School

School started for my little darlings and on the first day, both of them were excited. I worried about Braxton as he kept saying "No school", but he was excited also.  He has a new teacher this year, Mr C. Braxton really likes him and he still has his 1 on 1 Mrs R.  I can hardly believe he is in grade 7.  I look forward to a really great year for him since there are only 5 kids in his class. A few weeks ago, I started giving Braxton Vitamin D3. There was a study done on it and autistic children seemed to have performed better and most of them showed they were low on D3....http://blog.vitamindcouncil.org/2012/08/17/study-high-antibodies-low-vitamin-d-levels-in-autistic-children/      A few moms on groups I am on have commented on improvements in their children.  A few days ago Braxton showed proper emotions for the first time. He thought I was crying and looked at me and while coming to me said "Don't cry mommy" and gave me a kiss. This was major as he usually laughs when he sees someone cry.  He is getting better at talking in sentences also.

Sarita is a big 2nd grader this year. I suspect she will do well. She is very smart and so creative. . Some of her drawings just amaze me.  In November, she will get an evaluation for her emotional needs.  She is so explosive at times, it worries me. We have given her a bigger bedroom now and she really likes it. We are hoping to have it all put together and painted within a couple of months. Last night, my little artist painted herself up and the clothes she was wearing with chocolate cake batter. I should have taken a picture, but truthfully, I was a bit annoyed at this one. Braxton is the one who made the batter him self:) He read the directions and made it. The bad part is that the cake mix was to be used for tomorrow's barbecue at my mom's. 

My husband went in yesterday for ultrasound on his kidney's. I do not know any results yet. He seems to be holding his own. Since he is now on medicare, there were some changes we had to get used to. At least his meds are pretty well covered and with his plan, he will have no deductibles. The biggest difference now is that instead of putting out less than $160.00 for medical per month, we now put out over $1,000.00 which has really hurt us and right now, we are in distress over this. I can barely get my kids what they need and school lunches are expensive . The forms do not take into account what you have to pay. Another bad thing is that we no longer get any income tax back with the kids. I know so many grand parents go through this also. They live on a fixed income and are having to support their grandchildren and can't even claim them. Things need to change in this realm.

I went to a weekend training a week ago and really enjoyed it. This was for Community Connectors. The trainings were on special education and Wraparound.  I met a lot of wonderful people and look forward to attending another training in March 2013.  We were at Ft Worden in Port Townsend, Wa. 

I have been very busy with school meetings with other parents and passing out fliers for Family Alliance for Mental Health www.familyallianceformentalhealth.com and makin g new connections for families in need of support. 

Well, I am off. Have a great day!