Friday, February 8, 2013
Thursday, February 7, 2013
mini imelda
pickle has been obsessed with my shoe shelves lately. she especially likes to go pair by pair and categorize then as "work shoes" and "not work shoes." her pegging is surprisingly accurate... cute ballet flats: work shoes. crocs: not work shoes. heels: work shoes. flip flops: not work shoes. i wish she was wrong about the flip flops though.
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
cuddle party
a couple of weeks ago, Q was begging to sleep with us in our bed. because it was a school night, we deferred him until friday night, and said we would have a cuddle party (pickle included) if they have good days at school. so that friday we all snuggled in and watched fantasia.
then they wanted to have another cuddle party on saturday night. it was cute, so the what the heck. we watched more of fantasia.
we've had a cuddle party every single weekend night since.
good thing we have a king-sized bed :)
then they wanted to have another cuddle party on saturday night. it was cute, so the what the heck. we watched more of fantasia.
we've had a cuddle party every single weekend night since.
good thing we have a king-sized bed :)
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
expelled
Q got expelled from his daycare back in december. yeah, expelled. he’s 5. and got expelled. from daycare. it's taken a while, but the anger has subsided. a little. unless i think about it. or blog about it. argh. anger bubbling.
the backstory… as you know, Q has ADHD. because of this he is prone to meltdowns (ADHD kids have the self-control of children 30% younger than themselves, so from a tantrum perspective, Q is 3.5.) just like your average 3-year old, his meltdowns usually start from a small incident and then escalate. if a grown-up steps in and helps him regain his composure, it’s over. if you don’t intervene, it spirals out of control, tasmanian devil-style. at home, we’ve only seen a couple of doozies, mainly because we are able to catch him before he escalates, and help him calm down. his kindergarten teacher has also learned to spot his triggers and warning signs, and the number of tantrums at school has dropped off considerably. his before/after care teacher and directors, on the other hand, did not understand this concept and would not try to diffuse his tantrums at all. instead, they would just yell at him, and then call us and complain about it (while Q was actively melting down in the background.) they also consistently treated us like his behavior was our fault. they were very judgy and accusatory, like we were secretly training Q to be a bad kid on purpose. awful, awful people who have no business being in early childhood education. the nicer of the two directors had once told me that if they knew about Q’s ADHD, they wouldn’t have placed him with the particular teacher he was with. they knew from the start that it was going to be a challenge but did nothing to alleviate it.
one friday morning in december, the daycare called us less than one hour after we dropped him off because he was "out of control." the situation they described didn't really seem that bad and it seemed like something they should have been able to handle. but of course they didn't. they informed us that we needed to come get him immediately because he was so out of control and dangerous. jeremy was with patients that morning so i had to drive up from delaware to get him. the meaner of the directors called like 5 times in the 30 minutes it took me to get there, to see if i was there yet. (does she understand that delaware is a completely different state than pennsylvania? probably not.) she even called in the school’s security guard to restrain him because he “was so out of control.” she described a scene of complete mass destruction, like he has wrecked the entire daycare and was holding a knife to her throat.
when i got there to pick him up, she had him locked in the office with her and the security guard. the “complete destruction” consisted of a knocked-over chair and a few papers on the floor. oh, and the content of Q’s backpack were spilled on the floor. she glared at me and then snarkily said, “this is his handiwork,” like i should be ashamed of it. Q was calmly sitting on the security guard’s lap, looking at pictures of cute puppies and kitties on his phone. clearly the tantrum had passed. the director started interrogating me: “why is he doing this?” i told her i didn’t know, and that it was odd because he’d been improving so steadily in every other facet of his life (home, school, soccer, karate, swimming.) i stated i believed that the situation was specific to daycare and expressed frustration that we needed to sit down to discuss how to better manage him. he had served a 2-day suspension for a previous incident about a week prior, and following that, jeremy explicitly requested that we all sit down to discuss how to manage Q. but nothing had come of it, so i was just asking for that again. she then berated Q for his behavior (which clearly was unacceptable, but seriously he cannot control it; he needs their help) and we left, with her glaring at me the entire time I was packing up his belongings.
at 4:45 that afternoon, the other director called jeremy and informed him that Q was being expelled from the program effective immediately. it was clearly a vindictive response to me criticizing how they were managing him. they had no interest in helping him, they just wanted to punish him. and us. and seriously, telling us at the end of the day on a friday that we no longer have daycare for the next monday, so not cool. then the director tried telling me that she, the other director, and the teacher had 25 years of experience each so my criticism was unjustified. so what she’s saying is, in 75 years of experience, Q is the worst child they have ever seen? really??? i do not believe that for one minute. i hurt their feelings, or i wasn’t apologetic enough, so we had to be punished. awful, awful people.
