the kids I taught in the spring, I will walk into a classroom of 40 students, 2/3 of whom I have never met. Our secretaries are gone, our school is gone, key staff members have retired, and once again, my husband is gone (but just across the street this time).

I am trying really hard to be positive, to cling to the fact that the kids will be awesome, as they always are. But a part of me wants to quit. They killed CHAMPs. In spite of all of our successes, in spite of the kids in college and the 1.6 million dollars our seniors earned in scholarships last year, they killed CHAMPs. Which just proves that, no matter how much you succeed in this district, they will always find a way to kill your dreams. And it's not about kids; it's about money.

But at the end of the day, I am still a Colt. My students are still Colts. And I have some great kids to work with, many of whom I haven't met yet. Tomorrow, when the kids are there, I will be fine. But tonight I am sad. Sad, but legal. Again.

Adoption=Love

We are so blessed to have an open adoption, so Caleb will never have to wonder if his birthmom loves him. I was so moved by this artist's struggle, and I thought it was worth sharing here.

It's Been Awhile...

since I posted and since I had anything to post about!

But our wonderful pediatrician moved from Children's to Sharp and a whole slew of interesting developments have come about because of that.

1. I learned that not all healthcare networks are a hot mess like Children's. At Sharp, when I call they either help me themselves or transfer me to a real person. WOW! Also, our pediatrician apologized when we had to wait ten minutes because he had a two-year-old with a fractured arm ahead of us. This is the same man we used to wait 60 minutes for when the kids were well, 90 when they were sick. Again, WOW!!
2. The pediatrician noticed that we hadn't been to the ENT since Caleb was diagnosed at almost-four. He decided to refer us to see the ENT with Sharp. THEY called US to make the appointment once the referral was approved. Again, WOW!!
3. We saw the ENT today. We learned several things. We learned that Caleb's ear pits are actually cysts connected to the cartilage in his ears. Apparently, most people with ear pits have trouble with infections. Who knew? Also, he looked at Caleb and asked me if I was interested in knowing what caused his hearing loss. What an interesting question that nobody has ever asked me (well, at least not any medical professionals). Um, sure? But what difference does it make? Well, in fact it DOES make a difference because we would then know whether to anticipate a decline in his hearing later on, or whether he should avoid impact-prone sports to prevent further loss. Have we had a CT scan? Why no, we haven't. Have his kidneys been checked? Why no, they haven't. Has he had a blood test to determine whether he is a carrier of a gene that causes hearing loss in 20% of cases? Why no, he hasn't. What did the other ENT do? Why, she told us that once he had hearing aids we'd be able to rip up his IEP. Not so much!! So he scheduled a CT, ordered a urinalysis to check kidney function (which we were able to do on the way out), and said he'd rather hold off on the blood test since it is unlikely that Caleb's hearing loss is caused by that gene (he's probably in the 80%). Well. Just. WOW!!!

So it's likely that we will once again have some answers. Answers to questions we didn't even know to ask.  WOW!!

Three Years Later

I went to a panel for parents of deaf and hard-of-hearing kids this week at Lafayette Elementary, which is the magnet school for DHH kids in San Diego Unified. It was a great panel. Several of the panelists were parents of deaf or HOH kids, and they talked about the process of getting their kids identified and served (boy, did THAT bring back memories!). Two of the panelists were deaf adults, and I especially enjoyed hearing about their experiences. One wears a cochlear implant and functions in both Deaf and hearing worlds (she was born hearing but caught meningitis and lost it). The other was a Deaf man who came from a hearing, bilingual family. He is now married to a Deaf woman, and their son was also born deaf. One thing that all of them shared was that they went through a grieving process when they found out their kids had hearing loss. I suppose that makes sense to me, although I don't remember ever feeling that. So I went back and read my blog posts. You know what? I never grieved.

I suppose that growing up with a cousin who is Deaf, and having spent my early life immersed in sign language both gave me more perspective than your average hearing person. But even the Deaf panelist talked about grieving his son's hearing loss. And really, we are quite fortunate because Caleb can hear, just not well. Then again, things didn't really turn out as predicted (we still aren't tearing up his IEP, and he definitely still has language delays). All in all, though, he's doing great. I couldn't ask for more than that!

Expanding Again

In a totally unrelated turn of events, we will be welcoming two new members into our household. José, 18, will be joining us tomorrow. And Bolt, the baby chinchilla born here in August, will be coming home this weekend. Never a dull moment!

Crazy

I've been having a very hard time dealing with all the balancing that comes with being a working mom lately. I don't know why it's hitting me hard this year in particular. I really don't. But it is. And I'm not quite sure that there's anything anyone can do about it.

But here's the crazy part. You ready?

I want to adopt this little boy I met in Ecuador two years ago. I really do. His name is Carlos. I got to spend some time with him while I was down there. I took he and his friend Jose Luis on a little walk. A dog came running over to say hi, and they freaked out. FREAKED OUT. Because they had never seen a dog run up to them like that before. Their lives are so sheltered and small in the orphanage. They orphanage is doing a GREAT JOB of taking care of these kids, but it's still an orphanage.

Three weeks ago, a member of our team from 2009 put out a table with pictures of the kids who are currently at the orphanage. They need sponsors to help cover their costs. And on one of those cards was Carlos. It told a little of his story, and said that he is free to adopt but nobody has come forward. I put the card back, and picked Lesley to sponsor. But Carlos has been on my mind ever since. Two weeks ago, I mentioned this crazy plan to my family in the car. They were all for it. Of course, I think they thought I was kidding. Tonight, I told my mom. She said to pray on it.

I know it's crazy. We don't have any money to adopt another child. We could make room for him by getting bunk beds in Caleb's room. But again, that costs money. I'm already going crazy trying to keep all my ducks in a row. But like my mom said, we're already taking Caleb to Boy Scouts and gymnastics. What's one more? And although he's a year younger than Caleb, they'd probably be in the same grade.

I always thought we would have three kids. Is God really telling me that we should?

This is just crazy.