This side of normal...

I wrote this yesterday, but for some reason it didn't publish.

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Homeschool started Monday at my house. I have to admit, I was NOT looking forward to it. Last year, homeschool was about disciplining behaviors and teaching the kids things they should have already known. Like the alphabet and how to add, etc... Remember, I was homeschooling: 1st, 2nd,3rd, and 4th grades.

Mainly it was about dealing with bad behaviors though. I know I am less than 1 week into it but I am thrilled. Especially with the boy. He will be 8 this year and had not read one word until Monday.

Monday he read FOUR books by himself (there are four, one slipped as I took the pic). I could have swore to you on Sunday that I thought all that time I spent going over the alphabet and all the phonics books and letter writing he did last homeschool year was a waste. I had taken him back to Pre-K and I was beyond frustrated.

However, I do have a confession. I think his decision to read came on the heels of lunch that very same day. You see, I had to take Poufy for her blood to be drawn (still checking her thyroid) and the oldest to get her first pair of glasses. What that has to do with anything is that I stopped at McDonald's for lunch and got them all happy meals.

Once home the kids were all reading off the boxes and the boy was staring at the Hot Wheels stuff on his. He told the girls that he thought the guys on the side of the box were the bad guys. The oldest quickly confirmed that they indeed were the bad guys because it said it RIGHT THERE on the box. The boy looked sheepish and then of course I HAD to go there and say "See, if you knew how to read, you would have read that." He stared at the box. Right after lunch, I pulled out The Cat and The Hat and decided to give it a go. Except that copy was destroyed by my oldest niece, A, over a decade ago. So then I pulled out the BOB books. Little did I know...

It's day three of homeschool and he has read 9 books and shows no signs of stopping. He runs to Hubbins after he reads each one and shows him. He's so proud.

That first day of school, I think it was the best day ever for him. They all made pizza for dinner that night with Hubbins. He was so happy. It had been awhile since he was able to help out. Especially with dinner. When they don't listen or pay attention, it's too dangerous to have them in there to help cook.

As I was tying his apron on, he said something that almost made me cry. I even wrote it down so I could document it on here.

He said: "I've really been wanting this, if CDQ were to behave we can get together and ALLLL cook together."

It made me sad and angry. Watching him that day, he was like a normal four year old. Yes, I know he is seven. Those words made me realize how hard it must be for him being so young and not knowing so much. It also made me realize that even though I regret the adoption, it is still the best thing for them to be together.

I know I have to write a post to describe why some things are changing for the best around here and I will get to that, but for now, I want to focus on this good stuff. Maybe next time... I know I have a lot of catching up to do.

Happily Ever After...

The night before...

The morning after:

"There's something in there!"

He almost dug a hole through the pillow... guess he thought he was going to be rich. lol
But it was just a quarter. I pointed out it was a quarter for our state too! lol I guess he wasn't impressed. Must've been the stories about other kids who get $20 for their teeth. Sorry kiddo...our toothfairy is more sensible and level headed. You'll appreciate it later in life....really. lol

On Being 7

Today I got a normal day.

It was the boy's seventh birthday. I relished in the fun of picking out his cake and his gift and his card. I was so happy to get to do that finally. It felt so normal.

Little things touched me today. You see that smile of happiness and satisfaction. Just from the cake. Each of them are always sooo surprised when they get a cake with their name on it. It's a little thing but it means alot to them. It's huge in their world that their name was actually put on a cake. Sad huh?

(you might want to adjust the volume before you play it)

I have hope for this one. I think he will make it. You can see he has a good heart.

We were a little mean. We only gave him a card and told him it was his birthday present. It was a Kung Fu Panda card with stickers. All day long he eavesdropped on Hubs and I talking about Kung Fu Panda action figures and palaces, etc... He just knew he was getting something Kung Fu Panda. It was funny to see his face as he played with the card.

But in truth we had this waiting for him in the living room.

A BIG BOY BIKE! I tried to record him but it didn't turn out. He stood rooted to the spot in the entrance way from the kitchen to the living room.

"A bike?, A bike, a BIKE!" then he ran over to it and examined every inch of it exclaiming over everything about it. It was love at first sight. I wish it would have recorded right.

I let him out even though it was getting dark (damn daylight savings) and he rode up from the hill down towards our van. I thought he was going to crash into the van but instead he swerved and fell.

I told him to come inside, not wanting a trip to the ER. lol

It would have been perfect, except Poufy had to go and steal while the rest of us were having fun. Instead of coming with us, she stole from the kitchen. She even licked the frosting from the cake off the other kids plates. *sigh* I regret including her in the celebration. It's the only time we let our guard down. We've decided we will not include her anymore. It's not fair to the rest of the kids and since we've kept them separated from her we now see that she was the driving force behind all the turmoil and chaos. Who would've thought one kid could cause so much damage?

