Today I realized I’ve reached a new level.  Now all I can think about and focus on is his education and making sure he gets the education he not only deserves but is entitled to.  He is entitled to an education like every other child.  He needs to learn to live in a world that isn’t going to be modified for him.  An employer isn’t going to modify his work expectations for Little Bug when he gets older, life isn’t going to modify itself to fit Little Bug’s needs and ability to comprehend what is needed in any given situation.

It’s strange but it’s in a way a good feeling.  A feeling that I’ve overcoming something that held me back and now I can move forward stronger, more knowledgeable and more prepared to help Little Bug in life.  It’s almost as though a weight has been lifted as strange as that might sound.

Yes, I’m scared to make mistakes when it comes to school, education, IEPs, ARD meetings and so much more but I have to remember who and why I am doing it and just do my best, just like I ask Little Bug to do. “Just do your best” of course for me, I don’t think I’ll ever feel like I’m doing it 100% right but I can try.

Teachers, kick this school year off early.  Make the vital connections with your new students now. To help you do that Tiny Prints is offering free personalized greeting cards starting Monday, August 2nd through October 31, 2010.  Teachers all you have to do is apply the code: Apple2010 at checkout.

Personally, I have thanked and will always be thankful to my son’s kindergarten teacher.  She was a tremendous help in what became a changing point in our lives.  So to you Mrs. Kelley again I say THANK YOU! from the bottom of our hearts.

I want to let know about an upcoming Twitter Party (oh, how I love twitter parties) :

Tiny Prints Teacher Greeting Card Twitter Party with the tag #makeitpersonal this Wednesday from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. ET/1:00 to 2:00 p.m. PT.

Disclosure: This post is in conjunction with Global Influence and I am being entered into a giveway for sharing this information.

I just watched a quick video showing a parent who let out a curse word while in the car with a small child.   In the video the small child repeats the word.  You don’t actually hear it in either case but you can figure out it was a foul word.

Now, personally I don’t remember ever having that experience with my kids but I do remember an incident at a friend’s home when simply flipping the channel at the wrong time apparently caught their little one’s attention and ooops the word came out.

I think the parents handled it great.  They didn’t bring attention to it and it was never said again.  I always hoped I’d be able to handle it the same way. Did I when it happened?  Nope.  I heard one slip out just recently and I mean very recently and I didn’t handle it as well. I gotta work on not bringing attention to it.

Disclosure: Evenflo has just released the Momentum 65 DLX Convertible Car Seat, with features that help make safety, installation and use as easy as possible for parents.  Evenflo andJuiceBoxJungle sponsored me to write this post.

First of all I needed to pull out those binders I have other stuff in and get moving on this.  I emptied out several binders I had and went through a ton of paperwork and organized them all into binders for each of the school years past.  At the moment, everything in the binders is in the correct binder, in chronological order and every sheet is dated on the bottom right hand corner in pencil.  This at the advice a good friend whose helping me understand all this.  And by the way I am eternally grateful.  That photo shows you where I am right now. Not too bad although those don’t include any of his school or homework assignments yet.  I still have them in a box and need to incorporate them. Once that’s done, I’ll start indexing them.

Here’s what I’ve got left to do:

Yep, I’ve got to get that paperwork into that binder. Not gonna happen till I get some bigger binders.   Once that is done it will be time to create an index and tab each and every separate document.  Yes, it’s a lot of work but going to be well worth the effort and it is something I should have done ages ago.  If I want to make sure Little Bug is getting an appropriate education I need to know what’s going on and track it and I can’t do that correctly if I don’t keep everything in order.  So that’s my goal for this summer and from here on out.  Once the hard part is over, keeping up with it should be much easier and less time consuming.

But as you can see I am well on my way to getting and staying organized with all the special needs documentation.  So glad I kept EVERYTHING

So, how’s your documentation? Is in it order or in a box like mine was?  Can you find what you need when you need it?

I’ve got a task on my hands this summer to make sure I do more learning.  Learning to be a better advocate for my son (I’ll keep you up to date on that one too.)  and help my children progress where the school has failed them.  With classroom sizes increasing if a child doesn’t “get” something no one is going to wait on him/her to do it.  Teachers have to keep on moving and if your child is the one left behind then that’s the way it is.  That’s just the sad fact of public schools.  So, we will be working away once again this summer.  I am bound and determined to continue the learning process and want to make sure my kids get continued “quality” time from me.  Contrary to what they’d like, they aren’t going to be in front of the t.v., computer or video games.  Momma’s got stuff in store for them. lol

As far as blogging goes I’ll be putting in my time on my blog around the kids so I guess it will be happening in the evenings.  But there are a few things on the horizon for you to be on the lookout for.  In fact, I’ve got a couple of pending reviews and a couple of really cool giveaways that you will not want to miss out on.  Can’t wait!