we were livid. we didn’t really want him going there anymore anyway (what with them being awful, awful people), but they totally left us in a lurch. we could not believe how they flat out refused to work with a child with a documented disability. and Q was so confused. he didn’t understand why he couldn’t go back to daycare and see his friends and teachers. oh, and did i mention that this daycare is run by the town and affiliated with the school district? my tax dollars pay for this nonsense (in addition to the tuition we paid.)
the next week, we took turns working from home since we had nowhere to send Q during the day. we researched other daycare options and toured a couple. one of them was perfect. the assistant director is studying to get her masters in child psychology and actually has a niece with ADHD so she is very familiar with it. they were more than comfortable with their ability to handle him, even when i described his tantrums. the program is actually private kindergarten, so now Q gets a double dose of kindergarten at daycare and at school (which is also super good for him, because he’s lagging a little bit behind as a result of the ADHD.) he was able to start there the following week. amazingly, he transitioned to the new daycare super smoothly (ADHD kids, Q included, typically have a really tough time with transitions.) and we’ve noticed that his behavior has actually gotten even better all around. he has not had a single incident at the new place. he’s had his moments but they have been able to handle them, not even needing to call us about them or write them on his daily sheets. just normal kid stuff and they handle it. it has become even more obvious that the old daycare was just so toxic. he was clearly struggling with it and acting out because it was so awful.
we are sending a letter to the township expressing our concerns about the old daycare. they were clearly unwilling to work with him and us. and what with all the disability laws and such, they aren’t allowed to do that. it was unacceptable and that feedback needs to be given. it will be interesting to see what, if anything, comes out of it. (we’re not lawyering up, or anything; we just want to make it known that this was unacceptable.)
ok. breathe. everything is better now. i just hope i never see the awful, awful people at the grocery store or something...
the backstory… as you know, Q has ADHD. because of this he is prone to meltdowns (ADHD kids have the self-control of children 30% younger than themselves, so from a tantrum perspective, Q is 3.5.) just like your average 3-year old, his meltdowns usually start from a small incident and then escalate. if a grown-up steps in and helps him regain his composure, it’s over. if you don’t intervene, it spirals out of control, tasmanian devil-style. at home, we’ve only seen a couple of doozies, mainly because we are able to catch him before he escalates, and help him calm down. his kindergarten teacher has also learned to spot his triggers and warning signs, and the number of tantrums at school has dropped off considerably. his before/after care teacher and directors, on the other hand, did not understand this concept and would not try to diffuse his tantrums at all. instead, they would just yell at him, and then call us and complain about it (while Q was actively melting down in the background.) they also consistently treated us like his behavior was our fault. they were very judgy and accusatory, like we were secretly training Q to be a bad kid on purpose. awful, awful people who have no business being in early childhood education. the nicer of the two directors had once told me that if they knew about Q’s ADHD, they wouldn’t have placed him with the particular teacher he was with. they knew from the start that it was going to be a challenge but did nothing to alleviate it.
one friday morning in december, the daycare called us less than one hour after we dropped him off because he was "out of control." the situation they described didn't really seem that bad and it seemed like something they should have been able to handle. but of course they didn't. they informed us that we needed to come get him immediately because he was so out of control and dangerous. jeremy was with patients that morning so i had to drive up from delaware to get him. the meaner of the directors called like 5 times in the 30 minutes it took me to get there, to see if i was there yet. (does she understand that delaware is a completely different state than pennsylvania? probably not.) she even called in the school’s security guard to restrain him because he “was so out of control.” she described a scene of complete mass destruction, like he has wrecked the entire daycare and was holding a knife to her throat.
when i got there to pick him up, she had him locked in the office with her and the security guard. the “complete destruction” consisted of a knocked-over chair and a few papers on the floor. oh, and the content of Q’s backpack were spilled on the floor. she glared at me and then snarkily said, “this is his handiwork,” like i should be ashamed of it. Q was calmly sitting on the security guard’s lap, looking at pictures of cute puppies and kitties on his phone. clearly the tantrum had passed. the director started interrogating me: “why is he doing this?” i told her i didn’t know, and that it was odd because he’d been improving so steadily in every other facet of his life (home, school, soccer, karate, swimming.) i stated i believed that the situation was specific to daycare and expressed frustration that we needed to sit down to discuss how to better manage him. he had served a 2-day suspension for a previous incident about a week prior, and following that, jeremy explicitly requested that we all sit down to discuss how to manage Q. but nothing had come of it, so i was just asking for that again. she then berated Q for his behavior (which clearly was unacceptable, but seriously he cannot control it; he needs their help) and we left, with her glaring at me the entire time I was packing up his belongings.
