When is it too late ???????

I have something that has been on my mind. It actually crosses my mind about once a week . . . and then I forget about it for another week. In November 2006 Tino got baptized. Part of getting baptized is supplying your own white clothes for said baptism. Now if we would have waited an additional 10 months to have Tino baptized, it would have counted as a "convert baptism". For some reason, "convert baptisms" do not have to supply their own baptismal clothing. Yes, there are stake baptisms once a month. And yes, young boys get baptized ALL THE TIME. Can you tell me why I had such difficulty trying to find baptismal clothing for Tino????? And P.S. trying to find white pants for a 8 year old boy is next to impossible. Anyway, I ended up going to the temple the day before his baptism and explaining my sob story of how I had waited until the last minute trying to round up baptismal clothes, couldn't find any, Church Distribution would take at least one week to mail it to me, etc. So, I asked the very nice lady at the temple clothing counter if I could borrow some white pants. She checked with her supervisor, and came back and told me YES. As I was leaving, she asked if I would like a pair of white underwear as well. OF COURSE. That would save me an errand running to WalMart, Target, or any other place trying to track down tighty whities. Oh, did I mention Sarah and Mateo were with me when I went to borrow clothes from the temple?????? And did I also mention that the nice friendly brethren that greet you at the front entrance were not that nice and friendly when Sarah and Mateo were standing on the couches so they could get a better look at the Christ pictures in the waiting room area?????

Anyway, Tino got baptized, I returned the white pants ASAP. But, I couldn't find the white underwear the day I trekked across town to return the white pants. Mateo had put the underwear in his drawer. He had unofficially inherited some very special #8 white underwear. (There is a big number 8 on the waistband . . .) One month went by, and then another, and then another.

Here we are more than 18 months later and I still have the temple's white underwear. Is it too late to return it? Should I add more money to the "temple fund" next time I pay my tithes and offerings? Is it already too late and will I be going down for taking temple property and not returning it? What about my 4 1/2 year old son who wears his "special underwear" once a week? What would you do if you were in my predicament?????

The Day After

Sarah went into complete meltdown mode when it came time for opening birthday presents. She didn't appreciate being the center of attention with 40+ people staring at her as she attempted to open presents. In order to alleviate the uncomfortable situation, and to make it so she didn't truly have a doozy of a meltdown on her birthday, I took the presents back inside the house. Mission aborted. Well, Sarah took it upon herself to go into the house and open all the presents . . . ALONE. When I entered the dining room, she had all the EMPTY gift bags lined up in a row (TRUE TO HER OCD WAYS), there was a pile of tissue paper in the middle of the floor, and all her gifts were in a pile on the other side of the dining room. Do you have any idea what a challenge that makes for writing thank you notes????? Thank you Sarah.

She insisted on wearing her Disney character shirt to church last Sunday (UGH) . . . and as you can see she wasn't letting me do her hair. (Is that something new????? NOT.) I'm starting to accept the fact that the hair in eyes, messy hair, etc. will be a Sarah fashion statement. With all her other issues going on, I have come to a point of choosing battles and wars. I choose to lose at the hair wars.

Sarah's Birthday

So this is one week late. Better late than never right??? Sarah was the birthday girl . . . for about one week. Life revolved around Sarah's birthday and she made sure to let everyone know IT WAS HER BIRTHDAY . . . and she "had FWEE". (Notice the Spanish grammar "tengo tres anos" as she speaks English).

As a rule of thumb, we have always followed the guidelines for every year of birth, our children get to invite that many friends to their party. Well, Sarah had three friends to her party plus an additional fifty. Friends, neighbors, and family floated in and out throughout the evening. We had 53 people at one time. Sarah wanted a Kindermusik class at her pawty . . . but the kids (and even adults) were so entertained by the 3 in 1 inflatable that we never even did Kindermusik. That's o.k. We can save that for another time. As you can see, mom of the year never even got Mateo ready for the party. He was in his swimsuit the entire time.



I was running around the whole time, so of course I failed miserably in the picture taking department. (What else is new???) Anyway, we had a great time. Happy Birthday Sarah Girl! We love you!

V-E-N-T spells VENT!

T-Bone has done diddly squat his entire 5th grade school year. Can you give me a good reason why he hasn't had to do any projects, reports, etc. until THE. LAST. MONTH. OF. SCHOOL? And why is it that everything is all of a sudden due? I am so over this. He just finished up a non-fiction project board and oral presentation. Science Fair GROUP project consumed our week and weekend last week. History on Parade makes me want to parade someone over the head . . . Tino has been typing his research report on Henry Ford for weeks. I finally took over since it is well past bed time. Why do I feel the pressure to butt in and help him finish typing paragraph #8? Or the title page? Or the bibliography? Have I mentioned how many stores we went to yesterday trying to find a suit jacket or sports coat so he can dress up like Henry Ford tomorrow while he gives his oral presentation? Funny thing how we can't find children's suits or sports coats in FL. Could it be because the mothers and fathers would get turned in by DCF if they actually made their kids wear those things because their kids would suffer heat stroke, heat exhaustion, etc.? And will it be my fault or my kids fault when he gets docked points from his oral presentation for not having the full Henry Ford costume???