What are your summer plans?

photo credit: Michael Mase

I really felt like she was talking about me.  Maybe it happens to a lot of us moms.  We wear so many hats during a single 24 hour period we forget to take the hat off and enjoy the ones we are doing it for.  Yes, I spend way too many hours here in front of the computer (at least that’s how it feels sometimes).  I don’t think I’ve had a full night’s sleep since oh somewhere back in early 2000 before my first child.  I spend everyday running back and forth to the school making sure my kids have what they need when they need it.  I work from home, when I can get the work.  I drive back and forth to therapy session after therapy session, dr. appts, grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, washing clothes.

And you know I wish I could just half of that time sit and play with my kids without my brain telling me, “you’ve got dishes to do”, “you’ve got laundry” and “fix the beds”, “go through that pile of papers on your counter” and on and on and on.

Yesterday, Princess was home ill with me and I was as usual having to run here and there and back and forth and then I realized we only had another couple of hours alone just her and me.   I spend so much time caring for Little Bug’s needs that Princess doesn’t get my attention hardly at all.   She reminded me of that the other day in the car with her, “you like him more than me” comment.  I tell ya that one hurt.  So, I forced myself to turn my brain off for a little while and that nagging voice in my head that reminds me of what I need to do and she and I sat together on the couch, snuggled up under a sheet, snacking on chocolate ice cream and watched Little Bear and Olivia on the DVR.  It felt so good to bond with her.

Last night after we said our said prayers and our goodnights I told her how much I enjoyed sitting on the couch eating ice cream with her, she smiled really big and said it was the best day ever and I was the best mommy in the whole world.  Yes, it choked me up.

I guess I was guilty of it too.  I was so busy trying to be SuperMom (not succeeding at it though) that I forgot, Princess and Bug don’t want SuperMommy, they just want “mommy”.  Now to just tell my brain that and slow down and enjoy the babies I have and love dearly.

To you this may seem like the silliest thing ever.  But to us, it is one of the hardest of pains on our hearts to see the fear in Little Bug’s eyes when he sees a flying bug.  As I hold him close and try my best to comfort him, I hold back tears myself.  The desire to make these fears go away just overwhelms me and the knowledge of knowing I can’t crushes my heart.

In an instant he goes from being the brave, strong and I can beat any challenge kiddo to this extremely frightened, illogical, no reasoning with him, child who needs his mommy to save him from this horrible creature that is larger than he is.   In his mind (or maybe it’s truly how his eyes see) this tiny creature, is worse than any monster imaginable.

He’s done so well, I thought we had gotten past this.  With the mosquito season gone maybe I just made myself believe he was past this and he really wasn’t.  I don’t know sometimes.  All I know, is that as I sit here writing this, my heart aches, my tears fall but I never give up hope.  Someday, I know someday, he won’t shutter in fear of these tiny creatures, I pray this never happens in front of those that will laugh, point, stare or bully my baby but someday he will truly get past this.  But until this day comes, my baby will have my arms to come to for safety, for hugs, for protection, for strength, to shed a tear with him for any and every need.

Well, later that evening I did find that horrible mosquito that frighten my son and squashed him.  How dare he scare my Little Bug! My son had every right to be scared.  This was one of those HUGE and I do mean HUGE Texas size mosquitoes.  That thing scared me.  If you live in Texas you know which ones I’m talking about.

Does it really matter? Yes, because if we don’t report those numbers correctly the nation doesn’t get a true picture of those in this country.  And without a clear picture communities don’t get the rightful share of public funds.  It all boils down to the wrong calculations and wrong calculations lead to over-crowed schools, not enough child care or health care programs.  Babies must be counted today, so they can benefit tomorrow from the community services they deserve and need.

If you don’t think these numbers count, just look at this:

Census counts are used, in whole or in part, for more than 140 programs that distribute more than $400 billion federal funds to states and localities, including child-focused programs such as:

• Special Education Grants to states ($10.8 billion)
• Head Start Programs ($6.9 billion)
• State Childrens Health Insurance Program ($5.9 billion)
• Foster Care Title IV-E ($4.7 billion)
• Improving Teacher Quality State Grants ($2.9 billion)

In the 2000 Census, there was a net under-count of more than 1 million children under age 10.  They can’t provide the Census with their information, but we as parents can and should.  It is our responsibility to make sure our kids count.

This post is part of a Public Service Campaign by Global Influence Network