First Art Class for Violet

Yesterday, Violet visited art class for the very first time. It was a good experience, she made a 'Sea Goddess' out of clay and met three kids who live in our neighborhood. Her class mates were very impressed by the number of siblings she has.

Tomorrow, she'll have a speech evaluation (for which I have to fill out yet another form, getting her evaluated involves many many many forms to be completed)

Wonderful Fantastic Awesome News!

As you might recall, we had about $8,000 worth of hospital bills for Zack which had not been covered by insurance. Yes, that is EIGHT THOUSAND DOLLARS. It had been weighing on me heavily, but last year and early this year, I really was just too depressed and stressed in my marriage to do anything about them. I am looking back at myself a few months ago, and can see how I was dragged down by surviving with lots of negative energy in the house. I feel so much lighter now, and last week, I was finally ready to start dealing with those bills.

Since my circumstances changed so much from last year, I was going to ask them for payment plan. I was hoping to pay $250 a month, for a few years, and get done with the darned bills.

My trusted and beloved sister made the phone calls for me. It took her a few days to reach the right person (can we spell 'p h o n e t a g'?), and today she finally did. She talked to her , explained things , and also made sure she knew about Katy Beckett (special type of medicaid). Turns out that because of Katy Beckett, the hospital gives us a break, and reduced the bill to zero! Yes, that is ZERO DOLLARS! That is zero, zip, nada!

What a wonderful gift on a sunny day!

YOU HATE ME and..

For a while, I thought Penny (9yo) was getting better with her anger, but after last week I changed my mind. She gets in pretty violent rages, using words like 'I wish Zack were dead' and to me 'You just HATE me and want to kill me in my sleep tonight!' Not a very fun thing to hear. And gives me many flash backs to when Zack was going through similar issues.

I spoke to our family therapist today, and we have decided to set her up with her own individual therapist. She is so full of anger, and she loses her temper very violently. She seems to have taken over the explosive role in the family. The others (especially Zack and my oldest girl) LOVE pushing her buttons and then claiming 'I didn't do ANYTHING!' Such fun!

It almost feels like she feels safer now that my ex is gone, and she can explode more freely. When she would explode when he was still here, he would explode right back at her, which was scary to her. I think she will benefit from a therapist to help her redirect that energy more positively. She is very sorry after her explosions and says 'I don't want to lose my temper, but I can't help it!'

First Meeting at School

Today, I met at school for Violet. We talked about all the testing we would be doing, and about which grade to get her into. Age wise, she could be 5th grade or 6th grade, so we'll see where she fits best after we do all the testing.

We also talked about starting her in one class a week, to get her used to the school, meet some of the kids, meet a teacher. This will be art, which is her very favorite subject, and I know she will enjoy it.

When I told her, her eyes lit up, and she clearly enjoyed the idea. The art teacher is looking forward to meeting Violet.

I think Violet is both excited and scared to go to school, this will be a positive way for her to get eased into it. The more I think about it, the more I think the structure and social aspects of school will be good for her. She will have psychological testing to see whether she falls on the spectrum like Zack does.

Now off to many therapies. Today is one of those 'driving kids and myself to therapy all day' days.

First Day of Light Box

Today, Zack used his lightbox for the very first time. It is a lot of light! I got him up a bit earlier than usual, and had him check his online sites, since i didn't think he would want to sit in front of it without something to do. It seemed to work fine for him, he got a bit impatient at the end. We also started melatonin at night, will be interesting to see whether this helps him to reset his sleeping pattern.

Tomorrow, I have meeting at school for Violet, talking about which evaluations she needs. We are planning on getting her started in September, she seems positive about the idea, which helps a lot. I think she might need the stricter structure of public school, like Zack does. We'll see.

I had a good talk with her therapist last week. She has really enjoyed me baking more now that my ex is gone, but hadn't shared that with me, just with her therapist. That is an easy thing to do though, so I will be sure to keep that up.

Things are going pretty well around here!