at 4:45 that afternoon, the other director called jeremy and informed him that Q was being expelled from the program effective immediately. it was clearly a vindictive response to me criticizing how they were managing him. they had no interest in helping him, they just wanted to punish him. and us. and seriously, telling us at the end of the day on a friday that we no longer have daycare for the next monday, so not cool. then the director tried telling me that she, the other director, and the teacher had 25 years of experience each so my criticism was unjustified. so what she’s saying is, in 75 years of experience, Q is the worst child they have ever seen? really??? i do not believe that for one minute. i hurt their feelings, or i wasn’t apologetic enough, so we had to be punished. awful, awful people.
we were livid. we didn’t really want him going there anymore anyway (what with them being awful, awful people), but they totally left us in a lurch. we could not believe how they flat out refused to work with a child with a documented disability. and Q was so confused. he didn’t understand why he couldn’t go back to daycare and see his friends and teachers. oh, and did i mention that this daycare is run by the town and affiliated with the school district? my tax dollars pay for this nonsense (in addition to the tuition we paid.)
the next week, we took turns working from home since we had nowhere to send Q during the day. we researched other daycare options and toured a couple. one of them was perfect. the assistant director is studying to get her masters in child psychology and actually has a niece with ADHD so she is very familiar with it. they were more than comfortable with their ability to handle him, even when i described his tantrums. the program is actually private kindergarten, so now Q gets a double dose of kindergarten at daycare and at school (which is also super good for him, because he’s lagging a little bit behind as a result of the ADHD.) he was able to start there the following week. amazingly, he transitioned to the new daycare super smoothly (ADHD kids, Q included, typically have a really tough time with transitions.) and we’ve noticed that his behavior has actually gotten even better all around. he has not had a single incident at the new place. he’s had his moments but they have been able to handle them, not even needing to call us about them or write them on his daily sheets. just normal kid stuff and they handle it. it has become even more obvious that the old daycare was just so toxic. he was clearly struggling with it and acting out because it was so awful.
we are sending a letter to the township expressing our concerns about the old daycare. they were clearly unwilling to work with him and us. and what with all the disability laws and such, they aren’t allowed to do that. it was unacceptable and that feedback needs to be given. it will be interesting to see what, if anything, comes out of it. (we’re not lawyering up, or anything; we just want to make it known that this was unacceptable.)
ok. breathe. everything is better now. i just hope i never see the awful, awful people at the grocery store or something...
Monday, February 4, 2013
a boy and his cat
every night after we tuck Q into his bed, the cat forcefully pushes the door open and climbs into bed with him. since the kids each have a space heater in their rooms, i guess the cat wants to be where it's warm? to keep the heat in the bedroom, i have to shut the door, trapping in the cat. pickle's room is warm too, but he only goes to Q. later when we head upstairs for bed, i open the door to see if the cat wants out to join us in our room with our space heater. but he never does. he just stays with his boy until the boy gets up.
fruity
we have this rug in our kitchen. tonight, caroline was running in circles on the rug screaming, "the fruits are chasing me! the fruits are chasing me!"
Sunday, February 3, 2013
note to self
do not leave children alone with two pounds of strawberries. soon you will have no pounds of strawberries.
Saturday, February 2, 2013
sorry baby. not gonna happen.
caroline was (already) discussing the theme for her birthday party this year:
"i'm going to have a princess party. with all the princesses. and fireworks."
"i'm going to have a princess party. with all the princesses. and fireworks."
Friday, February 1, 2013
fetch me a bar of soap
one of the teachers at pickle's school told me this conversation she had with caroline today...
pickle: ms. linda, you're a tramp!!
(ms. linda is at a loss for words; several moments pass)
ms. linda: what?
pickle: you're a tramp and i'm lady!
pickle: ms. linda, you're a tramp!!
(ms. linda is at a loss for words; several moments pass)
ms. linda: what?
pickle: you're a tramp and i'm lady!
Thursday, January 31, 2013
one month in...
resolution on track.
officially more posts on the blog in january than in the five preceeding months.
officially more posts on the blog in january than in the five preceeding months.
rhyme time
Q likes to quiz us about language arts like his teacher quizzes the class. he will ask us what letter a word starts with or ask what sound we hear at the beginning or end of a word.
tonight he was testing me on rhyming words. he would say 3 words and i had to pick out the one that didn't rhyme.
it started off pretty mundane...
