Where are we?

A few days of not posting I just wanted to record what's been happening in our house before I forget....

- Hailey has been doing well. School is great. Friends are great. Reading books not so great. I'm noticing that she is having a hard time hearing certain words like..."Sim" not "Sam" or "needs" not" neeedddzzzz". I know that it's all due to her ear so Mike and I are trying our best to keep Lily and Cati quiet while she reads so we can help her. But we go to a doctors appointment today to get her ear molded for her hearing aid.

- Lily and Ducati- they are a bunch of hams! Since Mason is in school they are bored! He would play with them for alittle bit while I did a quick clean of our house. Then we would start lessons in the afternoon. So since he's gone I've become the best playmate :-)  I've earned all the names of the puppets on Sesame Street, built a few forts, and read every book in our kids library. But it's been fun...to an extent. I really want to clean my house without having a mess follow me.

- Mason.....(sigh)...Not so good. He's been aggressive at school. So aggressive that he was sent to the Asst. Principals office. Mike and I did everything we could do to keep our cool while we talked with Mason. We got a note from the teacher and a phone call telling us that's he's hitting, pushing, kicking, arguing, etc....everything that we've taught him not to do- he's doing. So Mike and I we talked without Mason and reflected that this isn't Mason's usual behavior. And realized that he's getting too stimulated. In the morning he goes to a resource class so he has 30 minutes to calm down and regroup before he goes back into his huge classroom. But then comes RECESS.....the most dreaded 30 minutes ever! With his autism this has always been a struggle for him; either at school or home; to play, run, jump, chase and THEN it's time to go in! He doesn't know how to calm himself down. Other kids can click right back to being in classroom mode but he doesn't understand why everyone changed so he keeps going. And I know that with recess he needs an exercise that will calm him down so he can re-enter the classroom. So we didn't punish Mason harshly-but to him being grounded for a week is pretty harsh for him.

This morning Mike, Mason, and I all went in to school and talked with his teacher and gave her some tips and well as him some tips so hopefully the rest of the week will be more successful.

Mike and I- we're doing well. Getting into the new routine of school, carpools, scouts, callings, work, classes, etc. It was a rough start but we are a great team that within a few days we are pretty settled now.

So hopefully my next post will have better news.