Back to the bibliography. No time to BLOG. Or VENT.

Back to Work

Yes, it's official. After a 4+ year hiatus, I am back to work. Full-time. I will definitely post more details soon, but the long and the short of it is this: Sarah is MILDLY developmentally delayed. MILD kiddos don't qualify for ANY services in the public school system. The recommendation is that she attend 3-5 days of preschool with "normally developing" children her age so they can serve as role models and she can learn from their example(s). I don't have money to put my kid in preschool one day let alone 3-5 days. So, in order to make that happen, I will be working at K*ndercare Learn*ng Center that is being built right outside the gates to my neighborhood. Can we say CONVENIENCE? Can we say WALKING DISTANCE? I will do whatever it takes to see that Sarah gets what she needs and she can continue to progress. So here I am blogging about it with 24 minutes left of my 30 minute lunch break on my FIRST DAY BACK TO WORK.

P.S. In answer to Gab's question, I have consolidated my Kindermusik schedule from 4 to 5 classes per semester to 2 classes possibly 3. I will only be teaching KM classes on Tuesday mornings. Silver Sneakers will continue at least for now . . . since at the time of hire I asked for Tuesdays completely off and Thursdays 2 hour lunch break (so I can go teach/exercise). Piano lessons will be on Tuesday afternoons and/or Saturday mornings (when it's the "off season" for baseball).

P.P.S. Mateo will also be doing Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten at my place of employment. Mateo will be in the classroom next to my enrichment classroom and Sarah will be two classrooms away. So although I am "going to work full-time", two of my three kiddos will be under the same roof as me.

P.P.P.S. I was hired to teach the enrichment classes (phonics, reading, math, Spanish, and ABC Music and Me (Kindermusik program) . I just found out today I will be focusing on phonics, reading, and Spanish. I will be training another enrichment teacher how to do the math and ABC Music and Me programs.

Infant Swimming Resource

As the weather gets hotter, I feel it is my duty to let everyone know about Infant Swimming Resource. Mateo and Sarah were first introduced to ISR two summers ago. We are surrounded by swim pools and there are over 1000 ponds and lakes in Orlando. By the end of their 6 week (daily) lessons, they had both been taught the skills necessary to save themselves in the water using ISR's self-rescue technique. ISR will be featured on the Today Show on May 14^th.

This technique IS NOT to be confused with swimming lessons. It is a survival/self-rescue technique.

Mommy Meltdown

Today was Sarah's second to last visit with the Behavior Analyst. Why? She turns three next Saturday. And ABA or applied behavior analysis, and anything else behavior related has only been a recognized field for 25 years. That means it will probably only take another 125 years until the health insurance industry will recognize behavior therapies and cover them. Since I don't have an extra $150 floating around for Sarah's weekly sessions, we have one session left.

I had a complete meltdown this morning. Not just a little tear trickling down the cheek, it was full on sobs and crying. All this fighting and advocating for Sarah and she is now "doing just fine mom . . . no need to worry". Since she does not have severe learning disablities, she is the shining star among those that are developmentally delayed. I was told in so many words she would not be qualifying for any services through the public school system. Well, thank goodness her Occupational Therapy and Speech is covered through my private insurance. She will be able to receive services at least until the insurance company catches up with us and decides she doesn't need anymore services. And hey, I even got a letter in the mail today saying she had been approved for 25 physical therapy sessions. What?!? Would it be a stretch for me to see if that would cover hippotherapy sessions? Everything is interrelated right? Right?!?

So yeah, when I had to sign the form for Sarah's ABA visit today . . . it was blank. As in not one thing written down. I glanced at the form and I didn't see ANYWHERE where there was a place to check off the section that reads: "behavior analyst unable to meet with client due to mommy meltdown". I hope she doesn't get into trouble for not spending enough time with Sarah today. But what's the worst thing that could happen?? Hmmmmmm . . . maybe cut off services for Sarah . . . effective next Saturday?

Too Busy to Blog

I have been home for 48 hours now. And I still have not posted one thing. But I have read lots and lots and lots of blogs. Have I commented? No. I've just been reading. Wouldn't it make a lot more sense to read and comment so I don't have to get back to the blogs again and leave a comment? So instead of posting, I continue to read blogs. What's up with that?

Cristian left this morning to go to a conference in Cincinnati. I am absolutely exhausted. Instead of blogging, I am going to bed. Good night!