"cat. hat. mouse."
"light. right. pool."
then he talked himself into a corner...
"grave digger. dark vader..."
(pause)
"bark vader."
tonight he was testing me on rhyming words. he would say 3 words and i had to pick out the one that didn't rhyme.
it started off pretty mundane...
"cat. hat. mouse."
"light. right. pool."
then he talked himself into a corner...
"grave digger. dark vader..."
(pause)
"bark vader."
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
blah blah just sleep
conversation with Q at bed time
me: it's time to hop into bed and go to sleep
Q: i can't know how
me: just lay down and close your eyes
Q: i tried, but my eyes don't want to stay closed
me: close them and count sheep
Q: (confused) cheep? where's a cheep?
me: not cheep. sheep. they're in your imagination.
Q: sheep? i don't see any sheep. this isn't a farm.
me: it's time to hop into bed and go to sleep
Q: i can't know how
me: just lay down and close your eyes
Q: i tried, but my eyes don't want to stay closed
me: close them and count sheep
Q: (confused) cheep? where's a cheep?
me: not cheep. sheep. they're in your imagination.
Q: sheep? i don't see any sheep. this isn't a farm.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
just so you know
Q's birthday is "august two", not "august second" because those are totally different days. guess they're still working on ordinals in school.
Monday, January 28, 2013
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Friday, January 25, 2013
director of crocodiles
we were getting out of the car in the parking garage this morning, caroline admonished me: "shhhhhhh. you have to tiptoe so you don't wake the crocodiles. they won't eat me because i'm the director."
Thursday, January 24, 2013
(not) long ago in a vocabulary far, far away
Q is completely obsessed with star wars these days. he is constantly talking about hitting "dark vader" with his "light saver."
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
dance recital
pickle's first dance recital will be this may. we got a sneak peek at her costume. this is gonna be adorbs.
Monday, January 21, 2013
sad
someone is teaching caroline to pronounce words correctly and i don't like it.
she had the funniest way of saying "girl" and "world" - something kinda like "geehrl" and "weehrld". now as of this week, both are pronounced correctly.
elephants were efflents, even last week at animal kingdom. but alas, no more.
thank goodness one of the best pickle-isms is still with us. when something is "really glass" she tells us its "breakgagle".
she had the funniest way of saying "girl" and "world" - something kinda like "geehrl" and "weehrld". now as of this week, both are pronounced correctly.
elephants were efflents, even last week at animal kingdom. but alas, no more.
thank goodness one of the best pickle-isms is still with us. when something is "really glass" she tells us its "breakgagle".
Sunday, January 20, 2013
dusty the snowman
it "snowed" here's couple of weeks ago. no real accumulation but we still managed to make a snowman at Q's insistence.
Saturday, January 19, 2013
bieber fever
i took the kids to to the dentist last week. they got to pick out a sticker for being good. Q picked bieber.
Friday, January 18, 2013
alter ego
when caroline is being bad, she's declared that she's not caroline, she's bad trixie.
i really dislike bad trixie.
i really dislike bad trixie.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
gonna be busy
i took 2,676 photos at disney world. there are another 886 on our disney photo pass card.
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Monday, January 14, 2013
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Friday, January 11, 2013
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
oh christmas tree
this year, we decided to chop down our own christmas tree. thankfully our local farm does christmas trees in addition to fruits, veggies, pumpkins, etc. and it was a beautiful day to go!
first a hayride out to the trees
then, the hunt. the very, very long hunt.
is this the one? almost. but not quite.
now this is the one.
pickle is skeptical of daddy's sawing.
victory at last!
Monday, January 7, 2013
exterior illumination
caroline and I worked hard one saturday to add more to our outdoor christmas decor than just icicle lights. we hit up michael's and made some wreaths for the windows. we added some holiday zest to the flamingo flock. and we bought a light-up dog, because pickle called it bailey in the store and i'm just a sucker. and mommy restrung the lights on our aging moose/deer herd.
and more baking
quentin insisted that we were not allowed to have thanksgiving without baking an apple pie. so we did.
bake me a cake as fast as you can
Q and i bought a cake mix in the after-halloween clearance. we had so much fun baking. Q timed out their turns mixing by singing his school song.
bake me a cake as fast as you can
Q and i bought a cake mix in the after-halloween clearance. we had so much fun baking. Q timed out their turns mixing by singing his school song.
Sunday, January 6, 2013
world wide what?
pickle just came out of the playroom with a book. she sat down next to me on the couch and informed me, "i just got this from education dot com."
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Friday, January 4, 2013
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