At any rate, I have to figure out a way to survive this. It hurt so much when I realized that hubs was signing "Dad" on the card. He wants kids badly. I guess it's easier for him because he's not blood related. The transition is easier; but it's a slippery slope for me between Aunt and Mother.

Oopsies!

Tuesday night I was able to take two of the kiddos to Catechism. CDQ and The Boy. The other two not so.

Unfortunately, The Boy's class was having a Halloween party and the Boy had lost all Halloween privileges. I suspected there was going to be a problem when he found out this little tidbit. But to my surprise, he took it very well. As in he accepted that he had done many many many many things wrong and it was his consequence.

I still wanted to reward him for being good lately. I decided to take him to get a library card. He's been doing an excellent job with his beginning sounds. I told him because of that, I thought he was going to be reading soon and I wanted him to be able to read a lot. He was nervous about it.

When we got up to the counter, I went blank at his age so I asked him how old he was. At our library, you have to be at least 7 to get a card. He told me he was 7. So I told the librarian. As I was filling out the form, I thought something wasn't right but it didn't sink in. I was too worried about the time and when I had to pick CDQ up. The librarian asked if he was 7 again and I said "yup!" still not thinking. She issued him a card. (This whole sequence will make sense a little later)

I showed him all the books that were available to him. He walked from row to row, touching the books and telling me to look at this one or that one. Then he asked how many he could check out. I told him 3. He went at it.

Some books I had to tell him he was going to have to work up to but he seemed to like that challenge. This is huge because this is a boy who could not identify letters that weren't in his name when I started with him. He's a first grader. He didn't want to do ANYTHING. He was too scared because he wasn't confident enough that he knew anything.

After making his selections, he took his books and card up to the desk and very matter of factly put them on the counter like he had been doing it for ages. I could tell he felt like such a big boy.

Later, at dinner, we were all talking about something that escapes me right now (senior moment) and the kids ages came up. That's when I realized the boy is actually 6, not 7 yet. How embarrassing. When I asked him why he said he was 7, he said he forgot and thought he was 7. lol I think maybe the librarian let him slide since his birthday is in 2 weeks. That or she saw my face, because she had asked me what was wrong when I first came in. But maybe next post, I'll address that.

At any rate, I am so proud of the boy and I am hoping the best for him and reading. It's the only thing (at least it seems) that I have been able to instill in all of them. I've been collecting children's books for as long as I can remember. They love to read and I've been reading to them.

Keeping the Toothfairy Busy

The past few nights have been filled with nightly tooth fairy pillow stuffing. We've had 4 teeth lost by the masses and tonight is the final night (unless another tooth falls out today). It's funny how driven they are to see that shiny quarter in the palm of their hand...yep...our tooth fairy only pays a quarter.

IF it's a pristine tooth, no cavities, the tooth fairy leaves a whole dollar.

They witnessed that sweet little miracle when their cousin was staying and lost his tooth.

In this round of losses. The Boy lost his very first tooth.

Oh The Plans! They were laid while the tooth was still wiggling in his mouth. There was popcorn and pickle at school to be bought! The possibilities of this mini fortune were endless.
He kept telling me "OH! I can buy this and OH! I can buy that!" He seemed at such a loss with all the decisions that were popping into his head.

I told him I had a wonderful idea. Seeing as he hasn't turned in any of the donation envelopes that he received from Catechism, maybe he should tuck that little gem in one and donate it to the Church.

It's funny because that "wonderful idea" was met with total silence and then I heard no more of his brilliant ideas and the struggles he was having making a decision.

Clearly, I was not to be included in the plans any longer because I'm out of my mind. lol

Mickey Says...

Like most kids, the boy has trouble following directions. In fact, it seems that he's not even listening at all. This, compounded by the fact that he "can't" do anything is frustrating. So when I saw these Mickey ears on clearance for $2 I figured what the heck.

I thought it would be something that could interest him and be fun. But as you can see right off the bat he started with "I can't". ARGH!

But then Mickey asked him to do something and he did it, Mickey told him he did a good job. So he was excited. Wish he would get that excited when I tell him he's done a good job.

Here Mickey told him to tip toe. Some how it seems to sense when he does something that Mickey hasn't told him to and it gently reminds him that "Mickey didn't say..."

It plays songs that he can dance to but my favorite part is Mickey Says which is basically Simon says. He's underdeveloped and the game is really for a smaller child but his lack of maturity and inability to do anything make it right up his alley.

Sometimes I worry that he might be mildly retarded. I had heard that he had a seizure when he was an infant and had stopped breathing. But when I questioned further, I'm afraid it could have been a stroke. Especially when I see that things are lopsided and one side looks more alert than the other. It also sounds like he lacked oxygen for quite some time before help arrived.

I have to figure out how to approach this and if it is even possible to examine him and see that far back into his life and what damage was done.

He was supposed to go on a field trip to the museum with his class today but he woke up spewing every where... good times...