The latest news with our family is that we are highly considering moving further out of town. I recently have reached out to more parents with children with special needs that live in my neighborhood to get their thoughts about our local elementary. Don’t get me wrong, it is a great school and one of the best in the entire area; however, I have received very mixed results from the parents of children with special needs. This is disheartening. I have talked with other parents with children with special needs that live in a smaller school district nearby who rave about their school system. This would also give us the chance to own more land, get more space, and live closer to the water. There is also a community space we can join with a pool, park and lake access. That could be a great option for meeting neighbors. We would live less in the middle of everything which has its benefits and drawbacks.
Our 3 week road trip ended last week. Lots of positive memories, genuine family visits, and the chance to get away from the heat. The kids traveled well, but man, I was exhausted when things were said and done. For all the positives, there was 2 solid days on the road, tension due to the stress of traveling, and the fact that these road trips really get us out of our element and get us thinking about our lives. Things surface that you may not be expecting. When we got back, I told myself that we need to find a different option for next year. However, just over a week later, I may have to already change my mind :). For all the tension, it may be a good thing for that tension to surface. Maybe with 3 summer road trips with the kids, we will be more prepared and aware of what comes from these trips. Plus, Olem was already in a questionable place so traveling with kiddos may not be the most relaxing and stress-free thing to be doing. The last 2 road trips have required us to rush back as there were other trips that got added to the end of the summer road trip. For this year, Olem had to fly out for work the day after he got back.
If I am honest with myself too, I would say I have also been struggling and struggling to not struggle. I have felt off, less appreciative, and less able to just be. I feel more tense most of the time. I am working on trying to just let things roll off my back, to not over-react, and to feel capable and motivated. Maybe it is the time of year. Since there has been no schedule and school hasn’t started, I hear that this can be the case. We all have our ups and downs and I guess I need to find my way to process and move forward.
For CB, the summer has been good for him. Both of his speech therapists thought the road trip break was good for him as his speech/articulation had noticeably improved. We are on the same supplement plan as I mentioned in an earlier post, although we just lowered his probiotics to a 15 billion one. Oh, he has had a hearing test performed this week and all looks great! The ear structure and the functionality is perfectly normal. Optometrist appt is tomorrow and a vision therapy free screening is scheduled for Friday. (His new PT recommended getting a free vision therapy screening to get their initial thoughts. We know CB has slower tracking but he may have another vision issue not related to his myopia and astigmatism). I am trying to get the dr appts scheduled before school starts.
We are currently working on helping CB not say words that are inappropriate pretty much at any given moment during the day and not use his body aggressively when he gets mad or upset. For this week, we are trying to reinforce that people will not want to help him if he calls them names or uses his body physically against them. This seems to be the new norm so we are seeing if we can make behavior adjustments before school starts.